09/17/10 - Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver (1976, 113 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0075314/

This movie is a rewatch of a movie I have already written about. The previous post is here:
09/17/09 - Taxi Driver

I mentioned in the previous post the exact purpose of this double feature and I think I addressed most of my issues with the Observe and Report comparison there. So this post will mainly just talk about why I love Taxi Driver so much.

First and foremost there's this one scene in Taxi Driver I want to talk about. I mentioned it briefly in the previous post on the movie, but I'd like to devote a bit more this time. The scene in question is when Travis is sitting and watching American Bandstand while holding a gun in his hand and Jackson Browne's "Late for the Sky" plays. I can say without a doubt that this is my favorite scene in cinema. It took a while for it to sink in, but I can say that now. Okay, I guess my favorite is still the parade scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off but this is the most well done scene that I've seen. First and foremost it places just about the most perfect song with the most perfect visuals. "Late for the Sky" is a song I would never think to associate to this particular scene but after seeing it I can't think of anything else working. Next, there's the snippet from American Bandstand that's featured. In it, we see dancing couples and a zoom in on a lone pair of shoes. I take it these represent Travis's loneliness as he has no one with which to dance. Then there's a long shot of Travis as he sits there with the gun in his hand. Travis is completely alone and wants desperately to have someone with him. I feel he both wants to have a purpose in his life and to make his life worth living and that he's completely conflicted at how to arrive at this goal. Browne's lyrics from "Late for the Sky" are haunting during this focus on Travis. Overall, I don't think I've seen any other scene in a movie that I can watch over and over again and still be moved in the same way. It's the perfect blend of so many things that all just work flawlessly together.

One small note I'd like to make is about the other music. There's a couple different vibes here. Sometimes the music completely captures that New York feel. It's quite hard to describe but imagine Gershwin. That's what I think when I think classical New York style music and Taxi Driver captures this feel quite frequently. Other times though there's a distinct military tone to the music with drum beats. These are mostly used at the beginning I think but I don't the exact reason for that. Anyway, it'll be something I keep an ear out for on my next watch. So besides the perfect choice of "Late for the Sky," Taxi Driver excels in the music throughout.

Next, I also alluded to this in the previous comments but want to address it a bit more. I still find it fascinating how the general populace perceives Travis. He wanted to kill the presidential candidate and he almost went through with it. Instead, he goes to a pimp and basically saves a prostitute in an incredibly violent bloodbath. The media take Travis as a hero but the audience knows what all he has done up until this point. He's clearly not a hero - he's just as twisted and confused now as he was before. How many more months will it take for there to be another scene where he sits with a gun in his hand and watches longingly at American Bandstand? I feel it's almost surely going to happen again. Will he kill again or won't he? It's naturally an open question and one that Scorsese simply addresses with an unsettling sound effect while Travis is driving. But this sound is a small thing and I believe it's possible to ignore it in a way and completely interpret Travis as a changed individual. Do I think this is the wrong interpretation? Yes (it does conflict with Scorsese's own statements) but I think it's possible to justify this belief even if it wasn't what Scorsese had in mind if that makes sense. Really what's important though is that the character arc of Travis Bickle is one of the most intricate, complicated, and interesting that I've ever seen in a movie. De Niro captures it so well with his little nuances of the character and he cannot be praised enough.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10 again. Taxi Driver is about as close to a 10/10 as one can get in my opinion. I still have some complaints here and there but overall they're minor. It also takes a really special movie to get a 10/10 from me and while Taxi Driver is incredibly moving and incredibly thought provoking, I still can't justify the perfect 10/10 score.