Jump to content

Taxi Driver: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
StormXor (talk | contribs)
2,726 edits
Line 174: Line 174:
In the video game [[Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories]], an unlockable taxi cab named the Bickle '76 is available after completing 100 fares in the "Taxi Driver" side mission.
In the video game [[Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories]], an unlockable taxi cab named the Bickle '76 is available after completing 100 fares in the "Taxi Driver" side mission.



===Comic books===
In the fith issue of the comic book series [[Powers (comics)|''Powers'' (comics)]] by [[Brian Michael Bendis]] and [[Michael Avon Oeming]] a man walking on the streets wears a green jacket and has a mohawk exactly like Travis.


==References==
==References==

Revision as of 05:20, 16 July 2007

Taxi Driver
File:Taxi Driver poster.JPG
Directed byMartin Scorsese
Written byPaul Schrader
Produced byJulia Phillips & Michael Phillips
StarringRobert De Niro
Jodie Foster
Harvey Keitel
Cybill Shepherd
Peter Boyle
Albert Brooks
Leonard Harris
CinematographyMichael Chapman
Edited byTom Rolf
Melvin Shapiro
Music byBernard Herrmann
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release dates
United States February 8, 1976
Australia 10 June, 1976
Running time
113 min.
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.3 Million (estimated)[1]
For other uses, see the 1976 American film.

Taxi Driver is a 1976 film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film stars Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, a lonely, isolated, and psychotic taxi driver and Jodie Foster as the teenage prostitute he attempts to save.

Synopsis

Travis Bickle (De Niro), a Marine who fought in the Vietnam War, is an alienated and mentally unstable young man of 26 from the Midwest. He suffers from chronic insomnia and takes a job as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City.[2] Travis spends his days watching pornography in seedy porn theaters and driving around aimlessly through the shadiest neighborhoods of Manhattan.

He becomes obsessed with Betsy (Shepherd), an aide for New York Senator Charles Palantine, who is running for the presidential nomination and is promising dramatic social change. She is initially intrigued by Travis and agrees to a date with him after he flirts with her and sympathizes with her own apparent loneliness. On the date, however, Travis takes her to a pornographic film, and she leaves him, disturbed.[2]

File:Taxi Driver still 5.jpg
"You talkin' to me?" Alone in his apartment, Travis postures and practices his moves in front of the mirror.

Travis feels rejected and depressed, and it triggers in him an obsession with violent assertiveness. He becomes increasingly paranoid and starts acting out his vigilante fantasies. He buys several guns and knives, and takes to carrying them secreted about to his body — taped to his limbs, for example, or in hidden spring-loaded holsters. He famously practices a menacing speech in the mirror ("You talkin' to me?"). The scene which is probably the most famous scene from the entire movie; was ad-libbed by DeNiro. Martin Scorsese and Michael Chapman kept the camera rolling; but in essence Travis' scene in front of the mirror was completely improvised and so well liked by Scorsese; that he kept it in the final cut.

Travis is horrified by what he considers the moral decay around him. Iris (Foster), a 12 year-old child prostitute, gets in his cab one night to escape her pimp.[2] Later he arranges a date with her but refuses when she offers him sex; the next day, they go have breakfast and Travis becomes obsessed with saving her, despite her lack of interest, explaining that she was "stoned" when she tried to escape, and that her pimp Matthew (Harvey Keitel), whom she calls "Sport", appears to be a kind and caring person.[2] Travis then tries to convince her to return home to her parents and go back to school, but fails. Of Sport, Travis says, "Someone has to do something to him ... he is the worst sort of ... sucking scum."[2]

File:Taxi Driver still 1.jpg
Travis Bickle with a mohawk before trying to assassinate Senator Palantine.

Travis then plans to assassinate Senator Palantine at a public rally, though his reasons for doing so remain murky. He is spotted by Secret Service men and flees.[2] Travis then desperately drives to Alphabet City and in an extremely violent finale shoots Iris's pimp Sport (Keitel), before storming into the brothel and killing the bouncer, the wounded Sport (who has followed Bickle), and Iris's mafioso customer.

A brief epilogue of sorts ends the film and shows Travis recuperating from the incident. He receives a letter from Iris's parents who thank him for saving their daughter, and the media hails him as a hero for saving her.[2] Travis returns to his job, where one of his fares is Betsy. She comments about his saving of Iris and Travis's own media fame, yet Travis denies being any sort of hero. Just before the credits roll, Travis sees something in his rear view window and quickly looks in its direction, though the viewer never gets to see what Travis does.

Production

In the original draft of the screenplay, writer Paul Schrader had written the role of Sport as a black man. There were also additions of other negative black roles. Scorsese believed that this would give the film an overly racist subtext, so they were changed to white roles. A strong undercurrent of racial tension remains, with black characters being referred to as "spooks," "jungle bunnies," and by other racial titles, as well as Travis exchanging hostile stares with black men on the street. [3]

When Travis determines to assassinate Senator Palantine, he cuts his hair into a mohawk. This detail was suggested by actor Victor Magnotta, a friend of Scorsese's who had a small role as a Secret Service agent and who had served in Vietnam. Scorsese later noted, "Magnotta had talked about certain types of soldiers going into the jungle. They cut their hair in a certain way; looked like a mohawk ... and you knew that was a special situation, a commando kind of situation, and people gave them wide berths ... we thought it was a good idea."[3]

The actress who played Iris's friend in the film was a working prostitute studied by Jodie Foster to help create her role. [3]

Controversies

File:Taxi Driver still 2.jpg
Jodie Foster as "Iris"

The climactic shoot-out was, for its era, intensely graphic. To attain an "R" rating, Scorsese desaturated the colours, making the brightly-colored blood less prominent.[4] In later interviews, Scorsese commented that he was actually pleased by the colour change and he considered it an improvement over the originally filmed scene, which has been lost. However, in the special edition DVD, Michael Chapman, the film's cinematographer, regrets the decision and the fact that no print with the unmuted colours exists anymore.

Some critics expressed concern over young Jodie Foster's presence during the climactic shoot-out. However, Foster stated that she was present during the setup and staging of the special effects used during the scene; the entire process was explained and demonstrated for her, step by step. Rather than being upset or traumatized, Foster said, she was fascinated and entertained by the behind-the-scenes preparation that went into the scene.[3] In addition, before being given the part, Foster was subjected to psychological testing to ensure that she would not be emotionally scarred by her role, in accordance with California Labor Board requirements.[5]

Interpretations of the ending

Some have seen the epilogue, in which Travis is hailed as a hero, as Travis' dying fantasy, while others see it as a real resolution of his acts. Statements by Schrader in which he said the final scenes were meant to comment on how criminals become celebrities in America's unbalanced society, seem to strongly indicate that the ending was not intended to be a fantasy. Comments by Scorsese on the ending also do not show any intent to imply that the ending is taking place only in Travis's head. Nevertheless, a large group of fans, including some film critics, still argue for this interpretation.

At the very end, as Betsy departs his cab, Travis drives away, and a curious ring sounds as Travis quickly adjusts his mirror, before the credits roll on the background of the bright and distorted city lights seen from the cab's perspective. Director Scorsese comments on this final moment in his Laserdisc commentary, mentioning that the "mirror glance" could be a symbol that Travis might fall into depression and violent rage once again in the future. However, it is still open to interpretation.

Roger Ebert has written of the film's ending,

"There has been much discussion about the ending, in which we see newspaper clippings about Travis's 'heroism' of saving Iris, and then Betsy gets into his cab and seems to give him admiration instead of her earlier disgust. Is this a fantasy scene? Did Travis survive the shoot-out? Are we experiencing his dying thoughts? Can the sequence be accepted as literally true? ... I am not sure there can be an answer to these questions. The end sequence plays like music, not drama: It completes the story on an emotional, not a literal, level. We end not on carnage but on redemption, which is the goal of so many of Scorsese's characters."[6]

James Berardinelli, in his review of the film, argues against the dream or fantasy interpretation, stating "Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader append the perfect conclusion to Taxi Driver. Steeped in irony, the five-minute epilogue underscores the vagaries of fate. The media builds Travis into a hero, when, had he been a little quicker drawing his gun against Senator Palantine, he would have been reviled as an assassin. As the film closes, the misanthrope has been embraced as the model citizen -- someone who takes on pimps, drug dealers, and mobsters to save one little girl."[7]

Cast

Critical response

Taxi Driver was a financial success and was nominated for several Academy Awards and received the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.[8] In later years, the film was ranked #52 on the American Film Institute's list of "100 Years, 100 Movies",[9] and #22 on its "100 Years, 100 Thrills".[10] Bickle was also named as #30 on their villains list.[11] It is consistently in the top 40 on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films,[12] and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.[13] Roger Ebert added Taxi Driver to his list of "Great Movies,"[14] alongside other Scorsese films also on the list such as Raging Bull, GoodFellas and The Age of Innocence. The film earned $28,262,574 in the United States.[15]

The film was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best films of all time.[2]

Awards

Template:List to prose (section) Wins

Nominations

Proposed sequels and spin-offs

In an interview on Inside the Actor's Studio in 1999, Robert De Niro stated that he and Martin Scorsese had discussed the possibility of making a sequel to this film. According to De Niro, the two agreed that it would be interesting to see where Travis Bickle ended up 30 years later. But during Scorsese's interview on the show in 2002, the director stated that he would never make a sequel to any of his films.

In May 2005 Majesco announced that it was going to publish a video game sequel to Taxi Driver, developed by Papaya Studios. [3] In January 2006 the game was canceled due to financial problems. [4]

However, an insight into the progression of Travis can perhaps be gleaned from Schrader's further scripts of isolated anti-heroes in American Gigolo and Light Sleeper, in the 1980s and 1990s respectively.

Influence

John Hinckley, Jr.

Taxi Driver was reportedly part of a delusional fantasy on the part of John Hinckley, Jr.[16][17] which triggered his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.[18][19] His stated reason was that the act was an attempt to impress Jodie Foster by mimicking Travis' mohawked appearance at the Palantine rally. The movie was so influential that his attorney concluded his defense by playing the movie.

Montreal school shooter Kimveer Gill said to have been influenced by the central character.[citation needed]

Music

Travis Bickle is referenced in various songs, including ReDimoni's song ”Terminating Rain," Lou Reed's "Doin’ The Thing That We Want To" (as part of a broader series of references to Scorsese films), Carter USM's "Travis," Smog's "37 Pushups," Beastie Boys' "High Plains Drifter," and Rancid's "Travis Bickle." Rancid also showed scenes of the film in performances on their 2006 tour. Audio from the film is sampled in West-Coast rapper Xzibit's "At the Speed of Life," Psycho Realm's "A War Story: Book 2," Tub Ring's "Alexander in Charge," Benefit's "My Story," Poison Idea's "The Badge," and Earth Crisis' "Firestorm."

The "Cursed Female" video by the band Porno for Pyros makes reference to Taxi Driver.

The Clash song Red Angel Dragnet (Appearing on the album Combat Rock) references the film many times; Paul Simonon says "Did anyone prophesise these people? Only Travis (Evidently Travis Bickle)", and then Joe Strummer sings about a "real rain coming to clean all the scum and filth from the streets". At the end of the song, Strummer also says "One of these days, I'm gonna get myself organasised", a paraphrase of the sign Travis Bickle owns.

The ”I'm Afraid of Americans” video by David Bowie is influenced by Taxi Driver. In that video Trent Reznor stalks David Bowie. In that song they both sing.

Apollo 440's song "Krupa" samples the street drummer's patter as he plays: "Now back to Gene Krupa's syncopated style" (a reference to jazz drummer Gene Krupa).

Pantera sampled dialogue from Taxi Driver on their cover of Poison Idea's "The Badge." The song was featured on the soundtrack to the movie The Crow.

Minneapolis hip-hop artist Cecil Otter includes a song called "Travis Bickle's Once Over" on his False Hopes album.

New York hip-hop group The Juggaknots sampled dialogue from Taxi Driver in the song "Loosifa," a narrative with similarities to the story of Travis Bickle.

Purification sampled dialogue in the song "Afraid of This World."

Bickle watches an American Bandstand performance of Jackson Browne's "Late For The Sky" on his apartment television set.

The Rolling Stones song "Waiting on a Friend" is based on a line of dialogue spoken by Harvey Keitel. In the music video for that song, Mick Jagger stands in the same doorway that Keitel stood in when he spoke the line.

Taxi Driver inspired the plot of the music video for Ludacris' 2007 single "Slap."

The line "All the king's men cannot put it back [together] again" was reused in "Hymn of the Big Wheel", the last song on Massive Attack's 1991 album Blue Lines. The album's booklet features a list of influences that includes Taxi Driver and Martin Scorsese as separate entries.

Film and TV

French film La Haine features a scene in which one of the central characters recreates the famous "You talkin' to me?" scene in a mirror.

In the Canadian film Bon Cop Bad Cop , one of the villains stands in front of a mirror dressed in as an NHL mascot and speaks the "you talkin' to me?" scene in a mirror

In a promo for their pay-per-view event, WrestleMania 21, many WWE personalities participated in a promo that spoofed the famous "You talkin' to me?" scene in the movie. This spoof included quick takes of different wrestlers, announcers and WWE Divas attempting to play the Travis Bickle part while saying the line. Included in the spoof: Shawn Michaels, Big Show, Hardcore Holly, Tazz, Michael Cole, Candice Michelle, Rey Misterio, Batista, and Snitsky, among others. WrestleMania's theme that year was "WrestleMania Goes Hollywood" (because the event was held in Los Angeles) and this was a part of a series of movie-spoof promos the WWE made that starred their wrestlers. Other spoofs included Dirty Harry, Pulp Fiction, When Harry Met Sally, Basic Instinct and A Few Good Men.

The second season of the Japanese anime Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex features an episode that closely mirrors Taxi Driver, detailing the delusions of a professional helicopter pilot who obsesses about a cyborg prostitute and entertains ideas about killing the Prime Minister of Japan along with other "scum."

In "The Best Christmas Story Never" from American Dad!, Stan travels back in time and takes Martin Scorsese off drugs. As a result, Taxi Driver is never made and Hinckley never tries to kill Reagan. This causes him to lose to Walter Mondale and the country is surrendered to the Soviet Union. Stan goes back in time again to make Taxi Driver, but gets rid of Robert De Niro and casts the role of Travis to John Wayne. Hinckley is then unimpressed by the film and history is saved by Stan shooting Reagan (who is his Republican idol) himself.

In Behind Enemy Lines II, James and Callaghan escape the North Korean compound in a taxi intended to resemble the taxi in in Taxi Driver.

In the episode of "That 70's Show" titled "Hunting", Eric states that he learned to shoot during his "Taxi Driver phase".

In the third season of Batman: The Animated Series in an episode titled "Lock-Up" the main character closely resembles "Travis" in Taxi Driver, detailing the delusions of a highly trained security guard who obsesses about locking up the Mayor of Gotham along with other "scum". There is also a scene in which he kicks over the television and walks out of the room, just as De Niro did.

In an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast which features Bobcat Goldthwait and The Ramones as guests, there is a short scene where Space Ghost says "You talkin' to me?" as he looks at himself in the monitor.

In the South Park Episode, "Weight Gain 4000," Mr. Garrison attempts to assassinate Kathy Lee Gifford in a manner parodying "Taxi Driver"

In Polish comedy "Kiler" main character is a taxi driver who is believed to be a professional hit-man. At one point in the movie he practices talking like a criminal using words from "Taxi Driver".

In an episode of "The Simpsons" titled "Burns' Heir", Moe is seen looking into the mirror and talking to himself, similar to Travis Bickle.

A 1995 episode of Saturday Night Live had Taxi Driver being done in an opera format, such as showing Travis and Iris singing a duet about how "Iris, you have only spent fifteen summers in this world but you have seen so much" or dark music playing when Travis shoots people telling everyone "You talking to me" (a combination of the shooting and famous mirror scene).

In an episode of the Canadian mockumentary television series "Trailer Park Boys", a Travis Bickle lookalike, complete with green jacket, mohawk, and sunglasses, can be seen briefly in the crowd as a drunken Jim Lahey delivers a speech from a small outdoor stage for his bid to be re-elected as trailer park supervisor.

Video games

In the first Grand Theft Auto game one of the available with the default name "Travis" sports a mohawk and wears a green jacket

In the video game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, an unlockable taxi cab named the Bickle '76 is available after completing 100 fares in the "Taxi Driver" side mission.


References

  1. ^ IMDb Taxi Driver: Business http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/business
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Taxi Driver 1976. Columbia Pictures
  3. ^ a b c d Making "Taxi Driver" DVD Documentary [1]
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference All Movie was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Foster interview by Boze Hadleigh (March/June 1992)
  6. ^ Ebert's Review of Taxi Driver Rogerebert.com 1 January 2004. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  7. ^ http://movie-reviews.colossus.net/movies/t/taxi.html
  8. ^ Canes Film Festival Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  9. ^ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  10. ^ AFI's 100 Years... 100 Trills Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  11. ^ AFI 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villians Accessed 14 March 2007.
  12. ^ IMDb Top 250 movies as voted by our users Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  13. ^ Films Selected to The National Film Registry, Library of Congress, 1989-2005 Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  14. ^ Roger Ebert's List of Great Movies Rogerebert.com Added to the list 1 January 2004. Retrieved 10 March 2007.
  15. ^ Box Office Mojo - Taxi Driver Retrieved 31 March 2007.
  16. ^ Taxi Driver: Its Influence on John Hinckley, Jr.
  17. ^ Taxi Driver by Denise Noe
  18. ^ The John Hinckley Trial & Its Effect on the Insanity Defense by Kimberly Collins, Gabe Hinkebein, and Staci Schorgl
  19. ^ Verdict and Uproar by Denise Noe

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Taxi Driver.
Preceded by Palme d'Or
1976 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Taxi_Driver&oldid=144939145"