Taxi Driver
The power of movies on potentially psychotic individuals to put ideas into their minds and even worse, compel them to carry out horrific acts is a concept that is often debated and perhaps rightfully so, and just as easily dismissed as such an insane person on that level would probably have been set off sooner or later. However, there is one movie that many have credited as being the only of its kind to have literally inspired an attempted presidential assassination, that being John Hinckley’s attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981 barely months after he took office (which Reagan pretty much shook off as being like almost nothing even as Press Secretary James Brady wasn’t so lucky). That movie was this 1976 release, which even without the controversy would have still been hailed as a masterpiece, even as its lead character bore an unmistakable resemblance to Hinckley who had also developed an unhealthy obsession with co star Jodie Foster and had reportedly had shot Reagan in order to “impress” her, a fact that has reportedly haunted Foster for the majority of her adult life. The film itself is what it is, an unflinching portrait of a complete societal misfit, masterfully directed by Martin Scorsese and brilliantly written by Paul Schrader (who himself was said to have gone to a VERY dark place to have come up with the screenplay), a misanthrope who descends into the grind of the day to day life of a New York City cab driver, rarely sleeping yet kind of seeing himself as a sort of clandestine avenger going into the darkest corners of 1970s New York and seeing the dirt and scum of humanity for what it is. As played by Robert DeNiro (in what many have called THE best performance of his very storied career), Travis Bickle is a deeply disturbed, socially awkward type nonetheless possessing a strange type of morality and values, a glazed over code of honor by which he strives to always do the right thing for arguably either the greater good or by his own need to create a self image for himself as some kind of a “hero”. That leads up to the first debatable point in the film, as in the opening scene he tells the taxi company personnel officer (Joe Spinell) that he was once in The Marine Corps, had served in Vietnam, and that he had received an honorable discharge as such, but since NO reference is ever made by Bickle (even in his narration) for the rest of the film to either Nam or any other form of military service, it’s entirely possible (though not definite) that Bickle had NEVER actually served and had only told others like Spinell that (along with wearing an Army surplus jacket) to give himself the whole “war veteran” sheen in order to garner a little bit of respect and adulation from others, though for all we know he may very well have spent much of his earlier life having been institutionized and certified as being completely mentally ill (along with having had a slight touch of autism) from childhood, though the ambiguity of the issue is what makes it so fascinating (although a clue can be heard in a letter he writes to his parents at one point, mentioning how he “cannot give them his address at this time”, implying that they may know something about him that we don’t and thus he does not want them to be able to find out his current location). The early scenes of the film manage to slowly, meticulously depict Bickle’s descent not so much into actual madness but more like his stomach churning disgust at what he sees as the decadence that is so openly on display in the big city (even while he himself practically pays rent going to a porno theatre that’s become like a second home) as he continuously loses sleep and displays even more social anxiety when he stalks a campaign volunteer (Cybill Shepherd) working for a Senator who is highly touted to be the next President, finally mustering the courage to walk into her office and ask her right out much to the chagrin of her stiff, unfunny co worker who clearly had his own eyes on her played by Albert Brooks (a smart, funny comic mind in real life who was allowed to write his own dialogue here, which makes one hope that he really was smart enough to purposely take his character and write him to be such a nerdy, lecherous sort who tells lame, unfunny jokes in a woefully failed attempt at being charming). When Cybill (then considered to be one of the most beautiful women in the world) accepts the date with Bickle (much to our surprise) and actually seems to be almost won over by his insecure personality, he manages to blow it for all time by taking her on a first date to see a PORNO movie which then causes the prim, proper beauty to storm out of the theatre and out of his life in total and utter disgust, which only adds to Bickle’s paranoia and hatred of the world around him. He also encounters Foster’s 12 year old prostitute and her sleazy, disgusting pimp (Harvey Keitel with long hair) who comes off not only as being truly evil but also as one of the most repulsive excuses for a human being ever depicted in cinema. As Bickle begins to contemplate actually shooting the candidate that Shepherd shills for (despite being apolitical himself, as Hinckley supposedly was) after he just so happens to give the big man of the hour a ride in his cab and even have a halfass political discussion with him, he turns to a veteran cabbie named Wizard (Peter Boyle) for advice on the way that he’s feeling, especially after seeing how Boyle runs his mouth a lot telling all kinds of wild and crazy stories about all the things he’s done in all his years of being a cabbie (which the others all look up to him for), only to discover during a one on one serious conversation that the big old talker is not that really all quite as wise and sage as he would appear to be, stumbling and falling when it comes to giving out important advice to the younger guy and not even really understanding the questions that he was being asked to begin with (though ironically telling Bickle “not to worry so much” was actually pretty astute). As Bickle starts to obsess over having some kind of preordained destiny in his life, whether it be in taking out the candidate or saving Foster from the demonic clutches of Keitel, his own life and the balance of power within it changes forever when he meets with an illegal gun dealer and handily purchases no less than 4 firearms from him at sale price (something the gun control nuts will never understand when it comes to just how easily these weapons can be obtained on the black market) and he even goes so far as to install a slide mechanism in his surplus jacket sleeve to enable him to have an even easier time in getting the drop on somebody, leading to one of the film’s best and most underrated scenes at his local grocer where he shoots dead an armed robber with his unregistered gun and the store owner shoos him away promising to cover for him as he does so. And as the film goes on, Scorsese’s directing and DeNiro’s acting are both alternately fascinating and frightening, as we even get a chance to see the two of them actually ACT together (one time only) in a scene where Scorsese plays a clearly mentally disturbed (yet affluent) passenger who gleefully tells DeNiro about the disgusting way in which he plans to murder his cheating wife, with Scorsese’s acting here being massively effective along with DeNiro’s passive take on encountering the one character in the movie who may be even more crazier than he is. And while maybe for some, spending two hours watching this cabbie become even more paranoid, narcissistic, and deranged might not be their cup of tea, it is ultimately the fact that in Bickle’s choice while deciding between two different acts of violence (either killing the candidate OR killing the scumbags who are holding and exploiting Foster) comes his almost seeming redemption, made even moreso by the scene where we see Foster (who has happily told Bickle over breakfast that she can just “leave anytime she wants”) alone with Keitel and we realize just how this slick talking piece of shit has absolutely no intentions of ever allowing her to leave, deftly telling her what she needs to hear and then holding her close for a dance in one of the most chillingly morbid scenes ever as the (real life) 12 year old Foster (already a big star by then for her Disney movies) actually needed special counseling to prepare for the role and even had her older sister double for her during the more squeamish moments in her performance, thus reinforcing the rather disturbing idea that having someone with the balls to step up to these kinds of people like Keitel is something that society needs more of. And while the film is really not all that violent until the climax, the paradox of using raw, brutal violence to solve our problems as opposed to other means and methods (albeit none that Bickle is smart enough to come up with on his own) basically means that while these types of people will always spring up from the well of our society, the often avoided tendency to treat both them and all others like them with some kindness and respect might just be enough to curb their hostile rage and allow them to feel a somewhat semblance of normalcy that would still be a welcome release from the boundaries of loneliness and isolation, a relevant message from one of the best actor / director teams to ever work together on a movie set…
9/10