Taxi Driver

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i just saw taxi driver last night and i wasnt dissappointed.i have been a really big fan of martin scorsese's films.he is my favorite director.ever since i saw casino goodfealls and cape fear.i cant wait untill i see his new film gangs of new york.when i saw taxi driver last night i also taped it.so now i have casino,goodfealls and taxi driver.i also want cape fear and mean streets.taxi driver is a violent movie,but only at the end so its not extremlly violent.even though theres not extreme violence it is still a pretty bloody at the end, and i mean really bloody.sure only four people die in the movie,but all has gore in it.my favorite is when he shoots a guys hand off then he sticks a knife all the way through his other hand then puts a gun by his mouth and kills him point blank.actually all of the deaths are my favorite like when he shoots that one guy in the face 5 times and in the chest so many times,and when he kills the pimp,at first he thought he was dead when he shot him in the gut but when he came back and shot travis in the neak surprised me,but then he turned around and finished off the pimp.the last death in the movie is when a guy is getting robbed and travis shoots him,but i dont know where he was shot at,because we dont see any blood untill he is already dead,then the clerk gets a pole and startes hitting the guy that is already dead.the end was also a shock,because i thought travis was dead when he pulls up a bloody fingure and pretends to shoot himselfthen we think he is dead.then we get an up view of the whole massacre.the camera goes back the way travis came through wivh means we go by the dead pepole lining in blood,and there is blood all over the walls, basicly the whole place is covered in blood.we then find out that travis was only in a coma and was found as a hero for saving the protatute.

>>By engelmeyerfan   (Saturday, 15 Feb 2003 18:27)



Well engelmeyerfan, you are too fixated on the violence of this fine film my friend, but I share your appreciation. It is a pity that more people have not taken the time to review this pic.

The 'up shot' you mention is one of the first uses of a a camera looking down on a scene from above.

What I find really interesting about this film is that the character of Travis decided to assasinate the presidential canditate Charles Pallantine, who he sees as corrupt and filthy. Travis purges his body and mind in his quest to kill the man - viz chin ups, pushups and holding his hand above a flame. However, he fails when he is easily spotted as a 'crank' - he's wearing ex-army gear and sporting a mohawk - by two FBI agents at one of Pallantine's rally's.

Travis then turns his attention to the seedy world of pimps and prostitutes, killing a 14 y.o prostitue's (Jody Foster) pimp (a funny looking Harvey Kietel) and becoming a hero in the process. The irony is that if he had succeeded in killing Pallantine he would have been thrown in prison and villified by society.

I could ramble on. This is a great film and was the starting point of some great acting careers. DeNiro was at his best in this movie.

>>By Urvan   (Wednesday, 23 Jun 2004 12:33)



Interesting movie. Certainly not the best of all time or anything though

>>By ftad   (Monday, 18 Oct 2004 18:21)



Take note of the dialogue...not the visuals....we've all been there...but most have never gone to that extreme....pure genius

>>By Da Blues   (Sunday, 21 Nov 2004 13:53)



nobody could have played Travis in this movie better than Robert De Niro the man is just perfect for the role, hes so intense and kind of creepy and yet you can sympathise with him and almost feel that him murdering the pimps and underworld scum is justified.
I love the idea of this charachter Travis feeling that he can do that little bit to make the world less cruel, he wants to change things. Such an original movie that i could never grow tired of watching.

>>By Too Smart for a nickname   (Monday, 9 Jan 2006 16:54)



every now & then
i
cue this gem up on my DVD
it
NEVER fails to to stun & amaze (& overpower)
yeah
alienation is a fucked-up human condition
&
taxi drivin' travis had it in spades
but hey
haven't we ALL teetered on that threeshold at one time or another
(or was it only me who attempted to buy a suitcase of hot
pistols from a parolee in a flophouse on skidrow ???)

>>By Helmet   (Wednesday, 11 Jan 2006 02:06)



In my view, it certainly IS the best movie of all time. To me, Taxi Driver is far more tense and frightening than any horror movie. Even though Travis is a strange, strange man, I have never identified with a character as much as him. I can even understand why he turns psychopathic, the sheer claustrophobia of his loneliness would make me snap too. Beautifully shot, beautifully scored, beautifully written and unbelievably well acted.

And the ending (the very end I mean, after the bloodbath) is pure genius. Well, it is if my theory is correct (the whole scene is just in Travis' head, he dies after saving Iris).

>>By Stinkfist   (Wednesday, 18 Jan 2006 14:55)



Thats actually a good theory i never thought of. I think what most people agree on he is how everyone can sympathise with De Niros charachter and theres not many movies that can make you sympathise with a murderer.

>>By Too Smart for a nickname   (Sunday, 22 Jan 2006 15:17)



check out "bringing out the dead", this was also done by Scorsese with a similar concept. Only in that the fight is more main character vs. himself, instead of partly him and partly his surroundings.

>>By demille   (Tuesday, 31 Jan 2006 17:59)



re: my upstairs neighbour < Stinkfist >
& his reference to the "bloodbath" finale

on the DVD, included in the 'extras' is a rendition of that
scene as Scorsese wanted it filmed & released.
as the camera tracks the carnage from an overhead vantage-point he used some kinda 'movie-magic' technique that gave all the blood (& there's LOTS' of it) an extremely bright & vivid quality
the studio balked at that scene as filmed thinking it was too
extreme to the senses
the scene remained in the final-cut & release but with a far more muted hue to all the blood

>>By Helmet   (Wednesday, 1 Feb 2006 01:08)



Huh, interesting. I'm pretty certain my version of the DVD doesn't have that version in the extras, but I'll check again.

In case it doesnt: is that cut of the scene, in terms of visceral effect, better, worse or equal to the final cut?

>>By Stinkfist   (Thursday, 2 Feb 2006 18:24)



better
better
better



no question about it
if you watch the 2 versions back-to-back
{ & the only thing that is different is the "brightness"
of the blood }
the way that scorsese favoured it really packs more of a wallop........even on a television screen
on a big-ass movie screen it woulda certainly assaulted
the visual senses & conveyed travis' carnage rampage to better effect
(well........in my humble opinion)

>>By Helmet   (Friday, 3 Feb 2006 01:05)



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