Yeah, he's hunted the most dangerous game already and by the orders of politicians. The psychological effect of that experience combined with his arrested development are probably the foundation of what we see in the movie. He mentions that he was honorably discharged, and we later see the scars on his back.
I think that not knowing his backstory makes him a more relatable character, since you can't take him as a well defined character, but more as an idea of a desperate and depraved person.
Every single analysis ive seen has yet to point out that his military background in the Vietnam War has anything to fo with his lonely, fractured mental state. Why was he so willing to kill the robber? Probably because he's killed in combat during his tour.
Never understood how people can sit there and say that the ending was a dream sequence yet the director, screenwriter, and star of the movie all said Travis Bickle survives.
You could debate all day whether a fans interpretation or the creators meaning in any given artwork is more valid. Regardless, just because Travis survives doesn't mean its not a dream or his own dellusions.
He failed in killing Palatine, but succeeded in killing the pimps and was celebrated and regarded as a hero for it. It is hinted he will try a violent act like this again to try to be a 'hero' again. He sees hope when he meets with Betsy again and he most likely feels like he should save her next by killing Palatine for sure this time. He has deluded himself into thinking it will be a heroic act, but probably will end up in jail or killed.
And not only that, but he was praised as a hero when if he were to assassinate palantine he would've been seen as a completely crazed lunatic..even if what he did was heroic in a way, he didn't do it for the right reasons I believe. People don't know the man behind the "hero" they're praising. That and exactly what you said are the 2 main points at the end of the film, and just like with a lot of other great movies people completely miss those points.
@@mongogojjo5944 Travis was heroic when dealing with the teenage hooker,most guys would have done nothing to help her escape her world,,and most would not have turned down her services ( sex),
Uh, Betsy was attracted to Travis at first. She indicates that by agreeing with him when she says "I wouldn't be here if I didn't" to Travis. She wasn't just "being nice." Yes, she thinks he's weird and off-putting and knows he's from a different socio-economic background than her, but I think much the way Travis hates degeneracy but is also fascinated by it, Betsy (like many women) is fascinated by the "danger" of certain men like Travis even if they're not as socially savvy as bores like Tom. That's how women work, man. They have hormones too. They don't date according to "pure reason" anymore than guys. So it's not as simple as saying "Betsy was just being nice." Yes, the relationship was obviously doomed to failure; but he legitimately impressed her and amused her and excited her the first time he walked into the headquarters. Unfortunately for Travis, his keen insight into Betsy that initially impressed her didn't translate to actually planning out a reasonable date. People who are autistic like that can be insightful one moment and then totally obtuse in the next moment. Like Betsy herself said (and hits at the main strand of the film), he's a "walking contradiction" (partly truth, partly fiction). We all are on some level. It's just more notable in some than it is in others.
Excellent analysis, I think Betsy was intrigued, being nice yes but more than just that, even going into a Manhattan porn theater would take extraordinary trust WHICH Travis abused by not noticing her discomfort. If I was a guy obviously I wouldn't bring a date to a place like that but if I did, n it was making her disgusted I'd notice n say, damn this is a different movie than the one I saw or SOMETHING to lead into, yes let's get out of here. But Travis is like a car accident, disagreeable but you just can't help watching
Agreed. I'm not saying it never happens, but I don't see most women to agree to multiple dates just to be nice. The face that she agrees (albeit reluctantly) to even go into the porn theater shows she must like him, or is at least intrigued.
lynn pehrson sends me straight into nostalgic delusions . Sounds sad but also sounds exactly like the song u would hear playing in ur head while going on a self destructive path of life
i like when robert deniro points a gun out of the window and points it at the entire city coupled with the subtle shaking of the camera like he's barely containing the force of his frantic conviction. it works well with the fact that he's just met easy andy and now has the guns right there in front of him instead of just being an afterthought that wasn't actually a few feet of away from him. he realizes his crusade can finally be realized
He's not dead or in jail. However, Scorsese did say that Travis's arc is ultimately circular and that he hasn't really changed for the better or snapped out of his crazy trip by the end of the film. History is likely to repeat itself in his world, hence why the ending credits and the start of the film blend together intentionally.
Thing is I don't think one could stand events with such magnitude. What else could he do that is circular and so relevant as he did? I think at one point he just ceased his "work" as being this loner hero.
Yeah people who think it's a dream sequence literally miss out on the entire point of the movie, and for some reason they don't accept what the writer himself literally said.
Interesting, tough I disagree with your interpretation of the ending of the movie being a dream sequence. The very last scene, after he drops Betsy off, he aggressively looks in his rear-view mirror, in a sort of paranoid manner. We would think that after the climax, his character would evolve and find meaning in his life (as per the existentialist overtones presented in the film). This is illustrated by his calm and laid back conversation with Betsy in the cab. However, his look back in the mirror subverts this, and shows that he has not evolved, and will go back to his destructive tendencies.
scorcese also went on record saying the end is NOT a dream sequence, as well as other people who produced the movie. really the movie was trying to show the irony that he was on the brink of becoming a vilified and hated figure, and only because he instead killed the gangsters did the world buy into travis' delusions
@@EWillard44 I think the movie is better when the final scene is considered reality and not a dream sequence. It says a lot more about people's narrow view of others and how perceptions are affected by that lack of information. Because the world does not personally know Travis, they just see "Man kills 3 pedophilic gangsters, saves teenager" and they envision a citizen of outstanding character and the ideal of justice, which Travis does not fit. Not to mention it says a lot more about Betsy, or you really could say women in general. What always struck me about the ending scene is actually how he's interacting with the other cab drives. He appears really calm and part of the group, and he even appears to be comfortable with the black cab driver now despite his earlier racism. I think Travis partially healed himself, but the look into the mirror shows it is possible for him to revert back.
While it could be looked like that, and Scorsese himself did say that the scene was not a dream sequence, that final look in the mirror might not necessarily mean he will go straight to his self-destructive habits, but rather to the fact that is mined is still unstable.
@@Sleeveusalone I think since his assassination of the pimps was regarded as a heroic act, he will try to do the same with Palatine, expecting the same reaction from the public. That's what the final look in the mirror means to me.
The days go on and on... they don't end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.
I watched Taxi Driver twice before and never deciphered any subtext. I'm so dumb. You wrote that film dissection amazingly! I learned so much. I've been depressed for seventeen years and unknowingly have been exactly like Travis. I hope the video get a lot of watches.
You are not dumb. People have different way of seeing the world. He has great analytic skills. You saw it you may have seen it with different tool, different point of view.)
Ok, you say you have been depressed 17 years and you feel like you are like Travis. No matter the plot is you have to remember that it is a fiction. So do not try to think that what you have or what you are is that, as it is not a real case, even though expresses a mixture of different sorts of personality among simbolic references. If you think, as I said, that you are kind like Travis (or fully) you may are crazy. Sorry, but this film sadly is a seducer of sociopaths (when they treat this film as phylosophy of life).
Turn to God my friend he will take away you depression. I promise you that If you only think about God and nothing else you will stop being depressed and you will feel joy
I love that mirror glance at the end. WHEN HE SURVIVED, LITERALLY CONFIRMED. ITS NOT LIKE A BATMAN COMIC WHERE THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF CREATORS, ITS AN ORIGINAL FILM. THE DIRECTOR AND LEAD ACTORS INTENTION FOR THE ENDING IS FACT
So glad to see your (possibly) final analysis being about my favourite film Jack! I've been watching this series ever since I saw the No Country For Old Men review, and it's been one of my favourites ever since. Wishing you lots of luck with whatever you're going to pursue next!
I moved to NYC back in 1978. Just before leaving, my girlfriend and I were watching this movie. About mid-way through, she turned to me and said in a worried voice, "Do you really want to move there?" I lived there for 5 years before moving back home. I came to know both sides of the city. I was captivated by it's majestic beauty but I could see how someone could get sucked in by it's seamier and more dangerous side (as two of my friends did, both ending up as fatalities).
I think it's too easy to cast Travis as some kind of anti-social freak, with little or no social awareness, when in truth, there's a little of Travis in most men. Most men have these fantasies, but for most men they remain fantasies - or are restricted to minor acts of violence and anti-social behavior. Mental illness is often an exaggerated expression of common-place schemas, and I think that's what Scorsese and Schrader see Travis Bickle as - a prism through which to explore common masculine archetypes. If Travis was just an odd ball, with no connection to society - Taxi Driver would be just a film about a pathology, What makes Taxi Driver such a disturbing film, is Travis's similarities to us, not his weirdness. His need for recognition, his need to play up to the Alpha male stereotypes; the attack on the ego at being rejected by a woman; the scapegoating of sexual criminals as a way to appease his own weaknesses, are not uncommon schemas, We've all felt a few of them from time to time. . In fact, it's not that Travis is unconnected to society, his problem lies in his over-connected relationship with society. He is a total product of society, with no subjective reality. His whole reality is a construct of media tropes and platitudes. And there lies the central paradox of the post modern reality, wherein virtual interaction is ubiquitous - to make up for the absence of real social interaction. However, Travis is not the only character suffering this contradictory trauma, almost every other character demonstrates the same over-connection to the 'culture', as they communicate through Errol Flynn's bathtub, Kris Kristofferson records, tabloid headlines about organized crime Hollowness of speech is another theme, from Wizard's blowhard useless advice, to the empty rhetoric of Palantine - a general state of phatic communication pervades. Of people going through the motions of social interaction, without actually communicating. Travis is no more or less anti-social than the rest of the characters, it's just he's less adept at playing the game of phatic communication. He wants to play the game, but he just can't work out the rules.
I'm totally agree, Travis come from a conservative society for how he thinks about the changes that was living USA in the 70, but at the same time he feels mistreated by this kind of society that was still In this country of post vietnam, feeling lonely and confussed
@@idurisu930 The silhouette is the passenger's wife. He is played by Scorsese. He has another cameo outside Betsy's campaign office. I don't think it's accidental. This suggests he either has an unhealthy interest in Palantine or one of the people who works there. I suppose in one sense he represents what would happen to Travis were he a) successful and b) married.
Back in 2002 my cousins all thought I was weird becuz I was 12years old and I would always rent Taxi Driver from the library.... it was like one of my fav even at 12... interesting vid
He didn't "murder" that armed robber, he was robbing and did that at his own peril, got what was coming to him. Albeit from someone with a screw loose who was almost a straight up bad guy.
I appreciate the unique look at the movie, because I hadn't heard of some of these view before: however, I'm pretty sure Scorsese said the final scene is reality within the narrative and isn't a dream sequence. People would look at Bickle as a hero, and I think it's supposed to be irony that the same motivation for his behavior would lead him to be reveled as a hero or villian entirely based on the victims he chose. Had gone with his original plan, he'd be looked at as evil, but since that failed and he went after Sport instead, he's a heroic vigilante. Also, I think Betsy was being more than nice, which is another assessment by you that I had no heard before. As autistic as Bickle was, I think she was genuinely intrigued by him. It was pretty clear he asked her out on a date. But he's self-destructive, so he fucked that up. It's always nice to hear new views though, and art is subjective.
It should be mentioned that Travis is a war veteran and much of his tendencies root from an inability to deal with some sort of trauma/PTSD he experienced. It is also what has desensitized him to all of the violence of New York.
I relate to Travis a bit. I SAY a BIT because I’m not a psycho. I just relate to being awkward and being more comfortable being rejected and extremely awkward when someone says yes to a date or to simply hang out
3:26 Thats Scorcese there on the stoop, in the black shirt. Also Scorcese playing the character who's got that 44 magnum for his wife in the back of Bickle's taxi.
0:40, I struggled to make it past this point as frankly I completely disagree with your idea that he is reading the letter as if he thinks he's a hero. I think the clear point is that we, the audience, have seen Travis essentially completely lose his mind over the course of the film, brought on by the isolation he feels to the city he lives in - then at the tipping point he takes a gun and kills a heap of people. Yes, these people are 'bad guys', but this isnt a good guy vs bad guy movie, its purely to do with Travis' mental state. So to then see a newspaper clipping alongside a letter referring to him as a hero is like the city who made him the man he is, goes on to praise him for something which we, the audience know isn't something to be praised for - that being his poor mental health.
I appreciate all the hard work and dedication you have put into this channel. You completely changed the way I view movies, and made me realize how much depth there is to film making. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and love for film with the world. Your passion is truly contagious, and you are an inspiration to many. I will miss these videos.
Loved your analysis. The only thing that I still can't decide about the movie is wether the end is a dream or figment of Travis"s imagination or real and that he was praised but yet still emotionally unhinged. Anyways thanks for a succinct break down of one of the truly great films of all time.
Hey Jack - I've been a subscriber ever since I stumbled across one of your movie breakdowns on Reddit. You are among my favorite movie analysis channels on UA-cam. I've never seen a video you've released that I didn't enjoy thoroughly, regardless of whether I was intimately familiar with the film you were discussing or not. Thank you so much for all the fond memories and excellent entertainment. I understand that UA-cam is a hellscape these days and that publishing videos, let alone videos that contain """copyrighted material""", is a nightmare, so I don't begrudge you for leaving (even though I know that wasn't your primary reason for taking a break). I just wanted to let you know that you're a tremendous inspiration and that I greatly respect your work. I'll remain subscribed to your channel and I'll be among the first to cheer for you if / when you return, but until then I wish for nothing but the best for you. Take care, and thank you for everything!
5:14 Betsy was "just being nice to him"? I disagree, look at her in that scene, her eyes. She is genuinley intrigued with him. That is sincere female interest
One of those movies that stays with you all day long. I can't get the imagery out of my head. Complete ethereal experience that I can't say I have shared with many other movies.
people look up to you and your analysis some people that couldve been real big with the right guidance and direction (your channel) but no you wanna go mia when the world needs ppl like you in cinema the most the observation’s you made i remember watching your shame video in like 2016 and falling in love with your channel here i am 4 years later and you still aint back ppl look up to you man please come back im begging you you’ll always have supporters and its ppl who are less fortunate who cant do all the things necessary to become a great director or actor or producer or whatever and they bank on ppl like you please jack come back cinema needs you Im not trying to be mean but we as fans love you lol and emotions come with it i do hope you are living well though and when i make it ill reach out to you 👍
@@fellowgoyimwhite7630 to put it as short as possible he got burnt out on making youtube videos and wanted to pursue other things. If you want more information about it just watch his video on it.
Always fascinated by how different your takes on things are. I'm just 1 minute and 24 seconds in and I interpret literally everything the opposite of what you've said so far. We start off in his delusion, he's the first person we see and so we immediately adopt his perspective whereas at the end we are pulled out of it, no longer seeing things subjectively through his eyes but objectively as things are and realizing the way the world sees him as compared to the way we now know him to actually be.
If you pause the movie and read the news articles pinned up by travis at the end you will see that he was a special forces veteran from the Vietnam war !
My favorite UA-cam Channel leaving us with an analysis of my favorite film. What a gift. You will be remembered
5 років тому
I need to watch this again. Watched it for the first time a few months back and while I enjoyed it I'm not quite sure what makes it as legendary as people label it.
This movie is brilliant. A sequel is impossible and unnecessary to me, since the movie just starts right over at the end: Travis is ignoring the fact that he is just like everyone else, and is instead convincing himself he is New York City's salvation and that his vigilantism is justified.
I think you're missing a lot of essential stuff, namely that despite Travis having mental problems (unsurprising with his background), the city is actually flooded with filth, vice and degeneracy, and you completely omit that while pointing out his vices (porno theater he goes to just to numb his mind and pills who might be vitamins and medicine for all we know). This is more than just exploration of one's soul, this movie shows how despared men could be dangerous to society and how society helps him to become despared. Also, the shot he took on the store robber was justified, he even warned him before shooting. And of course he is willing to kill, he was in Vietnam, he's been trained to do it.
Another thing I noticed travis really desperately want to save iris but at first when she’s declines travis fairly easily gives up and attempts to leave only until iris says for him not to go he stays it’s kinda funny that he wants to save her but gives up pretty easy when it came down to it
10:28 elevator scene with Arthur and his love interest sophie, Arthur later does this after he calls for Sophia's attention, and when he walks into her apartment and she is frightened. Think about it
I suscribed not long ago to your channels. While watching this I thought, ok I need to reflect on this I won't jump on the next video too fast. This is something I do when i watch a movie. I love contemplating the silence around it. This mean you did a great job with your analysis. What a way to end a chapter.
5:21 Wow, the look on her face...and the feelings she embodies...and how those very feelings are betrayed by the words she uses to negate them... This is just sheer brilliance!
The Passenger/Director is giving orders... He scares Travis but the message sinks in... It’s kind of like a download or update to bring him more keenly down the inevitable path. Watch Spider-Man the Toby Maguire Version. I wonder if Toby watched this movie a lot. It’s similar in that Peter Parker lives in a dream world though he paints himself as a working class person. He says that his rich friend Harry “doesn’t live on a little place I like to call earth” but yet Harry is dating the girl he is infatuated with because he entered the real world and asked her out. He is offended when the Editor calls Spider-Man a vigilante but he started on this path out of several missteps at trying to set things right... He is wrong about who killed his uncle... More than once is he confused about this... Like Travis his inner conflicts stew for long periods and then are writ large on the streets in an excess of violence through which he sees himself as martyr and hero. I only wish that the makers of that 3 part series had the balls to carry out the projection of the first two...
I didn't get dumped until Feb 5th of this year at 33 years old and I finally understood Travis' sting of rejection I'd seen since my early 20s. Boy or man, it cuts to your core.
I assume Scorcese shot that with himself there in the background Hitchcock-style before deciding to play that other more significant role that occurs later on in the film.
Fantastic review. We will miss your phenomenal reviews. Good luck with whatever you will be occupied from now on. Thank you for your contribution to the film community.
Truth be told, all that Travis Bickle ever was, was merely a traumatized Vietnam War vet who never psychologically recovered from it. He isolates himself, feels insecure in his own life and as such wants to be someone who is remembered one way or another instead of a forgotten taxi driver. He saw Palatine and the Pimp as two men of masculine status that he did not have, thus he envied them. He saw Betsy and Iris as status symbols, one was an angel to him whereas one was a lost soul whom he felt needed to be saved. Thus, he tries assassinating Palatine, but then he goes to kill the pimps and saves Iris, feeling the need to be a hero. He reminds me of Rorschach from the movie "Watchmen", an anti-hero in the purest form, albeit slightly less insane than Rorschach.
What did Travis do before he became a taxi driver? He was in Vietnam. I think that is the great unspoken backdrop of the story.
Comes back and realises it's all shit
Yeah, he's hunted the most dangerous game already and by the orders of politicians. The psychological effect of that experience combined with his arrested development are probably the foundation of what we see in the movie. He mentions that he was honorably discharged, and we later see the scars on his back.
I think that not knowing his backstory makes him a more relatable character, since you can't take him as a well defined character, but more as an idea of a desperate and depraved person.
Every single analysis ive seen has yet to point out that his military background in the Vietnam War has anything to fo with his lonely, fractured mental state.
Why was he so willing to kill the robber? Probably because he's killed in combat during his tour.
yeah can you believe they spent a whole _second_ on the subject of that (2:48)
Never understood how people can sit there and say that the ending was a dream sequence yet the director, screenwriter, and star of the movie all said Travis Bickle survives.
You could debate all day whether a fans interpretation or the creators meaning in any given artwork is more valid. Regardless, just because Travis survives doesn't mean its not a dream or his own dellusions.
He failed in killing Palatine, but succeeded in killing the pimps and was celebrated and regarded as a hero for it. It is hinted he will try a violent act like this again to try to be a 'hero' again. He sees hope when he meets with Betsy again and he most likely feels like he should save her next by killing Palatine for sure this time. He has deluded himself into thinking it will be a heroic act, but probably will end up in jail or killed.
If he survived he'd be in prison not driving a damn taxi.
@@ernestocuengil1366 it would be a heroic act
@@Profile.4 what would? Him killing palantine?
The end of an era. You will be missed.
Jammez what
Jammez whoes dead?
Luddwitch Jack said this will be his last film dissection.
Jammez How come?
@@radentstwo9793 Just watch this: ua-cam.com/video/ectCJ65haYI/v-deo.html
It's been confirmed that the ending was real. When he glances at the mirror twice, it meant that Travis isn't completely "cleared" yet.
And not only that, but he was praised as a hero when if he were to assassinate palantine he would've been seen as a completely crazed lunatic..even if what he did was heroic in a way, he didn't do it for the right reasons I believe. People don't know the man behind the "hero" they're praising. That and exactly what you said are the 2 main points at the end of the film, and just like with a lot of other great movies people completely miss those points.
@@mongogojjo5944 Travis was heroic when dealing with the teenage hooker,most guys would have done nothing to help her escape her world,,and most would not have turned down her services ( sex),
Uh, Betsy was attracted to Travis at first. She indicates that by agreeing with him when she says "I wouldn't be here if I didn't" to Travis. She wasn't just "being nice." Yes, she thinks he's weird and off-putting and knows he's from a different socio-economic background than her, but I think much the way Travis hates degeneracy but is also fascinated by it, Betsy (like many women) is fascinated by the "danger" of certain men like Travis even if they're not as socially savvy as bores like Tom. That's how women work, man. They have hormones too. They don't date according to "pure reason" anymore than guys.
So it's not as simple as saying "Betsy was just being nice." Yes, the relationship was obviously doomed to failure; but he legitimately impressed her and amused her and excited her the first time he walked into the headquarters. Unfortunately for Travis, his keen insight into Betsy that initially impressed her didn't translate to actually planning out a reasonable date. People who are autistic like that can be insightful one moment and then totally obtuse in the next moment. Like Betsy herself said (and hits at the main strand of the film), he's a "walking contradiction" (partly truth, partly fiction). We all are on some level. It's just more notable in some than it is in others.
Couldn't agree more, Betsy is more than just a dream woman, she really liked Travis' oddities and she was bored of a meaningless life at her job
Excellent analysis, I think Betsy was intrigued, being nice yes but more than just that, even going into a Manhattan porn theater would take extraordinary trust WHICH Travis abused by not noticing her discomfort. If I was a guy obviously I wouldn't bring a date to a place like that but if I did, n it was making her disgusted I'd notice n say, damn this is a different movie than the one I saw or SOMETHING to lead into, yes let's get out of here. But Travis is like a car accident, disagreeable but you just can't help watching
Agreed. I'm not saying it never happens, but I don't see most women to agree to multiple dates just to be nice. The face that she agrees (albeit reluctantly) to even go into the porn theater shows she must like him, or is at least intrigued.
Yeah I agree this dude gets a bunch of stuff wrong in the vid
She didn't mean that.
She didn't know what to say.
Even if she did feel some type of connection; him going off into like he did "weirded ME out"
The music every time he saw her is the best thing in film.. you don’t get that anymore .. a soothing jazz melody against the downfall of man
Vincent 17 the music in the film REALLY fucking made it , much like other. Fantastic movies .
Yeah, the score is definitely one of my favorite parts of this film.
It kinda puts you into a hazey dissociative state too
lynn pehrson sends me straight into nostalgic delusions . Sounds sad but also sounds exactly like the song u would hear playing in ur head while going on a self destructive path of life
@@nickgaetano3510 like the music in Moonraker did
I saw it when I was 15 years old, no film has ever affected me as this. I don't find any film as relatable as this. One of a kind masterpiece.
i like when robert deniro points a gun out of the window and points it at the entire city coupled with the subtle shaking of the camera like he's barely containing the force of his frantic conviction. it works well with the fact that he's just met easy andy and now has the guns right there in front of him instead of just being an afterthought that wasn't actually a few feet of away from him. he realizes his crusade can finally be realized
Yes and while he does it, you can hear children playing outside.
The jazz soundtrack is fire
Herman
Bernard Hermann is my favorite film score composer for a reason
Noire 50s style
Was Hermann's last score before he died. This film is seen a tribute to him.
He's not dead or in jail. However, Scorsese did say that Travis's arc is ultimately circular and that he hasn't really changed for the better or snapped out of his crazy trip by the end of the film.
History is likely to repeat itself in his world, hence why the ending credits and the start of the film blend together intentionally.
Thing is I don't think one could stand events with such magnitude. What else could he do that is circular and so relevant as he did? I think at one point he just ceased his "work" as being this loner hero.
Yeah people who think it's a dream sequence literally miss out on the entire point of the movie, and for some reason they don't accept what the writer himself literally said.
Interesting, tough I disagree with your interpretation of the ending of the movie being a dream sequence. The very last scene, after he drops Betsy off, he aggressively looks in his rear-view mirror, in a sort of paranoid manner. We would think that after the climax, his character would evolve and find meaning in his life (as per the existentialist overtones presented in the film). This is illustrated by his calm and laid back conversation with Betsy in the cab. However, his look back in the mirror subverts this, and shows that he has not evolved, and will go back to his destructive tendencies.
scorcese also went on record saying the end is NOT a dream sequence, as well as other people who produced the movie. really the movie was trying to show the irony that he was on the brink of becoming a vilified and hated figure, and only because he instead killed the gangsters did the world buy into travis' delusions
@@EWillard44 I think the movie is better when the final scene is considered reality and not a dream sequence. It says a lot more about people's narrow view of others and how perceptions are affected by that lack of information. Because the world does not personally know Travis, they just see "Man kills 3 pedophilic gangsters, saves teenager" and they envision a citizen of outstanding character and the ideal of justice, which Travis does not fit.
Not to mention it says a lot more about Betsy, or you really could say women in general.
What always struck me about the ending scene is actually how he's interacting with the other cab drives. He appears really calm and part of the group, and he even appears to be comfortable with the black cab driver now despite his earlier racism. I think Travis partially healed himself, but the look into the mirror shows it is possible for him to revert back.
While it could be looked like that, and Scorsese himself did say that the scene was not a dream sequence, that final look in the mirror might not necessarily mean he will go straight to his self-destructive habits, but rather to the fact that is mined is still unstable.
@@Sleeveusalone I think since his assassination of the pimps was regarded as a heroic act, he will try to do the same with Palatine, expecting the same reaction from the public. That's what the final look in the mirror means to me.
@@EWillard44 too bad they weren't delusions and he was right and a hero
The days go on and on... they don't end.
All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go.
I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.
I watched Taxi Driver twice before and never deciphered any subtext. I'm so dumb. You wrote that film dissection amazingly! I learned so much. I've been depressed for seventeen years and unknowingly have been exactly like Travis. I hope the video get a lot of watches.
You are not dumb. People have different way of seeing the world. He has great analytic skills. You saw it you may have seen it with different tool, different point of view.)
Ever read any Kafka or Thoreau?
Ok, you say you have been depressed 17 years and you feel like you are like Travis. No matter the plot is you have to remember that it is a fiction. So do not try to think that what you have or what you are is that, as it is not a real case, even though expresses a mixture of different sorts of personality among simbolic references. If you think, as I said, that you are kind like Travis (or fully) you may are crazy. Sorry, but this film sadly is a seducer of sociopaths (when they treat this film as phylosophy of life).
Turn to God my friend he will take away you depression. I promise you that If you only think about God and nothing else you will stop being depressed and you will feel joy
I love that mirror glance at the end. WHEN HE SURVIVED, LITERALLY CONFIRMED. ITS NOT LIKE A BATMAN COMIC WHERE THERE WERE THOUSANDS OF CREATORS, ITS AN ORIGINAL FILM. THE DIRECTOR AND LEAD ACTORS INTENTION FOR THE ENDING IS FACT
Thanks to this movie I have the most badass Steam name.
Travis Pickle.
Remarkable
Understandable
Iris wanted Travis Bickle's pickle.
This movie is so deep on many levels..Anyone who has felt alone looks at this film in such a different way..
this is the first video of yours I have stumbled upon. sad to see it was your last but looking forward to checking out your previous videos
So glad to see your (possibly) final analysis being about my favourite film Jack! I've been watching this series ever since I saw the No Country For Old Men review, and it's been one of my favourites ever since. Wishing you lots of luck with whatever you're going to pursue next!
Best flim I wish I could go in time just to see taxi driver in the late 1970s
I agree with you as well as The Godfather 1 and 2 Chinatown A Clockwork Orange and French Connection
Frank Alvira
Love this movie as well.
Taxi Driver isn't even the best Scorsese film, let alone the best movie.
@@johnnihil1689 Yes it is
@@johnnihil1689 What's your favorite? Good fellas?
jack, I hope you are well...hope you find the hunger to review more flics...miss ur reviews
I moved to NYC back in 1978. Just before leaving, my girlfriend and I were watching this movie. About mid-way through, she turned to me and said in a worried voice, "Do you really want to move there?"
I lived there for 5 years before moving back home. I came to know both sides of the city. I was captivated by it's majestic beauty but I could see how someone could get sucked in by it's seamier and more dangerous side (as two of my friends did, both ending up as fatalities).
Congrats on such a great series! Time to rewatch from the beginning!
Hey
PLEASE COMEBACK WITH YOUR CHANEL ITS SO GOOD MEN
I think it's too easy to cast Travis as some kind of anti-social freak, with little or no social awareness,
when in truth, there's a little of Travis in most men.
Most men have these fantasies, but for most men they remain fantasies - or are restricted to minor acts of violence and anti-social behavior.
Mental illness is often an exaggerated expression of common-place schemas, and I think that's what Scorsese and Schrader see Travis Bickle as - a prism through which to explore common masculine archetypes.
If Travis was just an odd ball, with no connection to society - Taxi Driver would be just a film about a pathology,
What makes Taxi Driver such a disturbing film, is Travis's similarities to us, not his weirdness. His need for recognition, his need to play up to the Alpha male stereotypes; the attack on the ego at being rejected by a woman; the scapegoating of sexual criminals as a way to appease his own weaknesses, are not uncommon schemas, We've all felt a few of them from time to time. .
In fact, it's not that Travis is unconnected to society, his problem lies in his over-connected relationship with society. He is a total product of society, with no subjective reality. His whole reality is a construct of media tropes and platitudes.
And there lies the central paradox of the post modern reality, wherein virtual interaction is ubiquitous - to make up for the absence of real social interaction.
However, Travis is not the only character suffering this contradictory trauma, almost every other character demonstrates the same over-connection to the 'culture', as they communicate through Errol Flynn's bathtub, Kris Kristofferson records, tabloid headlines about organized crime
Hollowness of speech is another theme, from Wizard's blowhard useless advice, to the empty rhetoric of Palantine - a general state of phatic communication pervades. Of people going through the motions of social interaction, without actually communicating.
Travis is no more or less anti-social than the rest of the characters, it's just he's less adept at playing the game of phatic communication. He wants to play the game, but he just can't work out the rules.
I'm totally agree, Travis come from a conservative society for how he thinks about the changes that was living USA in the 70, but at the same time he feels mistreated by this kind of society that was still In this country of post vietnam, feeling lonely and confussed
Palantine is actually one of the biggest villains in this. He pretends to be a man of the people when he's clearly not.
@@anonb4632 exactly, I think he try to find a answer in all this moral dilemma
You should make a review of the movie.
@@andresd.7091 we live in a society
3:27 did you notice the Martin Scorsese cameo? He’s staring at Betsy while sitting against the wall
Wow. Creepy
That was him!? Omg lol
Are you sure? He does have a major cameo elsewhere, and this hints that Betsy is the woman in silhouette.
@@anonb4632 wait what? Isnt the woman in the window some random person's wife?
@@idurisu930 The silhouette is the passenger's wife. He is played by Scorsese. He has another cameo outside Betsy's campaign office. I don't think it's accidental. This suggests he either has an unhealthy interest in Palantine or one of the people who works there. I suppose in one sense he represents what would happen to Travis were he a) successful and b) married.
Back in 2002 my cousins all thought I was weird becuz I was 12years old and I would always rent Taxi Driver from the library.... it was like one of my fav even at 12... interesting vid
You were ahead of your time
I watched this film when I was a young man and to be honest, I missed a lot of things.
@@anonb4632 yeah me too. I'll have to watch it again someday bc the first time I saw it I found it quite boring (I was young).
smart girl!
Bernard Herrmann is awesome with the music of the movie
So is saxophonist Gato Barbieri
He didn't "murder" that armed robber, he was robbing and did that at his own peril, got what was coming to him. Albeit from someone with a screw loose who was almost a straight up bad guy.
The robber pointed a gun at him too. Questioning whether or not he deserved to die is ridiculous
I appreciate the unique look at the movie, because I hadn't heard of some of these view before: however, I'm pretty sure Scorsese said the final scene is reality within the narrative and isn't a dream sequence. People would look at Bickle as a hero, and I think it's supposed to be irony that the same motivation for his behavior would lead him to be reveled as a hero or villian entirely based on the victims he chose. Had gone with his original plan, he'd be looked at as evil, but since that failed and he went after Sport instead, he's a heroic vigilante.
Also, I think Betsy was being more than nice, which is another assessment by you that I had no heard before. As autistic as Bickle was, I think she was genuinely intrigued by him. It was pretty clear he asked her out on a date. But he's self-destructive, so he fucked that up.
It's always nice to hear new views though, and art is subjective.
Kyle Smith I’ve never thought of Travis as autistic, just lonely and tortured.
@@sofiapergola4448 In the least his social-skills are a bit off, maybe not autistic though.
He's not really autistic. There are other conditions that fit him better. I think he has major PTSD.
We need you back Jack‼‼‼‼
One of the best films ever made. Fucking amazing.
It should be mentioned that Travis is a war veteran and much of his tendencies root from an inability to deal with some sort of trauma/PTSD he experienced. It is also what has desensitized him to all of the violence of New York.
I relate to Travis a bit. I SAY a BIT because I’m not a psycho. I just relate to being awkward and being more comfortable being rejected and extremely awkward when someone says yes to a date or to simply hang out
Still hoping you make a happy return one day. Miss ya Jack!
3:26 Thats Scorcese there on the stoop, in the black shirt. Also Scorcese playing the character who's got that 44 magnum for his wife in the back of Bickle's taxi.
Thats correct mr spillane.
@@adamyork5612 Haaaaa, someones been around eh?
Pretty obvious
0:40, I struggled to make it past this point as frankly I completely disagree with your idea that he is reading the letter as if he thinks he's a hero. I think the clear point is that we, the audience, have seen Travis essentially completely lose his mind over the course of the film, brought on by the isolation he feels to the city he lives in - then at the tipping point he takes a gun and kills a heap of people. Yes, these people are 'bad guys', but this isnt a good guy vs bad guy movie, its purely to do with Travis' mental state. So to then see a newspaper clipping alongside a letter referring to him as a hero is like the city who made him the man he is, goes on to praise him for something which we, the audience know isn't something to be praised for - that being his poor mental health.
He should be praised. He's a hero
1 second in and the music... oh god help
I appreciate all the hard work and dedication you have put into this channel. You completely changed the way I view movies, and made me realize how much depth there is to film making. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and love for film with the world. Your passion is truly contagious, and you are an inspiration to many. I will miss these videos.
cinema is dying how we once knew it and you gave true cinema fans a different pov please come back jack
PTSD oozes thru every frame....of this film...
Very interesting that Batsy comes back to him at the very end, she also realised something.
Thank you for your videos.
Just found your Channel and man its a shame u havent uploaded in 3 years, Ur dissections are great and well documented
i came to ask the same thing what happened
Please come back soon, just re-watched this and found myself missing you.
Elmebeck maybe all he wanted was a Pepsi?
Loved your analysis. The only thing that I still can't decide about the movie is wether the end is a dream or figment of Travis"s imagination or real and that he was praised but yet still emotionally unhinged. Anyways thanks for a succinct break down of one of the truly great films of all time.
The ending isn't a fantasy it's real he isn't dead nor in jail
Is he alive? It’s been 4 years
This being your favorite movie along with being your last video is haunting yet apt
It's easy seeing Travis's point of view what being a Vietnam vet myself just saying
The most relatable thing is how he tries to improve himself but stays in his vices
This is the best analogy almost like you have the script in your hand. Thank you for a job well done.
Hey Jack - I've been a subscriber ever since I stumbled across one of your movie breakdowns on Reddit. You are among my favorite movie analysis channels on UA-cam. I've never seen a video you've released that I didn't enjoy thoroughly, regardless of whether I was intimately familiar with the film you were discussing or not. Thank you so much for all the fond memories and excellent entertainment. I understand that UA-cam is a hellscape these days and that publishing videos, let alone videos that contain """copyrighted material""", is a nightmare, so I don't begrudge you for leaving (even though I know that wasn't your primary reason for taking a break). I just wanted to let you know that you're a tremendous inspiration and that I greatly respect your work. I'll remain subscribed to your channel and I'll be among the first to cheer for you if / when you return, but until then I wish for nothing but the best for you. Take care, and thank you for everything!
Whats been going on with you, sure hope you come back!
Love your film analysis.
I'm pretty sure that shooting an armed robber while in the act of commiting a felony isn't only not "murder", it's legal...
probably one of most morally complex characters in cinema
He survived. When he looked in the mirror in the final scene, he saw his dark side staring back at him. A dream sequence wouldn't let that happen.
5:14 Betsy was "just being nice to him"? I disagree, look at her in that scene, her eyes. She is genuinley intrigued with him. That is sincere female interest
This commentary made me watch the movie yet another time... brilliant...
One of those movies that stays with you all day long. I can't get the imagery out of my head. Complete ethereal experience that I can't say I have shared with many other movies.
3:20 Notice the bum sitting on the stoop. He’ll never amount to anything.
You know the movie is great when people still make analysis about it even decades later
people look up to you and your analysis some people that couldve been real big with the right guidance and direction (your channel) but no you wanna go mia when the world needs ppl like you in cinema the most the observation’s you made i remember watching your shame video in like 2016 and falling in love with your channel here i am 4 years later and you still aint back ppl look up to you man please come back im begging you you’ll always have supporters and its ppl who are less fortunate who cant do all the things necessary to become a great director or actor or producer or whatever and they bank on ppl like you please jack come back cinema needs you Im not trying to be mean but we as fans love you lol and emotions come with it i do hope you are living well though and when i make it ill reach out to you 👍
Your analysis are SO GOOD, you should have more subscribers.
This is one of the best reviews, I have ever seen. Thanks for the video and thank for the channel.
Jack, your movie reviews have made these films and all films forever more enjoyable and enriching. Thank you!
Why must you leave us Jack? Why.
He said his heart isn't in it as much as when he started and he wants to move on to other projects in his life.
@@nicholas4727 what ? I don't know this channel,what happened to the creator ?
@@fellowgoyimwhite7630 to put it as short as possible he got burnt out on making youtube videos and wanted to pursue other things. If you want more information about it just watch his video on it.
Always fascinated by how different your takes on things are. I'm just 1 minute and 24 seconds in and I interpret literally everything the opposite of what you've said so far. We start off in his delusion, he's the first person we see and so we immediately adopt his perspective whereas at the end we are pulled out of it, no longer seeing things subjectively through his eyes but objectively as things are and realizing the way the world sees him as compared to the way we now know him to actually be.
This is a morality tale and does not glorify violence. It forces us to LOOK at evil, in fact we can't look away.
If you pause the movie and read the news articles pinned up by travis at the end you will see that he was a special forces veteran from the Vietnam war !
This your last review, it sucks I just got this video in my recommendation and I really liked it
My favorite UA-cam Channel leaving us with an analysis of my favorite film. What a gift.
You will be remembered
I need to watch this again. Watched it for the first time a few months back and while I enjoyed it I'm not quite sure what makes it as legendary as people label it.
This movie is brilliant. A sequel is impossible and unnecessary to me, since the movie just starts right over at the end: Travis is ignoring the fact that he is just like everyone else, and is instead convincing himself he is New York City's salvation and that his vigilantism is justified.
Is that Scorcese at 3:24, sat watching Betsy?
we miss you jack
It's just relief after the climax, great ending to a great movie
I think you're missing a lot of essential stuff, namely that despite Travis having mental problems (unsurprising with his background), the city is actually flooded with filth, vice and degeneracy, and you completely omit that while pointing out his vices (porno theater he goes to just to numb his mind and pills who might be vitamins and medicine for all we know). This is more than just exploration of one's soul, this movie shows how despared men could be dangerous to society and how society helps him to become despared. Also, the shot he took on the store robber was justified, he even warned him before shooting. And of course he is willing to kill, he was in Vietnam, he's been trained to do it.
"Hey" is not a warning "Drop your gun or I'll shoot" is a warning.
3:23 hey Marty! His longest cameo in any of his films, Scorsese also reappears as the man who’s going to kill his wife’s alleged lover.
Welcome back
Another thing I noticed travis really desperately want to save iris but at first when she’s declines travis fairly easily gives up and attempts to leave only until iris says for him not to go he stays it’s kinda funny that he wants to save her but gives up pretty easy when it came down to it
I feel this movie on so many levels.
I feel it a little too much
@@mongogojjo5944 you are not alone
The pathology and mystique of loneliness is a dangerous story
10:28 elevator scene with Arthur and his love interest sophie, Arthur later does this after he calls for Sophia's attention, and when he walks into her apartment and she is frightened. Think about it
Wow i just found this channel and love the film dissecting so sad it’s over!
I suscribed not long ago to your channels. While watching this I thought, ok I need to reflect on this I won't jump on the next video too fast. This is something I do when i watch a movie. I love contemplating the silence around it. This mean you did a great job with your analysis. What a way to end a chapter.
This is a very well thought out analysis, except for the dream sequence.
if you’re out there and you’re reading this please come back
being that he never killed Palantine wouldnt the outside world see him as a hero or at least someone who performed a heroic act?
What a great movie to end, what a great review to end. Thank you for everything Jack, good luck on your new path and hope to see you in the future.
That is a great analysis thanks 🙏
Notice how many cans of coke are seen just in the scenes in this video..
5:21 Wow, the look on her face...and the feelings she embodies...and how those very feelings are betrayed by the words she uses to negate them... This is just sheer brilliance!
Travis was a government experiment,would make even the sanest person slightly unstable and angry.
Love your channel man!
The Passenger/Director is giving orders... He scares Travis but the message sinks in... It’s kind of like a download or update to bring him more keenly down the inevitable path.
Watch Spider-Man the Toby Maguire Version. I wonder if Toby watched this movie a lot.
It’s similar in that Peter Parker lives in a dream world though he paints himself as a working class person. He says that his rich friend Harry “doesn’t live on a little place I like to call earth” but yet Harry is dating the girl he is infatuated with because he entered the real world and asked her out.
He is offended when the Editor calls Spider-Man a vigilante but he started on this path out of several missteps at trying to set things right... He is wrong about who killed his uncle... More than once is he confused about this...
Like Travis his inner conflicts stew for long periods and then are writ large on the streets in an excess of violence through which he sees himself as martyr and hero. I only wish that the makers of that 3 part series had the balls to carry out the projection of the first two...
I didn't get dumped until Feb 5th of this year at 33 years old and I finally understood Travis' sting of rejection I'd seen since my early 20s. Boy or man, it cuts to your core.
He has such a cool jacket
3:24 is that Martin Scorsese in the background, black shirt. Maybe he is watching over Travis lol
I assume Scorcese shot that with himself there in the background Hitchcock-style before deciding to play that other more significant role that occurs later on in the film.
Fantastic review. We will miss your phenomenal reviews. Good luck with whatever you will be occupied from now on. Thank you for your contribution to the film community.
Travis murdered Sport, his boss and the time- keeper all for Iris. If it was cathartic, than even better. Helps his PTSD.
Truth be told, all that Travis Bickle ever was, was merely a traumatized Vietnam War vet who never psychologically recovered from it. He isolates himself, feels insecure in his own life and as such wants to be someone who is remembered one way or another instead of a forgotten taxi driver. He saw Palatine and the Pimp as two men of masculine status that he did not have, thus he envied them. He saw Betsy and Iris as status symbols, one was an angel to him whereas one was a lost soul whom he felt needed to be saved. Thus, he tries assassinating Palatine, but then he goes to kill the pimps and saves Iris, feeling the need to be a hero. He reminds me of Rorschach from the movie "Watchmen", an anti-hero in the purest form, albeit slightly less insane than Rorschach.
Marvis bicycle is the main character of axe in powder
Have you been at the Joyce recently?