[atsonicpark]

Smoke, fog, ominous music, sewer lid, slow motion
Eye balls, sax, window, rain, blurred lights
New York at night, grime, people, red lights
Insomnia leads to a search for a job
Get paid for what you already do
“It’s real clean, like my conscience.”
Vietnam veteran, slightly out of touch with the times
Room is a mess, life is unorganized
Neon lights, steamy soundtrack, whores walking the street
“All the animals come out at night.”
Wet pavement reflecting street lights
Popping pills
Blood and cum in the backseat
Drinking liquor in broad daylight
Attending porno theaters, unaware of own scuminess
Flirting with theater clerk; fails to impress her
Movie within a movie
Ideological, expressing beliefs, unaware of hypocrisy
Slow-motion: Woman in white
Palantine offices
Woman obsessed with Palantine
Men talking about makeup
Racial tension, distrust toward blacks
Seltzer fizzling, bubbling, popping
Travis mans up and approaches Betsy
Arranges a meet with Betsy
She keeps regurgitating political stats
She doesn’t get his humor
Attempting to separate Betsy and her friend
Social ineptitude can be unintentionally hilarious
Keeping everything in a journal
Picks up Charles Palantine
Pretends to support the politician
Misanthropic views: “Flush it down the *beep* toilet”
First encounter with Iris
“Just get me out of here, alright?”
Sport treating her like a possession
Sport bribes Travis to ignore the incident
A group of blacks lobs trash at cab
Staring at money, unsure of situation
Man in the crowd
Returning to Betsy
Greasy drummer performing on the sidewalk
Attending dirty movie with Betsy
She gets furious
Calling her back to see if she has calmed down
He keeps pushing, but she is unresponsive
Sending her flowers in the mail
Focus on empty corridor: Antonioni homage
Smell of the flowers is sickening
“You’re only as healthy as you feel.”
Angered, Travis returns to Betsy’s office
Causes a scene
“They’re like a union.”
Scorsese in the backseat
Barking orders
Woman in the window
.44 magnum pistol
Scorsese talking to the audience
“You think I’m sick?”
Claustrophobic city
“They’re way ahead out there… California”
Travis beginning to look more unkempt
Eyes show signs of exhaustion
Doughboy calls him “killer” and aims finger
Blacks taunting prostitute
Conversation with Wizard
“Things got you down?”
“Yeah, they got me real down”
“Got some bad ideas”
“That job becomes what he is”
“You do a thing and that’s what you are”
“I envy you, you’re youth. Go on, get laid, get drunk, ‘cause you got no choice anyway. I mean, we’re all *beep* I mean, more or less.”
“Don’t worry so much”
Terrible diet
Televised politics
Second encounter with Iris
Black man in a raging fit
Loneliness speech
“One day indistinguishable from the next”
Easy Andy: Travelling salesman
Getting in shape
Too much sitting ruins body
Every muscle must be tight
Still hanging out in porn theaters
Practicing in the mirror
Tall secret service man
Henry Krinkle
Number slip
“You talkin’ to me?”
Confrontation with himself
Repetition
Títere – puppet
Playing hero in store robbery
Beating a dead body
Dancing on television
Writing to parents
Crowds listening to Palantine
Lying to his parents: writes he’s wealthy, working for government, with Betsy
Watching daytime television and playing with revolver
Tips television with boot
Box loses balance and television breaks
Old men fighting on the sidewalk next to two whores
Approaches Iris for first time
“Looking for some action?”
Approaches Sport for the first time
Assumes Travis is a cop
15 dollars/ 15 minutes, 25 dollars/ 30 minutes
“Well if you are, it’s entrapment already”
Man in the stairway
Travis playing the moral compass
Attempting to wake up Iris
Iris – vision
Her parents hate her
Talking about astrology
“Haven’t you ever tried looking at your own eyeballs in the mirror?”
Offers Iris some money out of charity
First scene that is not from Travis’s point of view
Sport attempts to console Iris
Dancing to slow music
Travis prepares for the final showdown
Packs some money in an envelope for Iris
Palantine rally
Mohawk
Attempts to pull a gun
Secret service spots him and a chase ensues
Back in Travis’s apartment
Drinks from a beer can
Takes pills
Sport and old man exchanging money
Travis drives up at nighttime
A look of anxiety and determination in his eyes
Colors faded to reduce color of blood
Approaches Sport
“How’s everything in the pimp business?”
“Suck on this” – gunshot
Sport left bleeding on the stoop
Travis looks around and takes a seat on the steps
Walks into Iris’s building
Shoots old man’s fingers off
Shot in the neck
Kills sport
Old man screaming
Man with glasses shot in the face repeatedly
Knife through the hand
Bullet through the head
Iris cries in the corner
Travis tries to shoot self
Out of bullets
Sits on couch and tilts head back
Police approach
Bloody finger to temple
Overhead shot of room
Slow motion shots of blood stains, bodies, and weapons
Crowds gathered on the street in curiosity
Off-screen voice: Iris’s father expressing thanks
Newspaper clipping of event
“Now our lives are full again”
Travis becomes a hero
Hanging out with friends again
Picks up Betsy
Sees her in the mirror
“Hello, Travis”
Goddess-like appearance surrounded by city lights
Small talk
“I read about you in the papers”
“Papers always blow these things up”
He clears the meter and drives off
Looks in the mirror
Illusory kaleidoscopic view of the city ....

 

I recently bought the special edition 2-disc set of TAXI DRIVER for $5, replacing my previous DVD edition which I gave away for free. TAXI DRIVER is by far and away my favorite film of all time. I'm sure I've seen it 100 times -- literally.

 

I remember not knowing a fucking thing about it when I bought it on VHS back when I was 14. I really hadn't heard anything about it, the movie just looked intriguing, I was at a pawn shop, it was $3, so I figured what the fuck. I distinctly remember it being 100 degrees outside. I popped the tape in and... wow.. I was glued to the couch. I also think I saw JOE SPINELL's name on the box (MANIAC was the first movie I ever bought, also when I was 14). Every word, every image, every cut, every camera movement, every action; it felt as if it had been specially made for me. If ever there was a movie that I completely "got", that completely seemed to sum up my feelings on life, and the inhabitants in it, it's probably this film. Or at least it was when I was 14.

 

But, bad news, the new (well, new-ISH.. it came out a few years ago) DVD is missing Scorsese's commentary from the Criterion laserdisc. Yeah, there was a Paul Schrader commentary, and a commentary with.. uh.. some guy who basically just describes what's going on on the screen ("The camera just moved in that scene. It represents isolation." Okay, thanks.). I could only get through about 10 minutes of this guy's commentary, whoever he was, and he said "Hitchcock" about 500 times... So, after doing some digging, I found a 182mb .ac3 file of Scorsese's original commentary; I ripped my Taxi Driver special edition to the computer; and I made the audio track Scorsese's commentary only; and I burned myself a brand spanking new DVD: TAXI DRIVER [VERSION WITH AUDIO COMMENTARY BY SCORSESE] (I also made sure it had subtitles cuz I like to know what the characters are saying as the director talks). Yeah, it's dorky; yeah, I wouldn't do it for most movies, but this is TAXI DRIVER. So, after watching this film many times a year, for 10 years, reading the script, buying new copies after mine got stolen/destroyed by "friends"/given away/worn out, I finally have the definitive DVD edition, and the definitive-commentary-edition. I placed the DVD-R on top of the 2nd disc in my actual DVD. To never be listened to again. But it doesn't need to be! I highly reccomend this audio commentary; if you have VLC media player, you can just listen to it (if you have VLC, also, you can replace the audio for the movie on your computer, you don't even need to burn it).

HERE YA GO:
http://rapidshare.com/#!download|720tg|269806398|Taxi_Driver_Criterion_C ommentary.rar|191197

click on "slow download". Trust me, it's worth it, I don't usually listen to commentaries, but this one was amazing.

 

Anyway, rating for Taxi Driver?

My favorite film of all time/10.