TAXI DRIVER

Film Background Release date: 1976 Directed by: Martin Scorsese Screenplay (original): Paul Schrader Director of Photography: Michael Chapman Who’s who of actors: Robert DeNiro, Cybill Shepard, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster Based on The Searchers (1956) A film noir/Hitchcock feel to the film

Themes Loneliness Mental Illness Urban alienation Hidden (?) racism Rescue of women The Hero/the Anti-Hero The concept of justice

Motifs  WATER!-In all its forms

Tech  POV  Long shots  The use of color

Scenes to Analyze Bickle’s second date attempt with Betsy Bickle’s conversation with Bickle

Tidbits DeNiro’s method (Stanislavski) acting Musical Score: Bernard Hermann The taxi cab as a metaphor for loneliness and male drifting The irony of the setting (city)

Interesting quotes  Scorsese: (Taxi Driver) “is a documentary of the mind.”  Schrader: (Loneliness) “is a pathology we share. It’s a particular kind of breed of white boy.”  Schrader: (On censorship of the film) “what happens when we will still have Raskalnikov but we won’t have Crime and Punishment?!”

Questions/Thoughts to ponder  Why is this film still so well received?  Should such a violent film be made (does it inspire violence)?  Existential: How to make sense in a senseless world (hand- wringing/sadness)  Post-modern: There is no meaning to the world (no hand- wringing/sadness)

Enjoy the show… “you talkin’ to me?”