Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

When he glances up in the diner the dudes are already staring at him. Maybe they "know about him" or whatever but thats reading a lot into what is presented. When he knocks the tv over you have a very antisocial guy watching a bunch of "normal" young people socializing and having fun and he has no understanding of that world. He's a sociopath, or heading down that road, but I don't see that as signs of racism.

Then there's the voiceover where he says he'll take "anyone anywhere, I don't care." Or the scene with scorsese in the back of the cab where bickle realizes how unbalanced this guy is.

Race is definately an issue in the movie, but I never saw bickle as being overtly racist. You could make an argument for it most I'd say during the liquor store robbery, but I saw that as his first step in his misguided vigilantism.

I think it's open for interpretation, regardless of what the creators say.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

You should listen to the commentary. Schrader meant for Iris' pimp and all the guys at the end to be black. It's discussed in detail about how authors could likely get away with that in literature but there's social responsibilities when it comes to film. Scorsese told him that they had to change it. There's also discussion about Scorsese and Keitel went looking for a white pimp in NY to emulate but that they could never find one.

Back to your point, I always viewed it as he hated everyone and that he wasn't discriminating.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

I viewed it the same way as you but this last time I just watched it, he stood out a bit more as a racist.

As far as the American Bandstand bit, I don't know why Scorsese would have an interracial couple dancing around if it wasn't significant to Bickle's meltdown.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

I like to think that it was the music of Jackson Browne that finally drove Travis over the edge.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

sorry to bump the thread but have a question/issue. is there aliasing/jagged edges on this title or is it more my shitty tv/player. i have an older Samsung 24 inch lcd thats 720p. The scene's in question are when Cybill Shepperd's character has on a bright red dress at the campaign headquarters, there's alot of jagging with the patterns in her dress. its also noticeable on Albert Brooks' outfit due to the patterns on it.

ie i should probably upgrade my tv eventually right.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

The scaling from 1080p to 720p could cause that. You also should make sure that the Sharpness setting is turned way down.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

Good reason to bump. I was afraid we were going to get a BD of it for some reason. Thought to myself, "There's no goddamn way this gets better on BD..."

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

ive tried that and still get that (although its not as bad/distracting)

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

It's probably the way your TV scales from 1080p to 720p, then. You could add an expensive outboard video processor to see if that would do a better job. Or you could just buy a new 1080p TV. :)

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

I would recommend the latter approach.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

i'll go w that option.

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

Glad I found this thread - the 2011 Taxi Driver Blu-ray is amazing - I first saw the regular Blu (not 4K) of Taxi Driver in late 2013. Wow! The PQ is sharp, the colors are vivid, and the print still has an appropriate amount of grain. Truly... Superb. This may be the best individual Blu release of a film I've ever seen..WHEN you take into account the vast improvement over previous releases. Kudos & Thanks to all involved in producing this.

In addition, the regular Blu packaging of TD is the best packaging I've ever seen for an individual Blu film release. Not only is the Blu itself protected since there are several layers of cardboard here, but also the cardboard is quite durable & seems to have some kind of laminate covering it, instead of being cheap (like some DVD/Blu packages I've seen). And, to top it off, this comes with about 10?! high-quality stills from the film & the film's production - very cool & a nice collector's item.

Re: the film itself, this is definitely one of my all time favorite movies. Both disturbing & brilliant, which is something that is hard to achieve. IMHO it's DeNiro's best film, and Scorsese's best as well. It truly captures a time & place perfectly; when watching this film you feel like you're right there in NYC back in the mid-'70's - this is also difficult to achieve, but is pulled off extremely well here.

I also like the strong film noir aspect - Travis' cruising down the NY City streets at night with the neon lights, shadowy figures, etc. is quintessential noir, and evokes a great mood/atmosphere. The sublime score by Bernard Hermann adds to this feeling as well; I liked the initially smooth jazzy quality to this, followed by those harsher, more foreboding sounds. Well done.

Agreed - a while back I re-watched TD quite carefully, and didn't notice any overt racism/prejudice by Travis. The night scene in the convenience store when Travis takes out the would-be burglar is typically given as an example, but here's my take on this: Travis reacted instinctively to the burglar by taking him out & preventing the robbery. Sure, he could have stayed in the back of the store & not gotten involved, but he just reacted without thinking - I'm fairly certain it wouldn't have made a difference what the ethnicity of the would-be burglar had been - Travis would still have done the same thing.

And, note the conversation with Palantine when Travis is asked what bothers him the most, and he responds, "Well, whatever it is, he should clean up this city here...because this city is like an open sewer, it's full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it. Whoever becomes the president should just...really clean it up, know what I mean? Sometimes I go out and I smell it. I get headaches, it's so bad. It's like-- They never go away. It's like the president should clean up this whole mess here. He should flush it down the f@*&^%$ toilet." It's fairly evident that Travis is collectively talking about all of the pimps, junkies, criminals, etc. in the city that he sees on a daily basis - he's not pinpointing any one ethnic group here in any way, shape, or form.

Also, Travis' internal voice-over monologue: "All the animals come out at night.........sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets." Again, he is collectively lumping all of these criminals, thugs, and street people together...

Note that I'm not saying that the character isn't prejudiced - what I'm saying is that it's not clearly evident to me in the film.

Also, remember that the first person that Travis went after in the film was Palantine, a middle-aged white guy who represented "The Establishment". Granted, this was because Travis was directing the anger he felt towards Betsy's rejection on the guy she was working to get elected, but it's still note-worthy.

And, during the conversation with Iris in the coffee shop, Travis expressed extreme hatred/anger towards Sport. Scorsese probably cast Keitel as Sport because the film would have been too incendiary otherwise...That being said, note that Travis would have hated Sport no matter what he looked like.

Travis obviously hates many people, not just those from a certain group...

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

"Taxi Driver" Turns 40. (Monday, February 8 marks 40 years since Taxi Driver first hit theaters)

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n8EFj10ArXk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

Will they do a cast reunion?

Re: Taxi Driver - 4/5/11
 

..hilarious spoof...