Taxi Driver (1976)
I found this film incredibly dull. From flat characters to no development, I felt like I was stuck in an endless loop for the entire hour and forty-minute duration.
We follow Travis for most of the film, endlessly driving people around in his taxi. You know, just doing his job. As if I do not already have enough experience with creepy men when I am alone, Travis is the epitome of creeps. First, he becomes obsessed with Betsy, a woman working locally to support her choice presidential candidate. He sees her walking on the street one afternoon and begins to honestly stalk her workplace. He would sit in his cab, marked "Off Duty" right outside the building, and always in the right spot to have a view of her. He does eventually ask to take her out, to which we really see how undynamic and annoying she is. Yes, that's right folks, looks aren't everything - if you didn't already know. She is pretty stuck up with no brains to back it.
Either way, she agrees to a second date a few days later. Travis takes her to see a film. Not your average "first date" type film either. He takes her to a porno. Now, this shows how easily she trusted him when her first reaction before entering the theatre is she knew the movie was "dirty." Betsy listens to Travis when he claims to see couples go in and out all the time to this particular film. They get in, it starts, and she abruptly leaves. Maybe I am old fashioned, but watching a porn film is not my idea of a date and the first one for that matter. I have a horrible track record of talking to someone for months before I even will hug them, let alone kiss or do anything else. I also have only ever had three significant others in my life, so take my methods as a grain of salt. I hate people and human interaction. Betsy's willingness just seems so unlikely of a woman now. Granted, this film was in the 70s, so different times; however, hard to believe at any time a woman would be so mere trusting of someone she barely knows. And, that goes for men too. Most people are rightfully on edge and not trusting.
Betsy never develops. Travis tries time and time again after the film to get her back, and she refuses. Good on her there. But, that is the start and end to her as a character. Until the end, when he is branded a hero. Her interest seems to peak in his cab in the final scene. It goes nowhere. Regardless, she didn't change. She was still the same Betsy, all looks with nothing behind them.
In between, Iris came along early then disappeared. This is the second interest of Travis. Not love wise, but maybe family-wise? He wants to help her but fails on multiple occasions. From her first appearance popping in his cab abruptly to his appointment with her, and then towards the end when he kills the pimp and other folks associated, he never helps her much. Sure, he gets her back to her family. She is young, and her reason for running away could have been a minor "I didn't get my way" thing. But, she watched at least two people die. She also was under the assumption her pimp, Shorty, was in love with her. So, I am sure all that was difficult for such a young girl to wrap her head around.
There isn't much good to say about this one. A man drives around in a cab, gets obsessed with a woman, is lonely, plots to kill some people, shoots a robber, fails to assassinate a senator, kills some bad people, and then is branded a hero. The story not only lacked interest but a literal sense. I was hoping for a killer taxi driver. Instead, I got a man who may not be entirely right in the head branded poorly. The film is really only a lot of ideas of sex and loneliness thrown into a plot with no action conflict.
I left the same way I began, not knowing who Travis was or why his story even mattered.
We follow Travis for most of the film, endlessly driving people around in his taxi. You know, just doing his job. As if I do not already have enough experience with creepy men when I am alone, Travis is the epitome of creeps. First, he becomes obsessed with Betsy, a woman working locally to support her choice presidential candidate. He sees her walking on the street one afternoon and begins to honestly stalk her workplace. He would sit in his cab, marked "Off Duty" right outside the building, and always in the right spot to have a view of her. He does eventually ask to take her out, to which we really see how undynamic and annoying she is. Yes, that's right folks, looks aren't everything - if you didn't already know. She is pretty stuck up with no brains to back it.
Either way, she agrees to a second date a few days later. Travis takes her to see a film. Not your average "first date" type film either. He takes her to a porno. Now, this shows how easily she trusted him when her first reaction before entering the theatre is she knew the movie was "dirty." Betsy listens to Travis when he claims to see couples go in and out all the time to this particular film. They get in, it starts, and she abruptly leaves. Maybe I am old fashioned, but watching a porn film is not my idea of a date and the first one for that matter. I have a horrible track record of talking to someone for months before I even will hug them, let alone kiss or do anything else. I also have only ever had three significant others in my life, so take my methods as a grain of salt. I hate people and human interaction. Betsy's willingness just seems so unlikely of a woman now. Granted, this film was in the 70s, so different times; however, hard to believe at any time a woman would be so mere trusting of someone she barely knows. And, that goes for men too. Most people are rightfully on edge and not trusting.
Betsy never develops. Travis tries time and time again after the film to get her back, and she refuses. Good on her there. But, that is the start and end to her as a character. Until the end, when he is branded a hero. Her interest seems to peak in his cab in the final scene. It goes nowhere. Regardless, she didn't change. She was still the same Betsy, all looks with nothing behind them.
In between, Iris came along early then disappeared. This is the second interest of Travis. Not love wise, but maybe family-wise? He wants to help her but fails on multiple occasions. From her first appearance popping in his cab abruptly to his appointment with her, and then towards the end when he kills the pimp and other folks associated, he never helps her much. Sure, he gets her back to her family. She is young, and her reason for running away could have been a minor "I didn't get my way" thing. But, she watched at least two people die. She also was under the assumption her pimp, Shorty, was in love with her. So, I am sure all that was difficult for such a young girl to wrap her head around.
There isn't much good to say about this one. A man drives around in a cab, gets obsessed with a woman, is lonely, plots to kill some people, shoots a robber, fails to assassinate a senator, kills some bad people, and then is branded a hero. The story not only lacked interest but a literal sense. I was hoping for a killer taxi driver. Instead, I got a man who may not be entirely right in the head branded poorly. The film is really only a lot of ideas of sex and loneliness thrown into a plot with no action conflict.
I left the same way I began, not knowing who Travis was or why his story even mattered.
Gotta admit, that is not the take I would've expected from you. Shows what I know (jack-shit). I agree that Betsy had no development, but... I didn't find that off-putting. I guess I did a little. To me, the first part of the story where he's pursuing Betsy was incredibly hard to watch. I found myself being vicariously embarrassed and ashamed for Travis. I didn't want more character development from Betsy, I wanted less of her. Partly because, as you say, she's just not interesting, but also because I felt her role in the story essentially was to be a woman Travis became infatuated with without knowing a thing about her. And that's the thing. This was all about Travis, so why are the scenes of Betsy and Permboy even in there? We don't need that story, it's a different story and it's dull. I mean, it's not like they needed to show her personality for us to understand that she wouldn't be pleased going to watch a porno on a date. You're not old fashioned, I thought the whole point of the date was to show Travis's disconnect from society.
ReplyDeleteWhich leads to Travis, who I did not see as such a static character. One thing that occurred to me is how even though he's super weird and hardly talks to people throughout the film, lots of people know him by name--they seem to like him okay. If he constantly acted like the weirdo he does for most of the film, he would not have that kind of standing with people. He clearly has been living some kind of life to this point. I saw the conflict as man vs. self. The plot seemed to be a guy tries to fit in to a world he doesn't understand. He fails miserably. Starts to have dark, violent thoughts but recognizes it but has no where to turn for help because of his isolated-in-plain-sight situation. I felt the main conflict was him battling with himself, essentially losing, and, in the violent spree that results from it, ironically becomes the hero he imagined. I had expected the movie to be a Cape Fear-style psychotic Robert de Niro in a taxi cab, but instead got a study on, as you said, sex and loneliness.
Don't say that you don't know jack-shit! We all interpret differently. We all develop our own responses and emotions to works, and we then focus on those. :)
DeleteI think we needed Betsy for Travis' character. But, I could have done without her or with her better developed. She was just boring, unoriginal, and useless. "A pretty face."
I feel like I still do not understand Travis or the point of his story just as much as when I started the film. We all do put on fronts, which is very fair for you to point out. However, I felt he was static. He never changed. What was his resolution? That he became the hero he already saw himself as? Kind of a let down for the viewers. We all knew he believed he was some hero. I didn't want to see this stalker become branded as an actual hero.
I also would have liked more blood and violence. The one guy in the back of his cab, catching his wife cheating, was hilarious. I mean, he was stretchy all the gory details of murder. I'm morbid and love that kind of stuff. I just think Travis is not my click. He was more of a sociopath than a psycho. I like violence not mind games.