Movie - Taxi Driver

One of the greatest looks at the possiblity of insanity and the glorification fo violence. De Niro shakes you to the core. I love it. Kinda reminds me of a Chuck Palahniuk story (even though this movie preceded Palahniuk).

SPOILER WARNING

Possiblity of Insanity:
This and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest are so discussed on whether or not they are truly crazy. The greatest part is getting into the head of Travis Bickle and hearing his thoughts. First, he denies his insanity, but it was only perpetuated when Cybil Shepard turned him away. His temper and lonliness pushed him over the edge to the point where he wanted to kill the president. When he failed at that, he realized the GRAY AREA. There's more than good and bad. SO he commited the bad deed of blowing away 5 guys to save the girl (the good deed)

Glorification of Violence:
You also see the glorification of violence. After this big shoot out Bickle has several news clippings plus a letter from the girl's parents praising him a hero. What did he do? He killed a bunch of men and ran out of bullets before he could kill himself or the girl. Thats another way to look at it. Of course, now that it is out of his system he is more content with himself and we see the insanity might have been self perpetuate.


Sorry to go on like a madman, but I just love this movie and ppl always over look the subtle stuff which really makes the movie for me.

 

One of my all time favorites!

 

One of the best ever

 

I want to see it so bad.

 

Just saw it a few weeks ago, thought it was pretty cool

 

Haven't got around to watching it yet... As a DeNiro fan, I'm ashamed of myself...

 

Me too

I'm also probably the only Nicholson fan who's never seen Chinatown, Five Easy Pieces or Easy Rider.

 

it's considered one of the best movies ever made and it is! it rocks!

 

I haven't seen all of Chinatown and I haven't seen the other two at all.

 

One of the best movies in cinema history. I love it and watched it yesterday as a matter of fact.

While we're on the topic of Taxi Driver. What do you think happened to Travis? Do you believe that he survived the ordeal or he died and the epilogue was his dying fantasy?

I remember there was some debate about that particular end scene.

You know what this story reminds me of? I don't know if anyone knows the band Queensryche, however, the story of their album Operation: Mindcrime seems to have a very Taxi Driverish feel to it. In a sense they both carry the same concepts of insanity, corruption, loneliness, and a feeling of wanting to be accepted and loved.

Either way I love the movie and will most likely watch it tonight too.

 

LastSunrise brngs up a good point. I wonder. If your read my first post which makes reference to his insanity. I believe that he never was insane but talked himself into it because that was the way he thought he should be (i realize that there is something crazy about this in the first place). I believe he regained his sanity after doing the final deed because he no longer needed Cybil Shepard's character as proof of his sanity by turning her away

 

speaking of musical reference to the movie, i suggest anyone interested check out the song Red Angel Dragnet by The Clash. The whole song really is about Taxi Driver. I never really noticed until recently becuase of two things. 1: I hadnt seen Taxi Driver upon first listen and 2: Im not too fond of The Clash material recorded at the end of their existence. I never got into the reggae stuff they did.

But i was listening to it recently(several months) and heard the "Listen you screwheads..." part in the song and realized it was from Taxi Driver. In the version i listened to, it was the edited mix on the Clash on Broadway Boxset, so im not sure if they use the "Listen you ****ers" bit at all. But check it out, it's pretty good.


now, Taxi Driver is my favorite movie of all time. I do believe Travis may have been slightly insane. But not completely. I dont know how to put it. I think he was a man fed up with the world around him, as Travis stated in his narrations. Everyone has that mindset at one point or another. But unlike most people, Travis decides to do something about it. He does what man only thinks about. Only he has nothing to lose. There's the whole Punk Rock ideal in the movie, and i think the movie might have had an influence on that whole musical movement. Anti-establishment and so on. The politician wouldn't fix things. They lie. I think Travis might have seen that. The real evil is all around him though. The pimps, drug dealers etc... There is no law, and only Travis could put an end to it. He sees what this evil does to other people(Jodie Foster) and makes a choice to get rid of it. He believes good is whatever the mind makes of it. There is no law, except for the one man makes for himself.

Cybil Sheperd's character i felt was only a test, or a false shield from himself. You can see it was never going to work from the begining. It was really only a "What if i have a girlfriend? That could make things better." even though it wouldn't.

so yea, i think i agree with you that he may have talked himself into being crazy. The whole fact that he was alone is why. No one to talk to, nothing to do. No one but himself and the scum he was surrounded by. By the time he meets Betsy, he's already too far in. When she dumps him, it's only the begining of the end. All of what he sees builds up, until he snaps, resulting in the end of the film.

i think Travis Bickle is probably one of the most identifiable characters in cinema. As a 17 year old anyway, he is to me.

i think it's very open for interpretation, becuase as i said, Travis is very identifiable in so many ways, and that's what makes it a great film.

 

I saw it as a kid, like when I was eight. I should watch it again.

 

I think that the last scene was the effect he desired from his ''heroic action''. he is a hero and he gets the girl. It's a fantasy IMO.

As for the entire movie; I wasn't blown away. But I should watch it again.

 

This is definately one of those movies that just sucks the viewer into the world.
I duno , the first time i saw this movie i could relate to it. ALOT.

And i think all adolescent males can relate to this movie for some reason. DOn't ask me why

 

Taxi Driver is great. I heard people always mention it as "one of the best movies ever made", so I was ready to rip it to pieces. It wasn't even close. That's just a damn good movie.

Travis Bickle kicks ass...literally.

 

I think if anyone is fantasy it was the mysterious gunmen he picked up in his cab. He embodies all of Travis' doubts and fears. It even brings up the fact that Travis is racist which in the final movie was very subtle:
+Whenever he was in his cab, he stared at the ppl. More than once the camera zoomed in on minoirties not doing anything really, but it was too symbol that travis had his eye on them.
+When hanging out with other cabbies, he asked Peter Boyle to step outside and talk right after the black cabbie showed up. For like a minute they showed Travis become very uncomfortable by the fact he was there and then he left.
+Harvey Keitel's character(Sport) was suppose to be black. Travis hated Sport because he was pimping the little girl.

 

Great movie. For me , its Scorsese's best film with Mean streets, Raging bull and Goodfellas. And best robert deniro performance alonside with ranging bull and the godfather part two.

Scorsese and Deniro, what a duo.

 

Are you talking to me? Are you talking to me? Then who the **** else are you talking to? I see no one here, so you must be talking to me. Are you talking to me?

 

Yeah. I want to see another collaboration...

 

Hell yeah, it would definately help Deniro's drought. Plus you have to talk Scorsesse into letting Decaprio go.