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Taxi Driver
Posted on 12/15/15 at 8:35 am
Posted on 12/15/15 at 8:35 am
I rewatched Taxi Driver late last night. It's a great movie and still holds up after all these years, IMO. Besides Robert DeNiro and Jody Foster, I usually forget about the other great actors in the film in their early careers - Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, and Cybil Shepherd and the cameo by Martin Scorcese himself.
Spoiler alert:
Is anyone else surprised by the ending? Everyone remembers the climax, but his survival afterward and return to "normal" is quite a twist. It may be one of the best uses of an "unexpected" ending, if not "surprise ending" in any movie. It makes it feel very realistic.
Travis (the Taxi Driver) may end up being "okay" and live a relatively normal life, or he may begin planning his next attack. Could it be that his experience of something positive in his life has helped him achieve a sense of self-worth and purpose and keep him from lashing out at the dark world that surrounds him? Or is he a ticking time bomb, a misguided psychopathic killer who will eventually find a need to act out on his tendencies?
Spoiler alert:
Is anyone else surprised by the ending? Everyone remembers the climax, but his survival afterward and return to "normal" is quite a twist. It may be one of the best uses of an "unexpected" ending, if not "surprise ending" in any movie. It makes it feel very realistic.
Travis (the Taxi Driver) may end up being "okay" and live a relatively normal life, or he may begin planning his next attack. Could it be that his experience of something positive in his life has helped him achieve a sense of self-worth and purpose and keep him from lashing out at the dark world that surrounds him? Or is he a ticking time bomb, a misguided psychopathic killer who will eventually find a need to act out on his tendencies?
8
Posted on 12/15/15 at 8:39 am to Jimbeaux
quote:
It's a great movie and still holds up after all these years,
No doubt. It's iconic.
quote:
his survival afterward and return to "normal" is quite a twist. It may be one of the best uses of an "unexpected" ending, if not "surprise ending" in any movie.
It's the most disturbing part of the movie, if you really think about it.
Posted on 12/15/15 at 9:26 am to Jimbeaux
I went on a Scorsese movie kick back in college and Netflixed this one (DVD style, before the streaming was up). Loved it, awesome movie.
Another one I liked was The King of Comedy. I found that movie to be kind of disturbing in itself, even if it was supposed to be more of a light drama with comedy elements
Another one I liked was The King of Comedy. I found that movie to be kind of disturbing in itself, even if it was supposed to be more of a light drama with comedy elements
Posted on 12/15/15 at 9:38 am to Jimbeaux
Posted on 12/15/15 at 9:49 am to Jimbeaux
The ending is quite jarring. I was never sure how to take it; is life ok for him? Is he more like a sociopath and able to hide in plain sight? Great movie though.
Posted on 12/15/15 at 10:05 am to Jimbeaux
quote:
Could it be that his experience of something positive in his life has helped him achieve a sense of self-worth and purpose and keep him from lashing out at the dark world that surrounds him? Or is he a ticking time bomb, a misguided psychopathic killer who will eventually find a need to act out on his tendencies?
I think both could be accurate, at least partially. At the very end, I take it that he has grown as a man in a positive way, becoming more stable and even. In my view, he could have become a villain but is now an anti-hero. Not anti-hero in a superhero/comic book sense but as an "everyman". He is out there in the city among the people, always in constant motion looking perfectly normal. However, I could definitely see him being set off again but if he does it'll be a righteous undertaking.
"An antihero or antiheroine is a protagonist who lacks conventional heroic qualities such as idealism, courage, and morality.[1][2][3][4][5] These individuals often possess dark personality traits such as disagreeableness, dishonesty, and aggressiveness. These characters are usually considered "conspicuously contrary to an archetypal hero".[6]"
P.S. I could be wrong, but back in the mid/late 70s wasn't NYC sort of a crime ridden mess? One could take this as a call from the director for those every day citizens to "step up" and help clean up the city. In other words, do your part to help.
This post was edited on 12/15/15 at 10:08 am
Posted on 12/15/15 at 10:19 am to Jimbeaux
quote:
Harvey Keitel
Dude was ripped.
quote:
Could it be that his experience of something positive in his life has helped him achieve a sense of self-worth and purpose and keep him from lashing out at the dark world that surrounds him?
That's always how I took it. He was in a bad place and the events at the end of the movie changed him in a positive way.
Posted on 12/15/15 at 11:12 am to Jimbeaux
This film is Marty's "shot across the bow" - at the height of the "gritty, realistic" era of Hollywood that began with Bonnie and Clyde, The Wild Bunch, etc., instead of anything like an epic scope, Marty (taking cues from FFC's Godfather films and even nabbing Deniro as the lead) goes the other way - the vast majority of this film is within the personal space - next to him in his room, or riding in his cab - of deeply flawed, anti-hero Travis Bickle. Through Bickle, we see the really seedy side of 1970s NYC.
With elements of neo-noir, more of a psychological study, than a true thriller, although it has its moments - the film illustrates one of my key points about the human experience - we all, more or less, live in worlds that we have constructed ourselves - where conflict occurs in the world is when this world we've created bumps into and conflicts with the worlds that others have created for themselves.
What I like as a film fan is really good acting - and I'm willing to overlook a lot of flaws if the acting is good. This film has a few plot holes around the edges, but follows a very logical path. It feels organic and it lives and breathes because Marty, Bobby, Cybil - they all bought into this uncomfortable look at obsession, violence, even celebrity in the context of the 1970s.
It is one of the best films of all time, and strongly influenced similar movies that followed - particularly Tarantino's films.
With elements of neo-noir, more of a psychological study, than a true thriller, although it has its moments - the film illustrates one of my key points about the human experience - we all, more or less, live in worlds that we have constructed ourselves - where conflict occurs in the world is when this world we've created bumps into and conflicts with the worlds that others have created for themselves.
What I like as a film fan is really good acting - and I'm willing to overlook a lot of flaws if the acting is good. This film has a few plot holes around the edges, but follows a very logical path. It feels organic and it lives and breathes because Marty, Bobby, Cybil - they all bought into this uncomfortable look at obsession, violence, even celebrity in the context of the 1970s.
It is one of the best films of all time, and strongly influenced similar movies that followed - particularly Tarantino's films.
This post was edited on 12/15/15 at 12:59 pm
Posted on 12/15/15 at 11:17 am to Ace Midnight
Suck on this.
Posted on 12/15/15 at 11:24 am to Jimbeaux
quote:
Cybil Shepherd
total smoke show in that movie \
Posted on 12/15/15 at 11:52 am to Cole Beer
quote:
P.S. I could be wrong, but back in the mid/late 70s wasn't NYC sort of a crime ridden mess? One could take this as a call from the director for those every day citizens to "step up" and help clean up the city. In other words, do your part to help.
Yes, it was, but no, there is no earthly way Scorcese is arguing we should be like Travis Bickle. Bickle killed a whole bunch of people out of the misguided notion of his own moral superiority. also, he just wanted to kill people (and himself, as the famed gesture of him putting his finger to his head at the end of the massacre). The irony, of course, is that he becomes a FOR REAL hero despite having no heroic impulse.
Scorcese is saying something about heroes. We make the story fit for our own purposes, but the hero is just as disturbed and awful as the pimps and murderers. Which is to say, there are no real heroes.
But yeah, you youngin's do not fully understand just how far NYC had deteriorated in the 70s. I get that people complain about the Disney-fication of Times Square, but it sure beats a bunch of sleazy porn shops and dope dealers on quite literally every corner. I do think NYC could use some grime these days, but the 1970s took it way too far.
Posted on 12/15/15 at 12:15 pm to Baloo
quote:
the hero is just as disturbed and awful as the pimps and murderers. Which is to say, there are no real heroes.
Interesting! Yeah, most people are regular Joes who want to avoid conflict and go their merry way through life.
Perhaps you have to fight fire with fire. In other words, to get your hands dirty against crime maybe it is ok sometimes or many times (for heroes/crime fighters) to be a little "off"?
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