Drive

As a said in my last blog post, this movie followed the trend of leaving you with unanswered questions. One thing I liked, that the director of Drive did in the movie, was that he allowed Bernie and Nino to explain the mystery behind the bag of money. Yes, actions do speak louder than words, but there always something relieving about having a character flat out say what is going on. I must say I do love movies with high intensity that has a mysterious feeling, but sometimes it’s a pain to follow along. For example, when you turn away from the screen for ONE second and then all the sudden you’ve missed a clue to the mystery.

            For me, Drive has been my favorite movie so far. No, it wasn’t because of Ryan Gosling (although it did help). But, it was because of that feeling of relief. It is truly a great feeling when you’ve been wondering the whole moving what is going on and then all the sudden it clicks and all your questions are answered. Drive had a few scenes like that for me. The first scene was at the hotel after Standard has been shot. When the girl robber explains to Gosling what she has been told, it is made clear that Standard had been set up. The second scene was in the strip joint when Gosling talks to Nino on the phone. I felt myself gasp because the movie had made a 360 and connected previous characters into the mystery. The last scene was when Nino and Bernie are talking in the pizza place about what there are going to do to the “kid”. They discuss where the money came from and how everything is connected.  

Drive's Connection to Casablanca

At first glance, there appears to be very little similarity between 'Drive' and 'Casablanca'. The former is a 2011 aesthetically modern crime drama, while the latter is a 1942 black and white tragic love story. However, having seen both of these films over the last few months, I was surprised at the number of similarities I was able to notice between them. First, they both use very unique camerawork to convey a message about their characters. Casablanca makes use of extreme close-ups on its main characters, otherwise known as "money shots", to convey intense emotion during key dramatic scenes. Meanwhile, Drive uses intentional amounts of "talking space" between characters to show the current emotional relationship between them. When the driver and Irene feel sexual tension, and want to be closer to one another, the talking space between shots is eliminated or reduced, making it seem as though the two are close together despite being physically farther away. However, when the driver is upset about Standard's death, and feels his connection with Irene dwindling, the talking space is restored, thus signifying a distance, and disconnect between the two, despite the fact that they are standing close to one another. In addition, the endings of these two films are similar in their tragedy. 'Casablanca' ends with Rick sending Ilsa away with her husband so that she can support him in his important Nazi-resistance work, despite their admitted mutual love. This theme of sacrificing love in the name of the greater good is also present at the end of 'Drive', when the driver is forced to abandon Irene and the money in the name of both his and her safety, despite the fact that is is clear from the kissing scene that they love each other. Almost 70 years passed between the release of 'Casablanca' and 'Drive', but the themes and film techniques present in these two films are strikingly similar.

DRIVE!!!!

Where do I even begin. Besides the fact this movie was brutally violent, bloody, and just overall twisted/gory, I really liked it. I know in the eyes of Bauks it doesn't matter if I liked it or not, but for the sake of who I am I'm just going to say I flat out liked it and its overall puzzle pieces to the "puzzle". Everything essentially fit together and the motivation behind the main character, Ryan Gosling, actions was pure love... even though there were gruesome, bloody bits.
We know from the get-go that Gosling feels some type of connection to Irene, which is obvious to the viewer. We also see the connection that Irene indirectly feels to him as well. He almost immediately builds a relationship with Irene's son, Benicio, and Irene which is the underlying reason for all of Gosling's actions throughout the film. If it wasn't for Irene and what he felt for her, he would have no reason to get involved with Standard's, Irene's husband, misfortunes and "the criminal world" that came along with it. He did it for Irene and for the sake of her protection. He was willing to put himself on the line, while killing multiple individuals, for her sake.
However, at the end of the film when he ultimately leaves the bag of money on the pavement and drives away, I know that it was never about the money. And you can tell that in Gosling's character and his genuine nature. He wanted to protect Irene due to how much he cares for her and that's it. It didn't even matter if he became "together with her" at the end, he just cared enough about her to make sure she's always safe.
The movie classified as being a "crime thriller film" essentially was a twisted love story. It wasn't the "classic and cheesy" love story we see so often, but those severe challenges were dealt with by the passion/love of both Irene and Gosling.

Taxi Driver(1976) reflection

Taxi Driver was about a taxi driver who wanted to clean the streets off of underage prostitutes. Most of the film was about Travis hunting down and killing he pimps that held underage prostitutes. He starts his mission right after he met Iris. Iris is a 12 year old prostitute who ran away from her home in Pittsburg and moved to New York, where she does drugs and stays loyal to her pimp, Sport. I think it was a very good movie with a lot of action scenes. One thing that I didn't like that much was how Travis managed to shoot all the people in the house at the end, even with 2-3 bullets in his body(one of them in his neck).

You wanna know how I got these scars? (Taxi Driver)

For an awfully long time, I found myself asking a question I don't normally ask myself when watching a movie. Why this guy? Why are we being taken through this guy's life? What's so special about him? He seems normal enough, aside from the insomnia. Just another guy who's job is to drive people around at night. At first, his voice and behavior aren't too interesting in particular. He doesn't seem like he would be a main character.

Then along comes a certain scene. This dude walks in with a couple brief cases, lays them on Travis's bed, and opens them up to reveal handguns. Travis is buying a gun. No, not a gun. Several guns. And then it dawned on me. We haven't seen anything yet. Here's where Travis starts to get interesting. He's weird. He's unsettling. He doesn't show it, but his insides are churning with disgust for the city, the desire to make a change. It's building up, and he can't take it anymore. He may want to do good, but his fascination with his handguns and the arm mechanism he built displays him as a psychopath. As he narrates the scene in which he's practicing the motion of the mechanism ("Here is a man who will not take it any more"), his voice is plain. It's dull and boring. Except it's not. That's what makes it interesting. It's unsettling and disturbingly calm. It's internal. Then there's his smile. Oh man, that smile. I don't know if I didn't notice it before or if he just hasn't done it up until now, but wow. That weird, creepy grin he gives to the secret service guy. He's hiding something, and he's reveling in the fact that he's talking to a secret service agent while wearing concealed firearms. It's fantastic.

Taxi Driver

From the beginning of this film, I was confused and thrown off by the main character, Travis. Every time something happens with Travis it seems a bit peculiar and different. It almost makes it not believable and in a way, part of a dream. Travis goes a little bit insane when he notices the trouble the city is facing and the people that are causing this trouble. When he starts to play with the guns in his room, I began to think it was a dream and that he would never do anything with those guns. During the shooting scene, when Travis shoots a ton of people, the whole scenario seems a little strange. When he shoots the first guy, he does not immediately die. After he enters the second building and shoots the old man, he doesn't die until later on. Travis also gets shot in the neck but puts his hand there and acts like nothing really happened. Most people would immediately be dead. Iris is also barely affected by the whole scene and at the end is safe and sound with her parents. At the end of the movie when Travis drove Iris, he seems like nothing ever happened and looked like nothing ever happened. This makes me feel like the entire sequence of events from him shooting in his room to the taxi drive with Iris is all a dream. 

Taxi Driver: Travis and the Final Scene

The 1976 film, Tax Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese and featuring Robert De Niro, is arguably one of the finest films produced in the last half century. Set in New York during the pre-Bloomberg era, the film captures New York in a time where it was as dangerous as it was dirty. Upon finishing watching Taxi Driver, I came to a couple of interesting realizations. First, we learn throughout the progression of the film that Travis is a Vietnam veteran. Through some of his facial expressions and dialogue, we learn that he feels unaccomplished, in part due to the fact that his service was neither recognized nor appreciated by virtually anyone. After taxi driving, failed experiences with women, Travis has some success through his heroic actions of taking down Sport and the mob. After being hospitalized and receiving a letter of thank you for his action, Travis returns to the taxi business and appears to have a level of satisfaction that we had not seen before from him. Scorsese communicated this satisfaction through the use of reintroducing Betsy, whom he had previously enamored. This time around, Travis was very composed and mature, considering the previous circumstances. He even was a gentleman, giving her the trip for no cost. Through the strategic use of the shot in the rearview mirror, we could see emotions flowing in Betsy’s eyes, as she stared Travis down with faint blurry eyes. All in all, the accomplishment of Travis in the film, the general reception to which the public praised him, were all factors that led to his satisfaction. His satisfaction left him at peace, which was captured in the famous final scene attached. Overall, the emotions of Travis, and his yearning for satisfaction and appreciation in life was something that seemed unattainable at one point for him, but he later earned it. Taxi Driver is the quintessential example of man’s quest to reach a goal, and Travis epitomized this quest.

The Death of a Taxi Driver

I think that Martin Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver” ends with Travis Bickle’s (Robert De Niro) death. The ending of the movie makes too little sense in order for it to be real life. The chances of Betsy to choose a random cab that is empty to wait in that ends up being his are extremely low. Plus why would she just wait in a cab in the first place? This only leaves the options that the movie was a dream or a daydream or it ends in Travis’s death. One can rule out a dream because the rest of the movie makes sense. Dreams usually don’t. And too many bad things happen to Travis for it to be one of his daydreams. Also there is a good amount of evidence that Travis dies. To start with, Travis is ready to die and almost has a death wish. He would rather die trying to make a difference than continue to live. He leaves a note to Iris that ends “When you read this, I will probably be dead.” This explains why he tried to shoot himself after killing Sport and the others. Also once Travis puts his head back on the couch, the whole frame freezes, as if there’s nothing more. Travis’s life freezes there as he dies. Then the viewer has a bird’s eye view that usually signifies an omniscient being. This is Travis’s soul leaving his body and leaving through the house. It shows this as the camera slowly pulls out of the building. “Taxi Driver” definitely ends with Travis’s death.

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver: The epitome of character development?

    Anyone who has watched Taxi Driver will tell you that Robert De Niro's journey and development as a character in this film stands out as one of the most intense and violent. While the movie starts with Travis as a moderately stable and content taxi driver. Then after meeting and losing the girl he's been infatuated with for the entirety of the film his urge for violent actions grows and becomes unstable. After watching this progression for myself I believe I understand why this one bump in his life could cause him to go through such a change of personality. This is because throughout the film Travis continues a monologue and narration in his head that mainly revolves around the filth and scum that surrounds him. Then this girl that seems so beautiful that it distracts him from the ugliness he see's everywhere enters and rips herself from his life in a matter of days. And once again he's left alone in the dark world he perceives around him, however, this time he has an idea of what he's missing unlike when he just watched and admired this girl from afar. I believe this, combined with the violent and dark memories of his time in Vietnam was enough for him to take action. While he "saved" a predolescent prostitute in the process I still believe that the violent actions he took were more revolved around cleaning up the world around him so that he could live happily in it. This also seems like a tie in with his past as a soldier, someone who goes to war so others can live happily, hidden away from the violence and ugliness of the world.

Taxi Driver

I think that the film Taxi Driver was all a daydream concocted by all the pills and booze that Travis used and since he never got any sleep i think that this was all a dream that he was having because he is writing in his journal about how "they can't touch her" and it goes straight into him stalking her and i think that this whole movie was a mixture of him actually driving a taxi but he would daydream while driving it and he ended up living out the whole movie through his head because at times in the movie you could see in his eyes that they were bloodshot and from that you can guess that he has been drinking or doing his pills and he imagines these scenarios with everyone that he picks up in his cab and what he wishes he could do with them.  Because a lot of things in the movie just didn't seem correct, even though he would always say how he wanted a nice rain to wash these scum away i don't think that he could just start to want to kill these people because they did some wrong.  Everytime he intervened was because of a female and i think that he would daydream about rescuing these women because he knew he had no shot with them in real life.

on a side note in the movie when the lady is talking to the reporter in the Palatine area the man said the Mafia will cut 3 fingers off a thief and in the end when travis shot the mafia guy he shot off the guys fingers.  So I didnt know if that was on purpose or just a coincidence

Taxi Driver: Travis Bickle is weird

Travis Bickle is definitely a weird one. Anything from why he randomly decided that he wanted to bear arms, to fooling around with those guns in his room, and narrating the whole film in a voice as if he's a little "slow" (if you know what I mean), leads me to believe he isn't all there. Besides the fact that he was a discharged U.S Marine in the past, I can't seem to pinpoint him. I understand his urge and desire for Betsy and how, rightfully so, he is a very persuasive man when it comes to her. However, what confused me was how he could want her SO much and how his passion for her was so immense in the beginning, then just all of the sudden he starts playing with guns and now she's out of the picture until the end of the film. I know she blew him off and she was upset with him, but the contrast between wanting her then to not wanting her and becoming a criminal was a rough transition. I believe Travis is a very confused man. But I almost understand the confusion in a way. It's meant for us as viewers to interpret our own version of what's going on. Ultimately, I feel Travis is very lost. He's trying to find himself while recreating himself but that's what makes the movie great. Travis has this determination to do and finish whatever he wants to do. Whether it's getting Betsy to go out to get coffee with him or to help Iris get away from the pimps, he's going to get it done. And that determination is admirable in the film. His actions may be "different" (for lack of a better word) and random, but he has this passion for what he does that shines through the film. I can't say he's the "perfect man" but being imperfect makes his presence strong.

Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver was one of the strangest films I have seen in a long time, probably because of the main character, Travis.  He's just so different and awkward in a way that makes him seem very believable.  You constantly get the feeling that something isn't quite right with Travis.  I have to say that Robert DeNiro outdid himself here.  Going into the film, I already was aware that Travis turns violent later on, but his odd, almost passive-aggressive behavior made me think he would never kill.  But as he witnesses the horrible people and things going on in the city time after time, we can see the buildup of anger and also a sense of self righteousness emerge from Travis.  This all culminates in that fantastic, explosive, even artistic shootout scene.  It seems that other famous directors were influenced by Scorsese's approach to this scene - the one that comes to mind is the shootout near the end in Tarantino's Django Unchained, which is very similar to the one in Taxi Driver (although way more over-the-top).  About the last little section of the film - When the policeman walks in the room, Travis, covered in blood, pretends to shoot himself three times.  He then leans backward into the couch.  The camera angle shifts to a bird's eye view.  I interpret this to mean that Travis actually dies right here, and I personally think it would've been a great ending to the film if it just cut to the credits right there.  This theory holds up pretty well for several reasons, the most simple one being, how likely is it that Travis would survive those kinds of wounds?  Most importantly, however, in the final scene, we hear the letter addressed to Travis, thanking him for saving Iris.  It is read in a very odd, monotone voice, almost like Travis' but altered.  It seems like the letter is a figment of Travis' imagination, especially since his goal all along was to "save" Iris.  Also, we see that weird, dreamlike visual effect when Travis looks in the mirror in the taxi.  Either way, Travis feels like he has done what is right, and is happy and proud because of it, whether he is actually alive and well or if the last couple scenes are just his last thoughts as he lay dying.

Taxi dreamer

I truly believe that the entire or most of the movie is Travis' dream. Everything seems to work out a little bit to well for it to be real life. Everything that happens in the final scene leads me to believe that this was all a dream. First off, if you're shot in the neck and you let it bleed out for as long as Travis did, he should have been dead. There is no way that someone could have survived all of that. Secondly, it is the perfect scenario for Travis in the case of Iris. The only thing we saw was Iris crying after all of the shootings ended. She could have easily been arrested for prostitution or put into a foster home but now all of a sudden she is with her family back in school and is doing perfectly fine. Lastly, in the final scene when the girl is in the cab, the camera zooms away from Travis' neck and there is absolutely nothing there. There is no scar, no wounds no nothing. That makes me seem that like this entire thing was a dream or something that Travis is imagining. It also makes a full circle from beginning to end in regards to the lights. Also the harp when he dies makes it seem dream like.

Taxi Driver Ending

Taxi Driver (1976), directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert Di Niro, is considered one of the all time greatest films. Its raw and and bleak description of New York soon after the end of the Vietnam War is chilling yet accurate. However, the ending to the movie is what caught me the most. At first glance, it seems like a pretty normal ending. Travis kills the gangsters and is an instant hero. But after further analysis, these theories about the end just being a dream come up. One theory points to the shot from a bird's eye view after Travis passes out to being his soul leaving him, and that all the fame and attention that comes after is just his imagination of what would happen. But, as much as this makes sense to me, I don't believe that's what Scorsese was trying to convey. The entire film rides on the background at the time, the violent, f-ed up, disgusting nature of New York in the 1970s. So why would Scorsese chose to leave the premise for what he based the entire film on in his ending? I believe that the ending to Taxi Driver was real, it actually did happen and Travis did survive. But there's more to it than just that. I think that Scorsese was attempting to continue to show how bad New York society was at the the time, so bad that the media glorifies someone like Travis, who the viewer knows is a murderer and a psychopath. To me, the ending was a kind of parting shot from Scorsese, trying to show the viewer that, to put it bluntly, Travis' killings of the gangsters didn't really do much to improve society in any way, and it's still as violent and as messed up as it was before. From my viewpoint, its a depressing end to a pretty depressing movie, with Scorsese basically saying that Travis' idea of a heroic act did nothing for society, and the killings, prostitution, and drugs will keep on flowing through New York.

Taxi Driver: A complete in Depth Analysis of Travis Bickel

When watching Scorsese’s Taxi Driver above all else nothing is more critical to this film then the character development of Travis Bickle (Robert DeNeiro). Although this movie uses multiple tricks in cinematography, I believe the most important aspect of this film is the psychological developments of Travis throughout the film. In the begging we learn that Travis is a Marine veteran coming back from what is probably Vietnam. He comes back not to medals and glory, but the filth and scum of what is New York City. The more Travis drives around the more disgusted he becomes. When he meets Betsey it is almost a gateway out. She is so beautiful and perfect in the eyes of Travis. He writes in his journal “They can not touch her.” Betsey becomes everything to Travis he would do anything for her she represented good surrounded by bad at least to him. When she stopped talking to him for his stupid mistake of taking her to a porno film he becomes depressed and mad with hatred. He writes in his journal “She is like all the rest” meaning she’s no better then the rest of the scum in the city. Later on Travis is driving a man played by Scorsese in the back of his cab. The man warns Travis that he is going to brutally murder his wife and although this news would have shocked anyone else, I believe Travis agrees with what the man is doing which was the inspiration for Travis for the rest of the story. Travis starts to train and purchases illegal guns from the dealer Easy Andy. In Travis’s mind he believes killing Betsey’s boss, Senator Palestine will be a way to get back at her.  Although unsuccessful, he finds something new to obsess with after the failed assassination.  He turns his attention to a young troubled prostitute by the name of Iris (Jodie Foster). Travis sickened by the scum and wickedness of the city wants to take the power of good in his own hands. After meeting with her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel), he meets with her at a local diner and discusses plans for the future. We can see how much Travis cares about Iris. If Travis can save her then his life has meaning. In the end of the film he kills Sport and the mob bosses running the pimp house. Although he suffers major injuries we learn he is alive in a letter Iris’s parents right to him while he’s in the hospital. Thanking him for his heroic actions. The last scene we see is of Travis driving his cab with Betsey who has entered as a passenger. This time we see Travis far more cool and relaxed as he drives the Cab around the City. Now that Travis has done something valuable with his life and been thanked for it, he no longer craves the need for human companionship. Now that he’s has been thanked and appreciated he is finally ok. Perhaps this need for thanks all goes back to his return home from Vietnam. After all everyone knows that the Vietnam vets were hardly thanked when they returned home from serving their country. 

The film, Taxi Driver, seemed to have many mysteries behind it after the discussion we had in class. The major thing that is making me wondering is whether or not if the whole film was meant to seem like a dream. It seemed as though Travis, a taxi driver, driving through the city thinking about himself being the hero of the city and also making a difference within the city. 

The film begins with Travis who is in the city and he just takes a job as a taxi driver; doesn't think about anything except for earning money, but then realizes about all of the things that is happening in the city when he is doing his job. He thinks about how the people are treating others like dirt, so he dresses up as a tough guy and thinks that he can change those things around.

All of this comes up to the point where he meets a young girl, Iris, who is throwing her life away for the people that are taking an advantage of her. This is seems like a dream after all since Travis is being this big, tough guy where he thinks that he can help change Iris’s life around. It also seems like he is doing all of this just to help a young girl live her life the right way as a regular teenager who should have respect she deserves. At the very end, he did kill several people, but he did get thanks from Iris’s parents for what he done. Travis later saw Iris in his backseat having a successful life that she should have had at the very beginning. 

Taxi Driver Interpretation

I think the different interpretations of the film Taxi Driver to be very interesting. I specifically found the theory that we discussed in class the whole movie is Travis’s dreaming to have the best perspective of the film. 

My interpretation of the movie is that the whole movie is a dream while Travis in still in a coma. Travis is an isolated insomniac, who spends his nights driving a New York cab. He is “God’s lonely man” Much of what we see of the city is viewed through his windshield. After long night shifts, he still can't sleep and spends hours in porno theaters or alone in his room. Travis is a character who is invisible to all of society. No matter what he does good or bad, whether it's helping Violet or trying to be nice to a "date" or even going nuts and shaving his head, he cannot make people notice him. He comes to the conclusion that killing a presidential candidate will make people notice him.

Even more convincing of the dream scenario, the scene where he drives Cybil to her place and lets her out as a kind of final farewell to his life just before he dies, driving into the streets of New York is the perfect symbol for hell. Taxi Driver is a nightmare, and like all nightmares it doesn't tell us half of what we want to know. We're not told where Travis comes from or what his specific problems are, but instead an illustration of some days in his life.

Taxi Driver

Throughout most of the Taxi Driver I thought, "What is the point to this movie?" I could not figure out what a deranged taxi driver was doing with guns and who exactly he was after. So, since I was left with so many unanswered questions (which by the way is starting to become a common theme for me in these movies), I've decided to come up with my own answers. I have come to the conclusion that Travis was after no one but himself. He is his own worst enemy. He is the one who runs off Betsy, and he is the one who eventually gets himself killed. He buys the weapons before he has even met Iris or the pimps, for no other reason besides the fact that he likes to practice and play with them in his room. But, it is clear that Travis is planning on committing some kind of violent act before these characters are even introduced into his life. So, why does he do this? Well, I think it all stems back to the scene called the "Curbside Cuckold". I think Travis sees the power the cab rider holds just by carrying a gun and decides he wants that power. He is a man lost in society with no power over anything in his life. He can't sleep, he has little money, and his love life isn't going so hot either. So, he finds an excuse to gain power. His excuse is Iris. He barely knows Iris and I honestly think he did not kill the 3 gang members out of the goodness of his heart. I think even though he died (yes, I think he died), he wanted to die with power and dignity. He was, in a twisted way, a hero. And, after all the awful things he had done to himself throughout his life, that was the only way to save himself. It is fair to say that Travis was partly psychotic. But, I guess, in a way, everyone is a little psychotic.

Taxi Driver

I really like how it is a crime/vigilante film, but isn't very violent or gory at all. I thought it was interested how the camera zoomed in on Iris crying after Travis went into the apartment and shot everyone except her. It shows how she is still young, still innocent despite the fact she is a prostitute. It was interesting how right as the police pointed their gun at Travis as if they were about the shoot him, the camera zooms in on Travis placing his index finger against his temple gesturing the act of shooting himself, and that he wants to die. The scene cuts to a slow motion scene with slower-paced but intense music playing to dramatize what was being shown: a bird's eye view showing the blood, guns, and death of everyone. I thought it was interesting how the same jazz music was being played throughout the entire movie, but during that ending scene, there was a mash up of that jazz music and drum/harp music being played. During this scene, there was a shot showing the police at the scene, but no ambulances or anything else showing that at the time, 911 didn't exist and crime was an everyday thing. I liked how in the ending scene when Travis encounters Betsey when she gets in his cab, he shows he has changed and is over her. In the beginning of the movie he seemed practically obsessed with her and she showed no interested in him and ignored him. Now, he seems much more seiner and was humble about what he did for Iris. 

Travis is a character that just doesn’t seem sane throughout the entire movie. Starting off he has sleeping problems takes medication and spends too much time in my opinion in movie theaters that show porn. He is so out of touch that when he does meet a woman that agrees to go on a date with him he takes her to a porn movie. As the movie progresses he seems to get more and more crazy. When Travis decides to get a gun he says he is going to cleanse his body of alcohol and all other unhealthy habits he has obtained such as eating straight up sugar. It was said that he was in a war and one might argue that his need to kill or at least daydream of killing was the only way to cure his craziness. It is a possibility that he is experiencing PTSD because of the time he spent at war, much of the movie is focused on the negativities of America. A government Travis views non existent in the city he lives in. He probably went into the service to fight for his country and now that he is back he is disgusted that no one is doing anything when in comparison he put his life on the line to serve the people of America, that could easily drive a man to craziness like it did to Travis. In the end Travis seems to be cured of all the craziness he experienced before as if he fulfilled his need to clean up the city.