Bickle is based loosely on Arthur Bremer and the diary he kept. Shrader wrote the movie after realizing he’d gone a long time without ever talking to anyone, this while living in NYC. Shrader made mention that the “God’s Lonely Man” feeling came from Thomas Wolfe in Look Homeward, Angel. I also think the character of Hud in the 1963 movie with Paul Newman is influential. In some ways, Bickel is Hud moved from Texas into the city and reflecting the change in America from the early sixties into the sewer of the later 70s NYC. Given that, like Hud, Bickle is just plain bad at his core and because of that he is not radicalized per se. He’s just going through it, responding. Bickel is not quite as forceful, selfish, and as unfeeling (or as cool) as Hud, BUT he’s darkly damaged and seemingly always was of that nature. He’s the swamp thing that NYC in the 70s gestates. Something that wrong, 70s NYC, SHOULD produce a mixed up mess like Bickle - off, psychopathic, inappropriate, dangerous. The “longing to be seen as important” is right in line with the 60s/70s assassins - Oswald, Ray, Sirhan, Chapman, and Bremer. Scorsese does it again: he makes it all happen on multiple levels (as the true genius works do. Think the Reg Dunlop character from your Slap Shot videos) . He takes a Hud type character, moves him into the grotesque 70s left-wing gone horribly wrong NYC, turns him into an assassin type, makes him an anti-hero and, wait for it, a REDEEMER! The sheer trajectory of everything you’ve seen, you would think, would make him just be a destructive mess, but Scorsese makes him the “hero”. The hero you don’t want, but the HERO the NYC and America of the late 70s, for their sins, DESERVES. Wow.
@obsessedwithcinema
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for this. I knew some of it, but seeing it all in one place and the way in which you have brought everything together, as well as your personal insights, is quite helpful.
@CousinPaddy
Жыл бұрын
Travis’s answer to Palantine always cracks me up 😂
@abelmh34
Жыл бұрын
There are a lot of video essays on this movie that misinterpret scenes and characters. Yours does a great job of analyzing the movie yet it is not getting viewed.
@UncouthJosef
Жыл бұрын
Loved this analysis. I like that you didn't latch on to the big easy catalysts and chose the minor things that sent him over the edge. Keep up the great work!
@orangewarm1
Жыл бұрын
Paul Schrader said the date with Betsy was a subconscious decision to alienate her.
@Steakster
2 жыл бұрын
Well laid out piece. Makes me want to watch the movie again (it’s been a long time!)
@obsessedwithcinema
2 жыл бұрын
Yes, there are many movies that I wish I had the time to rewatch. “One Of These Days, I’m Gonna Get Organezized.”
@CousinPaddy
Жыл бұрын
As someone who is into military history, I found Bickle’s service in Vietnam (as evidenced by the VC flag in his apartment) as a key part of his character’s view on the world. He’s attempting to renter civilian society after being in a society that was in complete chaos but his life experience only allows him to identify more threats and take initiative to eliminate them. Of course, it’s not helped that the city was crawling with crime and debauchery. It’s also displayed by his unease around different racial groups, like in the diner scene. Great movie, great video.
@fredkeeler1234
10 ай бұрын
This, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas are Scorcese's top 3, Albeit Wolf Of Wall Street is as good and edgy as any of them, even more impressive as it was at age 70 late in his career.
@barbaraclark5320
Жыл бұрын
Years ago in film school a prof posed the question: Do you think the end scene of Cybil Shepherd in Travis’ cab actually happened, or was it instead just a scene in Travis’ mind that he played out?
@obsessedwithcinema
Жыл бұрын
Thank you for your note. A friend told me that theory when we were younger and it really blew my mind. However, Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader have said that the ending was intended to be literal, and perhaps more frightening as well-that Travis might have gotten away with it this time around, since he is a veteran and those he killed were pretty bad people. The idea has been put forward that the movie is circular and is starting over with Travis now free to get into even more trouble, a few months or years on. That is what might have been meant by that disturbing moment, after Travis drops Betsy off, where he thinks he sees something-for a brief instance-in the rearview mirror.
@orangewarm1
Жыл бұрын
Scorsese said it happened.
@orangewarm1
Жыл бұрын
Suppose he drove her to Vermont -- there's no guarantee Iris wont come back, or contact Sport. As well as that, Sport will replace her.
@fredkeeler1234
10 ай бұрын
I believe those 2 shots of that tenement are the same as Lrd Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti album cover
@TheTlingitZone
2 жыл бұрын
Very insightful!
@obsessedwithcinema
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for your kindness.
@stevenblack7928
Жыл бұрын
Very well made review, let's thumbs up and subscribe to tickle the algorithm God a bit
@andysmith5997
6 ай бұрын
Travis was lucky to live in a country where he can get a gun
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