Title/Year: Taxi Driver, 1976
Director/Birth Country/Year Born: Martin Scorsese, United States (Queens, NY), b. 1942
Budget: $1,300,000 (estimated)
Gross: $28,262,574 (USA)
Synopsis: Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is an isolated and lonely Vietnam War veteran working as a taxi driver in New York City. He primarily works in the middle of the night because of his struggle with insomnia, and becomes increasingly enraged and disgusted with the night crawlers of the city. Travis meets a young prostitute (Jodie Foster) in his cab who is in a rush to get away from her pimp, he fails to save her from him on multiple occasions and becomes increasingly infuriated. He also becomes obsessed with a woman (Cybill Shepherd) who works for Senator Palantine’s campaign for president, and simultaneously becomes infatuated with the senator. After Travis gives himself a drastic and rather psychopathic looking mohawk, he sets out to do what his far from sane mind believes are the right things to do.
Political/Social Commentary: The movie shows the struggles with adjusting to society that soldiers experience, after enduring great trauma and terror overseas in the war. It portrays soldiers as damaged victims rather than heroic men, and exposes the dark side of war and politics.
Narrative and Visual Keywords: Vietnam veteran, cabbie, obsession, darkness, psychosis, delusional, guns, loneliness, isolation, insomnia, prostitution, drugs, violence, politics, infatuation, trauma, PTSD, fear, mohawk, blood, vigilante, New York, anger, rejection, anti-social, and troubled.
Camera/Lighting/Editing Technique: Several dolly shots, extreme close ups especially on his eyes and the cab, very dark lighting with street lights as the primary source of lighting, long slow shots, POV shots of people and objects, OTS shots, voice-over narration.
Main Character/Arc: Travis becomes increasingly psychotic as the movie progresses. He transforms from being quiet and rather prudent, into violent and delusional.
Notable Collaboration: Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have worked together on several classic movies, such as Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull, and Mean Streets. Writer Paul Schrader has also collaborated with Martin Scorsese on other films, such as Bringing Out the Dead, The Last Temptation of Christ, and Raging Bull.
Historical Relevance/Recognition: It was the 17th highest grossing film of 1976, and was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Actor (De Niro). The movie also received the Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes film Festival and the American Film Institute ranked him as the 30th out of 50 top villains of all time.
Random Fact, Etc: In his card to his parents, he refers to Father’s Day being in July instead of June. Robert De Niro worked driving a cab for twelve hours a day for a month to prepare for the movie. Harvey Keitel rehearsed with real life pimps as preparation for the movie.
Sources:
1. Is the soldier/veteran depicted as being in control of his destiny? Give examples.
No. Throughout the entire movie Travis struggles with even just basic functioning, primarily with not being able to sleep and not knowing how to interact with people. The absence of these basic daily activities only added to the psychosis that was developing in his head, and prevented him from having any control of his life, much less his destiny. For example, when he was trying to explain to Wizard that he was having thoughts that were scaring him, he didn’t even know how to get the words out but it was obvious he was worried and not wanting to act on his urges. This showed that he was at one point aware of the psychosis that was developing within him, but couldn’t control it on his own without help. I don’t believe it was that he didn’t want to ask for help, but rather that he wasn’t even capable of doing so. This hindered social and emotional capacity was most likely directly correlated with his trauma from the war.
2. What political sub-text, or overt theme is the film exploring?
It’s exploring the mind of a Vietnam vet after the war, and the darkness that took place not only during the war but afterward as well. There was no pretending anymore that going to war was courageous and the men were all strong and invincible. The reality was that the war was extremely traumatizing and anyone who didn’t experience it first hand could not come close to fathoming the severity of it. This finally was seen by the people of the U.S., and they began to protest the war once they understood. Seeing images on TV and in newspapers of what was actually going on overseas introduced an anti-war wave in society. The idea Travis got to assassinate the senator also touched on what had been going on in the 60s with the assassinations of MLK and JFK. As well as showed some of the ignorance politicians have with what war actually means and what the effects are of forcing men into being killed. I got the feeling that Senator Palantine was a typical politician unaware of the average citizen, and what the men had to go through because they weren’t in a high social class with ways out of being drafted.
3. How are masculinity and patriarchy displayed through the main character(s) -- broken and dissociated or reinstated and productive. Please give examples
Masculinity is portrayed as broken and dysfunctional. Travis is completely incapable of talking about his feelings or depression, and is encouraged not to by Wizard. When Travis tries to confide in him, Wizard blows him off and shows that he is just as incapable of expression as Travis is. This told me that the masculine feelingless persona that Travis has is not just because of the war, and that the men in society as a whole are not supposed to express vulnerability. Another example that comes to mind is when Scorsese makes a cameo appearance as a husband, spying on and fantasizing about killing his wife. This reinforced the idea of a man to be violent and aggressive, rather than emotional and communicative. It would be interesting to know if that character was a Vietnam vet as well, which would reinforce how masculinity is portrayed with Travis being a vet.
Great review.
ReplyDeleteExcellent analysis. You bring up some great points that I didn't even think of when analyzing this film myself. I LOVE the idea of Scorsese's character possibly being a Vietnam vet himself, helping to re-enforce the masculine ideal.
ReplyDeleteIt seems, to this reader, that you've really nailed down the character of Travis Bickle in this review. Thanks for sharing.