Major Cast includes:
Robert De Niro -- Travis Bickle
Jodie Foster -- Iris
Albert Brooks -- Tom
Harvey Keitel -- Sport
Peter Boyle -- Wizard
Cybill Shepherd - Betsy
Martin Scorcese -- Passenger
I enjoy movies that invite multiple looks -- movies that linger and haunt for days or even years. Taxi Driver is such a movie. That's one of the reasons that verbal, white_hat, and myself chose this movie for our initial write-off. I encourage you to check their reviews out as well because director Scorcese, screenwriter Paul Schrader, musician Bernard Herrmann, and Robert DeNiro have created a multi-layered and complex work that can be re-viewed and re-examined numerous times.
Many years ago when I first saw Taxi Driver, I didn't understand a great deal of it. I knew that it told the story of an alienated and psychotic taxi driver, a Viet Nam veteran who is disgusted with the scum of New York. Our anti-hero bumbles his way in and out of a relationship with a beautiful campaign worker, befriends a young teen hooker, and blows away her pimp and associates in Sam Pekinpaw style.
Now, the bloodbath at the end is what most of my friends focussed on back in 1976 and is the reason they either thought it was cool or thought it was the work of the Devil. No doubt this choreographed shooting spree stands out and sparked controversy. In fact, Taxi Driver was even showed repeatedly during the John Hinkley trial to establish that the media had warped his little mind. But there is so much more to Taxi Driver than the violence, and that is what has caused me to return to see other aspects of this complex film.
I have re-examined Taxi Driver two times the past few days - one time on video and again today on DVD, which comes with some background notes and with a documentary on the making of the film.
Theme
We can look at Taxi Driver from various perspectives. Screenwriter Paul Shraeder blatantly proclaims Travis Bickel's loneliness and alienation from the initial Thomas Wolfe quotations, through his projections of loneliness onto Betsy, and finally to his lone wolf campaign to rid the city of its scum near the end of the film. What better metaphor than a taxi driver, who must frequent the sleazy sections of New York City in a daily monotonous routine - a man who is continually moving but without any real purpose other than to serve the anonymous people that slide into his back seat. This loneliness/alienation theme is easily traced, but there are other possible layers to examine - much like watching the taxi emerging from the murky steam that spills out from the bowels of New York City.
Religious overtones underlie Scorcese's film. For a director who has recently completed Kundun (1997) about the Dalai Lama and has done The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), this should come as no surprise. After describing the filth that he sees around 42nd Street in a misty rain, Bickle says, "Someday a real rain will come and wipe this scum off the streets." Shortly after his taxi receives a thorough dousing, much like a baptism. Travis is on a mission.
He then spots a slow moving vision in white - an angel, who stands out from all the rest. Travis deliberately tells himself that Betsy is alone, and "they … can … not … touch … her." He seeks to team up with this angel, but fails. Why does he fail?
On a practical level, we can say that the man is socially clueless. Several scenes point to this - the awkward exchange Travis has with the porn concession worker, the inept conversation with the secret service man, and especially his inappropriate choice of the Swedish pornographic movie on his first date with Betsy. Travis seems honestly perplexed that he has treated Betsy nicely and offered his friendship, only to have her walk out because she is offended by the kinds of movies he watches.
We can also take a cue from the Kristopherson song about Travis being a "walking contradiction" and see a man who attempts to repress his sexuality, as would be required by Catholic priests. When a man continues to repress deep feelings, he can become a walking time bomb. Travis can use this repressed energy for spiritual good, or he could just explode.
In his case, he ends up doing both. He is drawn to a young teen prostitute named Iris and attempts to save her. First by attempting to counsel her, then planning to save up money to send her back home, and finally by acting as the avenging angel who wipes out all the people who hold Iris imprisoned as a prostitute. Of course, he carries out his final mission only after he is thwarted from killing the Senator that Betsy is campaigning for.
It is a mission that Travis plans for obsessively, yet also sabotages. Perhaps he feels deep down that he is not worthy of redemption. That could also explain why he blunders so badly on his first date with Betsy. We only know that Travis is disgusted with the sleaze and scum of New York City, that he has trouble sleeping, and that he has "…bad ideas in his head." He begins training with a vengeance complete with a rigid workout regimen, but countered with a diet that includes pouring peach brandy over his corn flakes. Travis must continually practice being a "walking contradiction" so that he cannot completely succeed.
The killings themselves have a ritualistic feel to them. Travis has practiced them numerous times in front of his mirror, and if he can carry out the sacrifice-be it a politician who has corrupted his angel, or Sport and his sleazy prostitution ring makes no difference. If this should come with his own sacrifice, so be it. In fact, it seems that Travis really desires his own death as he mocks shooting himself with his bloodied hand.
We can only wonder at the end whether Travis has grown to the point that he has accepted the imperfections of the city, or whether he will once again set out to sacrifice more lives in the path of righteousness. We can imagine that there will come a time when he will again be angered enough to take action. As Travis says earlier, "Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the c*nts, the dogs, the filth, the sh*t. Here is a man who stood up." It seems just a matter of time before Travis (or some other individual) becomes an avenging angel, so to speak.
Film Techniques
Scorcese completely controls his film environment like no other director since the immortal Alfred Hitchcock. He virtually lives in a visual world and thinks in visual terms. Watch a Scorcese film and you will find yourself in a continual flow of movement. Sometimes this is done very unconventionally, as in an early shot where the camera does nearly a full 360-degree turn to follow Travis out of the taxi office.
Two memorable camera moments that I especially like occur in Taxi Driver. The first occurs right after Travis' aborted date with Betsy when he is calling her from a pay phone. As we hear Travis' side of the conversation (which is obviously going very badly), the camera pans right and holds the shot on an empty white hallway. This visual image communicates so much about the emptiness of Travis' life as it travels that lonely corridor.
A second favorite shot of mine happens immediately after the bloodbath in the cheap hotel. With numerous victims down and bloodied, the camera moves overhead for a tracking shot that slowly puts the whole scene into perspective. * Note: Scorcese was forced to tone down the colors of the blood in this scene to avoid an X rating.
Another sign of Scorcese's attention to camera detail rests in how he deliberately makes his camera movements, angles, and framing fit the film's theme and purpose. For example, examine how Travis' loneliness is accentuated by having him framed alone in nearly every single shot. Not only is Travis telling us how he is alone, the camera is literally showing us his utter isolation.
Scorcese is extremely organized and visionary, yet he does allow for some flexibility when he directs a film. The humorous scenes with a jealous Albert Brooks peering at Travis and Betsy from a distance would never have occurred had Scorcese not allowed Brooks to create his character. In fact the most well known scene and quotations from Taxi Driver would never have occurred had Scorcese not allowed DeNiro to improvise. Can you imagine this film without:
"You talking to me?
You talking to me?
You talking to me?
Then who the Hell else you talking to?
You talking to me?
Well, I'm the only one here."
Sound
A great deal of credit for the sense of foreboding that accompanies this gothic New York City movie must go to Bernard Herrmann (of Hitchcock fame), who finished his Taxi Driver score just hours before he died. There are two major themes that we hear throughout the film. One consists of percussion sounds and discords, and we often hear this in connection with the sleaze and scum. The other is a jazzy sound, dreamily evocative of romantic New York with a solo saxophone standing out with the melody line. We especially notice this when Travis is observing his angel, Betsy. There is also a trace of melancholy in Herrmann's score that matches the tone and theme of the film.
Conclusion
Taxi Driver is a film that I enjoy revisiting, but not for the reasons that many friends of mine do. Many of them would just as soon fast forward to the bloody climax. I find Taxi Driver such a powerful film that many scenes are replayed inside my head even without the video or DVD in hand. That's because Scorcese, Schrader, Herrmann, and DeNiro collaborated to make a true work of art.
Not to worry! I have no desire to become a Travis Bickle and "take this city and … just flush it down the #@$% toilet." Sometimes I might wish we could do that to some really bad movies, but this one is one of the great movies. I feel like the investment in the DVD version was worth it.
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