This is the thread in which Jacktor and I discuss our favorite movies and hope to hear some intelligent comments from other RMer's. I'll start with the first movie, but Jacktor gets the first response before I give my opinion:

Taxi Driver

K, Its been a while since I have seen Taxi Driver, but I studied it extensively in College in a pop-culture class. (Great first choice BTW dirty) I really like this movie and scorsese in his early days with the gritty feel his movies had. You have to credit Paul Schrader who wrote this book. If you haven't read easy riders,raging bulls or you'll never eat lunch in this town again you must they are essential to understandning hollywood and the first wave directors.

On a side note, comically my favorite part is when Travis Bickel shoots the pimp at the end of the movie and the wound almost has a Monty Python effect. I know it wasn't suppose to be funny, but it is and you feel for any director making a movie on a shoe-string budget

Taxi Driver was the movie that changed my life. It made me look at movies in a different manner than just pure entertainment. I first saw Taxi Driver my senior year in high school, so I made an immediate connection with the film given its themes of rebellion and defiance.

DeNiro opened my eyes to the beauty of acting. He lost himself in the role and created a character that was disgusting and beautiful at the same time. It's very easy for us to hate Travis Bickle, but at the same time it's hard for us not to relate in some manner. This is one of the first movies to comment on the depression that many Vietnam vets suffered from, but did so on the periphery of the narrative.

Travis' voiceover is what drives the story. At some points he seems like a simpleton, yet at other points he seems like a desperate, lonely man looking for salvation. This conflict is the ultimate sign of character development, because we don't know how Travis will react to any given situation.

This movie is usually noted because of its violence, but it's quite tame compared to the modern movie. The high point of this film, at least for me, is the scene in which Travis is watching American Bandstand. He's sitting alone in his decrepit apartment, holding one of his guns, as he watches two teenagers on the show dance to Jackson Browne's "Late For the Sky." We don't know if that's the song they're dancing to or if that's just the soundtrack to fit Travis' narrative, but it works either way. It shows his solitude and makes the audience understand his plight.

This is my favorite movie, and I have broken it down so many times in film classes that I feel like I was a part of the production. Scorsese has made plenty of great movies, but this one stands apart from the rest not only for what it contains, but for what it lacks. Brilliant on all parts.

the common break down in film classes with this movie is the symbolism. Travis' name being similar to Travel which is essentially what he does through out the movie not only physically but emotional. His character is the classic example of the Joseph Campbell prototype (ie the heros journey) as well a the anti-hero. Hes disgusting to most, he lives a life most cant understand but in the end he has that moral code that makes him human and likeable.

jeepers creepers

I thought this was going to be about a porno the two of you made.

this damn thread is making me want to finally get around to watching this movie.

there are so many good movies i want to see, but it's hard to ever find the time or a willing companion to rent a movie that isn't the latest thing.

those are my excuses and i'll stick to them until i make my own (hd???)dvd library credible.

I have NEVER seen Taxi Driver. Shame on me

The symbolism in this movie is astounding. Scorsese has said the most important shot of the movie is the one in which Travis is talking on the phone with Betsy, and you can only hear his side of the conversation. Judging by what he's saying, it's apparant she is blowing him off and you can hear the defeat in his voice. Halfway through the conversation, the camera pans right and while we hear Travis talking off-screen, the visual is a long, empty tunnel that leads to the dark night of the dirty city. Whereas most directors would have employed the use of close-ups, Scorsese opted to keep the urban theme in the forefront.

Another stylistic trick the director uses is the extreme high-angle shot. Early in the movie, Travis tells us in the voiceover that he is "God's lonely man." Scorsese brings this statement to life a few times throughout the movie by having the camera look straight down on Travis as if God himself is watching him (most notably the tracking shot at the end of the climax). These shots also add to the feeling of isolation that Travis feels.

Part of the irony of Taxi Driver is how Travis becomes more socially comfortable while he descends into his psychosis. Compare the opening scene where he is applying for the job at the cab service vs. his breakfast with Iris. Though still awkward, he manages to relate better to people towards the end of the movie much moreso than during the beginning. Hell, there's even some dark comic relief during his conversation with Senator Pallantine's bodyguard.

And for those who have not seen it -- shame on you. I'll send you the five bucks to rent it if need be...you have to see it. It's one of the most important movies of the past 30 years, and is relevant now more than ever.

even though they dont talk about his vet status very much in the movie, i think that is where his isolation comes from, he's changed and the world is the same, I think all the talk talk talk in movies is bullshit, i would rather see emotions, isolation, and fear all expressed to me visually. It certainly makes for a smarter audience.

I agree to an extent, but the dialogue in Taxi Driver is great. A great movie has to have great dialogue, no matter how masterful the visuals are. The movies of Terrence Malick are visual masterpieces, but their stories suffer because of the scripts.

Look at the scene between Sport and Travis on the stoop (when they first meet). There's nothing visually exciting about any of the shots, but it's a fascinating scene because of how the two interact and the mini-culture clash in how they speak to each other.

I'd buy it.

Excellent posts, Frank. I really enjoyed reading your response to the movie, and I'm happy to say it's had a similar impact on me. The best part is that it can translate from a super-cool and classy fella like yourself to a dork going by "grapefruit," because the character is so intensely written and performed. His actions and beliefs really emanate to the audience and even if you don't feel like him, you may very well feel for him.

I saw this when I was very young, but I appreciated then and of course now more than I ever did how significant this film is. I didn't find it anywhere near as violent or creepy as I was warned - I was just very taken with the lead character! Travis Bickle is one of my favorite characters, in literature, in poetry, in film, in music... His thoughts read throughout the motion of this story were my favorite moments in the movie. I feel like some of those words have made cameos in my thoughts! In fact, the most palpable moment in which I realized I liked this guy so much was with these lines: "All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people." That thought became more and more powerful to me the more I got to know people.

This is obviously a great character study, where the character is hitting the utmost turning point in his life. In that way, it used to remind me of Alex in the film version of A Clockwork Orange. Both are these charming young men, however brutal and perverse their actions are, and both narrate us through this intense period of their young lives and eventually gain our sympathy. Movie villains are rarely this well thought-out and so tastefully performed, by Malcolm McDowell and Robert DeNiro for each of Alex and Travis, respectively. They share this wonderful rebellious attitude against what is accepted in their separate worlds.

Where they separate begins for me with the tone and setting of each film, and the tone of Taxi Driver is thick with rawness and grit. This has a lot to do with the location, the camerawork and lighting especially at night in Travis' taxi, and most notably, Bernard Herrmann's pulsating score. The horns were as lonely and pained as Travis himself. In the end, it remains to me one of those most defining and compelling movie scores ever written. That was a great way to go out, this being Herrmann's last movie before his death. There was definite style and class in the music, but it never lost the rawness that surrounded this film.

This is an absolutely remarkable film and an absolute must-see. There's nothing unbearable about the violence if you're someone who gets squeamish about it, so I would allow no excuse for anyone to miss out on this experience. I don't think Frank needs to send anyone the money - reading his thoughts on the movie above are moving enough to motivate anyone who hasn't seen it to buy a couple copies, and anyone who has seen it to go back to it and re-live it with his ideas in mind. Good choice to start off with, you two!

Thanks, Pamplemousse...your post was excellent as well. I find it interesting how you compare Taxi Driver with A Clockwork Orange; I never thought of them as companion pieces, but the more I think about it, they really are. A very astute observation.

The ball is in Jacktor's court as to the next movie to be picked. Hurry up, woman!!

Looks like this thread will have to be moved to another forum...

excellent damn thread