Dish of the Day

Just some film musings of a more succinct, spontaneous and sometimes seditious nature:

Thursday, June 29, 2023

Recently in our film related chat room (readers are welcome to join here) a member created a post expressing “5 Things I Don't Like About Taxi Driver (1976). They were:

Cybil Shepherd

That It's Narrated

"Late For The Sky" [the song that plays while Travis watches “American Bandstand” on his TV.]

Iris' Parents

The Ending

I wasn’t able to relate to any of those criticisms, feeling that all of the elements he singled out worked brilliantly in the story. Since the o.p. offered no explanation as to why he found those factors objectionable, I decided not to respond to his complaints.

Another member in the comments section, did object to a scene in the film with a bit of an explanation:

“Travis Bickle never made any sense to me as a character. He takes his date to a porn movie (what a sleaze!), but then rescues a girl from sex traffickers (what morals!)?”

Having come across criticism regarding Travis’ dating location in the past (noted film critic Pauline Kael raised a similar objection) I decided to respond as follows:

“At that time in New York City, many porn theatres lined up right alongside venues playing ‘regular’ movies so that someone disengaged in regards to choosing, knowing, or caring about the difference, could wind up going to either type of theatre perhaps simply to kill some time. Travis is shown to be a creature of habit. As he tries to explain to Betsy after she angrily walks out, he doesn't know movies. He didn't intentionally choose that type of film nor try to suggest what she accused him of (i.e. just wanting to have sex).”

Also in the comments the o.p. who made the “5 things…” criticisms, directed a response to me personally after I provided a link to my Taxi Driver review, which read:

“So what's it all about Arthur? You never got there.”

… which prompted this response:

“It's about a person who perceives himself to be extremely marginalised by society. He's so disconnected (... an ex-Marine, Vietnam War veteran, self-described as 'God’s lonely man' who could not be in a more ideal, congested environment for nurturing feelings of isolation, frustration and cognitive hostility that will further assist him on his way to insanity) he becomes dangerous to the same city inhabitants he feels shunned by. Since the observances are so acute (Chapman and Scorsese masterfully choreograph us 'through the looking glass' of their character’s hypnotic observances and strangely compulsive encounters, drawing us closer and closer as if they’re encouraging us to become like Travis, in whose twisted alternate reality we progressively share) we are compelled to identify with Travis' extreme psychosis as he attempts to make sense of his surroundings and his own purpose in life. It's about our values as well. And if they are self-centred in nature, we should expect to encounter more people like Travis in the densely populated areas of our communities (Paul Schrader provided the screenplay based on his personal experiences. His meticulous groundwork is presented as an endless living nightmare by Scorsese and Company, a frighteningly real, penetrative study of a man who 'stood up' only because he finally wanted out but was nevertheless returned to live among us. One real scary question this brilliant film poses is, 'How many people like Travis are out there?')”.

My complete review (a portion of which is in italics above) can be read here.

All responses are not only welcomed but encouraged in the comments section below.

Hope to see you tomorrow.

A.G.