Taxi Driver -- The movieO

[JoyfulC 132299]

Okay, I just watched this movie in its entirety last night for the first time.

 

WTH????

 

I'll admit, I'm a little movie challenged. Must be ADHD. I have difficulty retaining interest throughout the length of a movie. I probably should have seen this movie back in the 70s when it first came out.

 

But now, having seen it, I am wondering ????? I know this is an important movie because I've heard so many references to it over the years, but the whole thing seems entirely improbable.

 

Why would Cybil Shepherd's character even get as far as a dirty movie theatre with Bickle? Why would she reinitiate contact with him at the end of the movie.

 

And the end of the movie! I really did not expect that.

 

I'd be interested to hear any thoughts or analysis on what happened, and why this film has resonated so heavily in our culture for 40 years.

[roamingguy 300292]

Well in fairness I haven't seen it, but that wouldn't, just my opinion mind you, that a so called classic is not...Gone With The Wind...wtf, started watching it once on tv, just couldn't

There are probably others too

Anyhow, now I'm curious about TD, but would I waste my money renting it, or would I like it...who knows

A rambling

 

RG

[JoyfulC 132299]

I guess what's considered a classic is a matter off personal opinion. But I've heard so much about Taxi Driver over the years.

 

BTW, what made me decide to watch it was that I was checking out some Bowie on YouTube, and came across the video below. Not having seen the movie, I was taken aback at some of the photos used in this video. I was curious to know more. (Love this song.)

 

 

It didn't cost me anything to see. I already subscribe to Netflix and it's available on there.

 

Additional Comments:

(PS. I was shocked as hell to hear, and it seemed really out of place, but Jackson Browne's "Late For The Sky" pops up out of nowhere in the middle of it!!)

[Ice4fun 78407]

I've seen the movie a couple of times and would not rank it very high on my list of must watch... but hey to each their own.

 

Just my opinion

[FunValerie 8573]

I saw this movie some time ago. I, too, have no idea why this movie is so famous. I did not find it interesting at all. Maybe some other person can enlighten us.

[JoyfulC 132299]

Specifically, I'm wondering how it figures into the American current obsession with "The Good Guy With A Gun." To me, Bickle was mentally unstable and become obsessed with guns and vigilante justice. But the movie's ending suggests that, at least from a popular standpoint, as long as someone like this targets the right person, he's acceptable. (Although he came close to carrying out the assassination of a political candidate, in which case he would have been viewed as "The Bad Guy With A Gun"?) Maybe the message of the movie is that there's not much difference between the two.

[Guest S*rca****sid]

I have seen the film a few times and would consider it a classic. Here is a link that seems to best point out what the critiques like about the film.

 

http://whatculture.com/film/50-reasons-why-taxi-driver-might-just-be-the-greatest-film-of-all-time.php

 

(P.S. it specifically references why Jackson Brown "pops-up" in the middle of the movie)

[mrgreen760 37785]

I do consider Taxi Driver a very good movie and perhaps a classic but best of lists are very subjective. I think it may be an age thing to a degree the context of the times may be lost. I was 22 and the subject matter was considered very provocative for it's day by the public and critics.

 

We were just being exposed to and getting access to non studio indie films and films from Europe and Australia which until then has been quite hard to find except in large centres like Toronto and Vancouver.

 

There was no internet and VCR's were very rare thus films and going to see films mattered to us much more than today in my view.

 

Peace

MG

[fortunateone 156618]

I saw it a long time ago and was sufficiently underwhelmed to the point of never watching it twice. However I can understand that it would be considered an important well written well acted movie, and maybe that is the point: the acting, and showing what kind of amounts to PTSD before it had a name?

 

Point number 3, in the link says this: At its core Taxi Driver is about the after-effects a man is suffering having fought in the Vietnam war.

 

 

There were a few movies about men coming back from Vietnam, and the trouble they had adjusting. At the time these were anti war movies, so an important snapshot of the times.

 

#7, portrait of a psychopath, but indepth, not just as 'the villain', more complex than that.

 

point made: the acting, the acting, the acting. It was a low budget film made with the idea it wasn't going to get a lot of attention, but a desire to get it made. A film, not a movie made for mass audience appeal, so it stands out amongst other movies of the time made by big movie companies.

 

 

I also don't like Scarface, even tho i can quote from the movie, one that I've never seen. But you can always recognize a film versus a movie, appreciate it even if you don't like it. I'm a huge movie fan, and can count on one hand the number of movies i've paid to see but walked out on. But i rarely watch the foreign subtitled 'important' films any more lol.

[sexyselena26 100]

definitely not a movie I would watch twice

[Old Dog 179138]

Meh.

 

Beret wearing, scarf donning, film critic wannabes all love this film because if they don't, they lose credibility in the clique.

 

The rest of us could take it or leave it. It's importance? Scorsese directed it (ooooooh Scorsese he's a genius). De Niro had his first major starring role. (ooooooh De Niro he's a genius). Jodie Foster transitioned from random TV series guest pre-teen girl appearance to a film actor (oooooooh Jodie Foster she's a genius.)

 

If you don't fall into the Scorsese/De Niro/Foster cult, then it's just another movie.

[Guest S*rca****sid]

De Niro had his first major starring role. (ooooooh De Niro he's a genius).

 

De Niro's first major starring role was in "Bang The Drum Slowly" in 1973

[mrgreen760 37785]

De Niro's first major starring role was in "Bang The Drum Slowly" in 1973

 

A very excellent film.... Vincent Gardenia is terrific

 

Peace

MG

 

Additional Comments:

 

And seriously.....

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_De_Niro_filmography

 

Peace

MG

[Old Dog 179138]

De Niro's first major starring role was in "Bang The Drum Slowly" in 1973

 

It was and it was a good movie, I apologize.... my memories of that movie tend to be of Michael Moriarty (one of the only things I can remember him in prior to Law & Order) - it's been a long time since I saw that one too.

[ekoswad 160]

Love the song WIN, great Bowie.

[JoyfulC 132299]

Tonight I watched "Born To Win," (1971) in which Deniro played a supporting role. Starred George Segal as a feckless junkie (a common theme in the early 70s, when they were building justification for the War On Drugs. Not a great movie, but somewhat fascinating for someone who lived through those times.

 

http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0066856/?ref_=m_tt_rec_tti

[loopie 15358]

As for Taxi Driver, it was part of that wave of 70s American films that were mostly bleak character studies. At the time, that generation was very disillusioned by Vietnam and President Nixon etc, and so audiences wanted those types of movies.

 

The main character, Travis Bickle, was very distinct and complex. He spends the movie trying to relate to the concept of heroism, which was something that whole generation in America was trying to do after Vietnam. For the generation before, going to war made you a hero. But for the generation that fought in Vietnam, that wasn't the case. He lives an isolated lifestyle where he witnesses disturbing things and this makes him more disturbed himself.

 

At the end of the film he is declared a hero for rescuing a teenage girl from street life, but I think that's supposed to be ironic. I don't think the film is really saying he's a hero. I think the film was saying the concept of what a hero is had become messed up.

 

I can see how a lot of people wouldn't find it a satisfying narrative because of how bleak and disturbing it is.