Taxi Driver (1976) Movie Reaction! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.ย. 2024
- Hey guys, I'm Shaneel (Shan). Welcome to the channel!
My reaction to Taxi Driver (1976) for the first time. Hope you enjoy the video!
Full Length Reactions and Early Access at Patreon: / shanwatchesmovies
*Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED. All rights belong to their respective owners.
Hey guys! Thanks for watching! I'd love your suggestions on what to watch next because there are so many movies I haven't watched yet. Here are a couple: Spirited Away, Alien, Aliens, Bill & Ted series, Ghost Busters, Top Gun, Dirty Dancing, Enter the Dragon, Glory to name a few! Leave your suggestions below!
Alien would be awesome! It's my all-time fave sci-fi film. Aliens is good too but isn't as serious. It's more of a fun action film.
Thank you so much for the suggestion. Adding Alien to the list. Look out for it next week! This week I have The Terminator (1984) and Jaws (1975) coming up!
@Lara I just finished up with Alien. What a fantastic film! It should come out next monday and there's a special shoutout for you for recommending the film! Thank you again!
@@ShanWatchesMovies Cool! Can't wait to see your reaction! 😊
@Pablo I've actually never heard of the film before so thanks for the recommendation! adding it to the list!
Travis has a mowhawk because soldiers serving in Vietnam would also sport mowhawks when doing suicide missions
Not being an American, I had no idea! Comments like yours make me learn new stuff and re-think the film!
Nature and Physics Suicide mission just means missions where soldiers aren’t expected to survive
it was actually airborne special forces who sported them.
The scene where Travis is on the payphone and the camera moves to show the empty hallway is an iconic scene that gets studied in film classes to this day. It's a beautiful way to use the camera to show instead of telling - we hear Travis pleading with Betsy for another chance but the camera shows us a lonely, empty hallway inside with people passing it by left and right -a perfect metaphor for Travis's loneliness and inability to connect with people.
what a beautiful visual metaphor I missed! This is why Scorsese is studied at Universities. I did Introduction to filmmaking at University and had to do an assignment on the "Copacabana" scene from Goodfellas. Rewatching and studying that 3+ minute steady cam shot made me fall in love with Scorsese's work. He's among my favourite directors of all time.
Thank you again for these insights, it's really interesting to learn the metaphors and the behind the scenes stuff!
Ok
Rober Deniro was filming a movie entitled "1900", in Italy. He would take a plane to NYC where he got what is called a hackers license and actually drive a NYC taxi to prepare for "Taxi Driver". Also, after the big shootout where the camera seamlessly glides through the scene. Scorsese had the crew cut a path in the ceiling of the abandoned building so they could get the shot, he said the building literally started to fall apart. It was an interview on my VHS tape I had in the late 1990s.
@Jacob K I had to look him up, Bernard Herrmann who died 24 Dec. 1975.
Fun fact: the black lady selling popcorn at the theatre was DeNiros wife at the time, Diahann Abbott.
I like popcorn.
1.) Jodie Foster WAS actually 12 when she filmed this movie. "Taxi Driver" came out in 1976 but it was filmed the year prior (like most movies):
"Taxi Driver was shot during a New York City summer heat wave and sanitation strike in 1975."
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxi_Driver#Symbolism
And Jodie's birthday is November 19, 1962 which would make her 12 during production. Although, you have to admit she looked 15 in this film because Jodie has always had a mature personality even at a young age.
2.) Also, "Goodfellas" was not the first to use Steadicam. Steadicam was actually first used in film the same year as "Taxi Driver". 3 films released in 1976 used it for the first time. "Bound for Glory" was the first film produced using Steadicam, then "Marathon Man", then "Rocky". However, "Marathon Man" was released in theatres first, then "Bound for Glory" then "Rocky".
3.) You seem to be very knowledgeable about the actual process of filmmaking, which is very refreshing compared to other reactors. I watch another TH-cam movie reactor who titles his videos "Filmmaker reacts to [movie title]" since he's an alleged filmmaker-- however I don't really learn too much about the actual process of filmmaking from his vids. He only ever says stuff like "I love the color-grading in this film" or "the shot composition is so good" but he doesn't offer much in terms of in depth analysis or the meaning/subtext of the shots used in said films. But you do! You noticed things in "Taxi Driver" that I still haven't picked up on even after watching it countless times since my first viewing in 2007. So, SUBSCRIBED!
Also, for someone who's clearly very knowledgeable about filmmaking, it's odd that you're only now watching so many of the greatest films ever made. But whatever, I'm highly enjoying your reactions!
Her sister Connie, who was 19 years old at the time, was her body double for some of the more questionable scenes.
@@missmattox5636 Oh yea, I'm definitely aware of that.
@@rustincohle2135 is the ending scene just a dream sequence cuz there’s no way he’d be hailed a hero
@@maciek8159 Both Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader have said that the ending is not a dream.
"cuz there’s no way he’d be hailed a hero
"
Maybe, not now. But in the 70s? Were you alive then? And plus, society celebrating Travis as a hero is kind of the point of the movie. Travis is living in a society that is amoral at every turn, including celebrating his vigilantism.
@@rustincohle2135 hmm interesting. Thank you for sharing. Cuz I’ve always wondered about that but you have a point.
What a great actor!! The "you talkin' to me?" scene was totally improvised. His direction in the script is "Travis looks in the mirror."
Man, you really should see The King Of Comedy if you haven't seen it yet - it's a rare gem that few people know. Starring Robert De Niro in 1982 and it is also a Scorcese film.
Don't forget David Lynch: my 2 faves are _Blue Velvet_ and _Mulholland Drive._ _Lost Highway_ is also excellent.
Eraserhead would be even better.
@@porflepopnecker4376 Eraserhead is good, but it's more of a student film....
Lynch movies is definitely not for everyone. But Mulholland Drive is a masterpiece, one of my favorite movies
Don't forget The Elephant Man
Blue Velvet is one of the most disturbing movies I have ever seen. Dennis Hopper is just frightening.
Applaud the movie and reactor Shan. Your reaction is sooooooo spot on. If this was your first time to watch this movie, you are a quick study.
Robert De Niro is just a phenomenal actor! 👏 Try "Mean Streets", "Goodfellas", "Casino", and "Cape Fear"
He needs to watch *Analyze This* and *Analyze That.* haha
This film changed my life.I first saw it when I was 17 and I must have now watched it over 50 times, often in cinemas. My favourite Travis quote "I'm Gods Lonely man". The flicking shot in his taxi mirror is to remind us that he's back in safe hands and life is somewhat better.
Amazing film in both acting, editing and sound.
An important point we learn at the beginning is that Travis is an ex-Marine, which fact suggests he may have seen combat in Vietnam.
This movie crushes my soul every time I watch it. It is in my top 10, and possibly top 5 films ever made. Travis was just a lost soul, isolated and unable to connect with his fellow man. He was disgusted by the lack of empathy and abundance of apathy of everyone around him, and by the miscreant nature of society writ large. He was a man that grew more and more misanthropic everyday, and for reasons that any sane person could clearly relate to, without a single moment's hesitation. He grew evermore frustrated and impatient with a society that had no place for him. One that had cast him into the trash bin of mankind; relegated him to the sewers of civilization. Love and hate were too valuable for anyone to waste on Travis. He was background noise, static, if you will. Something that you look at and then never give a second thought for as long as you live. When he finally finds purpose at the end of the film by saving the delicate flower that was Iris, a young girl drowning in the human cesspool that was NYC in the 1970s, it brought a tear to my eye the first time I watched it, and every time thereafter. He channeled his anger and his discontent by freeing her from a life of wallowing misery, and gave her the wonderful life that she deserved, or what could be salvaged of it in any case. A man that went unacknowledged and unappreciated by society finally gets recognized for what he is, and what he has been all along. . . a good man. What a beautiful film it is. A film with a message so beautiful, yet a setting so ugly, bleak, and depressing. A film that inspires hope and resilience where one thinks none can be found. 10/10 in my book. Great review, my friend.
"He did let his anger out!" Me: He's about to let a lot of anger out.
Great reaction! One of the best movies ever made.
Thank you so much, means a lot!
And yes, yes it is!
Agree. One of my favorites
One of my all-time fav movies and same for the soundtrack. So yes, Bernard Herman is also brilliant.
This movie, and The King Of Comedy seem to both have heavily influenced the Joaquin Phoenix Joker,
Oh they did! ;)
And "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas.
seem to?
Probably my favourite film by Scorsese. Hauntingly beautiful soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann.
Great analysis. It's been a while since I've watched the whole film. Marathon Man is another great 70s film you might want to check out. I think it's one of the first films to use Steadicam.
Thank you for the comments! It truly is a great film! I am a big fan of early steadicam use since they used it so innovatively back then. Also I don't think I've watched Marathon Man before, so I'll be checking that out too soon!
@@ShanWatchesMovies yeah, marathon man is great but also terrifying
@Nature and Physics I don't recall any plot holes in the book or film, just old-school continuity errors.
Excellent reaction, sir! 👍
Leon: The Professional, if you haven't seen it already. But you have to see the longer version (133 minutes).
Leon: the professional is a great fil but I already watched it unfortunately :( thanks for the comment though and watch out for Jaws (1975) and Alien (1979) this week!
@@ShanWatchesMovies Well, then it's more fortunately rather than unfortunately. :) I just hope you've seen both theatrical and extended versions.
@@dosnostalgic I'm not sure which version I watched. It was a long time ago but I'll definitely look into it. If the longer version is significantly different, I'll do a reaction video!
@@ShanWatchesMovies Oh, it's definitely different. Most of the character stuff was gone in the version that was edited for America, and that's what was released. To me, that's where *the movie* is. In those 25 minutes.
I still should have the copy I watched around. if it's the theatrical, I'll make an extended version reaction!
"I think someone should become a person like other people."
Was there ever a great a demonstrating of alienation as that!
Theory is that Travis did in fact die on the couch. And everything after was his brain hallucinating to tie everything up in his mind as he died. Hence him being the hero.
Yup, I read the theory in the comments!
@Goblin Gang Doesn't matter what he says he's just the writer. As soon as it's out there its out of his hands
@@jabyalex7868 Doesn't matter what he says it's just his theory. As soon as the writer says it's bullshit, it's bullshit.
I see this as a less action oriented, more psychologically driven parallel to First Blood
When this came out I was in acting and film classes. I must have watched this 30 times at the theater. The soundtrack and cinematography are brilliant. Direction amazing and acting the best since Brando.
They used Steadicam in Rocky, the same year as this. The guy who invented it was actually the operator, I think.
The woman who played the concession girl at the adult theater (3:09 mark) was Robert DeNiro's wife at the time. She also had a small part in his movie The King of Comedy.
The FX artist who did this also did the Exorcist. One of the century's best artists who actually applied concepts of dental technology, with molding and casting prosthetics, like dentures are created, to makeup fx. He received many Oscars and much love and was nice to everyone, amateur to pro, his whole career, inspired and passed on his above stellar wisdom. Even that Tom Salvini who did Dawn of the Dead and Friday the 13th hung out with Dick Smith; Tom got Dick's blood formula, which gave him better blood in Day of the Dead.
Jodi Foster was 12.
Back it up with
“The Deer Hunter”
You won’t be disappointed
This was Bernand Herman's last score. (John William's of his day) He scored many Hitcock films the famous one you would know is from Psycho...the shower scene for example.
The aftermath of the shootout. Was Travis dreaming? Was he really a hero or was this a dream Scorsese never clarified.
Sports character was supposed to be black to signify Travis' subtle racism but they changed it and got Kietel instead because of race tensions at the time.
The "real" Iris is the girl walking with Jodie Foster.
The film is also a variation of John Fords western The Searchers. Ethan Hunt and Travis Bickle share many characteristics. They are both internally troubled both war veterans. Their plot motives are both uncertain but end up saving a 'young damsel in distress' Also the Western signifiers down to the Mohawk....
not sure why you'd call him a John Williams. His style is completely different. Scorsese did clarify it. It happened as we see. This dream theory came years after.
@@alexarthur4456 Agree with you totally different. I was just saying in terms of popularity for the time. I may have said Hans Zimmer too. But yes totally different composers. The dream theory I did not know Scorsese clarified. Thanks dude
Makeup artist Dick Smith was tapped to do the bloody effects and also make DeNiro's Mohawk. The violent finale was threatened with an X rating for the movie. So effects artist Linwood Dunn was brought in to optically darken the blood in the scene. It did the trick of letting the film pass with an R rating with no cuts.
I saw this film a few months ago because of its influence on Joker. I loved it. Great reaction too.
Thank you so much for your compliments! It was really a fantastic film!
it's always a trip watching movies made in the 70s and early 80s set in NYC
The last scenes have been debated for 40 years. They could be dreams - visions as he dies. He is redeemed here - may be how he needs to see himself.
Travis Bickle, played by Robert DeNiro, was a deeply troubled individual, a combat veteran from the Vietnam War who is having trouble coming to grips with what he saw over there and fitting in with civilian society.
Maybe not explicitly but it's implied.
Great reaction and analysis man
Thanks man, honestly!
Only one shot that Travis fired was not in self defense-his first shot into Matthew. All his other shots, including his later shot at Matthew, were fired in self defense, after someone pointed a gun at him. His first shot into Matthew apparently had no witness but the perpetrator and the victim.
I saw this at the theater in 1976 and it was terrifying. The next day I went out and bought the soundtrack album by Bernard Herrmann (his last). When I got my first VCR in 1981, "Taxi Driver" was one of the first movies I bought on tape back when they were still very expensive--like in the 70 to 80 dollar range or more. Here's a video I made setting the final shootout to a Malcolm McLaren song: th-cam.com/video/QTNrFGhcrNI/w-d-xo.html and here's one I made giving the final shootout a laugh track: th-cam.com/video/fRq5TUPSRrA/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for your work on these videos and sharing your memories.
Im Glad you enjoyed it that movie is a classic i actually saw it before joker 2019.
If you've seen Psycho, the movie ends with a 3 note musical motif. Berrnard Herrmann wrote that score and this score. Scorsese asked Herrmann to include that 3 note motif at the very end of the credits and he did! This motif is also heard in StarWars A New Hope when the gang emerges from the trap doors in the Millenium Falcon. When they were editing StarWars, they used that cue from Psycho as a temp track. John Williams kept it as a tribute to Herrmann, who was one of Williams' mentors as he was beginning his composing career.
If you appreciate Masterful film makers, you should watch and react to some Hitchcock films.
North by Northwest
Rear Window
Psycho
Vertigo
Shadow of a Doubt
Notorious
Rope
The Birds
Frenzy
Rebecca
Strangers on a Train
I Confess
Please keep it up man, you have the best reaction videos on TH-cam!
Foster was 14 years old when she starred in this movie.
Btw Steadycam was invented in the 70s. ROCKY was one of the first to use it (notably for the stair run scene) Ridley Scott also used it for the Duelists.
he wanted to kill the senator because the second time he picked him up in his cab, the guy had hookers with him. So in that moment he gave up on a guy he thought really wanted to change the corruption and filth of 70s NYC. He had no purpose in his life after risking it in Vietnam. this was an America much different from when he was deployed..so yeah, he was pretty fckn disgusted. Even today NYC isnt quite as bad as that time period, though its still a crowded filthy place.
I liked everything about Travis in this movie, only thing I couldn't relate to was his extreme lack of game and creepiness with Betsy.. I lmao so hard when he took her to that xrated movie..ahahah dude, you gotta already be laying the pipe down and shes your girl for you to pull that off!
it does make a lot of sense when you put it that way! very interesting! and yeah agreed a out the x rated movie bit, I was like wtf are you doing dude
Paul Schrader used Notes From the Underground as a template.
Excellent analysis Shan, I always learn something from you.
Bernard Herman scored the film. He is known for his work with Alfred Hitchcock. He also composed the score for Orson Wells' Citizen Kane. You should look into his work.
Amazing reaction bro! You know how to analyze a film while enjoying at the same time, you earned a subscriber!
I love this movie so much. Thanks for a great reaction!
This was an excellent film. From the first frame to the last! It's, in my opinion, one of the best character study films I've seen so far!
I went to film school many years ago. One of the classes was to view films and critique them. This was one. The shot where Travis is slowly driving by Betsy's big glass window, from what was supposed to be Travis' POV. You see her desk, but she's not there. In the reflection, you could clearly see the camera on sticks, panning, as if to be Travis passing in the cab...I was the only one to catch it, and I pointed it out. Once you saw it, you couldn't unsee it!..Years later, however, I saw the film again, and it wasn't there...I'm guessing Scorsese went back in and fixed it, at some point, later....He obviously didn't use a polarizing filter to prevent the reflection of the cameraman in the shot...I was just surprised someone didn't catch it before it originally went out.
Hand held steadycam was pioneered in Das Bott by Wolfgang Petersen - I highly recommend you watch the Directors Cut (about 3 and half hours long). Classic submarine film
Surely we have to consider ptsd? Alienation, insomnia, violence. Paul Schrader took some influence from Notes From the Underground too.
Scorsese (director) and Schrader (writer) make together 4 movies: Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Last Temptetion of Christ and Bringing Out of Dead. For me the best cooperation of this duet is Temptation.
Nice review, it's good to see some critical thinking involved when reacting to a movie, too many reactors today are phony or just have nothing interesting to say, so keep up the good work. Won't take long to build up those 13 Subs. Have you seen Shawshank Redemption or American History X, Saving Private Ryan, The Green Mile ?
Firstly, thank you for the encouragement. Comments like yours are what give me hope.
Secondly, unfortunately I've watched 3 out of the 4 you recommended. The only one I haven't got around to is The Green Mile (which I'll be adding to the schedule thanks to you). The other 3 are masterpieces in their own right!
Shawshank is among the best feel-good films ever. The first 30 mins of Saving Private Ryan ruined other war films for me lol (although I haven't watched Dunkirk or 1917 yet) and finally Ed Norton's performance in American History X was more than Oscar worthy!
Thanks again for your support and keep an eye out for Terminator (1984) and Jaws (1975) this week!
@@ShanWatchesMovies Haha no worries, I figured there was a good chance you had seen them, since you are big into films. I agree with your assessment on those other films 100%, Shawshank is probably my favorite movie of all time, it ends the way you want it to, that so many movies deprive you of, it's just a great film. Oh one other I highly recommend if you haven't seen it is Unforgiven.
@@phantompowerYou're absolutely right! Shawshank has that gut-punch perfect ending you almost never get. I haven't watched Unforgiven too. All I know that it Eastwood wrote and directed it, so it must be worth a watch! Thank you for that, adding it to the list 😁!
Robert De Niro was in his absolute PRIME during the 70's. You have to check out The Deer Hunter. It's my favourite film. Stay safe mate!
Cybill Shepherd was very good in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show
Cybill Shepherd's best role is, perhaps, The Last Picture Show,
A Clockwork Orange next
I watched A Clockwork Orange in my early teens and I remember being very disturbing! I don't remember anything about the plot except it's directed by Kubrick and has some seriously messed up scenes. If I react to it now, will it count as a 'reaction'? (Watched it around 2005)
@@ShanWatchesMovies Sure, if you don't really remember the plot or significance/meaning of the movie then it's pretty much like watching it for the first time. Go for it
@@realmadridchannel10 very good point. I'm going to be adding this to the list to watch! You also made me realize I've watched so many films as a kid like The Aviator, The Patriot or Gladiator etc, technically I wachted but don't remember 90+%. Thank you again!
You'll have to check The King of Comedy, another Scorsese, De Niro gem
The Shining(1980) was one the first half-dozen films to use stedi-cam.
Check out Scorsese's breakthrough film (and perhaps the most influential film of the '70s) "Mean Streets" (1973) which starred Keitel and co-starred De Niro (in his star-making role). Also worth seeing is the directorial debut of "Taxi Driver" screenwriter Paul Schrader, 1978's "Blue Collar" which also starred Harvey Keitel along with Yaphet Kotto and Richard Pryor.
The aftermath of the shootout. Was Travis dreaming? Was he really a hero or was this a dream ? Scorsese never clarified. One little clue, here : " 20:40 " - Travis has no scar at his neck where he was touched by a bullet. 👀 "16:37 "
Another clue here : " 21:39 " The music of Bernard Hermann just retakes the final chord of "PSYCHO" ! 👀
i always thought it was a dream. although saying that, he does have a scar at around 20:23
@@thegirlinquestion Right ! I've never noticed that before ! 👍
Although, I stay amazed he could do such a massacre with clandestine guns and the cops let him go free. He was much worried when he killed just one man at the grocery. "11:06"
love your analysis man !!
You should give a view of 'Dog Day Afternoon' from 1975 starring Al Pacino. Another classic from that era.
Travis was more sane than 1976 New York City
One of my all time favorite films, perhaps mostly due to the score. I saw it 10 times in the first week of release. It was written by Paul Schrader, who later wrote and directed (the little seen) Hardcore, another great film about the underbelly of society with George C. Scott (also with Peter Boyle). I like what you’re doing on your channel. Keep it up!
Actually, they might have had Steadicam when this was filmed because it first came around in 1975 - maybe around the time they were filming or right before. I know it was used in Rocky.
People say the ending is a dream I don’t buy it.
The purchasing power of $20 in 1976 was equal to that of $90.97 in 2020 and that of $109.80 in 2024.
The purchasing power of $500 in 1976 was equal to that of $2,274.25 in 2020 and that of $2,745.00 in 2024.
Foster was only 12 years old when doing this film her twin sister she would later state did most of the other scenes
Hi, Shan. Tax Driver is definitely a great film, so I'm glad you enjoyed it. You should check out the 1974 original, 'Death Wish,' with Charles Bronson. It has very similar vibes.
So, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is obviously off his rocker and he's looking to die to end his torment. He wanted to kill the senator because he viewed him as the enemy for being part of the machine that sent young men to be scarred for life, or at best killed over in Vietnam. Had Iris not come into the picture, he would've killed the senator and himself in a murder/suicide fashion. He wanted to do the same in the end with the pimps and johns while rescuing Iris at the same time. If you'll notice, Bickle put the gun to his head at the end, but he was out of bullets. You'd think he would've forced the cop to shoot him, but you could tell something inside him clicked. That's the reason why he smiled. Bickle knew he would be famous for saving a teen prostitute. Bickle is no hero, but he is an anti-hero.
This is composer Bernard Herrmann:'s second most famous score. The other being what he did for Psycho. Limiting myself to one suggestion per movie, I have a real challenge but I think you have the chops for it. Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. As you appear to be the very model of a modern film aficionado, there's a good chance you have seen this already. Best. Leo.
2001 is one of my favorite films of all time. Every time I watch it, i come out of the experience with a different perspective. Its basically pure art disguised as a film. Kubrick was an artist, not only with the frames he paints but also the ideas he conveys.
@@ShanWatchesMovies Preaching to the choir. I guess I shan't be recommending Paths of Glory or any of that ilk. Best. Leo.
If your looking for a TV series to react to, give Breaking Bad a go, it has brilliant writing and great acting. A series that just gets better season by season.
Yes😍
Two great Robert Deniro movies are Heat with Al Pacino
Cape Fear 1991 remake. The original is a great movie and I think it has the better version of Sam Bowden, the protagonist lawyer played by the great Gregory Peck. It is hard to say which version of Max Katy is better. Robert Mitchum is very menacing and intimidating but Robert Deniro is equally playing a great version of the character. So I think both versions of Max Katy are great versions. I don't know which I like more. Robert Mitchem or Robert Deniro.
Great comment. I think the second "Cape Fear" is best appreciated in conjunction with the first one, although I think you can watch them in any order. I totally agree with which was the best Max Cady: I think I have to give it to Mitchum! Beyond that, just how Scorsese uses the second movie to make a comment about how the family unit had changed since the early 60s requires a viewing of the first one. And like you said.....the first one is truly great. I think it's actually a little better, in fact! But both are great and worth seeing, most definitely. PS: Also: Scorsese uses the original cast in cameos! Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck and Martin Balsam all appear in the 2nd version in small but substantial parts, so if you've seen the first one, those cameos are a real joy!
20:59 just listen to the music seems to go backwards and Travis looks in the rear view mirror like someone's following him. Seems like it will start all over again if u did not get that.
De Niro and Streep in "Falling in Love".
Wasn’t that Scorsese in the back of the cab, telling Deniro to look up at the window where you could see the shadow of his wife?
There is a debate about ending that the end with him being a hero might only be in his own mind.
Another creepy Jodie Foster movie (with charlie Sheen) is "The girl at the end of the lane". A movie that would have been heavily censored if produced today.
Jodi foster was 12
Her acting was phenomenal considering her age!
*WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS*
It´s a mockumentary style movie you´ll like
A false reality show of four vampyre flatmates. It´s clever, and hilarious as f*
I have a request for your reaction to another film in which Deniro stsrs, alongside Robin Williams:
AWAKENINGS. Great acting by both actors and a very moving storyline (which came from actual events). Please give this a consideration, and thanks.
I enjoyed your reaction to
TAXI DRIVER.
a masterpiece
4:27 So specific.
I'd like to see you watch Light Sleeper and American Gigilo - two other fims that some feel are part of a piece. Paul Schrader - who wrote TD and directed the other two - was exploring the the same haunted and isolated kind of men and the weight of sin, violence as catharsis, relating to women...
TD is one of the best character studies in cinema.
Give Goodfellas a view
It's one of my favourite Scorsese Films!
I have 3 points. (your noir comment was spot on) but that's not my points
1. This movie has an historic connection to the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan. Google Reagan, Taxi Driver and Jodi Foster.
2. The Jackson Browne music (Late for the Sky) is fantastic here.
3. I sat through Exorcist at 18 but I almost left the theater during that last scene of this movie. It was graphic and shocking, more than any violence I had scene before....because it was so realistic.
18:46 Is it just me or did the guy at the end sound like James Stewart a little bit?
I think he died at the end, I think all that hero stuff was all his dying delusion. Earlier in the movie he told lies about the secret work he was doing, ending up a hero even to the point of being in the news seems like wish fulfillment to me. I think the fact he went from Betsy, an adult, to Iris, a girl, was due to him sensing on some level he couldn't handle adult relationships. I thought he went after the senator because he was still upset with Betsy for rejecting him and he knew she was working on that campaign. If he had managed to do it then she would have known it was him when the story hit the news, or maybe even have seen it happen depending on where she was at the time.
Both the director and the writer have flat out denounced the interpretation that the ending was all a dream in Travis's head. Those two are the creators of this piece of art-- so listen to the artists. They know what their artwork is actually about. They've even gone on to say that viewers who interpret the ending as a dream have completely missed the point of the film.
The point being that the public only looked at Travis's actions and not at his motivations behind his actions-- mistakenly praising him as a hero rather than as a demented psychotic in need of help. In the end, Travis doesn't get the help he clearly needs and he's let loose onto the street again, to repeat his actions-- this was exactly the problem that Travis had with society to begin with. It's a grossly apathetic and vile place that doesn't take any time to actually evaluate nor attempt to solve its glaringly seedy problems. That's why Travis does a double take at his rear-view mirror at the very end of the film-- Travis is seeing another criminal incident that will inevitably trigger his violent tendencies yet again. And so the cycle repeats.
@@rustincohle2135 When an artist puts their work out there for people to see then the artists' intentions take a back seat to what people think of the art. That can happen because everyone has a different perspective. For instance, if Travis shot the gangsters and rescued the girl. okay, but all his weapons were bought illegally, how am I supposed to think everyone will just overlook that in the investigation that would follow? The agent who spoke to him at the rally would see the news photos of the 'hero', would you expect him to stay quiet? The guy who kept trying to protect Betsy and throw Travis out of the campaign headquarters, you think he wouldn't be telling the police about Travis being a creep? That's why I call it wish fulfillment, that ending is literally the perfect ending for Travis in that everything goes his way. He even gets to act superior around Betsy again. The shootout feels real, what happens after that feels like a delusion.
@@flibber123
1.) "When an artist puts their work out there for people to see then the artists' intentions take a back seat to what people think of the art. That can happen because everyone has a different perspective."
Bro, that is such bulls**t. That invites the idea that all perspectives are equally valid simply because we all have a unique perspective-- so no one can be wrong, right? That is such crap. There are simply right ways to interpret certain films and there are wrong ways to interpret certain films. Most filmmakers have a very specific vision for their film and know EXACTLY what messages they want to impart to their audience with their movie-- as the case with "Taxi Driver". And there are a small handful of filmmakers who like to be ambiguous with their stories, like Kubrick with "2001: A Space Odyssey". He intentionally never admitted what the film was about because he wanted the audience to come to their own conclusion. However, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader stated they weren't being ambiguous with the film's ending-- instead they imparted a very specific message to viewers with the ending and this interpretation is backed up by the actions portrayed on screen (i.e. Travis spotting another criminal in his rear-view mirror at the end).
2.) "you think he wouldn't be telling the police about Travis being a creep?"
Since when is being a creep illegal?? And what would that prove anyway if he told the cops that? Nothing!
3.) "but all his weapons were bought illegally, how am I supposed to think everyone will just overlook that in the investigation that would follow?"
Did you forget that all the gangsters in that whore house had guns? And that all the gangsters were shot dead and that the shooter was in a freaking coma for a month-- meaning there was no real witnesses to detail how the actual shootout took place and whose guns were whose? There were guns literally all over the whorehouse. The cops can't prove who owned which guns if all the witnesses are either dead or incapacitated. The cops can't prove that Travis actually owned any of those guns or bought any of them. They can't prove that Travis didn't arrive at the whorehouse unarmed but was able to get hold of a firearm by taking one off one of the gangsters-- Travis could have easily said that he did so and it'd be plausible since he was Marine and Marines ARE trained in disarming individuals and hand-to-hand combat. Are you forgetting that Travis was in a coma for a month? He could have EASILY gotten away with the defense that he doesn't remember anything about the incident.
4.) "The agent who spoke to him at the rally would see the news photos of the 'hero', would you expect him to stay quiet?"
To stay quiet about what? Travis didn't do anything illegal when he chit-chatted for 2 minutes with the secret service agent. What would he talk to the press about? And also, the 2-minute encounter Travis had with the agent was literally WEEKS (maybe even more than a month) before Travis goes on his shooting rampage. I know this might be difficult for you to wrap your mind around, but real life isn't like the movies. In movies and TV, characters always seem to remember strangers' faces no matter how much time has passed, no matter how brief their encounter was with said stranger. Newsflash: LIFE ISN'T LIKE THIS! People don't remember faces of random strangers for long periods of time afterwards. Do you honestly remember a single face of anyone that was in the grocery store the last time you went food shopping? Or the face of the last waiter or waitress that served you the last time you ate at a restaurant? A secret service agent whose job it is to scope hundreds of people's faces on a daily basis is not gonna remember one random dude whom he chit-chatted with for two f**king minutes 6 weeks ago! The human mind doesn't work like that. The human mind doesn't commit every random person's face to memory.
5.) "The shootout feels real, what happens after that feels like a delusion"
It doesn't matter what it feels like to you because the filmmaker AND the screenwriter (who actually crafted the movie) have specifically stated that the way you've interpreted it was not what they conveyed on screen. You can make up literally any interpretation of any movie you want BUT IT DOESN'T MEAN IT'S RIGHT.
Your arguments are easily demolishable. Bush League, brah.
@@rustincohle2135 People look at the Mona Lisa and speculate about her expression all the time. It doesn't matter what Da Vinci intended with that painting. Now the meaning belongs to the person looking at it. That's what I'm saying. I'm not trying to convince you, I'm sharing my opinion based on what I saw. You have a movie with a mentally disturbed unreliable narrator and he ends his story with everything working out perfectly for him. That's why I question it.
@@flibber123 Bro, painting and film may both be art but they are nothing similar in terms of expression. You can't compare them at all.
"You have a movie with a mentally disturbed unreliable narrator"
Travis Bickle is NEVER established as an unreliable narrator. Did you watch the damn movie?? Nothing he says is false or misleading. Do you know what an unreliable narrator even is? Why is everything you say a crock of sh*t?
Shan please do a review of "Joe" with Peter Boyle and a very young Susan Sarandon. It was made in 1971 I think an outstanding movie. Also Bat*21 (1988) a Vietnam war movie with Gene Hackman. The American pow forced to walk around in a swamp that has been mined was an awesome scene...
"Joe" is a great one, Boyle is amazing, and Sarandon is G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S, lol. (it was released summer of 1970, and was a huge, controversial movie for it's time.....and unfortunately, still very pertinent!)
I know he wa in the army but was Travis really in the nam war? I didn`t see anything mentioning that in this movie.
Check out the 1978 film The Deer Hunter Starring Robert De Niro, Meryl Streep, and Christopher Walken! It's a Masterpiece!
I'm pretty sure DeNiro would have gotten a real mohawk for this movie, but that is a fake one. And the reason why is because they had to film other scenes where he still have hair for continuity.
Why would someone give this a thumbs down?
probably some racist with a bug up his a**. "Taxi Driver" does attract the real Travis Bickles of the world, after all. lol.
very good review of this movie
Thank you so much for the compliments! The Terminator (1984) and Jaws (1975) reaction videos this week, so do keep an eye out for those!
Aye terminator one of my favorite movies
@@jayson1013 coming out tomorrow!
If you think Jodie Foster was good in this movie (and she was!), you should watch The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. It came out the same year as this, 1976, and her performance is outstanding, though a little disturbing at times... oh well, those were the '70.
You should check out The Departed if you haven't seen it yet. One of my favorite Scorsese films. Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen, Mark Wahlberg. Really great movie about infiltration and double crossing
I would watch the Hong Kong film it's basically a re-make of, "Infernal Affairs', a superior movie, imo.
❤❤❤❤❤