This makingof doc deconstructs martin scorseses taxi. Comments by scorsese on the ending also do not show any intent to imply that the ending is taking place only in traviss head. Lets talk about the ending of taxi driver no film school. Scorsese is known for his frequent use of slow motion, for example, in whos that knocking at my door 1967 and mean streets 1973. And in a reddit ama, screenwriter paul schrader explained, the epilogue is not a dream sequence. I wouldnt have even understood that from the ending if i hadnt read an interview where scorsese explained it. Having done some research on scorseses taxi driver, there was more than a brilliant script, more like an interesting story about the writer, paul schrader. Paul schraders screenplay peeled back the mind of a man slowly losing his grip.
Scorsese is currently oscarnominated as best director for the aviator, while. Taxi driver is a favorite of movie lovers, casual movie fans, and crazy people the story of a guy who wants to eliminate all the scum from the city, and embarks on a scheme of violent selfdevelopment, naturally is going to appeal to a fair amount of troubled peoplelike john hinckley jr. Go behind the scenes on the 1975 set of scorseses taxi driver. And now that i have ventured into cinema, its gets better every time. Taxi driver is, in this sense, a backstage pass into the hero psyche. While scorsese directed a number of films in the new hollywood period, including the oscar winner raging bull 1980, the film that best captured the issues of its time and the essence of new hollywood was taxi driver 1976. All the animals come out at night whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies. Taxi driver is one of the ten best films of the 1970s voted on by staff, friends, and readers of movie mezzanine. Analyzing martin scorseses 1976 masterpiece, taxi driver. I think im going to hang my enormous paycheck right about here. So if travis really survived, then what is taxi driver trying to say.
Because taxi driver is indeed four decades old and because everyone involved has been made to discuss the film repeatedly throughout those four decades. To highlight taxi drivers 38th anniversary, this 70minute documentary delves into the making of scorseses film and highlights the many contributions put forth by taxi drivers ensemble of talented actors and artisans. At the end of taxi driver, what happens screenprism. Does martin scorseses taxi driver end with reality or fantasy. If you noticed, scorseses scene comes immediately after traviss confrontation with betsy at her office where he gets angry at her. But the real gem in the scorsese oeuvre this month is a movie that is as relevant today as it was on the day of its release 40 years ago on february 8, 1976. Why we are locked in the back of taxi drivers mind film. In todays video we discuss the taxi driver ending scene explained. Winner of the palme dor at the 1976 cannes film festival, the film celebrated its twentieth anniversary last year and remains as powerful and disturbing as ever, particularly in regard to the ambiguous ending in which psychopath taxi driver travis bickle survives his killing rampage.
In taxi driver directed by martin scorsese, travis is the person that the viewer follows throughout the film. The critical success of taxi driver encouraged scorsese to move. Mean streets, taxi driver, and new york, new york scorsese then shocked filmgoers with taxi driver 1976, a hellish tour of a disturbed vietnam veterans peculiar madness. The muddled, dark, distorted images of new york city at night, steam rising through the streets to get caught in the headlights, reveal the seedier side of the urban landscape. What followed was a simply iconic turn by scorsese. Travis, the protagonist and focal point of taxi driver, is severely out of his element in new york city, though its hard to imagine where else he would fit in. Reexaming the ending of martin scorsese s taxi driver.
It looks like we dont have any plot summaries for this title yet. In the program notes cronenberg explained this choice by describing taxi driver as. If youve ever wondered what happens at the end of martin scorseses fantastic film and yeah, were talking to you then pay your cabbie. Not real scorsese ultimately leaves viewers with a profane ending in taxi driver. Statements by schrader in which he said the final scenes were meant to comment on how criminals become celebrities in americas unbalanced society, seem to strongly indicate that the ending was not intended to be a fantasy. But while taxi driver is a cinematic masterpiece thats just as relevant today as it was over 40 years ago, the ending of the film has sparked quite a bit of debate. This was a time when america was rethinking the posters on its cultural wall. It seems like so long ago, but at one time, martin scorsese was a director struggling to make it in the mainstream. Just click the edit page button at the bottom of the page or learn more in the plot summary submission guide. A director can interpret a script in many different ways, by imposing a certain style onto the story it can be perceived differently. I realize now how much she is just like the others, how cold and distant. Essay about taxi driver, directed by martin scorsese.
Martin scorseses taxi driver 1976 arrived amidst a resurgence in american cinema. Todd phillips, martin scorsese, greta gerwig, noah baumbach close. This answer assumes you have seen taxi driver and consequently has spoilers for the film. The film is best remembered today for the title theme song, which was. Of course not, this is the groundbreaking visionary that gave us raging bull, taxi driver, and. Schrader, a midwestern protestant in pullover sweater and tie, and scorsese, a new york italianamerican, in jeans and a beard. The whole movie is about a ticking time bomb that finally explodes at the end, and then the timer resets and starts ticking again. Brilliantly written by paul schrader, photographed by michael chapman, and scored. In taxi driver, travis bickle also is a war veteran, horribly scarred in vietnam. Taxi driver became the emblem of this negative criticism.
I am referring to the last seconds of the movie, when travis catches his. Taxi driver was, is, and will continue to be one of the. Taxi driver 1976 ending scene explainedexplanation. Taxi drivers ending has been talked about since the movie came out. How is taxi driver connected to two assassination attempts related. Written by paul schrader, taxi driver is an homage to and reworking of cinematic influences, a study of individual psychosis, and an acute diagnosis of the latently violent, mediafixated vietnam era. Nicolette scorsese scene from national lampoons christmas vacation. Martin scorseses taxi driver was released in 1976, after the end of the vietnam war. This ending mirrors heroworship via the media in america. Martin charles scorsese is an italianamerican film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. Wood perceives taxi driver as a fusion of film noir, horror, and westerns. We take a crack at deciphering the ending of inception and explaining what the movie inception is.
After the shootout, martin scorsese gives us an overhead shot of the brothel. After all, the film isnt glorifying violence or condoning vigilantism. The film was a game changer, and like nothing we have seen before or since, despite its obvious influences. Exhausted, figuratively and literally, he rests his insomniariddled mind by taking up work as a taxi driver, working in the twilight of a city past midnight, blearyeyed and dishevelled, left in the maelstrom of his own misanthropy. I think i was in my early 20s the first time i watched the movie, i was first struck by the grim realism of new york city 1976. Scorseses opus, taxi driver, was perhaps the best film to do this, with leading character travis bickle played to perfection by a young robert. Even prior to its release, the film adapted by taxi driver and raging bull veteran paul. Scorsese and i met for lunch during his visit last week to chicago and were joined by paul schrader, who wrote the screenplay for taxi driver. Go behind the scenes on the 1975 set of scorseses taxi. Heres an interpretive reading of whats real and whats not in the 1976 classic. Scorsese wanted to look away from traviss rejection. She looks exactly like the woman doctor nick brought home yes, its nicolette scorsese again.
Taxi driver went on to win the palme dor at the cannes film festival, but it lost the best picture oscar to the more comforting rocky. Taxi driver is definitely on my top 3 list of favorite films to watch over and over again. The idea of subjectivity is not exclusive to taxi driver in the world of filmmaking, but taxi driver uses subjectivity to perfection. Through the rainsoaked windshield of travis bickles robert deniro car, the first moments of taxi driver 1976 establish a lot by doing very little. The words taxi and driver have never been the same since 1976, a year in which a truly revolutionary collaborative effort between a brilliant director, a brilliant script, and a brilliant cast culminated in one of the best films the industry has ever seen. Taxi driver is a hell, from the opening shot of a cab emerging from stygian clouds of steam to the climactic killing scene in which the camera finally looks straight down.
A director can use miseenscene by simply letting the script guide how the film looks, and use quite an unobtrusive style. In the movie taxi driver, we see martin scorsese in two different cameos. Reexaming the ending of martin scorseses taxi driver. Martin scorsese s 1976 classic taxi driver is oft considered to be one of the finest films ever made, releasing in the midst.
Lethal weapon 4, indiana jones 4, universal soldier 5. Travis determines to rescue iris, and does so, in a bloodbath that is unsurpassed even in the films of scorsese. Martin scorseses masterpiece taxi driver might just be the greatest new. What is the significance of scorseses scene in taxi driver. Have these unnecessary sequels influenced martin scorsese. Two different cameos of martin scorsese in taxi driver. Character analysis of taxi driver 871 words 4 pages. Taxi driver analysis part one the cinema cartography duration. Ironically, scorsese was not originally slated to play the role of cabbie travis bickles most demonic of customers in taxi driver 1976, but when mean streets actor george memmoli pulled out, scorsese stepped into the breach as much for expediency than for any especial casting merit. This role is credited as passenger watching silhouette and we do have a small cameo at the start too. Martin scorsese and the fragility of masculinity one. Paul schrader clarified the screenwriting development process in an interview with richard thompson from 1976 when taxi driver had just opened, film comment, 1976 taxi driver is a very special case. How is taxi driver connected to two assassination attempts.
In 1983 director david cronenberg curated a science fiction retrospective for the toronto film festival and his provocative selections included martin scorseses 1976 masterpiece taxi driver. Taxi driver scorsese acting performance taxi, driver, martin, scorsese, robert. The films gritty and unforgiving setting suddenly makes him a hero at the films ending, very very very out of place in taxi driver, i mean he just tried to assassinate an innocent politician. Using an array of cinematographic techniques, director martin scorsese crafted a highly stylized world centered around a single unforgettable character, travis bickle. Taxi driver was a huge departure from typical hollywood and exemplified what new hollywood wanted to achieve in a number. Interview with martin scorsese interviews roger ebert. Nicolette helena elizabeth van dam dutch women, trending topics, new trends, freckles. Taxi driver ending scene explained taxi driver 1976 end scene explanation. I didnt understand the ending of the movie taxi driver. He encounters a 12yearold prostitute named iris jodie foster, controlled by a pimp named sport harvey keitel. Well, some people believe the last few minutes of taxi driver 1976 are. With movie endings explained, we aim to delve into some of the more ambiguous and mysterious endings to films that have left audiences.
702 1599 933 655 1054 328 852 848 1360 357 1007 1495 715 754 974 1430 532 779 1597 238 443 1313 1070 512 297 1534 828 1400 168 281 290 964 894 1087 1045 650 732 1451 42 979 662 295