rapideye97: In 1992 I asked to rent a "Taxi Driver" movie casette. The clerk said "You mean 'Taxi'?" He smurked, "We have 'Taxi'--I've never heard of 'Taxi DRIVER'."
Mark Prange i don’t know what to say, but very interesting, you must’ve just smiled and said nothing at least I would’ve done that. Such a masterpiece this movie is.
This is my favorite movie of all time. I believe that, despite Travis being 'disturbed,' his loneliness and isolation really speaks to many of us in our own lives.
Isolation among young men especially is increasing by the hour. The number of porn-addicted sexless men like Travis used to be a pretty small minority. Now it's like around 30%. A shift occurred especially with the invention of dating apps like Tinder. They have been a catastrophe for a lot of men as women can be super picky and go for those top percent of men and for women, it's probably equally bad as they become cumbuckets for those top chads that get most women. No one is really satisfied. Even the chads who sleep around will realize the hollowness of their existence.
The part where he says he was in the Marines and the guy giving the interview leans back and also says he's a Marine really did well at showing the unspoken brotherhood that only us Marines know. Beautiful little details like this can really make a movie great!
I never bring up being in the infantry to anyone even if someone else was in....alot of people are proud of it and thats great and all..but that part of my life I like to pretend was just a tv series or something
Yep! Anytime I run into someone who was a marine, I make sure I give them preferential treatment/consideration. Having served in the corps myself, i know good and well how challenging it is to get back into normal life outside the corps.
A: From now on, I want you to put an equal amount of blueberries in each muffin. A: An equal amount of blueberries in each muffin. Q: Do you know how long that's gonna take? A: I don't care how long it takes. Put an equal amount in each muffin.
For real my grandfather was horrified watching fill applications online hoping it wasn't a scam or some crazy person. Going into places asking for applications and getting told "DO IT ONLINE." My grandpa thought I was just making up shit because he was bragging about working at his family farm and around the other people's farms whose were bigger or older and needed help. I remember him telling Hell in the 60 and 70s if u lost your job or they closed on Friday by Monday afternoon u have another one waiting for u down the street
To be fair, he still had to go through hoops, sharing a USMC background with the boss that made him more sympathetic, and most of all Travis be willing to do the really shitty areas and work day/nights for him to get it. There are plenty of jobs available even today, most people just don't want to do them because it's low pay/exhausting/dirty/humiliating/dangerous, like being a NY cab driver in the 70's.
De Niro and Pacino are two of the greatest actors of all time... I particularly like De Niro´s performance in this film, also he was so sexy back in the day
I worked in Chicago for Yellow in the 70's during college. That scene is spot on. It was like semi-controlled chaos. They couldn't find your cab, so they gave you another one. Many things did not work and complaining was a waste of time. After they gave you 3 bad cabs, you gave up and took the third one. You rarely had a trunk key and sometimes the keys didn't work in the door locks, You didn't have a spare or jack so when you had a flat, you called in and waited for a truck. Usually around an hour. Windshield washers never worked, and sometimes horns. 2 things always worked, the engine and the meter. I carried a squirt bottle to squirt the windshield when I was moving. The inspections were a joke, I took 10 cabs down for inspection in one day, went up to the commissioners office on the 11th floor and got my medallion for the neat year. No one ever actually saw one of the cabs. I drove back and got another one. Didn't help to switch companies. Yellow and Checker were owned by the same family.
Add to that the great character actor, Joe Spinnell, to add a bit more authenticity to the scene. Same thing with that old guy barking orders to "Rodriguez" at the end.
@Matt Hooper Sometimes when you had a cab with a radio, and they all didn't have one, they would tell you to stop in the garage and pick up something when you had a passenger. No way in hell I'm going to pull in there with the above mentioned visuals and smells. I parked 1/2 block away and walked. Not very popular with the passengers but better than them seeing where this cab came from. The next day they would have been on the bus. Also, some drivers didn't bother to clean their cabs very well after an incident like someone getting sick. Add that to the experience.
One of the many things I love about this scene is the subtle way Travis mentions his Marine Corps service. Later in the movie we see a Viet Cong flag in his apartment as well as a nasty scar on his back during his workout, alluding to his experiences during the Vietnam War.
When he says he can't sleep and stays up at night that's a type of paranoia. Also, without sleep over time it develops into PTSD. Later in the movie it shows him sleeping in his bed with all his clothes on even his shoes. That also is a PTSD symptom. Depression, no friends, or few. No real connections or activities, no hobbies, no sleep. All it takes is time for all these to get much worse.
I know from personal experience that social isolation leads to mental illness and sleeping disorder. Most of us aren't as extreme as Travis though. Most of it is channeled inwards rather than outwards. Maybe if I had fought in Vietnam and lived in NYC in the 70s things would have been different. We are supposed to live in close-knit tribes where we take care of each other. The younger men hunt for food, protect the tribe and fight other tribes. The women collect food and take care of the children. Our elders are respected and carry the tradition and culture. We have come a long way from that hunter-gatherer lifestyle and we are paying the price in new and weird ways.
PTSD wasn't a known thing or diagnosable thing at the time of this movie, it's also not even once mentioned In the movie nor is it really implied at all. Travis can't sleep at night probably because he pops fucking speed pills (they were really common at this time) and is seen taking them throughout the movie, it's not a coincidence that they're the same exact size and the same exact look as amphetamine pills from the 70s (or diet pills as they called them)
Drove those Checkers in 1987. Solid boats, you could slouch on the backseat . Even the totaled ones could be brought to work. Body on frame. Mines had adapted V6 from Chevrolet. The garage scenes remind me of Checker Garage on Boston by Gainsborough and St Botolph and a bit on Boston Garage by Killmarnock St on the Fenway. Frank Sawyer , who then owned Checker, and Town Taxi , was a former Russian Refujnik who ran the company until his death. Running the front office were Old timers Pat Russell, and Frank Halliday. Pat was a history buff. Frank looked like a paesan. The Boston garage owned by Tuntudjian , was mostly run by Arabs. I once had a door malfunction , and with an American workmate at a firm in Cambridge, took him at the garage to get it fixed. Inslipped a $5 and the Arabs fixed on a jiff. And “thank you Habibs”. My workmate thought I was the coolest cat with underworld connections.
This being the one and only time in the entire film where Travis mentions he was a Marine in Vietnam. And it explains every @#$%ing thing we need to know about why Travis is the way he is. GENIUS screenwriting there. I was stunned when I found out this script was not nominated for an Oscar.
@Sony PlayStation Vietnam was truly a brutal war psychologically for soldiers because they knew there was no reason, they knew it was a phony war fought for industrialists and politicians, yet their loyalty compelled them to serve only to learn they’ve been duped and used by their country. Very very sad.
So much genius in this movie. Michael Chapman's beautifully LURID photography and the last great, brilliant thing from the greatest Bernard Herrmann. A movie so great it created a Genre
I like that particular detail of "you know" in almost every dialogue De Niro said on that scene. It gave his character an authentic sense of this identity of being casual, plus that sense of being apparently innocent when he actually is trying to be part of society with all the background he has on his back ´cause of his military service . I can imagine a real taxi driver talking like that.
I think it's more attributed to the fact that especially towards the end of the Vietnam war, the american military wasn't well-liked by every citizen. Bickle likely tries to downplay his military service because he had reason to fear ostracization.
I’m turning 50, I completely get it. Even when I was little everything seemed to be made out of metal and wood, some plastics of course but like all of our toys seem to be made out of metal. I can remember going to the doctors office with my mother, we didn’t have a car during the daytime so we would walk. It was nothing back then to just walk wherever you had to. I can’t remember specifically if there was any smoking in my pediatricians office but I do remember people smoking everywhere, all the time.
Joe Spinnell, a true scene stealer. It's too bad he never got the full recognition that he deserved. He was a natural, and one of the best character actors in American cinema.
moonlighting, noun 1. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) working at a secondary job 2. (Historical Terms) (in 19th-century Ireland) the carrying out of cattle-maiming, murders, etc, during the night in protest against the land-tenure system
For years I always thought "take it on the arches" meant "go get a job a McDonald's" hence the golden arches, but apparently it means to walk away on the arches of your feet. I still like to pretend it means "you can go work at McDonald's if you're gonna gimme a hard time."
the score is a story in itself - getting Bernard Hermann to do this film was both visionary and an absolute coup. The use of slow- mo, so cliche now was done brilliantly, especially when married to Travis's narration. And the shot selection here in the edit for example - staying on Travis, letting the pauses between lines stay there instead of cutting around them. And knowing when enough dialogue is enough. These days when he says "marines" we'd get a flashback, a long story. Then, he just says it, the other guy says me too. he was honourably discharged in '73. We all know what that means. Job done. And the shots on extras yelling down phones, creating texture and tone is perfect. His need to belong expressed in tiny moments, like patting the yellow cab on the way out of the garage. He wants to be part of something. To claim some space. The genius is in making us the audience want that for him too. Despite the fact that we know he's a ticking bomb, we also understand his moral universe completely. And the scene in the cafe with Foster is a piece of genius.
***** Hey you, idiot supremus, I happen to LIVE in one of those outer boroughs so I am speaking about MY experience when it comes to seeing these ugly looking cars everywhere around HERE. Maybe next time you'll ask before making a jackass of yourself.
Evan T hey dumbass yellow cabs only congregated in manhattan before hand. So in essence there weren't really enough yellow cabs in your borough for you to complain about them. Enjoy your new green + yellow cabs.
Greatest piece of cinema ever made in my opinion (next to Apocalypse Now). I've never had a more profound experience watching a movie. I was 16 and saw this while very high after smoking weed. I realized while watching Travis Bickle that I was watching myself. The scene with the Alka Seltzer in the diner has to be one of my favorite movie scenes ever. The way Travis watches the tablets dissolve in the water, completely oblivious to all the insane activity surrounding around him, totally immersed in his own thoughts - trapped in his head. One could say Travis is on the outside of society looking in, or perhaps he is on the inside looking out at a crazy world that consists of.... Robberies, Rapes, Pedophilia, Violence, Murder, Porn theaters everywhere, Gun Salesmen, people trying to con you into buying a piece of a bathtub they claim once belonged to Errol Flynn.
Best film ever. Best actor ever. Best director ever. My favorite film of all time. Each year I watch this film 5-6 times. I'm obsessed with this film,is perfect. Greetings from Italy.
I see what you mean but I don't think they're implying that. That would be spoon-feeding the audience and leading them to an easy conclusion of Travis: "Oh, of course he went nuts, he was screwed up from the war." Honorable Discharge just means you left the military in good standing. One of the reasons this movie is so great is Travis is anything but one-dimensions or easily explained. I wish more movies had this much respect for their characters.
Drove a cab once. When your shift ends you have to fight with them every night to bring the cab in. It's always "I need you out there a few more hours". A few hours later they want you driving another few hours.
I hear you, I drive a cab in the suburbs of Philly, but we're right on the border and go onto Philly a lot... the other night I told him sorry but I'm coming in. With the way things are nowadays, no way am I driving past a certain hour. I basically told him he could flat-out fire me if he wants not worth my life ( I'm still there)
@Kirk Landau my interpretation of it is that he is living a life where he feels so purposeless that moonlighting, which is typically done to support a greater, more romantic pursuit never occurs to him.
From the very first scene you're led to pity Travis, not fear him. The dispatcher realizes he has no education, and goes out of his way to define 'moonlighting'.
Re: filmmaking, yes, this was a brilliant way to fully flesh out the main character with a mini job interview. So much gained here in such a small space. Setting, theme, character and the groundwork for the plot. Scorsese man….
I remember the scene where his other taxi driver friend told him that you become the job. And then I realised that Travis is still asoldier because he is so traumatised from his experiences from the vietnam war. He always wears that green military jacket. This might also explain his longing for violence.
Dude, PTSD was not even a thing until the 1980s, obviously people had it prior but it wasn't a known thing and it wasn't diagnosed until the 1980s (after this movie was released), it's not implied that he is "SO TRAMAUTIZED" at all. No doubt that coming back from the vietnam war affected travis a lot, it would affect anyone but this movie is about a lot more than just that.
@@mongogojjo5944 one of the greatest advantages of media is the way you can comment on the human experience in a way that is felt, not heard. PTSD was something that started to come to prevelance in the late 60s but had obviously always existed. Read about the shell-shocked soldiers of WWI. Taxi Driver likely had a hand in making PTSD an issue actually widely recognized by the public, as did Rambo
@@mongogojjo5944 Loud and wrong. We didn't call it "PTSD" but society knew about what was called "shell shock" since World War ONE. The issues that Vietnam vets were facing were also known and talked about at that time. Especially given that more of them died from suicide after they came home than they did in combat. There were also stories of some of them exploding into violence, since none of their issues were being treated. So yes, it's absolutely part of that character.
This scene is very understated, but it shows us exactly what it needs to. It's a VERY well-done character introduction. We meet Travis, find out he's a former Marine likely suffering from PTSD and related insomnia, find out he doesn't have much education, and that he seems socially isolated.
Ptsd wasn't a known thing at the time of this movie, it wasn't until the 1980s. Can't believe people don't get this, yes travis is an ex marine but this movie is NOT about an exmarine who goes crazy, it's more about the things that isolation, loneliness and detrimental habits can do to someone.
Robert de Niro, sans doute l'acteur le plus performant de sa profession, puisque l'on parle de Travis Bickle comme si l'homme avait réellement existé. "Anytime, anywhere", que l'on pourrait traduire par : "N'importe quel rôle, n'importe quel personnage, je peux le jouer".
1:52 is kind of weird, there is no way two Marines would meet like this and not at least briefly discuss what division they were in. It makes the scene a little dry. Or maybe it shows how not even a “brother” is interested in him?
This might be familiar to most. The key is the camera is in close during the interior, but when he leaves the exterior shot is a verrry long shot that indicates his social isolation. The other famous shot of his isolation is when the camera pans from the phone call to the empty hall. Again, complete social isolation. Also, the military arm patch tells us of the violence to come.
may i say that, though this is by far his finest directed film, the opening scene is ‘appropriate’ enough not per the classical intro # of matters to be answeredealt thru the plot, but rather a promisetup of a self variant story’s inevitable universal end.
I agree, and that makes the movie and character that much more powerful. Some movies go all out in showing a war veteran going all crazy and psycho, showing flashbacks of particularly disturbing war crimes, things like that. Taxi Driver is much more subtle and is more effective that way.
ROBERT DE NIRO...ALWAYS THE BEST...HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM LI...ALWAYS THANKSFUL FOR YOUR BRILLIANT FILMS🎉🎉🎉🎉..KISS❤❤❤❤❤❤ BEST ACTOR OF THIS F***WORLD....EXTRAORDINARY
Brilliant film, beginning, middle, and ending, perfect. Tennessee Williams allegedly said it was too violent at the Cannes Film Festival and did not vote for it to win Palm D’or, but with all due respect to the great writer, it won and deserved it.
Joe Spinell has a habit of appearing in the best films ever -- including the cult classics Forbidden Zone and Maniac. And even when he's not the lead character, he never failed to give 100 percent and leave an impression. He was supposed to star in Maniac 2 as a Childrens TV show host who becomes a vigilante after receiving fanmail from abused kids, and it would have been AWESOME. R.I.P.
2:01 and 2:09 struggling with problems. At the moment he starts speaking, one can see he is a bit agitated. He is being honest at trying to explain his objectives. No need to hide or try being funny.
There’s something so magnetic about this De Niro character. He’s a wonderful actor for sure, but his Travis Bickle is just outstanding.
one of his best performances
Yeah, magnetic is the word
Obsessed with this movie.
Like that wacko who shot Reagan?
rapideye97: In 1992 I asked to rent a "Taxi Driver" movie casette. The clerk said "You mean 'Taxi'?" He smurked, "We have 'Taxi'--I've never heard of 'Taxi DRIVER'."
Mark Prange i don’t know what to say, but very interesting, you must’ve just smiled and said nothing at least I would’ve done that. Such a masterpiece this movie is.
@joe sternlicht i am Turkish and this movie is my obsession.
@joe sternlicht thank you brother,no problem it's very nice, all you have to do is more excercise. kendine iyi bak dostum ✌😊
This is my favorite movie of all time. I believe that, despite Travis being 'disturbed,' his loneliness and isolation really speaks to many of us in our own lives.
Isolation among young men especially is increasing by the hour. The number of porn-addicted sexless men like Travis used to be a pretty small minority. Now it's like around 30%. A shift occurred especially with the invention of dating apps like Tinder. They have been a catastrophe for a lot of men as women can be super picky and go for those top percent of men and for women, it's probably equally bad as they become cumbuckets for those top chads that get most women.
No one is really satisfied. Even the chads who sleep around will realize the hollowness of their existence.
Travis is literally me.
U just predicted what the average lonely male of the 2020’s is like
Literally me
Literally me
The grittiness of 1976 NYC streets is its own character in this movie. Pure brilliance
Indeed. That's another reason i like about this movie.
I've always felt that. The city is as much of a character as anyone else. This movie is a time capsule
Really amazing
Taxi Driver and The French Connection are both practically time portals into 70's New York.
Stick around it’s coming back bigger and better
This is the scene where Travis truly becomes a taxi driver.
Bravo Vince
"Yep, that's me. You're probably wondering how I got here."
@@polderpaul1672 this then leads into the start of fight club
anytime anywhere
@@smarthinus3286 Bravo Scorsese*
“Anytime Anywhere”
lol i came to say this
So fucking what, dumbass? WOW. You quoted the movie. Get original, you stupid asshole.
I was about to post that
Will you work Jewish holidays ?
CooManTunes fuckin mook
The american's old school movies , are pieces of art. Are so real world.
The '70s was probably the Golden era of American cinema.
@@ManicMindTrick 80?
@@Renekor 80 what?
@@ManicMindTrick e.e
The part where he says he was in the Marines and the guy giving the interview leans back and also says he's a Marine really did well at showing the unspoken brotherhood that only us Marines know. Beautiful little details like this can really make a movie great!
I never bring up being in the infantry to anyone even if someone else was in....alot of people are proud of it and thats great and all..but that part of my life I like to pretend was just a tv series or something
@@davidwile1277 why is that?
@@davidwile1277 yet here you are
What does that make me your buddy?
Yep!
Anytime I run into someone who was a marine, I make sure I give them preferential treatment/consideration. Having served in the corps myself, i know good and well how challenging it is to get back into normal life outside the corps.
The way and facial expression he makes when saying, “like my conscious.” Is perfect.
*conscience
Q: You wanna work uptown nights?? South Bronx?? Harlem??
A: I'll work anytime, anywhere.
Q: Will you work Jewish holidays??
A: Anytime, anywhere.
A: From now on, I want you to put an equal amount of blueberries in each muffin.
A: An equal amount of blueberries in each muffin.
Q: Do you know how long that's gonna take?
A: I don't care how long it takes. Put an equal amount in each muffin.
East end of Glasgow?
Q: Would you take a girl to a porn theater for a first date?
A: Anytime, Anywhere
This scene always stuck with me the way he says it the complete same both times, something eerie about it
@@r2d2musk6 😆😆👌
Scorcese's movies are so great because it's the kind of stuff that the common man can relate to.
thats the best thing, this makes him best. Dark, real and gritty
Because you empathize with the characters. They are not perfect just common people.
Common men can eat shit ..
@@samiabibi7035 lighten up Francis
Sadly I can’t relate to Jordan Belfort
I love the way he says “anytime, anywhere”
The music is so strong and loud but completely fits the movie
@Trent Tyou got a great sense of humour
@oliverthecat666 he died shortly before he completed it that's the craziest thing to me
oliverthecat666 and citizen kane
The score captures a relaxing jazz tone of a character who begins to suffer severe mental issues.
i'm a big herrmann fan. he went from an 80 piece orchestra in '59 (north by northwest) to 8 strings in1960 (psycho).
Love how the score during this clip sounds like it belongs in a horror film.
Bernard Herrmann, the composer, scored all of Hitchcock's films (the most famous being "Psycho",) so that's probably why.
:O
I think this was Hermann's last film score before he died
jennifersman He finished the score just few hours before he died.
Very sad, yes.
Ah, the 70s. When you could actually walk into a place and just get a job instead of jumping through a thousand hoops.
For real my grandfather was horrified watching fill applications online hoping it wasn't a scam or some crazy person. Going into places asking for applications and getting told "DO IT ONLINE." My grandpa thought I was just making up shit because he was bragging about working at his family farm and around the other people's farms whose were bigger or older and needed help. I remember him telling Hell in the 60 and 70s if u lost your job or they closed on Friday by Monday afternoon u have another one waiting for u down the street
When taxi drivers could afford a flat
Yep
And somehow boomers say we got it easy
To be fair, he still had to go through hoops, sharing a USMC background with the boss that made him more sympathetic, and most of all Travis be willing to do the really shitty areas and work day/nights for him to get it. There are plenty of jobs available even today, most people just don't want to do them because it's low pay/exhausting/dirty/humiliating/dangerous, like being a NY cab driver in the 70's.
De Niro and Pacino are two of the greatest actors of all time... I particularly like De Niro´s performance in this film, also he was so sexy back in the day
thank you captain obvious
you´re welcome private ironic
chaska mena I think he's aged fine though.
You two make a cute couple lol
+HeavyArtillery6 #dontobjectifymen
I love the fact that he is standing at parade rest while talking to the manager - these subtle details really add a ton to this movie.
Parade rest? Like in formation?
He just looks to me like he is standing there. He comes across as a bit uptight but that is the character.
I can actually “smell” the scene.
Dirty, stale, lots of exhaust. Like the whole area needs to be aired out
That was the intent of Martin Scorsese. He wanted people to see just how dirty and smelly NYC was in the 70’s.
I get headaches, it's so bad.
I worked in Chicago for Yellow in the 70's during college. That scene is spot on. It was like semi-controlled chaos. They couldn't find your cab, so they gave you another one. Many things did not work and complaining was a waste of time. After they gave you 3 bad cabs, you gave up and took the third one. You rarely had a trunk key and sometimes the keys didn't work in the door locks, You didn't have a spare or jack so when you had a flat, you called in and waited for a truck. Usually around an hour. Windshield washers never worked, and sometimes horns. 2 things always worked, the engine and the meter. I carried a squirt bottle to squirt the windshield when I was moving. The inspections were a joke, I took 10 cabs down for inspection in one day, went up to the commissioners office on the 11th floor and got my medallion for the neat year. No one ever actually saw one of the cabs. I drove back and got another one. Didn't help to switch companies. Yellow and Checker were owned by the same family.
Add to that the great character actor, Joe Spinnell, to add a bit more authenticity to the scene. Same thing with that old guy barking orders to "Rodriguez" at the end.
@Matt Hooper Sometimes when you had a cab with a radio, and they all didn't have one, they would tell you to stop in the garage and pick up something when you had a passenger. No way in hell I'm going to pull in there with the above mentioned visuals and smells. I parked 1/2 block away and walked. Not very popular with the passengers but better than them seeing where this cab came from. The next day they would have been on the bus. Also, some drivers didn't bother to clean their cabs very well after an incident like someone getting sick. Add that to the experience.
That opening score always makes me think of the sound of the city breathing in and out.
One of the many things I love about this scene is the subtle way Travis mentions his Marine Corps service. Later in the movie we see a Viet Cong flag in his apartment as well as a nasty scar on his back during his workout, alluding to his experiences during the Vietnam War.
When he says he can't sleep and stays up at night that's a type of paranoia. Also, without sleep over time it develops into PTSD. Later in the movie it shows him sleeping in his bed with all his clothes on even his shoes. That also is a PTSD symptom. Depression, no friends, or few. No real connections or activities, no hobbies, no sleep. All it takes is time for all these to get much worse.
You know psych like a duckface knows a selfie
I know from personal experience that social isolation leads to mental illness and sleeping disorder. Most of us aren't as extreme as Travis though. Most of it is channeled inwards rather than outwards. Maybe if I had fought in Vietnam and lived in NYC in the 70s things would have been different.
We are supposed to live in close-knit tribes where we take care of each other. The younger men hunt for food, protect the tribe and fight other tribes. The women collect food and take care of the children. Our elders are respected and carry the tradition and culture. We have come a long way from that hunter-gatherer lifestyle and we are paying the price in new and weird ways.
@@ManicMindTrick Technology has had a hand in disturbing our natural order .. for better or for worse
PTSD wasn't a known thing or diagnosable thing at the time of this movie, it's also not even once mentioned In the movie nor is it really implied at all. Travis can't sleep at night probably because he pops fucking speed pills (they were really common at this time) and is seen taking them throughout the movie, it's not a coincidence that they're the same exact size and the same exact look as amphetamine pills from the 70s (or diet pills as they called them)
@@ManicMindTrickDamn.
I was a 13 year old kid flipping the channels late at night in 1988.
I stumbled upon this first scene and it hooked me in.
Drove those Checkers in 1987. Solid boats, you could slouch on the backseat . Even the totaled ones could be brought to work. Body on frame. Mines had adapted V6 from Chevrolet.
The garage scenes remind me of Checker Garage on Boston by Gainsborough and St Botolph and a bit on Boston Garage by Killmarnock St on the Fenway.
Frank Sawyer , who then owned Checker, and Town Taxi , was a former Russian Refujnik who ran the company until his death. Running the front office were Old timers Pat Russell, and Frank Halliday. Pat was a history buff. Frank looked like a paesan.
The Boston garage owned by Tuntudjian , was mostly run by Arabs. I once had a door malfunction , and with an American workmate at a firm in Cambridge, took him at the garage to get it fixed. Inslipped a $5 and the Arabs fixed on a jiff. And “thank you Habibs”. My workmate thought I was the coolest cat with underworld connections.
of all movies i've watched, Taxi driver is the only one where i could easily recall the very 1st line from the movie.
"harry, answer that"
This being the one and only time in the entire film where Travis mentions he was a Marine in Vietnam.
And it explains every @#$%ing thing we need to know about why Travis is the way he is.
GENIUS screenwriting there.
I was stunned when I found out this script was not nominated for an Oscar.
and there's proof it in the training scene where he has a nasty giant scar on his back
@Sony PlayStation Vietnam was truly a brutal war psychologically for soldiers because they knew there was no reason, they knew it was a phony war fought for industrialists and politicians, yet their loyalty compelled them to serve only to learn they’ve been duped and used by their country. Very very sad.
So much genius in this movie. Michael Chapman's beautifully LURID photography and the last great, brilliant thing from the greatest Bernard Herrmann.
A movie so great it created a Genre
But that's a lie, as he always lie about being an IA man.
I like that particular detail of "you know" in almost every dialogue De Niro said on that scene. It gave his character an authentic sense of this identity of being casual, plus that sense of being apparently innocent when he actually is trying to be part of society with all the background he has on his back ´cause of his military service . I can imagine a real taxi driver talking like that.
I think it's more attributed to the fact that especially towards the end of the Vietnam war, the american military wasn't well-liked by every citizen. Bickle likely tries to downplay his military service because he had reason to fear ostracization.
@@realMrVent Or, he might have been dishonorably discharged or made to leave due to some medical condition.
I miss those days. Things were made of Wood and Metal. Information was written on paper with pencils.
Ok grandpa take your medicine now.
Jeez, this isn’t the 1800’s
@@kristiant96 ok, zoomer
assholes dont have any respect for your elders
I’m turning 50, I completely get it. Even when I was little everything seemed to be made out of metal and wood, some plastics of course but like all of our toys seem to be made out of metal. I can remember going to the doctors office with my mother, we didn’t have a car during the daytime so we would walk. It was nothing back then to just walk wherever you had to. I can’t remember specifically if there was any smoking in my pediatricians office but I do remember people smoking everywhere, all the time.
1:17 I love his mischievous smile Lmao
Is anyone thinking "Is Willie Cicci giving Vito Corleone a job?"
yep.
also maybe this is what he did during the godfather part 3
Or Gazzo giving Jimmy Conway a break. Lol
StabbingPrivateMellish dunno i thought is that Gazzo giving jimmy a job
Not to mention Gazzo from Rocky.
"It's clean. Real clean, like my conscience."
Holy shit, he's 26? I just turned 27, I'm fucking older than Travis Bickle now. :(
he was actually 30
JULLIAN L. But you are the same age as Patrick Bateman from American Psycho, so you are still cool :p
+Alpha Delta 33, 1943 to 1976..
@@jullianl.9064 To be a bit more accurate, 32.. if filming in '75..?
And now you are 33...
Time flies, doesn't it?
I like how the boss was ex-Marines too and relents a little
I always thought that's why he got the job.
@@shrimpflea Yep. You look after your own.
And Travis is too inept to deepen that bond.
I never noticed that Gazzo from Rocky is in this movie. Nice.
+Jacob Balboa i thought it was willie cicci lol.
Must be good on his record that he appeared in two of the best films of 1976.
+jérémy hemsley Same character
Some people, they just hate for no reason.
Joe Spinel.
Jesus, how can I stop watching this clips? This film got me hooked.
Here i am to remind u ur obsessed with it
Bernard Herrmans score at its finest.
Cheech giving Don Corleone a job
Cicci
You're a fucking idiot.
@@CooManTunes i laughed at this comment more than i should have lol
Cicci from what movie?
@@emmanuele.l.2accnt.154 Willie Cicci from The Godfather.
Joe Spinnell, a true scene stealer. It's too bad he never got the full recognition that he deserved. He was a natural, and one of the best character actors in American cinema.
Plus Jodie Foster was cuter when she was still a fan of the meat rod.
@@heywoodfloyd9 bru
Isn’t he in Godfather I, in the amazing scene right at the end? The baptism scene
@@rdanielr93and in Godfather 2, “Yea, the Corleone family had a lot of buffers!”
He played the good-hearted mafioso in "Rocky" the same year.
Came a long way for 40 years. 1976-2016. No more Checker cab:(
21st century killed everything in whole world. No personalities left.
20 Years ago!
You watch this scene alone and you can feel the grime and stench of the city from the old days just engulfing you. That’s some powerful filmmaking.
You can smell the 50 year old piss.
moonlighting, noun
1. (Industrial Relations & HR Terms) working at a secondary job
2. (Historical Terms) (in 19th-century Ireland) the carrying out of cattle-maiming, murders, etc, during the night in protest against the land-tenure system
"Break my chops, break my chops, break my chops."
That guy is incredibly sensitive.
For years I always thought "take it on the arches" meant "go get a job a McDonald's" hence the golden arches, but apparently it means to walk away on the arches of your feet. I still like to pretend it means "you can go work at McDonald's if you're gonna gimme a hard time."
Twenty years later, De Nero and Al Pacino made another excellent movie....... Heat .
You have to love Joe Spinell,,,,, A terrific character actor from "Rocky" to "The Godfather". Very underrated
Job interview for Uber/Lyft drivers.
Son of a b**** you took my line away
Like Uber and Lyft drivers have an interview....
M
Yup
the score is a story in itself - getting Bernard Hermann to do this film was both visionary and an absolute coup. The use of slow- mo, so cliche now was done brilliantly, especially when married to Travis's narration. And the shot selection here in the edit for example - staying on Travis, letting the pauses between lines stay there instead of cutting around them. And knowing when enough dialogue is enough. These days when he says "marines" we'd get a flashback, a long story. Then, he just says it, the other guy says me too. he was honourably discharged in '73. We all know what that means. Job done. And the shots on extras yelling down phones, creating texture and tone is perfect. His need to belong expressed in tiny moments, like patting the yellow cab on the way out of the garage. He wants to be part of something. To claim some space. The genius is in making us the audience want that for him too. Despite the fact that we know he's a ticking bomb, we also understand his moral universe completely. And the scene in the cafe with Foster is a piece of genius.
The great Joe Spinell was a very good actor in his own right. Had roles in The Godfather I & II, Rocky and this one
Man I miss those old checkered cabs. The cabs in NYC today are a sickly green color and have no personality (like a lot of others things here now).
the green cars are for the outer boroughs you simpleton.
***** Hey you, idiot supremus, I happen to LIVE in one of those outer boroughs so I am speaking about MY experience when it comes to seeing these ugly looking cars everywhere around HERE. Maybe next time you'll ask before making a jackass of yourself.
Evan T hey dumbass yellow cabs only congregated in manhattan before hand. So in essence there weren't really enough yellow cabs in your borough for you to complain about them. Enjoy your new green + yellow cabs.
***** why are u such a douchebag.
I personally like the new green cabs. I like the shade of green they use.
You don’t see art in film like this anymore...
This film would never get made today. No one has the balls. Now it's all comic book movies and Disney films.
Greatest piece of cinema ever made in my opinion (next to Apocalypse Now). I've never had a more profound experience watching a movie. I was 16 and saw this while very high after smoking weed. I realized while watching Travis Bickle that I was watching myself. The scene with the Alka Seltzer in the diner has to be one of my favorite movie scenes ever. The way Travis watches the tablets dissolve in the water, completely oblivious to all the insane activity surrounding around him, totally immersed in his own thoughts - trapped in his head. One could say Travis is on the outside of society looking in, or perhaps he is on the inside looking out at a crazy world that consists of.... Robberies, Rapes, Pedophilia, Violence, Murder, Porn theaters everywhere, Gun Salesmen, people trying to con you into buying a piece of a bathtub they claim once belonged to Errol Flynn.
Nacht Schreck
Fair comments, but have the respect to call the gun salesman but his name - Easy Andy, the travelling salesman. What a guy.
I hear ya. New York can be a crazy place. It’s toned down a lot, but the hustle out there is still very real.
Apocalypse Now is my favorite 70s film. Taxi Driver my second favorite.
Dude - you were 16 and high- it doesn't mean you knew or witnessed something great....or that you should take a date to a porno movie
Apocalypse is over-rated dogshit.
Best film ever. Best actor ever. Best director ever. My favorite film of all time. Each year I watch this film 5-6 times. I'm obsessed with this film,is perfect. Greetings from Italy.
Nobody cares what frigging country you're from.
I see what you mean but I don't think they're implying that. That would be spoon-feeding the audience and leading them to an easy conclusion of Travis: "Oh, of course he went nuts, he was screwed up from the war." Honorable Discharge just means you left the military in good standing.
One of the reasons this movie is so great is Travis is anything but one-dimensions or easily explained. I wish more movies had this much respect for their characters.
"I just wanna work long hours"
Drove a cab once. When your shift ends you have to fight with them every night to bring the cab in. It's always "I need you out there a few more hours". A few hours later they want you driving another few hours.
I hear you, I drive a cab in the suburbs of Philly, but we're right on the border and go onto Philly a lot... the other night I told him sorry but I'm coming in. With the way things are nowadays, no way am I driving past a certain hour. I basically told him he could flat-out fire me if he wants not worth my life
( I'm still there)
It's funny how Travis asks what Moonlighting is....especially since the object of his affection is played by Cybil Shepherd!
That's eerie, yo.
@Kirk Landau my interpretation of it is that he is living a life where he feels so purposeless that moonlighting, which is typically done to support a greater, more romantic pursuit never occurs to him.
Yeah, and he says later in the movie that women are like a union.
@@whatthecello42 truer words were never spoken.
Lol
I think it was important showing how he didn’t know what that term meant, To further show that he is not a very sophisticated individual
"What's moonlighting; now go home and get your shine box."
He was doing important work that not everyone would do.
From the very first scene you're led to pity Travis, not fear him. The dispatcher realizes he has no education, and goes out of his way to define 'moonlighting'.
Except for the constant ominous music. Plus the clean like my conscience joke felt a little too sinister.
Travis having little to no education also means the guy doing the hiring doesn't have to worry that Travis might someday take his job.
his smile 😁😁😁😁♥️♥️♥️
Travis should've asked him "Is there a buffer involve?" XD XD XD
The Godfather Part II reference, I got it
+StabbingPrivateMellish is this willie cicci who talk with robert de niro ?
Yes
i was doubtful, thanks.
lot of buffers...
Travis Bickle : It's clean, real clean. Like my conscience.
Great dialogue
Re: filmmaking, yes, this was a brilliant way to fully flesh out the main character with a mini job interview. So much gained here in such a small space. Setting, theme, character and the groundwork for the plot. Scorsese man….
never understood why cinemas don't promote and re run movies like this. many more. taxi driver is art
Amazing that he made this perfect and unique movie so early in his career.
"Hi, I'm Taxi Driver."
Iconic
De Niro had the coolest walk
Rest in Peace Peter Boyle
the quintessential NYC of the 70's movie
I remember the scene where his other taxi driver friend told him that you become the job. And then I realised that Travis is still asoldier because he is so traumatised from his experiences from the vietnam war. He always wears that green military jacket. This might also explain his longing for violence.
Dude, PTSD was not even a thing until the 1980s, obviously people had it prior but it wasn't a known thing and it wasn't diagnosed until the 1980s (after this movie was released), it's not implied that he is "SO TRAMAUTIZED" at all. No doubt that coming back from the vietnam war affected travis a lot, it would affect anyone but this movie is about a lot more than just that.
@@mongogojjo5944 one of the greatest advantages of media is the way you can comment on the human experience in a way that is felt, not heard. PTSD was something that started to come to prevelance in the late 60s but had obviously always existed. Read about the shell-shocked soldiers of WWI. Taxi Driver likely had a hand in making PTSD an issue actually widely recognized by the public, as did Rambo
@@mongogojjo5944 Loud and wrong. We didn't call it "PTSD" but society knew about what was called "shell shock" since World War ONE. The issues that Vietnam vets were facing were also known and talked about at that time. Especially given that more of them died from suicide after they came home than they did in combat. There were also stories of some of them exploding into violence, since none of their issues were being treated. So yes, it's absolutely part of that character.
I've seen this flick 12 times and each one was like a different film and experience. How many movies can do that?
Why is that guy so upset over him talking about having a record as clean as his conscience?
All of a sudden. He turns into Gazzo
The Maniac doesnt like jokes about conscience
Cute, smart ass remark.
Frank Zito dont like people getting cute with him.
Because he's got guys coming in there and breakin his chops and he don't need that.
de niro is the man!
Paul Schrader wrotw all this great dialogue. A serendipidious meeting of a great director, writer and actor to make a timeless masterpiece.
This scene is very understated, but it shows us exactly what it needs to. It's a VERY well-done character introduction.
We meet Travis, find out he's a former Marine likely suffering from PTSD and related insomnia, find out he doesn't have much education, and that he seems socially isolated.
For a guy without much education he's surprisingly well-spoken during the diner scene with Betsy.
Ptsd wasn't a known thing at the time of this movie, it wasn't until the 1980s. Can't believe people don't get this, yes travis is an ex marine but this movie is NOT about an exmarine who goes crazy, it's more about the things that isolation, loneliness and detrimental habits can do to someone.
@82dorrin Indeed! It's easy to miss such things behind this level of cinematography.
Robert de Niro, sans doute l'acteur le plus performant
de sa profession, puisque l'on parle de Travis Bickle
comme si l'homme avait réellement existé. "Anytime,
anywhere", que l'on pourrait traduire par : "N'importe
quel rôle, n'importe quel personnage, je peux le jouer".
I love Taxi Driver so much 😃. Robert De Niro is brilliant as Travis Bickle and this movie is a true classic :)
1:52 is kind of weird, there is no way two Marines would meet like this and not at least briefly discuss what division they were in. It makes the scene a little dry. Or maybe it shows how not even a “brother” is interested in him?
I cant sleep nights... just want to work long hours, basically my life after coming off 5 years of nightshift trying to get a job
This might be familiar to most. The key is the camera is in close during the interior, but when he leaves the exterior shot is a verrry long shot that indicates his social isolation. The other famous shot of his isolation is when the camera pans from the phone call to the empty hall. Again, complete social isolation. Also, the military arm patch tells us of the violence to come.
i don't know why i love this movie so much.
Relaxing, comfortable, dark, gritty all at the same time. Thats the magic of De Niro and Scorsese.
yea definitely not mary poppins. a better spoonful of sugar....hehe
may i say that, though this is by far his finest directed film, the opening scene is ‘appropriate’ enough not per the classical intro # of matters to be answeredealt thru the plot, but rather a promisetup of a self variant story’s inevitable universal end.
I love seeing NYC on film in the 70's.
I can watch this movie anytime anywhere😂
"What's moonlighting?" Classic
I agree, and that makes the movie and character that much more powerful. Some movies go all out in showing a war veteran going all crazy and psycho, showing flashbacks of particularly disturbing war crimes, things like that. Taxi Driver is much more subtle and is more effective that way.
At one point you can see the big actor in the background looking at the crew as if to say, "We done yet?"
This is like my job interview. No one gives a fuck about me. No one bothers to even talk to me. I just drive and go home
"Sal, Tom, the boss says he'll come in a separate car, so you two go on ahead."
Man I never realized you can see Wizard in the background joking it up.
Is there anything more to say about this outstanding film? Great on so many different levels
ROBERT DE NIRO...ALWAYS THE BEST...HAPPY BIRTHDAY FROM LI...ALWAYS THANKSFUL FOR YOUR BRILLIANT FILMS🎉🎉🎉🎉..KISS❤❤❤❤❤❤ BEST ACTOR OF THIS F***WORLD....EXTRAORDINARY
this is scene is real clean, like my conscience
Brilliant film, beginning, middle, and ending, perfect. Tennessee Williams allegedly said it was too violent at the Cannes Film Festival and did not vote for it to win Palm D’or, but with all due respect to the great writer, it won and deserved it.
ANYTIME ANYWHERE
You'll never get movies that dare to look this gritty and grimey again
I miss all those solid NYC cabs.
He'll, I even miss the Caprice cab...
Joe Spinell has a habit of appearing in the best films ever -- including the cult classics Forbidden Zone and Maniac.
And even when he's not the lead character, he never failed to give 100 percent and leave an impression.
He was supposed to star in Maniac 2 as a Childrens TV show host who becomes a vigilante after receiving fanmail from abused kids, and it would have been AWESOME. R.I.P.
2:01 and 2:09 struggling with problems. At the moment he starts speaking, one can see he is a bit agitated. He is being honest at trying to explain his objectives. No need to hide or try being funny.
World class acting
"Clean. Real clean, like my conscience"