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.
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.
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
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.
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.
I dont. Dude was a soldier in vietnam and couldnt get a girl. What a fucking loser. Also hes so stupid, he really thought shooting pimps would make her stop whoring. Shell probly be bCk by the end of the week.
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 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
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 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
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).
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
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
@@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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
Damn. I came a little late but you've left a wealth of content that I can now go back through. So. Thanks for the great channel and the attention to quality you put into these, man.
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.
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.
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 RU-vid. 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 RU-vid 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!
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.
Thanks for your videos. Your take on the Good The Bad and The Ugly was the first one I saw, and it was great. So as most of your videos. Thank you for sharing.
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 👍
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
WOW! One more, maybe the last, from you, but thank you, thank you so much! Now I will enjoy this!
4 года назад
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.
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 !
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
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!
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
One of my all time favorites which I've watched maybe a dozen times over the years and you picked out a couple of little things I missed. Nice one, great vid :)
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.
