The Ride is Over

This will conclude my Taxi Driver blog. I enjoyed putting it together very much. I found things in the film that I had never noticed and rediscovered things that I had long forgotten.

One thing has stayed the same, though, Taxi Driver is still one of my favorite films of all time. I've seen it nearly twenty times and it never gets old.

Purely as a fan, I'd love to see a sequel, but not some sort of self-ingratiating trash that turns Travis into Dirty Harry. I'd like to see something like Scorsese did with The Color of Money, but he didn't direct The Hustler. That being said, who could take the helm to finish Travis's story? Who would write it? Would De Niro even be interested?

The answer to all of these questions is nobody and no, but it's nice to wonder about.

The Sounds of the City

Taxi Driver is rich with aural stimulation. From the ambient sounds of New York City to Travis's wounded narration, there is so much for us to sink our teeth into, but what really drives the film is Bernard Herrmann's brilliant score.

Herrmann was born in NYC in 1911 and scored such greats as Citizen Kane, Psycho (he was Alfred Hitchcock's favorite composer), and The Day the Earth Stood Still.

The sounds are all around us: The water splashing from a puddle as Bickle's taxi drives through, the torrid sounds of a Times Square porno theater, the muffled bustle of a seedy cafeteria, and the blaring gun shots of a .44 magnum are just some of what's on tap for our ears to feast upon.

And, of course, Bernard Herrmann's score is setting the mood for the duration. Arguably, the film could stand alone and still have just as much impact, but the saxophone and the oboe fill us with that suspense that Herrmann excelled at for his entire career.

I've never been to New York City, but when I do make it there, I bet I'll hear Bernard Herrmann's music floating through my mind at some point.

Tom Rolf and Melvin Shapiro: Editors

Taxi Driver's editors took a traditional approach to cutting, but for a story such as this, the straight forward style compliments the whole. The story and the actors' performances are so engrossing that an experimental style of editing would have changed the tone of the film all together.

Melvin Shapiro was a prolific editor throughout his career. He mainly worked on television projects.

Tom Rolf is one of the most respected and sought after editors in the industry. He was born in 1931 in Stockholm, Sweden, he fought as a Marine in the Korean Conflict, and is a former surfer. He is also a member of American Cinema Editors (A.C.E.) and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Rolf has edited forty eight motion pictures (two for Scorsese), including The Right Stuff, Jacob's Ladder,and Heat.

Are You Lookin' At Me?

The camera movement of Taxi Driver is all about apprehension. We are made to feel as if we are walking on eggshells with Scorsese's choice of movements. The camera is a voyeur in a twisted little world, hiding things we want to see while staring into the abyss, refusing to look away.

A scene mentioned in an earlier blog was what Scorsese considers to be the turning point of the film, and the movement of the camera is the exclamation point on this scene. When Travis is on the phone being dropped by Betsy the camera tracks right to show a long empty hallway, but we still hear Travis's agonizing rejection; This makes the scene all the more uncomfortable.

The scene in which Travis purchases his weapons has a shot that displays the enormity of a situation through a simple right pan. As Travis waves his hand over the collection of guns, the camera follows his hand, as if he is ordaining these firearms to be his tools of justice.

The shot of Travis when we first see him with a mo hawk was built to surprise. The camera at dog's eye as it tracks right past a line of people until we get to Travis. The camera stops and pans right and tilts upward revealing only his torso as shakes a few pills from a bottle. When he brings his hand to his mouth, the camera cranes up to reveal Travis's new hairstyle. This shot breeds great anticipation with a startle at its conclusion.

Every scene in Taxi Driver is wonderfully constructed, leaving the audience satisfied while still wanting more.

A Taxi Packed with Talent

It is easy to imagine why Robert Deniro was chosen by Martin Scorsese to be the lead in Taxi Driver. He had worked with him three years earlier on Mean Streets and he was fresh off of a best supporting actor win for The Godfather Part II. And, come on, it's De Niro for christ's sake, but what about the rest of the cast?

Jodie Foster had also worked with Scorsese on 1974's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore and at age thirteen, she was already an industry pro. The camera has always loved Foster and the chemistry between her and De Niro was evident.

Cybill Shepherd was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1972 for her work in The Last Picture Show and gave a solid performance as Betsy, the stuck up, but alluring campaigner.

Harvey Keitel worked with on Mean Streets with De Niro and Scorsese in 1973. Keitel has always been a versatile force in the acting world. His performance in Mean Streets evoked compassion and empathy, whereas his work in Taxi Driver breeds only disgust.

Peter Boyle is charming as The Wizard. He takes a small role and makes it eternally memorable. He is akin to a father figure for Travis, but there is no salvation in store for God's lonely man.

Albert Brooks brings a quirky distraction from the ensuing darkness of the film. Along with great onscreen chemistry with Cybill Shepherd, his comedic talent is evident without taking over a scene.

And as for Martin Scorsese casting himself as the lovesick psychopath that introduces Travis to the idea of a .44 magnum, it's just brilliant. The scene is one of the most captivating in the entire film, and De Niro's performance, without speaking a single word, plays perfectly off of Scorsese's madness.

The film is filled with many other great performances, like Steven Prince as the gun dealing, drug dealing lowlife who sells Travis his weapons or Richard Higgs as the friendly secret service man. Though De Niro is the focus, he is surrounded by talented individuals that lift him higher and higher.

Mise en Scene

We are in a dingy, cramped New York apartment. Our only company is some whack job who is always playing with his .44 magnum and talking to himself in the mirror, but we feel safe in this womb of despair. We could not feel this way without Mise en Scene.

With the vision of director, Martin Scorsese and D.P., Michael Chapman, New York City is a cavalcade of claustrophobia. Travis's tiny apartment, his little yellow cab, the closing walls of a putrid brothel, and even the wide aerial shots feel stifling, but stifling in a good way. We are transported into Travis's world. Can you smell the smells? Can feel the humidity of the summer in New york? I can. The atmosphere is so rich and thick that I feel inside the film every time that I watch it.

Scorsese uses Mise en Scene to convey Travis's isolation. The scene in which Travis is on a pay phone with Betsy starts as a medium shot with De Niro's back to us, but as the conversation becomes desperate the camera dollies right to reveal a long empty hallway. Scorsese has said that this was to convey that the conversation was to painful and pathetic to bear.

There are bird's eye full shots of De Niro lying on an army cot that make me feel as if I am the proverbial fly on the wall. It is his private time and the audience is not welcome there, so we must spy. The most visually striking shots are the bird's eye in the brothel after the massacre. The walls are high and confining as the lens moves over the carnage. It is almost as if the screen is screaming in shock and horror.

The whole film feels closed even if the scenes are open. The vastness of New York feels just like being on acid in an open field. The spaces are wide and uncharted, but you can't help but feel imprisoned by your own aura.

Who is Travis Bickle?

Travis Bickle is many things: a veteran, a cab driver, a sociopath, and a storyteller. He speaks to the audience through most of the film. This narrator is not talking to us, but he is feeding his own madness. Travis's perception is perpetually bent, so this makes him a unreliable narrator.

Fact of the matter is that Travis is the only person who can tell this story. After all, the movie is called Taxi Driver, not 12 Year Old Prostitute, White Pimp, or Campaigner. If we were to hear this story from anybody else, it would be a completely different organism. Conversely, if the film was third person and objective, it would most likely lose all of its tone and theme.

There could be no Taxi Driver without a taxi driver and there could be no Travis Bickle without Robert De Niro.

Paul Schrader: Writer/Director

Paul Schrader was born in 1946 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He and his brother, Leonard, found an outlet in storytelling during a strict upbringing. Schrader is one of the most prolific and successful screenwriters in Hollywood, penning such classics as Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ, and of course, Taxi Driver

On the character of Travis Bickle:

"When I set out to write the script I thought it was about loneliness. As I wrote it I realized it was about something a little different and more interesting: self-imposed loneliness; a syndrome of behavior that reinforces itself. And the touchstones of that kind of behavior are all kinds of contradictory impulses. Puristanism & pornography at the same time...'I've got to get healthy' while popping pills at the same time...That dreadful diet...It's full of these things that he does to make sure he'll never get to where he's going...so he can reinforce his own doomed condition."

He has also had great success as a director, sitting at the helm of such films as Blue Collar, Light Sleeper, and the Academy Award winning, Affiliction.

Michael Chapman, D.P.

Michael Chapman was born November 21, 1935 in NYC. His first film, as a cinematographer was 1973's "The Last Detail" starring Jack Nicholson. When he tackled "Taxi Driver" in 1976, he had three films under his belt. Chapman would work with Scorsese on four more projects.

Chapman used warm lighting on Taxi Driver. The film is visually dark, but the lights of NYC shine brightly. The lighting feels very natural and unobtrusive, but it is also very drab, which fits with the film. The actors often come from the darkness to the light as if they don't truly exist until they are visible on screen.

Chapman has been very successful, working with directors, such as Ivan Reitman, Joel
Schumacher, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Richard Donner, Andrew Davis, and many others. Chapman moved to directing in the 1983 Tom Cruise vehicle, All the Right Moves. He directed three more movies into the 1990s. He has also acted in sixteen films, including The Abyss, Kindergarten Cop, and Rising Sun.

What is Taxi Driver?

Taxi Driver was directed by Martin Scorsese in 1976. It stars Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks. The film's social relevance is still evident today. Lines uttered by an improvising De Niro have been lampooned and imatated to death, but that is true for one simple reason: The film is brilliant.

The protagonist, Travis Bickle (De Niro), is a Vietnam War veteran who served with the Marines. He is now home and looking for work, so he takes a job driving nights for a New York City taxi company. He sounds like an upstanding citizen ready to contribute to society, right? The latter is correct in a sense, but what he wants to contribute is as much a mystery to the audience as it is to Travis.

Travis is "God's lonely man" as he puts it. Awareness of taboos and mores being smothered by a social boa constrictor, he just can't seem to get what he wants, and that is a normal life. Travis wants a girlfriend, a steady job, and a purpose. He has the job, and with a childlike confidence, he woos a young woman, Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), into having pie with him. Travis is on his way toward the American dream! Until...

He takes Betsy to a porno theater for their second date. She rushes from the moviehouse, horrified, leaving Travis befuddled and alone. He has the job, he has no girl. This is where he focuses on his purpose. He wants to clean the streets up, but his conflict is internal. The true antagonist is Travis, himself, his demons.

Everybody has pretended to be interviewed on a late night talk show or accepting the Oscar. We all want our fifteen minutes; we want to matter. This is where "Taxi Driver" touches so many. We need something to fill our empty lives, but how far would we go to fill the void? I want to win an Oscar; Travis wants to kill pimps and presidental candidates.

Travis represents a segment of the population far more common than one would want to think. The freaks, outcasts, and the eternally lost, but, except for the tragedies, the public doesn't hear about all of the lonely people. Paul McCartney once asked, "all of the lonely people, where do they all come from?" We are everywhere.

What kind of reviewer am I?

I believe that my approach to film review is very eclectic, but I am mainly a theorist in the vein of realism. I am definitely concerned with how the story is presented and if it is able to suspend my disbelief. I do rely heavily on historiography and the auteur theory. I am always concerned about what impact earlier filmmakers have had on modern film. It fascinating to explore what and inspires directors, writers, and actors to pursue and execute their craft. In conclusion, I consider myself a theorist of realism.