Taxi Driver - Renegade Cut 

This film is a masterpiece. De Niro, Scorsese and everyone involved with this film did an outstanding job with this film.

One thing I want to mention - you say that "Travis killed a few strangers and society considers him a hero". It's quite possible that this isn't the first time that's happened - he is a Vietnam veteran, after all. While I don't believe the movie states that he was in combat or anything of that nature explicitly, it's possible that this is a very cyclical process for him and for all of society in general.

I think subconsciously he liked the dirty streets. Like he was back in the jungles of Nam.

Taxi Driver is my favorite film. It is a masterpiece from start to finish.

"We all feel like the protagonist of our own lives" Ive struggled with the exact opposite feeling, i feel like a side character in others lifes, sometimes i feel like im gonna get killed off for someones character progression.

One of the best movies ever made. Loved your analysis. Made me realize a few things. Travis is lonely because he's wrestling with demons. He has secrets and it makes him feel separated from everyone else. He has violent impulses and he's trying really hard not to give in, but the pressure is growing. The depravity of New York and his disgust over it represents his feelings about himself. He desperately wants someone to see what he is, to hear him and maybe even help him. That's why he picks a target like Palentine. He knows if he kills a politician that people will notice. When he fails in the attempt, he hastily chooses those people who represent the filth of New York, that he despises so much. He thinks by killing them, he can destroy that side of himself. Then, instead of being discovered and punished for his violence, he's seen as a hero. He gave in to his worst urges and the world rewarded him. He got the attention he always craved, but still no one sees the real him, so he's still alone. Except now he doesn't care as much about controlling his violent urges and because he got away with murder, he feels empowered and strangely a sense of belonging. There's no judgement here, everyone is just like him. That's the way I see the ending fitting the movie. I never thought it was a dream sequence. The change in tone was his own acceptance of what he was.

I actually didn't watch this film until very recently. Two things struck me. The first is that the ending echos the ending of Clockwork Orange were we hear Alex say the was "cured all right." In neither case has either character changed from where they started. The second is how relevant this seems for today's world of angry young men and their guns.

Travis is one of my favorite characters in all of fiction.

The whole movie feels like a dream...a psychotic dream. Travis has not been cured at the end of the movie, he may gun down a few more people again.

I root against myself every time I'm talking to a girl

To add a bit to your thoughts on how we try to see ourselves as the heroes of our own narratives: Christopher Booker opens the Seven Basic Plots (a very dubious book later on, but the start seems sound) describing how the Epic of Gilgamesh is pretty much the template for the standard James Bond story, with the hero going to see an elder who bestows weapons upon him before he storms the citadel to capture an amulet and/or rescue a princess etc. So the rescue of Foster's character is a sort of twisted version of this (complete with the scene of Travis going to get his weapons): an act of obscenely bloody vigilantism in the name of saving a princess who doesn't even want to be rescued. It's also an echo of The Searchers, a similarly problematic rescue story. Travis spends most of the film dressed in cowboy shirts, jeans and cowboy boots and then at the end, facing off against Foster's pimp, who himsefl dresses like a Native American, has 'disguised' himself by giving himself a mohawk. So we have a kind of mixture of myth and western, but, as I say, twisted. The fact that Travis is treated as a hero for it therefore seems to call the whole history of the heroic narrative into question, as if all that celebrated individualism might, as Don Quixote also suggests, be driven by madness and egotism - by the loneliness so much under the microscope here and the concomitant desire to see oneself as centrally important. And by referencing the western in particular, perhaps, like Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, in which the western is the prime fairy tale under examination, it shows how this particular national foundational myth is used to paper over obscenities and miseries, from the horrors of the trail of tears to the loneliness-inducing and often terrifying modern urban dystopia Travis begs the politicians to clean up.

this movie hits different at 3 AM

Really interesting and insightful analysis. Given the amount of times I've heard "You talking to me?", I've never picked up on the fact that it sums up his loneliness

I don't think the ending is upbeat at all

This is the one of the best of all the videos you made

This movie is a pretty scary look into the mind of a deranged lone gun man and potential mass shooter.

My all time favorite Renegade Cut!!

Schrader's screenplay was pure genius, and somewhat minimalist.

Really wonderful analysis, enjoyed it thoroughly. Just watched the movie last night and it blew me away, love ruminating on it via this essay

For an analysis that was little over 10 minutes, it was very good. Very concise, thanks

8:39 I have a scar on my back in that EXACT location 2spooky4me

Great Job!! Just saw this film for the first time not too long ago.

A one man's dealing with loneliness in a cult classic, and although I obviously don't agree with the way Travis went about his need to fit in/become a hero, I do believe that there's an ignorance in us all of not wanting to take responsibility for our own shortcomings, and that's it's always someone else's fault other than our own.

such a nice analysis

Great Work

Deniro was off his face on speed during filming and didnt sleep for days to get into character..

Love your videos, Leon. I dig that you give bibliographies at the end. Makes me want to go to film school, instead of watching crackpot fan theory videos with little basis like everyone but you seems to do these days.

ever since i saw the movie for the first time, i thought he died or was in a coma for the final sequence, now i have to say that you’ve convinced me. i like this interpretation much better

I didn't necessarily agree with every interpretation made here, but overall I think the analysis is excellent. Interestingly, I fell in love with the movie as a young college student in the 80's. I became obsessed (much like a certain presidential would-be assassin) and, to be brief, I lost my marbles and developed obsessive fantasies of firearms violence. What's' fascinating is that I had never actually read any scholarly analysis of the movie. But I always recommended it as brilliant, and eerily prescient of the mass murders more typical today. And here's the interesting thing: Along with the movie, my other favorite narratives of this unhinged period of my life were: Catcher in the Rye (not surprisingly), and The Stranger, and YES, Notes From Underground! I guess it makes sense, given that the characters in all of them are alienated to varying degrees, and the first person narration makes them all the more intense and involving. Thanks for a great, thought provoking analysis.

One of my favorite Scorsese films. Excellent analysis as usual. Also, given your thoughts expressed here and in "Blue Ruin", I'm assuming that you're NOT a fan of the concept that "it's okay to do bad things to bad people".

Great analysis.

Absolutely profound, beautiful words at the end.

Great Study! Could you please consider doing an analysis on themes, world and controversy of 1987-movie"Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honnêamise"?

nicely covered the movie !!

Everything following the shootout felt like it was all in his head mainly because of his interactions with the other cab drivers and with Betsy. First, he actually communicates and says goodbye to him like they're his pals, and the interaction with Betsy asking about him and being interested in him, something that might have been happening on their first date but never rekindled after the porno incident (coming to her work, the flowers, the phone call scene with the pan etc.). I guess that's the beauty of the ending, it's not his delusions its societies.

finally watched this

why does vigilante justice appear so attractive?

As always great analysis.thank you very much.Could you please tell me the name of the backround music that starts around 2:18?

I love your videos, but I'm baffled as to how you can say that Bickle's view of NYC is skewed through a negative lens, a "washed out image". His behaviour and actions are misguided, but his observations are sound. At the time, NYC was rotten to the core, crime ridden and bankrupt. Buildings were left to collapse and there were frequent garbage strikes with filth literally lining the streets.

Brillant film. Have seen it about 40 times. Masterpiece. Most people dont understand it.

Ich will, by Rammstein, uses this film in their video clip and exagerates the fact that we are seeing the bad guy as a hero.

Genius!!!!!

Interesting analysis, I enjoyed it. Do Body Heat (1981)

Ok but how tf does Travis keep moving after a STRAIGHT SHOT TO THE NECK NOBODY HAS ANSWERED THIS.

2:02 Is that young Sean Penn? Just google Sean Penn 1975, he looks exactly like person with that long hair

Damn that ending bummed me out.

Here is...

Best movie ever, thank you for analysis, , i can really relate to Travis, not sure thats a good thing ! ?

And the movie goes on without us... 😔

i recently rewatched this movie. really depressingly current movie, made 40 years ago and might be even more true this day than it was back then. especially with like what happened in Germany this weekend and all the other terrible thing that have taken place lately.

I’m so glad I watched this. I always thought taxi driver was over glorified. I always felt that young dudes make it out to be this amazing hero film. That was my problem when I viewed it. Helped me understand it, thank you.

Your review of "American Psycho" was taken down for copyright. I just thought i'd tell you that.

One of the best essays. The only mistake is that some of us want to be villains an to be beaten.

This is the most relatable movie.

Do Mean Streets, thiss and Mean Streets were two film I always had problems grasping (heck alot of Scorse leaves me uncertain.)

I think that loneliness is, both unique and collective at the same time. Twelve-step dogma tries to teach people; that being tragically unique, is erroneous. I think, that we all have shared experience of pain and loss, to greatly varying degrees; but, we are also unique in the origin and expression of that grief. in other words, it's not either-or, it's both.

The difference in the Taxi driver director cut 1. The lighting at the end is brighter 2. ...

“Camus can do, but Sartre is smart-tra”

@RenegadeCut I share all your views except for your interpretation of the ending. However I have a theory about this film. Do you think considering everything, Taxi Driver is a sequel to 'The Deer Hunter? Do you think the experiences of the central character in Vietnam causes him to behave in such a fashion. Let me know what you think. We can discuss further then.

i really enjoyed the remake: American Sniper

*plays Mahler* ah, I see your a man of taste as well

mahler 5th symphony adagietto

Anyone know the end music? That orchestra piece

Wow

I have such a fascination with this movie, I’ve always felt like I was the only person on this planet that actually exists, the only one that can think like I can. I know that’s definitely absurd and that sentiment has lessened as I have aged but I really like this type of story.

If Travis was black, do you think audiences or other characters in the film would look at him the same way? Just a thought

Consciousness, perception and memory do not make us the heroes of our own lives; it's the actions we choose to take using these attributes that make us victims or heroes or bystanders. We may not be the star of our own movies, but we are all treading our own paths and creating our own stories. We will disappear from this world when we die, but our stories will always be a part of the human experience and our souls shall be as strong or as weak as we made them.

Within Travis Bickle may exist a little bit of INCEL-like motivations

Travis is only seen as a hero because he killed sport and everyone else. If he instead killed Palantine then he would be seen as the villain.

Thank you

my only pursuit was an intelligent discussion not an argument, no harm intended.

miss the opening song.

Do American history x

So I saw this comment by Giovanni Romanelli on the CA website: "Very Good analysis as always. I would like to make a request: could you make a Renegade Cut on Neon Genesis Evangelion? WAIT!, let me explain… I think this series is never well analysed. It always falls on a hatred filled bashing, or a blind love praise, never a serious plain examination. I think you could be the guy to try. I personally love NGE from the dephts of my soul, but I really really get all the problems that people have with it. In any case I think it would spark an interesting conversation. Thumbs up from a brazillian fan!" And it got me thinking; what if you did Renegade Cuts on TV shows? In an era that gave us Mad Men and Breaking Bad, where even animated shows like Steven Universe and Bojack Horseman are acknowledged for their themes, it might be interesting if you talked about television shows.

Am I the antagonist of someone’s life?

Idk, I prefer to think of myself as the lancer, still looking for a protagonist, but I can't find someone with spiky enough hair. =)

Could u do an indian movie pl?? Try Udaan (2010).. or Gangs of Wasseypur (2012)

In my personal opinion the final scene was a dream he had while in coma. This is how i picture it and i dont want anyone to change my mind cause i love it that way

*DAMMIT!* your Dredd review's down

This is my favorite movie of all time... it’s waaay better than Joker

i think the film is all about how it was difficult for america to start over after viet nam......america had to accept that they weren't all good or all bad.....this film reminds me of the opening credits to hillstreet blues

*Just* watched it. I share your interpretation. But in my opinion, the movie doesn't get the message delivered well enough. Yes, blatancy often ruins such messages. But I was really lost at the end and had to think for a while about what I've just watched, in a sense that I was really confused. Also, the score was extremely weird. There were cues of some sort but mostly, it was that weird romantical or noir theme. Your interpretation, which again I share (and at the end pretty much gets confirmed by Schrader), really clashes with the feeling I got induced by this theme. In my opinion, it by no means is a masterpiece. De Niro's performance really carried the movie for me, as well as the performance of everyone else in a side role, really. But why having such a, in my opinion, good message convoluted in such a movie? I also got the feeling (but it probably is a misinterpretation) that Travis had serious self-esteem issues throughout the movie. When talking to Betsy for the first time, he says so himself. He's talking about needing a right to talk to someone, a woman in this case. Feeling insecure so he gives in to his disgust and fear he has experienced with that guy who wanted to murder his wife (and probably did. Travis had some fat stacks afterwards, yo). Also the need to pump up and define his body. Anyway, I find this movie overrated because it fails to be clear or at least a bit exciting if the message is that hidden. What about Travis' weird medication? Did he have PTSD after Vietnam? The intro was so blurry, like someone was tripping. At that job interview, I at first thought Travis would have lied about every single answer since he took medication (or what was that?). Maybe the movie could have made it more clear how isolated Travis was before the interview. And about his paranoia and those pills, maybe "throw in" a bit Jacob's Ladder, Travis seeing monsters for a split second or something. I don't know, just wished it would have been a little bit more clear.

He had so much of hope on that politican that he would bring an end to prostitution but after seeing him going to dance bar (not shown in the movie , but we can hear the music after the politican left his taxi ) . He becomes very disappointed . This disappointment makes him to take things on his own hands . It's not completely unknown why he decided to kill the politican .

So maybe a midlife crisis is just a person's frustration that act 3 of their personal narrative does not seem to be coming, and act 2 just keeps dragging on, and on ... and on.

I find it disappointing that you let the Illusion of Morality cloud your interpretation of this movie; is Travis's view on the World wrong necessarily? I would conclude that the overall theme of this movie is the very fragile distinction between hero and villain. Also the fact that every Man has a desire to make an impact on the World and that this desire is inevitably irrepressible. This would explain Travis's failed assassination attempt of Palantine, the primary motivation being what seems to be a sense of betrayal or disillusionment; but the attempt itself, so public and whilst attempting to attract attention with his what would then be considered outlandish hairstyle. Travis meets Iris at just the right time and her situation is the perfect outlet for his emotions. Re-asking the question "is Travis's view on the World wrong necessarily?" One must also ask "as crazy or sick Travis might appear to be, is he crazy and sick or is it the World he lives in that is crazy and sick?" When he confronts Iris, a twelve-year-old prostitute, exploited by her pimple for "selling your little pussy for nothing" she simply tells him that he's "square". As if being a child prostitute, performing sexual acts for paedophiles is cool. How is it that you empathize with the network of scumbags that Travis annihilates to save Iris, yet are hung-up on his visits to porno-theaters or buying guns illegally? I'm not a believer in there being a "cure" for mental problems, but in the film's closing, Betsy, the once object of Travis's desires, whom he attracts and repels with his socially inappropriate behaviour, boards his cab, with a new-found interest in him since his being hailed a hero by the newspapers, Travis however, has now lost interest in the once seemingly unattainable Betsy, but to me seemed more at ease with the World.

I think there’s also some slight political allegorical shit with the politician making so many empty promises

I always thought Travis was a compulsive liar but all his lies are a childish outlook. His letter to his parents about being a secret agent is so laughably fake and you can see a level of fear in his face when the cab director calls him on his Vietnam Vet story. Even his name, Travis Bickle, sounds like something a 5 yr old would make up. Sort of like the scene in the cab where Scorscese says that's his wife, etc. We have no indication of this, the man could be a stalker in complete delusion, and there's a look Travis gives him, which comes off as mutual-horror. But it's a wonderfully ambigous film, even for all it's voiceover exposition.

While I love Scorsese I feel guilty because I don't really like this movie. :(

Why all analyses diminish Travis?? He is a real true hero, not a romantic lie.

I really enjoy your content but the left to right screen wipes that show up at least once per video really downgrades the professionalism of your work.

Most overrated film of all time.

Loneliness and isolation can drive lonely and mentally unstable people to do things. It's likely the end of Taxi Driver which the press called Travis a hero and Iris reuniting with her parents didn't happen and that in reality, Travis died, and that Travis didn't survive the brothel shootout. In reality, Travis died from the gunshot wound in his neck. In reality, Iris didn't reunite with her parents and got arrested on prostitution charges and got sent to a juvenile facility and is suffering from PTSD. In reality, Travis wouldn't get heralded positively by the press and would be called a cold-blooded killer who unjustly gunned down Iris's pimps and Tom, Wizard and Betsy would be interviewed by the police about Travis. Travis is not a hero. He is indeed a villain. A social outcast. A loner. A mental case. A man who hates society and the crime, scum and corruption on the streets of NYC.