#31
Post
by Person » Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:57 pm
Thanks, jed. For a 1991 transfer, the CC LD holds up very well. It's a shame that the brightness / contrast was always blown out on LD transfers, as otherwise, many of them still hold up pretty well, especially Criterion's.
Anyway, enough of my technical babbling. I have never really been a fan of the voice-over narration in films, but Taxi Driver is one of the very best and it is highly appropriate to the theme of the film - a lonely man lost in his own head, talking to himself. I still get a kick out of the, "Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore, who would let..." [cut] "Listen you fuckers...", etc. the voice-over is interupted! And then the, "Here is..." over the notepad, which cuts to him pointing the gun.
The early 70s was strewn with films that tried to be consciously transgressive, but nothing could have prepared the public for Taxi Driver, which doesn't feel contrived in any way. I can only imagine how some people (liberals, middle-class New Yorkers) must have felt seeing this film on a friday night in February, 31 years ago. It shocks and dazzles today.