WEBVTT - Taxi Driver Review | Archive 0:00:21.244 --> 0:00:24.604 Film Spotting is presented by Regal Unlimited, the all you 0:00:24.645 --> 0:00:27.565 can watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in 0:00:27.685 --> 0:00:31.365 just two visits. See any standard two D movie anytime 0:00:31.725 --> 0:00:34.845 with no blackoutdates or restrictions. Sign up now on the 0:00:34.885 --> 0:00:37.284 Regal app or at the link in our description and 0:00:37.445 --> 0:00:41.685 use code film spot twenty six to receive fifteen percent off. 0:00:42.445 --> 0:00:44.805 Wednesdays are when we like to drop something from the 0:00:44.845 --> 0:00:49.925 Film Spotting Archive, that massive collection that's available at all 0:00:49.965 --> 0:00:52.925 times to Film Spotting family members. But on Wednesdays we 0:00:53.004 --> 0:00:56.085 share something with all of you. Now, on Friday Show, 0:00:56.125 --> 0:00:59.204 we're going to take another look at Best Picture nominee 0:00:59.245 --> 0:01:02.124 one battle after another. That's coming ahead, But right now, 0:01:02.365 --> 0:01:04.884 for this week's Archive Show, we have a film released 0:01:05.245 --> 0:01:08.005 fifty years ago this weekend that went on to be 0:01:08.045 --> 0:01:12.604 nominated for four Oscars a year later, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver. 0:01:13.125 --> 0:01:13.884 Yeah, how about that? 0:01:13.925 --> 0:01:17.485 Best Picture, Best Actor for de Niro, Best Supporting Actress 0:01:17.565 --> 0:01:22.084 for Jodie Foster, and score Bernard Hermann. Josh it lost 0:01:22.164 --> 0:01:25.884 all four? How about that? Did we forget to mention 0:01:26.045 --> 0:01:29.725 Martin Scorsese's nomination? No, we did not, Because Martin Scorsese 0:01:30.164 --> 0:01:34.884 did not get nominated. We have actually reviewed Taxi Driver 0:01:35.365 --> 0:01:38.604 twice on the show. We did discuss it as part 0:01:38.604 --> 0:01:41.684 of our seven from seventy six Best Year Ever series. 0:01:41.765 --> 0:01:44.964 That's what you're gonna hear first. But I was talking 0:01:44.964 --> 0:01:46.605 to Sam and I said, you know, why not as 0:01:46.645 --> 0:01:48.925 a little treat, let's really dip into the archive. Let's 0:01:48.965 --> 0:01:52.925 make it a two fer. Originally, twenty eleven, Dana Stevens 0:01:52.965 --> 0:01:56.325 guest hosted with me and we talked about this show 0:01:56.885 --> 0:02:01.325 as part of a thirty fifth anniversary conversation. We did 0:02:01.325 --> 0:02:04.485 that along with our top five Robert de Niro scenes. 0:02:04.525 --> 0:02:07.684 So me and you and me and Dana talking about 0:02:07.725 --> 0:02:08.644 the film Taxi Driver. 0:02:08.685 --> 0:02:09.205 How about that? 0:02:09.565 --> 0:02:11.965 Lots of Taxi Driver talk. You had to go to 0:02:12.005 --> 0:02:14.885 the archive, the basement of the archives, yes, to get 0:02:14.925 --> 0:02:17.485 that other one, and yeah, double dip. 0:02:17.325 --> 0:02:17.765 Here for you. 0:02:18.045 --> 0:02:21.565 There you go from March twenty twenty one, here is 0:02:21.565 --> 0:02:24.845 that seven from seventy six conversation, and then way back 0:02:24.965 --> 0:02:27.285 to twenty eleven, myself and Danas Stevens. 0:02:27.805 --> 0:02:29.725 You just want to go out and again, you know, 0:02:29.845 --> 0:02:32.364 like really really really. 0:02:32.165 --> 0:02:33.125 Do something. 0:02:35.805 --> 0:02:36.405 Taxi life. 0:02:36.445 --> 0:02:42.484 You mean, well, knot's. 0:02:44.644 --> 0:02:54.245 Oh, I just want to go out I really, I 0:02:54.285 --> 0:02:57.445 really want to got some bad ideas in my head. 0:02:57.484 --> 0:02:57.845 I just. 0:02:59.605 --> 0:02:59.685 So. 0:02:59.845 --> 0:03:03.605 Taxi Driver released in February of nineteen seventy six. It 0:03:03.764 --> 0:03:06.844 won the Palm d'Or at the can Film Festival that May, 0:03:07.325 --> 0:03:10.405 and went on to become the seventeenth highest grossing film 0:03:10.484 --> 0:03:14.565 of the year, Nominated for four Oscars, including Best Picture. 0:03:14.965 --> 0:03:18.845 Scorsese himself, however, not nominated for Best Director. That didn't 0:03:18.845 --> 0:03:23.205 happen until Raging Bull. The screenwriter of Taxi Driver, Paul Schrader, 0:03:23.285 --> 0:03:26.924 also not nominated. However, Robert de Niro and Jodi Foster. 0:03:27.044 --> 0:03:30.445 They both got acting nods, along with the posthumous nomination 0:03:30.565 --> 0:03:37.005 for composer Bernard Herman, who died shortly after completing the score. Now, Adam, 0:03:37.125 --> 0:03:39.445 I'm not even going to try to compete with your 0:03:39.485 --> 0:03:42.445 brilliant recent silence of the Lambs set up when you 0:03:42.525 --> 0:03:45.925 played Hannibal Lecter. Instead, I'm just going to steal a 0:03:46.005 --> 0:03:49.525 question that our producer Sam posed about Taxi Driver in 0:03:49.605 --> 0:03:52.405 this week's Film Spotting newsletter. And if you want to 0:03:52.445 --> 0:03:55.605 get that weekly email from Sam, just sign up at 0:03:55.605 --> 0:03:59.725 filmspotting dot net slash newsletter. In it es listeners would 0:03:59.805 --> 0:04:05.365 Travis Bickle have participated in the January sixth Capitol riot. Now, 0:04:05.405 --> 0:04:08.365 I'll admit this wasn't on my mind as I contemplated 0:04:08.405 --> 0:04:09.964 revisiting Taxi Driver. 0:04:10.285 --> 0:04:11.045 But it should have been. 0:04:11.485 --> 0:04:14.685 In my book Movies Are Prayers, I included Taxi Driver 0:04:14.925 --> 0:04:17.565 along with another best year ever title that we've considered, 0:04:17.645 --> 0:04:20.685 nineteen ninety nine's Fight Club, in the chapter on movies 0:04:20.725 --> 0:04:22.205 as prayers of anger. 0:04:22.965 --> 0:04:23.365 Anger. 0:04:23.765 --> 0:04:27.885 I'd say, a particularly male white American anger was definitely 0:04:27.925 --> 0:04:29.964 on display by those who attack. 0:04:29.725 --> 0:04:30.604 The Capitol Building. 0:04:31.165 --> 0:04:34.085 And yeah, it's probably one of the defining qualities of 0:04:34.165 --> 0:04:37.724 Robert De Niro's Travis Bickle. So I'm really curious to 0:04:37.725 --> 0:04:40.964 hear what you think of Sam's question, Adam, do you 0:04:40.964 --> 0:04:44.205 also see some similarities between what happened earlier this year 0:04:44.245 --> 0:04:47.685 in DC and what we see in Taxi Driver? And 0:04:47.765 --> 0:04:51.445 are there maybe some important distinctions we should also consider? 0:04:52.844 --> 0:04:57.525 Well, I do think Taxi Driver poses a bit of 0:04:57.565 --> 0:05:01.365 a challenge if you try to suggest that it's too 0:05:01.445 --> 0:05:06.765 timely or speaks to our current situation, Because one, this 0:05:06.844 --> 0:05:10.125 is a movie that is so distinctly a nineteen seventies 0:05:10.205 --> 0:05:14.445 movie made in nineteen seventies New York, and there is 0:05:14.525 --> 0:05:18.205 specific content within the film that covers that sort of 0:05:18.245 --> 0:05:22.005 social and political malaise that we all id identify with 0:05:22.445 --> 0:05:26.844 America in the nineteen seventies. Palatine's message when he's giving 0:05:26.844 --> 0:05:31.365 his rallies definitely is touching on that, even stylistically, Josh 0:05:31.404 --> 0:05:34.125 the end of the film, and I didn't have a 0:05:34.245 --> 0:05:36.565 chance to fully verify all this. I'm going off of 0:05:36.605 --> 0:05:39.005 my notes from the last time we talked about this 0:05:39.085 --> 0:05:41.085 movie here on the show. It was myself and Slate's 0:05:41.165 --> 0:05:44.165 Dana Stevens on the movie's thirty fifth anniversary, so ten 0:05:44.245 --> 0:05:47.364 years ago April twenty eleven, we talked about it. But 0:05:47.565 --> 0:05:50.805 the reason why you get that really jarring shift in 0:05:51.445 --> 0:05:55.245 the way the film actually looks at the end when 0:05:55.284 --> 0:05:58.045 all the violence and bloodshed is happening, I believe has 0:05:58.045 --> 0:06:01.645 something to do with them having to desaturate it and 0:06:01.725 --> 0:06:05.964 make it somehow less gory to appease. 0:06:06.005 --> 0:06:07.485 The MPAA or something. 0:06:07.565 --> 0:06:10.805 So you've got that aspect which probably wouldn't happen today 0:06:10.805 --> 0:06:14.364 if Taxi Driver was being released. And the film is 0:06:14.404 --> 0:06:18.924 also so completely told from Travis's point of view that 0:06:19.005 --> 0:06:22.805 whether or not Travis is representative of some larger disillusionment 0:06:22.805 --> 0:06:26.605 and anger is really almost impossible to gauge. I mean, 0:06:26.645 --> 0:06:29.044 even these rallies that Palatine's ad, it's not like there's 0:06:29.125 --> 0:06:32.085 a ton of people in the crowd. The other cabbys 0:06:32.165 --> 0:06:34.044 that he interacts with, they don't seem to really be 0:06:34.165 --> 0:06:37.364 of a similar political mindset or bent at all. He 0:06:37.725 --> 0:06:42.085 is unique and Taxi Driver is unique. But I'm going 0:06:42.165 --> 0:06:44.565 to give you here a contradiction that I think is 0:06:44.645 --> 0:06:47.805 fitting for a movie that is full of them. I did, 0:06:47.844 --> 0:06:51.284 on this viewing, find it more timely than ever, and 0:06:51.365 --> 0:06:53.965 yet somehow I didn't connect with it. I didn't connect 0:06:53.964 --> 0:06:57.005 with the material the same way I did ten years ago. 0:06:57.325 --> 0:06:59.685 And maybe that's because I saw it on the big screen. 0:06:59.964 --> 0:07:02.685 Then it was re released for that anniversary, and when 0:07:02.725 --> 0:07:04.485 the Blu ray came out, so I actually got to 0:07:04.525 --> 0:07:06.564 see it, and it felt like the first time because 0:07:06.565 --> 0:07:09.325 it had been so long since I had previously seen 0:07:09.565 --> 0:07:12.205 the film. Certainly I had my full attention on the 0:07:12.205 --> 0:07:15.005 film in the theater versus the distractions and the burnout 0:07:15.045 --> 0:07:18.525 that come with watching things at home these days. But 0:07:19.205 --> 0:07:21.805 maybe Josh, it gets back to your quot. Maybe the 0:07:22.085 --> 0:07:24.965 disconnect for me this time which let me be clear 0:07:25.285 --> 0:07:27.885 still saying it's a great film, But maybe the reason 0:07:27.885 --> 0:07:30.205 it didn't quite resonate with me as much this time 0:07:30.285 --> 0:07:34.805 is related to that timeliness. Not that I'm any more 0:07:34.925 --> 0:07:38.645 or less sympathetic towards Travis Bickle here ten years later, 0:07:38.685 --> 0:07:40.885 I don't know where you even start with the sympathy 0:07:40.965 --> 0:07:45.085 question with Travis Bickell, But with Dana in twenty eleven, 0:07:45.125 --> 0:07:49.085 I made the point that Travis doesn't hate Palatine, even 0:07:49.125 --> 0:07:52.445 though obviously he plans to assassinate him. There's this larger 0:07:52.525 --> 0:07:55.085 kind of sense of alienation on his part that he 0:07:55.285 --> 0:07:59.045 is tapping into. And maybe that's what frustrates him so much, 0:07:59.125 --> 0:08:01.285 is that there's the sense of futility and he needs 0:08:01.325 --> 0:08:03.085 a target, he needs someone to take it out on. 0:08:03.605 --> 0:08:07.045 And I said then that today we're so divided culturally 0:08:07.085 --> 0:08:09.485 and politically, the bickles out there can easily find a 0:08:09.525 --> 0:08:12.885 target to take down. I actually invoked Jared Lee Loughner 0:08:13.365 --> 0:08:15.925 back in that review in Arizona twenty eleven, ended up 0:08:16.005 --> 0:08:21.405 killing six people, I think, and shot US Representative Gabby Diffords. 0:08:21.885 --> 0:08:25.725 And that seems almost quaint now, doesn't it? Me invoking 0:08:26.125 --> 0:08:30.245 that figure ten years later, our cultural and political divide 0:08:30.845 --> 0:08:33.525 is obviously that chasm has just grown. We've got the 0:08:33.605 --> 0:08:36.645 racial unrest that has been heightened over the past year 0:08:36.765 --> 0:08:39.645 or two. And then you've got those insurrectionists you mentioned 0:08:39.685 --> 0:08:42.564 storming the capitol. I mean, on some level, yes, aren't 0:08:42.565 --> 0:08:45.405 they all Travis Bickle? And then you factor in two 0:08:45.445 --> 0:08:48.205 how much of Travis's rage is driven not only by 0:08:48.325 --> 0:08:52.805 racial animus but also anger towards women, which that's very 0:08:52.805 --> 0:08:56.645 clear as well. But Sam also not only gave you 0:08:56.684 --> 0:09:00.285 great fodder for your setup, he made a great comment 0:09:00.325 --> 0:09:03.125 to me and our slack, which was, you know, Travis 0:09:03.125 --> 0:09:06.285 Bickle in nineteen seventy six was really dangerous, but at 0:09:06.365 --> 0:09:09.285 least he was isolated. You know, I mentioned his community 0:09:09.405 --> 0:09:11.245 if you will. It was just those other cabbies and 0:09:11.245 --> 0:09:13.125 he has nothing in common with them, and they don't 0:09:13.165 --> 0:09:16.165 really seem to want to hang out with him much either. 0:09:16.804 --> 0:09:20.005 But now, as Sam pointed out, everything he's engaging in, 0:09:20.525 --> 0:09:24.885 whether it's the porn, the journal writing, the stalking, that's 0:09:24.885 --> 0:09:27.565 all just moved online, in Sam's words, over the last 0:09:27.605 --> 0:09:30.365 half century, right, So he's no longer a dangerous loaner. Again, 0:09:30.405 --> 0:09:32.084 these are Sam's words. I want to get them right, 0:09:32.125 --> 0:09:35.605 because they're very eloquent. Now instead of being a dangerous loaner, 0:09:35.845 --> 0:09:40.525 he can join a community of dangerous loaners. And again, 0:09:40.564 --> 0:09:42.485 it's not really for me about whether I'm more or 0:09:42.525 --> 0:09:45.725 less sympathetic to this gun toting in cell, but maybe 0:09:45.765 --> 0:09:49.804 I am a little fatigued the way the damage done 0:09:50.005 --> 0:09:53.325 by damaged people like Travis has warned me out to 0:09:53.365 --> 0:09:56.125 the point where I'm a little less enamored with the 0:09:56.125 --> 0:09:58.765 filmmaking and the boldness of the vision. And I'll just 0:09:58.804 --> 0:10:00.605 say too, you know, we talk about some of this 0:10:00.684 --> 0:10:05.405 high minded stuff and that disillusionment and alienation. The reality 0:10:05.485 --> 0:10:10.245 is that Schrader has scripted something pretty elemental here, which 0:10:10.285 --> 0:10:13.084 is maybe why it's ultimately so profound and revealing still 0:10:13.125 --> 0:10:16.365 so many years later. Our friend Brett Merriman out in 0:10:16.525 --> 0:10:19.365 La quoted Paul Schrader's comments from an interview in his 0:10:19.485 --> 0:10:22.645 Letterbox Review, where Strader said the script is simple. The 0:10:22.684 --> 0:10:25.165 girl he wants he can't have, and the girl he 0:10:25.205 --> 0:10:27.925 can have he doesn't want. So he tries to kill 0:10:27.965 --> 0:10:30.525 the father of the first girl and fails, but succeeds 0:10:30.525 --> 0:10:33.045 in killing the father of the second girl. That's about it, 0:10:33.365 --> 0:10:36.005 Paul Schrader says, but it is right. Palatine is a 0:10:36.045 --> 0:10:39.525 revenge target because of Betsy's rejection, and Sport is a 0:10:39.564 --> 0:10:45.125 revenge target because of Iris's illicit and unnatural acceptance which 0:10:45.205 --> 0:10:47.445 he can't deal with. So I don't know if I 0:10:47.445 --> 0:10:49.325 got around to answering your question or not. There are 0:10:49.365 --> 0:10:52.005 certainly things about it that make it distinct and make 0:10:52.045 --> 0:10:55.125 it feel uniquely of its time, and make Travis Bickel 0:10:55.325 --> 0:10:57.724 feel uniquely of his time, and then there's so much 0:10:57.765 --> 0:11:00.205 about it that feels so relevant today. 0:11:00.365 --> 0:11:05.045 Sadly, I understand the weariness you might have experienced with 0:11:05.085 --> 0:11:11.605 this because the realities that it showcases have ballooned and 0:11:11.725 --> 0:11:14.245 have become more in our face. And to be honest, 0:11:14.245 --> 0:11:18.325 here's a distinction. Someone like Travis, if he had popped 0:11:18.405 --> 0:11:20.565 up in the last four years, would have been in 0:11:20.684 --> 0:11:24.485 bold and by those holding the highest office in the land. 0:11:24.564 --> 0:11:25.965 And so that's a distinction as well. 0:11:26.085 --> 0:11:30.325 It's almost like Palatine, you know, would in his stump speeches, 0:11:30.365 --> 0:11:31.765 would be encouraging Travis. 0:11:32.005 --> 0:11:33.165 That's a distinction, right. 0:11:33.205 --> 0:11:36.525 That's definitely, And Josh real quick to your point. Palatine 0:11:36.525 --> 0:11:38.805 does interact with him earlier in the film before maybe 0:11:38.845 --> 0:11:42.245 Travis has has gotten full on into the headspace he 0:11:42.365 --> 0:11:45.245 ends up in, but interestingly he embraces him until he 0:11:45.285 --> 0:11:46.645 starts to sound really crazy. 0:11:46.925 --> 0:11:49.645 But he's still kind of like he still kind of 0:11:49.645 --> 0:11:52.365 walks that line where he lets Travis hear what he 0:11:52.405 --> 0:11:56.525 wants to hear. That's right, And in recent years it's 0:11:56.564 --> 0:11:58.804 not even kind of like trying to split those hairs. 0:11:58.885 --> 0:12:00.765 It's just been I know this is what you want 0:12:00.765 --> 0:12:02.405 to hear. I'm going to feed it to you and 0:12:02.445 --> 0:12:05.805 foment these things. So that's a distinction to Sam's point, 0:12:05.804 --> 0:12:08.605 which is very good about Travis going online. I would 0:12:08.645 --> 0:12:14.125 add that imagine Travis Bickle not watching Soul Train or 0:12:14.125 --> 0:12:17.165 whatever it was on his television all day or soap operas, 0:12:17.285 --> 0:12:20.645 but watching Fox News or Newsmax or listening to Rush 0:12:20.684 --> 0:12:25.285 Limbaugh odd day every day and feeding that into his 0:12:25.325 --> 0:12:30.965 psyche as well. So, yeah, you anyone concerned about what's 0:12:31.005 --> 0:12:33.805 been happening over the past couple of years watches Taxi 0:12:33.845 --> 0:12:37.684 Driver now and it feels a lot closer, it feels 0:12:37.804 --> 0:12:42.165 less like an isolated incident. Travis is not unique. This 0:12:42.245 --> 0:12:47.605 is what we've sadly discovered and what these online communities 0:12:47.684 --> 0:12:51.445 have have showed us is that Travis Bickle is not unique. 0:12:51.445 --> 0:12:53.804 There are a lot of Travis Bickle's out there, some 0:12:53.885 --> 0:12:55.965 who will go as far as he went in terms 0:12:56.005 --> 0:12:59.765 of actual violence. And you know that we have also 0:12:59.845 --> 0:13:01.925 learned in reports a lot of different people were part 0:13:01.925 --> 0:13:05.005 of that attack on the Capitol. So it's it's simplistic 0:13:05.045 --> 0:13:07.084 to just lay Travispickel on top of all of them. 0:13:07.085 --> 0:13:09.885 But I think there are a lot of similarities. You've 0:13:09.925 --> 0:13:12.245 touched on some of them. The anger, the racial motivation, 0:13:12.605 --> 0:13:15.845 the idea of looking for a target, and politicians make 0:13:15.925 --> 0:13:19.285 easy targets. You know, That's that is why he can 0:13:19.325 --> 0:13:22.365 shift his animosity toward Palant who previously he was going 0:13:22.445 --> 0:13:25.045 to support, because he wanted to get close to Betsy, right, 0:13:25.365 --> 0:13:28.445 And that's another thing in common on the day at 0:13:28.485 --> 0:13:32.605 the Capitol. Blue lives matter until they didn't, you know, 0:13:32.645 --> 0:13:35.765 because the ideology wasn't what was driving a lot of 0:13:35.804 --> 0:13:38.245 those folks. It wasn't any sort of principle. It was 0:13:38.285 --> 0:13:41.285 the anger that was driving them, and the fact that, 0:13:41.445 --> 0:13:44.325 like Travis, they believe they were acting on the side 0:13:44.365 --> 0:13:48.525 of justice. You know, he sees himself as this angel 0:13:48.605 --> 0:13:52.485 of justice throughout the movie and interestingly the way the 0:13:52.525 --> 0:13:54.365 film ends, which I do want to get back to 0:13:54.365 --> 0:13:57.765 and spend a little time on that he's again emboldened 0:13:57.765 --> 0:14:01.245 in that the media portrays him in the reports that 0:14:01.605 --> 0:14:03.325 we could talk about whether that's in his head or not, 0:14:03.365 --> 0:14:05.725 but what we're presented with is the media portrays him 0:14:05.725 --> 0:14:08.885 as this savior. So so yeah, definitely resonates in a 0:14:08.885 --> 0:14:13.565 lot of ways that are that are tiring. I think 0:14:13.605 --> 0:14:17.045 the thing that stood out to me this time was 0:14:17.205 --> 0:14:22.405 how much of the dent in the active cultural consciousness 0:14:22.445 --> 0:14:25.125 that Taxi Driver has made. I would used to think 0:14:25.205 --> 0:14:28.885 like it was the violence, it was Scorsese's filmmaking, which 0:14:28.925 --> 0:14:31.645 we'll get to, and some of the other craftsmanship. I 0:14:31.645 --> 0:14:33.805 think it's all d Niro's performance. I think if you 0:14:33.885 --> 0:14:38.885 had anyone other than de Niro in this part, Taxi 0:14:38.965 --> 0:14:42.245 Driver would have been, you know, maybe a nineteen seventies 0:14:42.925 --> 0:14:47.525 gritty curiosity that would have a lot of admirers. For 0:14:47.565 --> 0:14:49.925 the craftsmanship that's on display, I don't think it would 0:14:49.965 --> 0:14:56.845 have rocked the film world. De Niro is just astounding here. 0:14:56.885 --> 0:15:00.565 The defining characteristic for me watching this again that he 0:15:00.605 --> 0:15:03.405 brings to Travis Bickle is that the guy is assaultive. 0:15:03.805 --> 0:15:07.925 He is assaultive in every instance. Even when he's talking 0:15:07.965 --> 0:15:11.285 to the manager applying for the job to drive a taxi. 0:15:11.365 --> 0:15:14.845 His grin, his grin is just it's like two degrees 0:15:14.845 --> 0:15:18.565 too smiley, right, Or when he's at that rally, he 0:15:18.605 --> 0:15:21.245 goes right up to the security agent in the sunglass. 0:15:21.605 --> 0:15:25.205 He's way too way too familiar with him, stares right 0:15:25.285 --> 0:15:28.645 through the guy's sunglasses, like to make eye contact when 0:15:28.645 --> 0:15:31.485 he's watching TV. The way he slowly pushes it over 0:15:31.605 --> 0:15:34.285 till it falls. There's an assault of nature. This and 0:15:34.365 --> 0:15:37.085 one thing I caught at him on a revisit. This 0:15:37.125 --> 0:15:40.205 is all set up by an early throwaway gesture, no 0:15:40.325 --> 0:15:43.125 idea if DeNiro, you know, improvis this or whatever. But 0:15:43.205 --> 0:15:46.325 he's done interviewing at the taxi garage, he's walking out. 0:15:46.365 --> 0:15:50.365 Another taxi is pulling in past him, and he gives 0:15:50.445 --> 0:15:52.965 it as he walks past a little punch. He just 0:15:53.045 --> 0:15:57.765 punches the taxi. And that is how the guy lives. 0:15:57.805 --> 0:16:02.845 He's always imagining that everything he encounters needs to be punched. 0:16:02.845 --> 0:16:06.365 But why because it's done something to him? And who 0:16:06.405 --> 0:16:08.485 knows what he thinks about that taxi. Maybe it pulled 0:16:08.485 --> 0:16:12.525 too close to him, but it deserved a punch. When 0:16:12.565 --> 0:16:15.165 he is sitting in the coffee shop with other cab 0:16:15.245 --> 0:16:17.565 drivers and one of them just asks him, how's it hanging, 0:16:18.445 --> 0:16:20.245 his instinct is to look at the guy like he 0:16:20.325 --> 0:16:23.205 insulted his mother, and he gives it a few pauses 0:16:23.565 --> 0:16:28.085 and then says, what's that he's looking? He's always looking 0:16:28.165 --> 0:16:31.405 for something to punch. And then and then the you know, 0:16:31.485 --> 0:16:34.885 the the level beneath that de Niro gives. 0:16:34.605 --> 0:16:37.205 This is, of course the loneliness. 0:16:37.005 --> 0:16:40.405 The phrase he says, being God's lonely man. 0:16:40.565 --> 0:16:43.125 You know, that's we'll get to that. 0:16:43.205 --> 0:16:45.645 I'm the only one here seeing I'm sure, But I 0:16:45.685 --> 0:16:47.165 want to talk about that in the context of this 0:16:47.205 --> 0:16:49.405 idea of loneliness, because I think the brilliance of nearest 0:16:49.405 --> 0:16:52.485 performance is that. And maybe this is your sympathy question too, 0:16:53.045 --> 0:16:56.405 that you were wondering about. I always felt that loneliness 0:16:56.525 --> 0:16:59.965 underneath the burden. He felt as God's lonely man, the 0:17:00.005 --> 0:17:03.645 only guy on earth, he feels who sees what's happening 0:17:03.765 --> 0:17:05.405 and is going to do something about it. 0:17:06.085 --> 0:17:09.605 Listen you, you screw heads. Here is a man who 0:17:09.685 --> 0:17:14.244 would not take it anymore, who would not let listen 0:17:14.285 --> 0:17:19.405 you you screw heads. Here's a man who would not 0:17:19.605 --> 0:17:22.805 take it anymore, a man who stood up against the scum, 0:17:23.645 --> 0:17:27.205 the dogs the film. Here is someone who stood up. 0:17:29.485 --> 0:17:30.045 Here is. 0:17:35.805 --> 0:17:36.485 Deadly. 0:17:38.485 --> 0:17:42.085 I think the loneliness is so crucial because it's there, 0:17:42.525 --> 0:17:46.925 underscoring every aspect of Travis's life, but also almost every 0:17:46.965 --> 0:17:50.565 aspect of the film. If you think about Iris Jodie 0:17:50.565 --> 0:17:54.725 Foster's character, the young prostitute, and what she needs from 0:17:55.285 --> 0:17:59.685 the Harvey ki tell Pimp character, what Sybil Shepherd's character 0:18:00.725 --> 0:18:05.605 is doing having any involvement whatsoever with someone who's clearly 0:18:05.645 --> 0:18:10.045 a little disturbed like Travis's, but it's because she does 0:18:10.125 --> 0:18:12.965 need some kind of connection herself. Even it's there, I 0:18:12.965 --> 0:18:15.285 think in every aspect of this film, and in terms 0:18:15.325 --> 0:18:17.325 of what stood out to me this time. And I 0:18:17.365 --> 0:18:19.685 looked at my notes from twenty eleven obviously after I 0:18:19.805 --> 0:18:22.085 saw the film, and two of the big things I 0:18:22.125 --> 0:18:26.645 focused on were still really prominent and wonderful this time, 0:18:26.965 --> 0:18:28.925 and I'll save them as we get a little bit 0:18:28.965 --> 0:18:31.765 more into the craft. But it's the score, the Bernard 0:18:31.765 --> 0:18:35.485 Hermann score, his final score, and the cinematography, some of 0:18:35.525 --> 0:18:38.925 the stylistic choices, but specifically Michael Chapman's work. But the 0:18:39.005 --> 0:18:42.845 other big thing was, yeah, believe it or not, Robert 0:18:42.925 --> 0:18:46.325 de Niro's performance, because I think all the previous times 0:18:46.325 --> 0:18:48.125 I watched this movie, I sort of just took it 0:18:48.125 --> 0:18:50.925 for granted, And even in that review in twenty eleven, Josh, 0:18:51.165 --> 0:18:53.605 I took it for granted, didn't really spend any time 0:18:53.605 --> 0:18:56.085 on it, because in fairness, we were doing our top 0:18:56.085 --> 0:18:58.165 five Robert de Niro scenes on that show, so I 0:18:58.205 --> 0:19:00.885 was like, Okay, well, we'll just save it, and I 0:19:00.925 --> 0:19:03.405 did put a taxi driver's scene in that top five. 0:19:03.685 --> 0:19:08.325 But de Niro's performance for me this time was the 0:19:08.405 --> 0:19:12.645 magic and the scene I picked back in twenty eleven, 0:19:12.765 --> 0:19:15.005 My number three de Niro scene was actually the one 0:19:15.045 --> 0:19:20.085 where he goes to volunteer and he kind of asks 0:19:20.125 --> 0:19:23.885 out Sybil shit for the first time. It just does 0:19:24.005 --> 0:19:28.405 catch you so off guard because he seems there to 0:19:28.565 --> 0:19:31.605 actually be trying to make a meaningful connection and seem 0:19:31.765 --> 0:19:34.725 somewhat normal in the way he's going about it, and 0:19:34.765 --> 0:19:37.645 he actually has the nerve to ask her out. And 0:19:38.165 --> 0:19:40.085 de Niro's got to do some heavy lifting there, because 0:19:40.125 --> 0:19:44.125 we know a lot about that character that Betsy doesn't know. 0:19:44.685 --> 0:19:47.725 And in order for us to believe that he's going 0:19:47.805 --> 0:19:50.645 to get her to actually even just go around the 0:19:50.645 --> 0:19:53.245 corner and have coffee with him, it's got to be 0:19:53.285 --> 0:19:56.085 something in his performance. And I think there's an earnestness 0:19:56.125 --> 0:20:00.165 and there's a conviction that she can't deny. Hi. 0:20:01.045 --> 0:20:03.645 I like to volunteer, Greg, I'll take you right over here, 0:20:03.685 --> 0:20:04.885 so I run volunteer. 0:20:04.685 --> 0:20:07.765 If you don't learn, why do you feel that you 0:20:07.845 --> 0:20:08.805 have to volunteer to me? 0:20:09.205 --> 0:20:11.485 Because I think that you are the most beautiful woman 0:20:11.525 --> 0:20:12.165 I've ever seen. 0:20:13.965 --> 0:20:14.405 Thanks. 0:20:15.445 --> 0:20:16.645 What do you think of Palentine? 0:20:17.205 --> 0:20:24.445 Well, Charles Palentine, the man you're volunteering to help at present, I'm. 0:20:24.285 --> 0:20:26.205 Sure he'll make a good present. I don't know exactly 0:20:26.245 --> 0:20:28.325 what his policies are, but I'm sure makes a good one. 0:20:29.325 --> 0:20:32.165 You said that he's assaultive, and that's accurate. But it's 0:20:32.205 --> 0:20:36.245 this assaultive style that's mixed with an earnestness and an 0:20:36.245 --> 0:20:41.485 earnestness that then crosses over into complete uneasiness and awkwardness. 0:20:41.525 --> 0:20:44.685 And you're right, it's that off putting smile. The scene 0:20:44.725 --> 0:20:47.365 with the manager he was applying to this time was 0:20:47.405 --> 0:20:49.484 one that stood out to me as well, and the 0:20:49.525 --> 0:20:53.085 moment I loved in particular is when everything's going pretty 0:20:53.085 --> 0:20:55.165 well up until this point and he makes a joke. 0:20:55.525 --> 0:20:57.165 He tries to crack a joke. He tries to do 0:20:57.205 --> 0:20:59.005 what normal people do. Josh. 0:20:59.085 --> 0:21:01.965 He makes a joke and he says, my driving record's clean, 0:21:02.205 --> 0:21:05.085 like my conscience. And now the guy turns on him, 0:21:05.285 --> 0:21:07.845 what are you doing? You bust in my balls? And 0:21:07.845 --> 0:21:12.765 that smile, that completely obnoxious smile that is too big, 0:21:13.765 --> 0:21:17.085 then turns immediately to consternation, and he knows that he's 0:21:17.125 --> 0:21:20.325 now being punished. And like I said, he just tried 0:21:20.365 --> 0:21:22.725 to do what he thinks normal people do, try to 0:21:22.725 --> 0:21:25.365 make a little connection, try to engage in some small talk, 0:21:25.605 --> 0:21:27.525 and he's instantly rebuked by it. 0:21:27.565 --> 0:21:30.085 And I think that he's so unhinged. 0:21:30.365 --> 0:21:33.645 But there's a sincerity to it that De Niro conveys 0:21:34.005 --> 0:21:37.645 that makes Bickle fascinating. It's not only the smile, it's 0:21:37.645 --> 0:21:40.405 the little fidgets. It's the physicality, like the punch of 0:21:40.405 --> 0:21:43.485 the taxi cab you mentioned. And then the scene where 0:21:43.565 --> 0:21:46.245 if you do feel for Travis at all, the scene 0:21:46.245 --> 0:21:48.685 where I think it is most blatant, at least it 0:21:48.725 --> 0:21:50.365 was for me on this rewatch, I wonder if there 0:21:50.405 --> 0:21:53.525 was a scene for you. But it's when he takes 0:21:53.925 --> 0:21:58.205 Betsy to the porno theater and she gets so mad 0:21:58.245 --> 0:22:03.445 at him, and he's apologizing, and if you think about 0:22:03.445 --> 0:22:05.965 what he even says, even when they're walking in and 0:22:05.965 --> 0:22:08.805 she questions it, he says, no couples, I see couples 0:22:08.805 --> 0:22:11.405 here all the time. Again, it's like this is normal behavior. 0:22:11.445 --> 0:22:15.485