Chapter 17 "In every city, there are solo travelers": Taxi Driver, 1976

"In every city, there are solo travelers": Taxi Driver, 1976 Just as Martin Scorsese's remake of the Hong Kong movie "Infernal Affairs" "The Departed" (The Departed) is about to be released, his classic (TaxiDriver) has ushered in the 30th anniversary of the day. In July, the film was released again, and the film's screenwriter Paul Schrader (Paul Schrader) hosted the re-screening event.But this event is not held in the United States, but in the United Kingdom.Of course, it should be difficult for Americans to forget this 1976 movie, whether it is placed in the history of Hollywood movies or in the history of American society.Not only did it resonate with how American youth redeemed themselves in the mid-seventies;While the film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival that year, it was criticized for its extreme violence.Thirty years later, we look back on this work and still recognize it as a masterpiece, a masterpiece done by a group of excellent filmmakers.

In 1970, when Martin Scorsese met Robert De Niro, who would later star, they were both only 28 years old, and the introducer was Brian De Palma.Since then, De Niro starred in "Cruel Street" for Scorsese, and began to become an integral element of Scorsese's works.Five years later, De Niro has become a superstar for starring in "The Godfather 2", but he still refused the promised $500,000 salary and came to New York to work for Scorsese.Travis, a veteran of the Vietnam War, has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people because of his boring appearance or performance. He is an idler, a dissatisfied with the dirty city, and a violent paranoid.The influence of this character can be seen in the similar work "Hate" by the young French director Matthew Cassavetes in 1995: in this film set against the riots in the suburbs of Paris, a teenage immigrant finds a handful of Behind the policeman's gun, he played while muttering De Niro's lines-are you talking to me (Youtalkingtome)?Since then, De Niro has become Scorsese's so-called "queen star". According to the "Movie Handbook" film critic Antoine de Baecque, "Fat, old, and young, De Niro alone is Scorsese's star." The movie offers a vibe like the saga of the Nordic legend."

Thirty years ago, the circle of "Hollywood kids" was small.The screenwriter Paul Schrader of the film was also introduced to Scorsese by De Palma.Schrader was only 26 years old at the time. He was a film critic and a lover of French director Bresson. It is said that he had never seen a movie when he was 17 because his parents banned it, which also made his movies less "nostalgic".He fell out with Pauline Keal, the most influential film critic at the time, who recommended him for a job as a screenwriter, then fell out with his wife, and then fell out with the one who left his wife for her. The woman had a falling out.According to Schrader, he "was wandering the streets for weeks, living in his car, sleeping in it at night, chewing junk food for a living, watching one pornographic movie after another to pass the time and depression." Ritter Much of Lavis' feelings come from Schrader himself.Although Schrader is not particularly familiar with New York, so that Scorsese often ridiculed him that "Sixth Avenue doesn't pass through the city center at all", but this feeling of loneliness, poverty, and bleak future is the most real.Not long ago, he said in an interview with reporters, "This movie can last for a long time because it shows the truth.... Scorsese, De Niro and I lived in that place at that time."

Many people may use a simple sociological point of view to analyze that this is a film of young people living in the dark bottom consciously resisting the dirty society.Travis' assassination of a presidential candidate is unbearable to hypocritical politics, and his rescue of young prostitutes is a struggle against the dark side of society.But in fact, Travis' behavior is more like a self-help person struggling in a lonely pit. There is not much difference between his violent actions and his behavior in going to pornographic cinemas. It is no accident that this film was produced in the 1970s in the United States, which was plagued by crises such as the legacy of the Vietnam War, Watergate, sexual liberation, drug abuse, and racism).The revealed violence and loneliness are common in almost all of Scorsese's films.In "Cruel Street", he used the dialogue of the protagonist Charlie to say: "Going to church cannot atone for your sins, only the streets can do it."Violence plays a very important role in his films, "violence is a cover for the emotions of those characters".The description of violence in the film caused displeasure among many people, including the playwright Tennessee Williams (Tennessee Williams), who was the chairman of the Cannes jury at the time, but his criticism did not affect the film's final award.But because on March 20, 1981, the rich boy John Hinckley Jr (John Hinckley Jr) went to assassinate President Reagan in order to attract the attention of Jodie Foster, who played the child prostitute in the film, so the director, screenwriter and Foster all agreed. Questioned by the FBI, the film was banned for 17 months.

Watching the film now, even if the social and violent behavior of the characters is put aside, the audiovisual language alone is still fascinating.In particular, cinematographer Michael Chapman (who himself is also a New York resident and considers this a "New York movie") makes the neon-lit streets look like a colorful dream after a rainwash.Scorsese feels that the feel of the film is that of "waking up from a dream".And Bernard Hermann's soundtrack makes the night scene of New York, or the hearts of the characters, have an indescribable confusion.The soundtrack geek who debuted with "Citizen Kane" has gained a huge reputation for his long-term cooperation with Hitchcock.Hermann died the night he finished the score, which was Christmas Eve.The story outside the play also seems to exaggerate some kind of legend.And Scorsese said in the interview that the topic of "loneliness" is the most talked about about this movie. Even in China, he went to Beijing to attend a three-week seminar, and a young man accompanied him around. Ask him the question of "how to dispatch loneliness".So that Scorsese suspected that the propaganda poster played a role. On the screen, Robert De Niro walked alone on the long street, next to the words "Every city has a lonely pedestrian"-indeed, this kind of related How easy it is to resonate alone, even now, thirty years later.