In have always carried around this assumption that Robert DeNiro was a highly overrated actor because I only knew his work that was released in my lifetime (featuring such gems as “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” a subpar remake of “Night and the City” and those Focker movies) which is a crying shame. In a way, I suppose you could argue that the role he plays in “Taxi Driver” (Travis Bickle, a disturbed, paranoid veteran) is just another DeNiro tough-guy role, but it really isn’t that simple. Bickle is full of complexities and is an interesting and intense character study that handles mental illness with a level of caring but caution.
One thing I really liked right off the bat was the simple implication that Travis was a Vietnam veteran. It is never actually said, but it is implied heavily. In the beginning of the movie he applies to be a cabbie for a typical New York City taxi company. His “interview” consists of the manager asking him a couple of basic questions and essentially asking when he can start (while it may seem simplistic and unrealistic this is actually a good way of illustrating that Travis is likely forced into doing undesirable work simply by showing how easy it was to obtain). During the back and forth Travis simply mentions that he was in the military in the late 60’s and early 70’s. One could say it is undeniable that Travis went to Vietnam given the astronomical likelihood but leaving the question relatively ambiguous is important because it lets the viewer not only decide if he did or not, but if his mental state is a result of that or something the predates it. Essentially, what Scorsese does here is NOT simply use the red herring of blaming the war.
Travis’ mundane lifestyle in a drab and run-down apartment is shown over narration of letters he has written to his parents back home. His parents are never seen and the letters frequently contain lies that make him sound more together and important than he is. These narration scenes add so much to the narrative and viewing experience by again suggesting so much but not telling us anything. For all we know his parents aren’t even alive, are the lies about his life to mask his own disappointment or to meet lofty expectations he can’t attain? Is he so far gone that he believes his fantasy is reality? The questions that arise from this narrative device help keep the viewer as in-the-dark as anyone who may come into Travis’ life and never be let in enough to know him for who he is. For that matter the same could be true of Travis himself never knowing his true identity.
While I am on the subject, this is something that I believe warrants further exploration as it is an understated but recurring theme in this movie; identity. Travis not only has the unspoken identity crisis but also literally creates a false identity during an encounter with the Secret Service, the 12 year old prostitute he meets and eventually tries to rescue (Jody Foster) is simply referred to as “Iris” though we know this is probably a “stage name” and even Travis’ vain struggle to learn the name of the girl who sells concessions at the porno theater he frequents all touch on the concept of identity.
This notion goes one step further after Travis meets, courts and stalks a girl named Betsy (Cybil Shepherd). The two have a series of casual dates which culminate in him taking her to a porn movie thinking it is completely normal and what couples do since the films depict other couples. In several different locations (the campaign office where she volunteers, a diner he takes her to and the outside of the theater) any time we see Travis from Betsy’s perspective, there is always a taxi cab somewhere in the background. This implies that his own profession has become his identity in a way, as if she will always see him as “only” a taxi driver. In fact so much so that the first time she refers to him is when she calls him “that taxi driver” while telling a co-worker that he appears to be stalking her.
Ironically though, what makes Travis so complex is the fact that in many ways he is “better” than his peers and the people who are supposedly his social superiors. When he picks up the Presidential candidate Betsy volunteers for the Senator and one of his aides are clearly having a discussion about some kind of shady dealings. This principle is even explored subtly when veteran cabbies frequently talk nastily about different groups they won’t pick up or hold in contempt but Travis never participates in these discussions. For all of his social faults and diminished economic status, Travis always emerges as a good person.
"I think someone should just take this city and just... just flush it down the fuckin' toilet. ..." (Travis Bickle, "Taxi Driver")
Though he rants about the criminals and evil-doers of New York society, Travis’ big crusade is to rescue Iris from her pimp (Harvey Keitel), so much so that it even creates a distraction from his obsession with Betsy. While his apartment had previously been dingy and littered with flowers for Betsy, near the climactic ending when he prepares to take matters into his own hands and clean up the city, the place is clean and organized. Travis is wearing a blindingly white shirt (clearly designed to represent purity) as he arms himself to the teeth, knowing he is going to kill Iris’ pimp. In a final act of being “over” Betsy, he burns the flowers in his sink, closing that chapter in his life.
The ensuing rampage Travis goes on is probably one of the greatest shooting sequences in recent film, however it probably also was the sole reason the movie lost the Oscar that year. Though great pains are taken to make the scene artistic (tinting the blood, incredible back-and-forth cuts and a suspenseful conclusion) it is ultimately way too violent but more to the point way too exaggerated- especially the scene where Travis blows a seedy hotel’s manager’s fingers off. When all is said and done Travis has killed the pimp, the hotel manager and the client Iris is with, all graphically and all right in front of her, which is ironically, possibly every bit as traumatizing as her forced prostitution. We have every reason to believe the police are going to blast Travis to kingdom come through the use of an overhead tracking shot which shows a freeze-frame of the entire trail of chaos he has caused; scattered bodies and bloody walls and all.
However, a strange dreamlike epilogue reveals that Travis is considered a hero for having killed a mafia kingpin and a couple two-bit criminals. Iris is safely back home with her parents and back in school just like Travis told her she should be and he is apparently comatose in the hospital. Though it is entirely possible this is all some sort of fantasy ending the final scenes are too “real” to suggest this in my opinion- especially where Travis appears to pick up Betsy then she seemingly vanishes from the back seat. This ending suggests more to me that Travis is still disturbed and delusional. It is important to point out though that the ending of the film shows Travis driving his cab in much better neighborhoods than before. Not only does this imply redemption but also illustrates how, at least in Travis’ view, the world is a little better after he has done his part.
“Taxi Driver” may not be as well written as “Network” or as inspirational as “Rocky” but in terms of the Big Three movies of 1976 it is easily the best made. I still like “Rocky” better though ;)
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