Director/birth country/year born: Martin Scorsese, USA, 1942.
Budget: $1.3 mil
Gross: over $28 mil
Synopsis: A Vietnam veteran returns from war to work as a lonely cab driver in New York City, later encountering a young prostitute, and tries to save her from a world of darkness.
Narrative/Visual Keywords: Lonesomeness, voiceover narration, Jesus Christ, religion, redemption, vigilante justice, racism, racial tension, 1960s, 1970s, psychotic behavior, hypocrisy of politicians
Character Arc: Travis Bickle is a lonesome marginalized member of society who takes a stand against the status quo and bravely sets a silent standard for modern day heroism. Compared to Batman, he's a common sense street hero with a little bit of a psychotic problem.
Political/Social commentary: Turbulence of 1970s American society. Domestic life of returned veteran.
Camera/lighting techniques: Interesting and awesome zoom pan camera movement of Travis Bickle running through a crowd of people!! tracking shots, zooms, birds eye view shot at the end. The film has a sick yellow/green color palette.
Fun facts: Scorsese has a cameo as a cab rider who observes the silhouette of his wife in a window (who is cheating on him with another man).
Historical recognition: Hailed as one of the top 10 greatest films of all time (obviously). The film was nominated for 4 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score (Bernard or "Bernie" Herrmann)
Notable collaboration: Bernard Herrmann, music composer, did his last score for Taxi Driver. Herrmann's music is notable because of repetitive melody. You know it when you hear it. He died on Dec. 24th, 1975. Herrmann is most known for composing scores for most of Alfred Hitchcock's films. He won an Oscar for The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941) and was nominated twice posthumously in 1977 for scoring Taxi Driver and Obsession (also a Paul Schrader screenplay, and film directed by Brian DePalma). This was Scorsese's second collaboration with Jodie Foster, having previously worked with her on his film, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), starring Ellen Burstyn.
Mark's heart-felt review:
Travis Bickle is the kind of man who is reluctant to do anything with his life. However, he is innately wise. We first see him applying for a taxi driver position. He was in the Marines, served in Vietnam, but doesn't talk about his past or mention it much. He's just a man who needs a job, who can work "anytime, anywhere." He's quiet, lonesome, and doesn't even beg for our sympathy, yet we're with him every step of his life within the timeline of the film. There's an existential philosophy to Paul Schrader's story about the lonesome cab driver, in some ways a parallel to Schrader himself, and a parallel to the life of Jesus Christ (Robert DeNiro's Travis Bickle talks to a prostitute, trying to convince her to leave her pimp named "Sport", played by Harvey Keitel). It's existential in the sense that Travis is a man who is lost and has to reluctantly make sense of his path in life. We see him confused, distraught, lost; going to an adult theater and hitting on the girl at the concession stand, only to be rejected. He's innocent, yet scarred from his past that we don't know much of, something he prefers to be kept hidden.
Now more on Paul Schrader (because I know about this man). Schrader comes from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He attended Calvin College (in the same graduating class as my mother, in 1968, I've seen the yearbook) and was raised in a strict Calvinist (religious) family. He saw his first film at age 18. Both of my parents were around him at this time, although they never hung out with him. Something must be noted about the rebellion he was innately feeling in his life; the need to get away from something holding him back. After he graduated college he drove to L.A. to write and direct films, including American Gigolo, Light Sleeper, a remake of Cat People, Affliction, and (in Japan) the Japanese film Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, about the famous yet controversial Japanese fiction writer Yukio Mishima. Schrader was fixed (and obsessed) with exposing the portrayal of male violence, and the motivations leading up to those actions, Travis Bickle being his quintessential creation. Schrader is influenced by Yasujiro Ozu (a prolific Japanese film director from the early 1900's to his last film An Autumn Afternoon in 1962). There is generally a parallel between Schrader and Bickle, a man surrounded by hatred, racial tension, and revolting, disgusting social life; a man with a kernel of hope inside of him that he rarely reveals to others. The religious element is key to understanding Schrader. It makes him likable.
In picture above (from left to right): Paul Schrader (screenwriter), Director Martin Scorsese, and Robert DeNiro.
Despite the ominous bad taste in the film and racial tension the movie touches on, Taxi Driver is heart-felt film that has a core value for humanity. Martin Scorsese saw something in Paul Schrader's screenplay that sparked a reaction of reality in the New York City scene. In a featurette on a special edition DVD of Taxi Driver there are more current interviews with real taxi cab drivers who were around in the 1960's and 70's--men who described New York City then as a place where you would be eaten alive (metaphorically). Socially, America was in tumultuous times in the 60's, so being a cab driver meant being exposed to the everyday harassment and tension so prevalent in urban city life. Travis' voiceover in the first act of the film is revealing, saying "sometimes I have to wipe the cum off the backseat. Sometime I have to wipe off the blood."
Robert DeNiro's character of Travis is a sympathetic one. He's in control of himself, sometimes not, he's lost at times, he's reserved, keeps to himself, somewhat polite most of the time. He walks into a political campaign office for a politician named Palantine, where a woman (Cybill Shepherd) works, along with the Albert Brooks character. He fawns over her, tells her she's beautiful, and asks her out on a date. He's later rejected because he takes her to an adult Swedish movie. He means well, but others don't see it. He sees the good in people, yet sees the bad. Bickle sees the virtue and value in a politician, yet sees the hypocrisy of a such a role. He sees the young prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) taken advantage of, and tries to save her (he pays for having time with her, only to try and convince her to flee the prostitution business.) Travis Bickle sees through it all, through thick and thin, and is a walking example of a dialectic.
One great scene (exterior sidewalk, night) is between Travis and Wizard (Peter Boyle), a fellow taxi driver. Travis seems to confess to Wizard like he's confessing to a Catholic priest, mentioning that he feels "like doing something." Travis is confused, unsure, yet fervent and resolute in his fully charged thoughts and actions. There's so much character motivation here for Bickle! Wizard reassures him that things will be okay. He supports him through the tough times.
Another great scene that shows Bickle's vulnerability is when he's on a pay phone in a hallway talking to Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) and being rejected. The camera movement is then a tracking shot that moves right, and stays put on an empty hallway, because apparently we don't want to witness the embarrassment and sadness on his face. Roger Ebert mentioned this in a review, and it begs to be mentioned again, because it shows who Travis Bickle really is, and how Scorsese sympathizes with him.
There is an overt theme, or political sub-text of Taxi Driver; a theme of moral vigilante justice. A theme of redemption may be involved, seeing how Travis is rescuing Iris from her dark world of prostitution (he makes a conscious decision to do this). Travis Bickle is a hero, but not such an obvious one. He's an underground, "in the shadows" type of hero. We initially see Travis as a broken man, distraught. However, his actions near the end of the film are horrific yet justified, daring yet optimistic, providing a positive change in another person's dark circumstances. Yes, he does murder people, but in the attempts of saving a young teenage girl's future. At the end of the film a voiceover of Iris' father is reading a thank you letter to Travis for giving her daughter back. There is a light at the end of a turbulent and dark New York City tunnel after all.
(Note: I've seen this film so many times since my high school days that I felt the need to write about it. I'm aware I'm supposed to write a film review about a movie I haven't seen before. However, Taxi Driver has been one of the first influential films in my life, no matter how dark and disturbing it may be.)
Above photo: Robert De Niro's taxi cab license he used while learning the role. (from Roger Ebert's Facebook page)
WOW, very in-depth review Mark. I do enjoy this film, although it is not my favorite of Scorsese's. For some reason, Goodfellas has always spoke to me. With that said, for me, Taxi Driver is only VERY marginally below other Scorsese films.
ReplyDeleteI was quite surprised at Scorsese's scene in Taxi Driver also. He can be quite the actor at times.
Some other political subtext I felt was touched on in the film was about the "people" and the "people" taking back the streets. The saying "We ARE the people" is mentioned throughout with the political campaign going on. I feel Travis was representing the "people" and was tired of nothing being done to fix the problems he saw in the streets.
Bryan, I concur; that's a great analogy about Travis representing the people. I also agree how Travis feels he's tired of doing nothing and takes action.
ReplyDeleteI generally understood the top 3 Scorsese films as being: 1) Taxi Driver 2) Raging Bull 3) GoodFellas.
I still believe this to be the true hierarchy.
I also LOVE Scorsese's first film, Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967)