Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
- matrixschmatrix
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
I don't think that's the part he was inquiring about- as I recall, the earlier scene (where Betsy walks dreamily by Scorsese) was the cameo Scorsese had planned to include, so it's plausible that there was some kind of hidden meaning within it.
- Roger Ryan
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Yes, I figured that Scorsese filmed his "Hitchcock" cameo in the scene where Betsy enters the campaign office well before he realized he would end up playing the jealous husband role later in the film (after the actor he had originally cast had an accident). I'm sure he never would have included himself in the earlier shot had he known he'd be acting in the later scene.matrixschmatrix wrote:I don't think that's the part he was inquiring about- as I recall, the earlier scene (where Betsy walks dreamily by Scorsese) was the cameo Scorsese had planned to include, so it's plausible that there was some kind of hidden meaning within it.
Since this was a fairly low-budget production, I suspect that when Scorsese felt he wanted more extras in a shot, members of the crew would help out; hence, a crew member wearing a Columbia Pictures t-shirt is told to turn the t-shirt inside out and walk through the scene. I noticed there are several times when an anonymous passenger enters the cab during montage or linking shots and it always seems to be Director of Photography Michael Chapman! "Quick, just get in the shot - we have to keep moving" is probably something Scorsese said a lot during this shoot.
- Zumpano
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
I'll look for Chapman when watching the commentary. Thanks!
Re: The Columbia shirt guy, I figured it was a case of a "run-and-gun" scenario. But the fact that he was in the same shot as Scorsese made me wonder for (apparently, longer than) a moment. I mean: the dude could've put a different shirt on. I knew the backstory regarding the backseat moment, the other cameo just always made me wonder.
Another thing about this Blu-Ray: the thing sounds great. The score is really clear and full; giving some of those snare hits that extra power. It's pretty impressive and benefits this film whose score really adds to the atmosphere.
Re: The Columbia shirt guy, I figured it was a case of a "run-and-gun" scenario. But the fact that he was in the same shot as Scorsese made me wonder for (apparently, longer than) a moment. I mean: the dude could've put a different shirt on. I knew the backstory regarding the backseat moment, the other cameo just always made me wonder.
Another thing about this Blu-Ray: the thing sounds great. The score is really clear and full; giving some of those snare hits that extra power. It's pretty impressive and benefits this film whose score really adds to the atmosphere.
- aox
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Wow, I had no idea the jealous husband who is about to commit murder was Scorsese.
- Roger Ryan
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
And it's a great performance as far as I'm concerned. Scorsese could have made a career out of playing these deranged, nervous types.aox wrote:Wow, I had no idea the jealous husband who is about to commit murder was Scorsese.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Sometimes I wish he and Cronenberg would get cast together as the villains in some movie, both are surprisingly talented actors.
- domino harvey
- Dot Com Dom
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
I'm sure John Landis is already way ahead of you
- aox
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
That's the thing though, when I watched the BD the other night (hadn't seen the film in a while), I was struck by what a good performance that was. Weird.Roger Ryan wrote:And it's a great performance as far as I'm concerned. Scorsese could have made a career out of playing these deranged, nervous types.
- matrixschmatrix
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
I haven't seen it yet, but doesn't Scorsese have a sizable role in Kurosawa's Dreams? He's clearly someone comfortable in front of a camera, given the number of documentaries about movies he narrates and appears in.
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
He plays Van Gogh in a section of the film. It's one of the better parts in what I feel is his best colour film (but enough of that).
- bdsweeney
- Joined: Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:09 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
If I remember correctly, Pauline Kael wrote that his cameo 'burnt a small hole on the screen' because of its intensity. And she's right.aox wrote:That's the thing though, when I watched the BD the other night (hadn't seen the film in a while), I was struck by what a good performance that was. Weird.
- MyNameCriterionForum
- Joined: Sat Jun 21, 2008 5:27 am
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
It was probably the coke that burnt the hole in the screenbdsweeney wrote:If I remember correctly, Pauline Kael wrote that his cameo 'burnt a small hole on the screen' because of its intensity. And she's right.aox wrote:That's the thing though, when I watched the BD the other night (hadn't seen the film in a while), I was struck by what a good performance that was. Weird.
- matrixschmatrix
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
You know Scorsese had a problem when he not only gives his dealer a role in the movie but a documentary all his own (though Prince's performance was if anything more chilling than Scorsese's.)MyNameCriterionForum wrote:It was probably the coke that burnt the hole in the screen
- knives
- Joined: Sat Sep 06, 2008 6:49 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Are you referring to the guy who played the gun dealer because that is definitely a drug dealer level of creep right there.
- matrixschmatrix
- Joined: Tue May 25, 2010 11:26 pm
Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Yeah, that's Steven Prince- as I understand it, it was a pretty open secret that he was the actual drug dealer for the set in general and Scorsese in particular. Scorsese did a short documentary about him, American Boy, which is both really interesting and in many ways more unsettling than Taxi Driver (if only because there are a lot of glimpses of Scorsese himself coked out of his mind.)
- Roger Ryan
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
If there is anyone who didn't need to be on coke, it would be Scorsese All the same, Scorsese's performance in the film is a good one as was his choice to put Prince into the gun dealer role - it's inspired casting that gives the film an unexpected punch just where it needs it.matrixschmatrix wrote:Yeah, that's Steven Prince- as I understand it, it was a pretty open secret that he was the actual drug dealer for the set in general and Scorsese in particular. Scorsese did a short documentary about him, American Boy, which is both really interesting and in many ways more unsettling than Taxi Driver (if only because there are a lot of glimpses of Scorsese himself coked out of his mind.)
- MichaelB
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
That's pretty much spot on - her entire description of his performance is:bdsweeney wrote:If I remember correctly, Pauline Kael wrote that his cameo 'burnt a small hole on the screen' because of its intensity. And she's right.aox wrote:That's the thing though, when I watched the BD the other night (hadn't seen the film in a while), I was struck by what a good performance that was. Weird.
Pauline Kael wrote:Scorsese himself is sitting on the sidewalk when Travis first sees Betsy, and then he returns to play a glitteringly morbid role as one of Travis's fares - a man who wants Travis to share his rancid glee in what the Magnum he intends to shoot his faithless wife with will do to her. As an actor, he sizzles; he has such concentrated energy that this sequence burns a small hole in the screen.
- Fiery Angel
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- swo17
- Bloodthirsty Butcher
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Prince also has a memorable scene in Linklater's Waking Life (he's the guy at the bar with the gun).
- MichaelB
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
I guessed that would be John Simon even before I clicked on the link. Aside from I vitelloni, Persona and Bruce Beresford's King David [sic], did he ever unequivocally like anything?Fiery Angel wrote:A contrarian view
- Roger Ryan
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Well, he does say he likes BADLANDS...MichaelB wrote:I guessed that would be John Simon even before I clicked on the link. Aside from I vitelloni, Persona and Bruce Beresford's King David [sic], did he ever unequivocally like anything?Fiery Angel wrote:A contrarian view
Seriously, I can't believe Simon criticized Cybil Sheperd's weight, claiming she looks like "Mussolini in drag". Pathetic.
- hearthesilence
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Was John Simon seriously one of the more influential critics back in the day? I can see why few people mention him anymore. What a d-bag.
- Jean-Luc Garbo
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
If you've seen the film, it comes as no surprise that he liked Don Roos' The Opposite of Sex.MichaelB wrote:I guessed that would be John Simon even before I clicked on the link. Aside from I vitelloni, Persona and Bruce Beresford's King David [sic], did he ever unequivocally like anything?Fiery Angel wrote:A contrarian view
- aox
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Finally had some time to sit through the 1980s Criterion Commentary track with Scorsese and Schrader. Very informative and entertaining. I wish Scorsese did more commentaries. It also had the unintended consequence of making me hate Bringing Out the Dead even more, and I didn't think that would ever be possible.
Are the other two on the BD worth listening to?
Are the other two on the BD worth listening to?
- Tom Hagen
- Joined: Mon Apr 14, 2008 12:35 pm
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Re: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Why did it make you hate Bringing out the Dead more?