Conquer Club

I didn’t get Taxi Driver

\\OFF-TOPIC// conversations about everything that has nothing to do with Conquer Club.

Moderator: Community Team

Forum rules
Please read the Community Guidelines before posting.

I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby betiko on Mon Apr 23, 2018 10:32 am

So I finally watched this classic the other day as for some reason I had never seen it.
I just didn’t get what was the whole meaning of this film by Scocese with this crap ending. I thought it was about this uneducated lonely vietnam vet trying to find his way in nyc, slowly slipping into a paranoid lone wolf. I think it should ve ended with de niro’s death or at least him in prison. WTF with that stupid ending? Free and almost a hero? Somebody gets it?
Image
User avatar
Major betiko
 
Posts: 10941
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:05 pm
Location: location, location
22

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby mrswdk on Mon Apr 23, 2018 10:35 am

Being a paranoid lone wolf is protected by the American constitution and is therefore as American as apple pie, and freedom.
Lieutenant mrswdk
 
Posts: 14898
Joined: Sun Sep 08, 2013 10:37 am
Location: Red Swastika School

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby Symmetry on Mon Apr 23, 2018 11:37 am

betiko wrote:So I finally watched this classic the other day as for some reason I had never seen it.
I just didn’t get what was the whole meaning of this film by Scocese with this crap ending. I thought it was about this uneducated lonely vietnam vet trying to find his way in nyc, slowly slipping into a paranoid lone wolf. I think it should ve ended with de niro’s death or at least him in prison. WTF with that stupid ending? Free and almost a hero? Somebody gets it?


I think part of the meaning is that he sees himself as a hero, even though he's not, and kind of ends up as seen as one, even though he isn't. It's interesting that you picked up on the Vietnam vet part- it's been a while since I saw it, but I can't help but look back it now and think that was maybe part of the message. How easy it was to flip between vets as heroes or villains. Alienated loner or war hero. I'm not sure the film is meant to have a concrete answer, except that perceptions are kinda fickle, and that a lot of young men came back deeply damaged.

The famous mirror scene kind of sums it up for me- he's putting on an old uniform, too big for him, and working himself up to be a hero. The bad guy he's talking to is his own reflection.

Been a while since I've seen it though, like I said.
the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it- Albert Einstein
User avatar
Sergeant Symmetry
 
Posts: 9255
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:49 am

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby betiko on Mon Apr 23, 2018 12:56 pm

Well, the strange thing is that he just tried to kill a governor running for president... at least he showed up with a mohawk, walking quite agressively towards the governor and doing something that looked like pulling a gun... he had been talking to that secret service guy a few days back, so the guy had to recognize him with his army jacket even if he shaved part of his head...
They started chasing him, then he just kills 3-4 pimps and everything is fine?
It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Also, jodie foster's pimp wasn't really the worse kind of pimp that really deserved that...

The girl that works for the governor's campaign that gets in his taxi at the end seriously... after he acted like he did with her.... she'd go get a ride in his cab, and be like "wow, i read an article about you killing a pimp and some mobsters, I'm so impressed!"

Or is he dreaming that whole part? The movie should've ended after his murders, when the police comes in, and he mimics a bullet in his head with his bloody finger. Everything after that really annoys me and make me wonder what's the point of the entire film.

So you think it's about viet vets being something within a blurry line of hero/zero?
Image
User avatar
Major betiko
 
Posts: 10941
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:05 pm
Location: location, location
22

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby Symmetry on Mon Apr 23, 2018 2:26 pm

betiko wrote:Well, the strange thing is that he just tried to kill a governor running for president... at least he showed up with a mohawk, walking quite agressively towards the governor and doing something that looked like pulling a gun... he had been talking to that secret service guy a few days back, so the guy had to recognize him with his army jacket even if he shaved part of his head...
They started chasing him, then he just kills 3-4 pimps and everything is fine?
It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Also, jodie foster's pimp wasn't really the worse kind of pimp that really deserved that...

The girl that works for the governor's campaign that gets in his taxi at the end seriously... after he acted like he did with her.... she'd go get a ride in his cab, and be like "wow, i read an article about you killing a pimp and some mobsters, I'm so impressed!"

Or is he dreaming that whole part? The movie should've ended after his murders, when the police comes in, and he mimics a bullet in his head with his bloody finger. Everything after that really annoys me and make me wonder what's the point of the entire film.

So you think it's about viet vets being something within a blurry line of hero/zero?


Honestly, I think I need to watch it again to give a better take on it. The Viet vet part wasn't even something I really thought about when I first watched, but you pointing it out made me think back on it in a different light. Scorsese, oddly for the big directors of his era (say, Coppola, Kubrick, Stone), never really tackled the Vietnam war directly. Scorsese's big love was always New York. It makes sense to me that he'd look at the issue of Vietnam through a NY lens.

Anyways, I've said enough until I watch it again. Thanks for this thread though- it did make me want to go back and take another look.

As an aside- Joel Walden does some pretty awesome videos about directors:
the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it- Albert Einstein
User avatar
Sergeant Symmetry
 
Posts: 9255
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:49 am

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby 2dimes on Mon Apr 23, 2018 4:20 pm

I'll watch it and get back here if I remember.

It's funny though, there are old movies I loved then I watch it and it seems to drag on forever and make no sense now. Then someone re-makes a classic and I'm left wondering why they ruined a great story that could have been updated so much better.
User avatar
Corporal 2dimes
 
Posts: 12645
Joined: Wed May 31, 2006 1:08 pm
Location: Pepperoni Hug Spot.

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby betiko on Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:56 pm

I realize i haven t seen a lot of his films from what I see at the end of your video.

There is exactly the scene that should've been the end scene of taxi driver there in your video. DeNiro pretending to blow off his head with his bloody finger. At least from where I stand, after I watched it for the first time in 2018.

Otherwise, I did enjoy the filming and acting tbh.
I found the woman he likes that works for the governor's campaign absolutely stunning by the way, and I don't really know who she is, will have to google that cause she does look familiar.

Regarding jodie foster; anybody else just hates her accent? I saw her dubbed in french all my childhood, and the first time I heard her speaking in english, i really though she was kidding. Damn, I m sure she could've had an even more successful career if she didn't have that horrible accent.
Image
User avatar
Major betiko
 
Posts: 10941
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:05 pm
Location: location, location
22

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby betiko on Mon Apr 23, 2018 6:59 pm

Cybill shepherd! Damn she was hot in the 70s!
Image
User avatar
Major betiko
 
Posts: 10941
Joined: Fri Feb 25, 2011 3:05 pm
Location: location, location
22

Re: I didn’t get Taxi Driver

Postby Symmetry on Mon Apr 23, 2018 7:10 pm

Walden is great at fitting together clips for over-arching themes in a director's career. Hugo was obviously a tough fit as it's one of those things that's not like the others.

Treat yourself and watch the Kubrick one though:

the world is in greater peril from those who tolerate or encourage evil than from those who actually commit it- Albert Einstein
User avatar
Sergeant Symmetry
 
Posts: 9255
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:49 am


Return to Practical Explanation about Next Life,

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: the warrior65