Taxi Driver (1976) First Time Watching! Full Movie Reaction!!
Added 2022-02-05 01:38:46 +0000 UTC
Comments
No, he really isn't an anti-hero. Only in the way that term has been twisted into meaning something completely different. When you understand that in the original story, only Black people are killed (changed because the studios didn't want the potential backlash), you understand that Travis is tortured, but is without question a villain.
Hexon66
2023-11-23 17:14:14 +0000 UTCMore Taxi Driver trivia, the actor in the movie sitting in the back of Travis' cab who said that he wanted to shoot his wife was actually the director Martin Scorsese playing that role.
Lana Gorgeous
2022-07-26 01:31:38 +0000 UTCa bit of trivia, John Hinkley saw this movie and became obsessed with Jodie Foster and tried to do the thing with President Reagan that Travis wanted to do in the movie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley_Jr.)
Lana Gorgeous
2022-07-26 01:29:05 +0000 UTCAs a film student, I spent more time making films than watching films that came out decades before I was born
TBR Schmitt
2022-02-09 05:38:23 +0000 UTCWe just generally didn't watch films that weren't "new" at the time! We were born in the 90s so we weren't even watching more mature movies until the early 2000s :) We grew up watching LOTR, Star Wars, Matrix and the MCU franchises, but anything before that we just didn't watch, not for any reason other than they weren't on our radar! But we're so glad we have them all to watch now! -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2022-02-09 05:36:56 +0000 UTCI'm confused. In "Walker, Texas Ranger" (the original one with Chuck Norris) it was not a Western and he had a truck. Dodge Ram 1500. He didn't have a horse. Now he did have horses on his ranch, but it's basically just a house. The focus was on crime and each show was about them catching bad guys, and had the same kind of fight scenes you see in Cobra Kai or any other martial arts movie. It is the opposite of boring no matter what your palette is. I heard the new one focuses more on like drama and stuff like that. And I've seen him ride a horse in the new one? But I have no idea anything about the new one really. But the old one is definitely not a Western. It's like modern day, they're in Dallas. They're in like the big city. And they hang out at bars. lol. And there's like latino gangs and stuff. It's not at all Western. but that's why I'm confused. Is the new one a Western? Also the new one with Jared Padelecki wasn't around when you were a kid, it just came out.
Alex
2022-02-08 23:25:53 +0000 UTCI find it a bit odd since TBR said he studied film briefly in college. No matter how young you are(and if he rented Tremors a lot as a child when it came on VHS - he doesn't sound that young to me) it would be hard to not to have seen Taxi Driver(or at least have heard quite a bit about it) if you were a film student. Or maybe I overestimate the average film student:)
Birdie Num Num
2022-02-08 19:02:50 +0000 UTCNow I'm over here stuck watching Walker. Years ago this show would've bored me to tears but now as a more mature man it's entertaining. I sincerely doubt that I'd find similar joy while watching the original show. I'm currently only two episodes deep - so I don't know if I'm going to keep watching or not, but right now it's a good groove. As for my age, I'm 33. That may explain why the show drove me bonkers as a kid - I just didn't like western(ish) content then. Anything related was just instantly uncool/lame and I refused to participate. I'm not too sure how I'd react with this show as horses (at least in the first episode) weren't his main mode of transportation and there wasn't a horse chase scene. xD If there is one though, count me out!
Logan Kerlee
2022-02-08 10:08:27 +0000 UTCThey're from a much younger generation. And ya just don't watch what ya don't watch or listen to what you don't listen to. For example, even though I'm 44 I never saw any of the Terminator movies before. I heard of them sure, but never watched them. I also never listened to Guns N Roses before either. It's just if you're not exposed to it you have to go out of your way and they're not exposed to this stuff. Many times they do reboots and stuff's just not easy to find. For example Walker: Texas Ranger used to be on Amazon Prime and Apple TV, now all they have is the reboot (which I've heard is 💩 btw, and you have to pay for it so no thanks) .. Btw- TBR and Sam .. Walker Texas Ranger is a really great show to watch at some point. The one with Chuck Norris. It's a really good show and very heartfelt and family oriented like Karate Kid and stuff, although some people did think it was too violent for a family show at the time which.. Just tells you it's hella bad ass.. It's nothing compared to the stuff that's on TV today lol. Just Chuck Norris beating up bad guys and saving the day.
Alex
2022-02-08 04:19:21 +0000 UTCObviously no sane person could find a romcom in Taxi Driver. I just love their scenes together, and enjoy how out of place they feel. Show someone whose never seen the film those scenes and they would never dream of the darkness of the rest of the film! Another thought: Scorsese has a cameo where he plays himself in Albert Brooks' film The Muse. It's the highlight of the film.
Future Boy
2022-02-06 22:39:39 +0000 UTCTo TBR Schmitt and the Lady: I’m curious of why you guys haven’t seen so many of these movies growing up. Were you guys just not interested in watching too much film or was it not encouraged at home? I mean it’s great because it made this channel, but I was just curious. I’m 42 so older than you guys and I wonder if younger people watch less movies than the older ones. Just a thought.
PIG
2022-02-06 21:37:13 +0000 UTC"they may have been the stars of a great little romcom" I mean, I loved their parts as well, but I think that's a little off. Before Travis falls off the deep end, I think it's a reasonable question who has more pathology - him or Tom. Tom's a mouse of a man, almost to the point of being a farce ("What taxi driver?") For the story, I think it makes a great counter-balance to Travis... but I don't see even a single parallel universe existing where Betsy is attracted to Tom. With all that said... yes, I still totally agree that their parts are fantastic! :)
Uncle 'Traveling' Matt
2022-02-06 18:19:00 +0000 UTCSome of my favourite parts of Taxi Driver are the little moments between Albert Brooks and Cybill Shepherd. Genuinely funny, and they had great chemistry. It's like if Travis and the darkness that surrounds him didn't exist they may have been the stars of a great little romcom. I hope some reactors eventually go down the Albert Brooks path. He's made some great films as writer/director/star. They're all flawed, but I love him.
Future Boy
2022-02-06 17:57:14 +0000 UTCI thought the same but Daniel has watched it and it’s one of his favourites. If Sam hasn’t I think it’s worth a reaction. She can see Albert Brooks in a new light.
Mark M
2022-02-06 14:24:12 +0000 UTCJohn Avildsen director of Rocky and Karate Kid.
Mark M
2022-02-06 14:20:12 +0000 UTCThis movie is so rich. It’s on the short list of the best of all time, with themes that still resonate today. If Travis kills Palantine, he’s a monster, but he kills a pimp and his henchmen, so he’s a hero. Obviously the pimp is evil and worse than Palantine, but it’s the same impulse that’s driving Travis to kill either one. Great, great movie. (Also, one of the best parts of all your reactions is your post-movie discussion. That really sets you apart from other reactors. Thanks.)
Jim Barnes
2022-02-06 12:01:48 +0000 UTCOne of my favorite films. De Niro and Scorsese's best in my opinion, with Raging Bull a very close second. I see Travis as a tragic figure, while others see him as a monster. It's a fantastic character study that filmmakers have been trying to duplicate ever since, with limited success. The writer, Paul Schrader, has mentioned in interviews that he was going through a period of isolation when he wrote the script so the impact of loneliness on a person's psyche is definitely a theme of his script. And he also tells this story about a man showing up at his office after the movie had been released demanding to know how Schrader found out about him because he saw so much of himself in Travis. Schrader was able to talk the guy down, but it is an example of how real the character of Travis Bickle is.
Mitchell Smilie
2022-02-06 08:15:42 +0000 UTCOutstanding Performance by De Niro !! Now you have to watch "Falling Down "with a great Performance by Michael Douglas ... Another Great Movie with Jodie Foster is Her Oscar Performance in "The Accused" from 1988
Florian Meier
2022-02-06 07:15:57 +0000 UTCI think if you liked this, you folks would love Drive, with Ryan Gosling.
Armchair Wizard
2022-02-06 07:08:51 +0000 UTCMy nickel analysis. The movie really is about loneliness and Travis is a lonely person whose life is not going anywhere. His life has no plot, he just has these experiences he accumulates in a cab. What he thinks he should become is a hero. If you think about it, there is a training montage in the movie where Travis works out, decides to eat better and puts on a new persona with the mohawk. Instead of Bat gadgets, he gets guns. He even goes out and kills bad guys and saves the girl. I think Scorsese is trying say, is this what I'm supposed to be as a man? As boys we are shown countless movies with heroes killing bad guys over and over again. But do these stories have any real value as examples of how to be? Like so many people, Travis doesn't want to grow up, he wants to live in his fantasy world where life is simple and made up of good guys and bad guys when it's really all complicated and gray. Like so many movies, Taxi Driver even ends with a "final battle". And despite the ugly and brutal violence, Travis is praised honored in the paper. Really, he is the definition of an anti-hero.
Ellie Miller
2022-02-06 06:13:07 +0000 UTCI just thought of another movie for you guys. I dunno if you've seen or or not. This one has two sequels-- The Neverending Story. Absolutely wonderful film.
Alex
2022-02-06 04:08:02 +0000 UTC"Dog Day Afternoon" lol, that one is mental, I'd definitely vote for it :)
Uncle 'Traveling' Matt
2022-02-06 03:52:01 +0000 UTCCape Fear, Awakenings, Bronx Tale, Jackie Brown, Ronin, Silver Linings, Midnight Run... yes, please :)
Uncle 'Traveling' Matt
2022-02-06 03:50:46 +0000 UTC"I mean, I don't even know what the fuck you're talkin' about!" LOL, yeah Wizard's a great character. Thanks for the suggestion, Mike. I'd never heard of that one before (which is rare for me) - I'll definitely check it out. Just to add: I wouldn't want to minimize the role that Betsy played in Travis going after the senator (as Dan and Sam highlighted) - surely he saw her as phony as well, in a myriad of ways - but I do notice that the cab exchange is often overlooked when people discuss his motives.
Uncle 'Traveling' Matt
2022-02-06 03:49:22 +0000 UTCI think you're right about Travis and his decision to go after Palantine. That look said a whole lot about what he thought of the phoniness of politicians. Peter Boyle was great as Wizard. He gave an understated performance as an Everyman. He plays another Everyman character in the movie Joe (1970), directed by John Avildsen. If you haven't seen it, it's worth a watch for anyone who liked Taxi Driver. It's another dark look at life and society in the 70's.
Mike Tocci
2022-02-06 01:54:02 +0000 UTCThese are all great! King of Comedy and Jackie Brown are two of the best of the best.
Mike Tocci
2022-02-06 01:47:04 +0000 UTCI think this is DeNiro's best performance. The script is one of the best ever, written by Paul Schraeder. He bases it on few things; among them the diaries of Arthur Bremer and the song "Taxi" by Harry Chapin. The special features on the DVD go into all this and lots more, they're more than worth watching, containing tons of great insight. Here's hoping to see some of Al Pacino's classic 70's performances on the channel. You can't go wrong with films like Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico and And Justice For All. Between the two of them, they've made some of the best and most influential films of the past 50 years.
Mike Tocci
2022-02-06 01:46:06 +0000 UTCYou mentioned the music - it was scored by Bernard Herrmann who did Psycho. He died before Taxi Driver was released. A few notes of the Psycho score can be heard at the very end of the credits for Taxi Driver.
Birdie Num Num
2022-02-06 00:06:54 +0000 UTCJodie Foster's older sister was used as a body double in some scenes.
Birdie Num Num
2022-02-06 00:02:16 +0000 UTCFun Fact: John Hinckley, Jr., shot President Reagan to try and win Jodie Foster's admiration. ... In a letter sent before the attack, Hinckley confessed that his motive in attempting to kill the President was to impress Jodie Foster, whom he'd been stalking after watching her in Taxi Driver where he got the idea to assassinate the POTUS. Another fun fact: While preparing for the film, De Niro, known for his method acting, obtained a cab driver's license and reportedly worked 12-hour days as a cabby for a month to prep for the role. As Hollywood lore has it, he would even pick up passengers while on break during shooting around New York City
Joe Lazarus
2022-02-05 21:39:30 +0000 UTCI guess by now you've looked up some articles or videos to explain things, so I'm not going to analyze it too much. But you say that you don't know what is happening, well, that's supposed to reflect Travis and how his life seems to go nowhere. Hope you go on a De Niro binge. If you do, here are some must watch De Niro stuff: Mean Streets, The King of Comedy(the other Joker inspiration), Once Upon A Time In America, Brazil, The Untouchables, Midnight Run, Awakenings, Cape Fear, A Bronx Tale, Jackie Brown, Ronin, Meet The Parents, Silver Linings Playbook, The Irishman. I know that's a lot of films, but they're all worth a watch.
Shehab Dawoud
2022-02-05 17:43:30 +0000 UTCExcept that would go against everything that the film had built up previously, in terms of themes. Travis being the "hero", in the end, is surely the ultimate contradiction...
Uncle 'Traveling' Matt
2022-02-05 16:57:08 +0000 UTCIt's definitely psychological mostly, but the ending shows how things will be different. As it relates to filmmaking, the camera shots of the lights of the buildings down the streets and the aerial shots are very effective for 1976. I also love the lighting of the film in general. The lighting and style of the film do seem very similar to Joker. Outstanding performance by DeNiro.
Scott Kerr
2022-02-05 16:38:44 +0000 UTCWhat I personally like about this channel is that they don't talk over the movie the whole time. There are so many reactors that miss significant pieces of the films they're watching because they feel the need to constantly say something, when it would be better to do it like TBR Schmitt and wait for the scene to end before commenting on it.
Allen S.
2022-02-05 16:17:41 +0000 UTCThe other great thing about the "You talking to me?" scene and all the gun practicing scenes is that Scorsese filmed all of that together, but felt it slowed the film down to show the whole thing at once. I believe it was Brian De Palma that suggested he cut it up into different scenes spaced out, but it might have been the editors.
Allen S.
2022-02-05 16:15:37 +0000 UTCCape Fear is a highly entertaining movie! De Niro is terrific despite his southern accent seeming very weird out of his mouth.
Allen S.
2022-02-05 16:10:43 +0000 UTCI agree on The King of Comedy. And it just got added to Hulu, if you guys happen to subscribe to that service.
Allen S.
2022-02-05 16:09:41 +0000 UTCThat scene is so creepy. Fitting that the director plays the character who more or less convinces Travis to stop repressing his negative ideations.
Allen S.
2022-02-05 16:07:20 +0000 UTCThis is the movie that inspired me to go to film school. I remember watching the scene in the diner in which Travis stares at the alka seltzer exploding in the glass of water, realizing what Scorsese was trying to say with the sequence, and recognizing that was what I wanted to do with my life. Didn't work out in the end for me, but that's just life. The film endures so well. I liked that you both saw the depiction of New York as elegant/glamorous early on, with the sexy saxophone elaborating on that. But then you noticed how the seedy, nasty side of New York was taking over in Travis's perception. Great reaction from you both! EDIT: I guess the cat's out of the bag that this is such a meaningful movie to me, since I just responded to almost all the comments. Sorry other patrons, I get carried away sometimes, especially when it comes to Scorese! :)
Allen S.
2022-02-05 16:04:43 +0000 UTCThe bearded guy in the back of the taxi at around 40 min mark is Martin Scorcese himself. Jodie Foster was actually nominated for Oscar 1977, but didn't win. Still, she was exceptional in that role.
Alec S
2022-02-05 11:23:48 +0000 UTCThis must be a strange and difficult film to react to, but you did a great job. I loved watching along. Jodie Foster was 12 years old when they shot this, which makes some of her scenes very uncomfortable to watch... Also, the guy in the back of the taxi who says he's gonna kill his wife: that's Martin Scorsese playing him. His performance is weirdly impressive!
Future Boy
2022-02-05 11:12:45 +0000 UTC“Joker” was like a cross between this movie and Scorsese’s “The King of Comedy” (1982) with De Niro. I recommend you react to that one next to make a fresh comparison. I grew up in New York City. Back in the 70s I was only a kid but I remember Midtown Manhattan was definitely a mess with all the hookers and porn movie theaters as depicted in the movie. Then in the early 90s, they cleaned it up. Now the Times Square area seems like it’s sponsored by Disney. There are some people who say they actually miss the old filthy New York City. 😒 Maybe you didn’t notice... The man in the back of Travis’ cab, planning to kill his cheating wife, was Martin Scorsese. Great reaction! 👍
Mr. Writhms
2022-02-05 11:05:59 +0000 UTCThere's a theory that Travis actually died and that last scene was a fantasy. I kind of believe it based on how dream-like the last scene was, and Travis making himself out to be the hero.
Orlando Benson
2022-02-05 06:54:05 +0000 UTCIf you want another Scorsese and De Niro movie, perhaps give Cape Fear (1991) a try. It's more "drama" than "horror"... but both categories aren't quite right ("thriller", I guess.)
Uncle 'Traveling' Matt
2022-02-05 05:53:31 +0000 UTCTrivia - the woman who worked at the porn theater was De Niro's wife - she is also in THE KING OF COMEDY which is the film that REALLY inspired JOKER, more than Taxi Driver. This is truly a movie that is character oriented, vs plot oriented which is most movies. This was a character study. But you should definitely put THE KING OF COMEDY on your list. Also THE COLOR OF MONEY was the first Scorsese movie I ever saw, and I highly recommend that as well, but it's also a sequel to THE HUSTLER which you should watch first.
Jason Dolan
2022-02-05 05:42:03 +0000 UTC"You talkin to me?" That whole scene was ad-libbed by DeNiro. Movie was definitely born out of a dark time and mind. Late 70s New York City was, according to people who lived there at the time, an absolute hellscape. And Paul Schader who wrote it has said that at the time he was in a very dark place himself, his writing career was going nowhere, he'd just had a major breakup, and he was barely making it in the city, so a lot of Travis' anger and paranoia was based on his own at the time. Joker is definitely similar, it's dark but you can't look away, like those damn serial killer shows lol oh and that it's a mystery as to how much of this was in his head, Travis is definitely a disturbed person and accidental hero. One fact, the MPAA who does the ratings on movies, forced Scorcese to alter the color of the blood to make it look more fake in order to get a R rating instead of X.
Joe D. MacGuffinstuff
2022-02-05 05:04:50 +0000 UTC"What is happening?!?" omg I love this movie so much :) I think Betsy summed up Travis perfectly: "a walking contradiction". And, personally, I think that Travis turned on the senator when he said that he's learned more from riding in cabs than limos (watch that scene again and see how Travis says "Oh yeah?" in response). If I recall, wasn't Joker's problem with the talk show guy that he was a big phony? I think it's the same issue, Taxi Driver just went super subtle with it. Anyhow, that was a great reaction. With a film like this, I'm basically interested to see how you guys react to every single scene :) I think Wizard's "advice" to Travis is maybe my favourite scene.
Uncle 'Traveling' Matt
2022-02-05 04:58:55 +0000 UTCHey guys, I'm a new subscriber/Patron and very impressed with you and your content.! Really looking forward to this one.!
Baldielox
2022-02-05 04:01:22 +0000 UTCHope you enjoy! It was a wild ride! -Sam
TBR Schmitt
2022-02-05 03:22:45 +0000 UTCI’m liking it in advance and watching it tomorrow 😊👍
Mark M
2022-02-05 02:02:55 +0000 UTC
