05-07-2003, 12:03 AM | #1 (permalink) |
Junkie
Location: San Francisco
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Taxi Driver
--very mild spoiler at the end--
Just saw it for the first time tonight. I'd heard about it a lot and received many recomendations after describing what kind of movies I like. Didn't know it was that old though. (~1970's) Anyhow I really enjoyed it. Good movie to watch alone, late at night. Deniro is badass, and very young! The movie just plays with your emotions throughout. Gets you to like one person, then hate them, and so on. Check it out
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Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses-- |
05-07-2003, 05:46 AM | #3 (permalink) |
Tilted Cat Head
Administrator
Location: Manhattan, NY
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You even got to see a young Harvey Kietel...and kind of what NYC was like pre-Disney Times Square
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I don't care if you are black, white, purple, green, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, hippie, cop, bum, admin, user, English, Irish, French, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, indian, cowboy, tall, short, fat, skinny, emo, punk, mod, rocker, straight, gay, lesbian, jock, nerd, geek, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Independent, driver, pedestrian, or bicyclist, either you're an asshole or you're not. |
05-07-2003, 08:44 AM | #7 (permalink) | ||
Junkie
Location: San Francisco
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Quote:
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__________________
Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses-- |
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05-08-2003, 02:56 AM | #10 (permalink) | |
Crazy
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This is pretty much from Schrader's mouth-the movie is inspired by the John Ford western The Searchers. Travis latches onto two women. One is successful and does campaign management. He decides to murder the "father" figure, the campaign manager, but fails. So he regroups, and latches onto a young prostitute. The prostitute is oppressed by her own father figure. This time, Travis is successful, and murders several people. Society is uninterested that something is wrong with Travis, and rewards him for killing the right father. In the end, the Cybil character even wants to get back with him. While it did inspire a copycat on Reagan, it certainly shouldn't be blamed. It's a critique on American society, and a personal film about isolation and loneliness. It's a brilliant film. |
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05-08-2003, 09:08 AM | #11 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: San Francisco
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Quote:
__________________
Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses-- |
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05-08-2003, 05:55 PM | #12 (permalink) |
Crazy
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Schrader was big into comparing Asian societies to America at the time-he said that in Asia, if a man goes crazy, he draws the shade and takes his own life; in America he goes out the door at shoots as many people as he can. This defines that point in time, which was very violent.
Originally, Keitel's character (and everyone at the end) were going to be black. There was so much racial tensions, riots were feared. Scorsese made the characters white, which minimizes some of Bickle's racism. Bickle is still clearly a racist, but the topper is a little more blurry. Bickle was going to kill somebody because he wasn't mentally right (Vietnam); he just happened to pick the right person in society's view to kill. Contrast this with the shooting of the robber. He again picked the right person to kill, but he just didn't bother to stick around to be caught. This forshadows the ending, when not only will a shop keeper reward him, but all of the community. The theme of society approved violence coarsed through many of the major films of the '70's. Straw Dogs, Dirty Harry, Taxi Driver, A Clockwork Orange, and others all dealt, in some way, with the idea of violence and it's place in society. This was most likely due to the violent Vietnam war, which took 2 million civilians. Last edited by l_o_c; 05-08-2003 at 05:57 PM.. |
05-08-2003, 06:13 PM | #13 (permalink) | |
Tilted
Location: Jersey City
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Great movie, an American classic.
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My other sig says something clever. |
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05-08-2003, 06:24 PM | #14 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: San Francisco
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Quote:
__________________
Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses-- |
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05-08-2003, 10:58 PM | #16 (permalink) | |
Junkie
Location: San Francisco
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Quote:
__________________
Embracing the goddess energy within yourselves will bring all of you to a new understanding and valuing of life. A vision that inspires you to live and love on planet Earth. Like a priceless jewel buried in dark layers of soil and stone, Earth radiates her brilliant beauty into the caverns of space and time. Perhaps you are aware of those who watch over your home And experience of this place to visit and play with reality. You are becoming aware of yourself as a gamemaster... --Acknowledge your weaknesses-- |
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05-09-2003, 08:27 AM | #19 (permalink) |
Insane
Location: Houston, Texas
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i'm hoping someone can help me out here...
remember the part, after he shaves his head (mohawk) and goes to kill Jodie fosters pimp he kills/ shoots that one guy on the stairs (was it the pimp, i forgot) but the guy doesn't just die, he keeps screaming and screaming saying "I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll fucking Kill you!" and screams some more while hanging on to deniro... anyways, this sound bit was used in a punk rock song but I can't rmember who sampled it... anyone know? possibly the - butthole surfers? but i don't think so... |
05-09-2003, 08:29 AM | #20 (permalink) | |
Insane
Location: Houston, Texas
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05-10-2003, 12:41 AM | #21 (permalink) |
Crazy
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Straw Dogs is very, very good. It is directed by Sam Peckinpah and stars Dustin Hoffman.
It's a film about a young couple that move to the English country side. There marriage begins to test the fabric of what each can stand. Harsh things happen, and in the end, Dustin Hoffman's David chooses to take on the villagers in a violent confrontation of territory. Somewhat of a spoiler, so SPOILER ALERT! The film is also famous for a brutal rape scene that led many to say the film was offensive in it's violence and Pauline Kael even called it fascist, though Sam Peckinpah disagreed completely. The new Criterion DVD is very good. (http://www.deepdiscountdvd.com/dvd.cfm?itemID=HVD001597) I'd recommend renting it before spending that kind of cash on a film that could not be your cup of tea, but I'd still see it. In my opinion, it's one of the best films of the 70's. It's a lot slower and intellectual than some make it out to be, but it's still trademark Sam Peckinpah. Last edited by l_o_c; 05-10-2003 at 12:46 AM.. |
05-10-2003, 09:42 PM | #22 (permalink) |
disconnected
Location: ignoreland
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he keeps screaming and screaming saying "I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll fucking Kill you!" and screams some more while hanging on to deniro...
anyways, this sound bit was used in a punk rock song but I can't rmember who sampled it... anyone know? possibly the - butthole surfers? but i don't think so... Maybe you're thinking of the Pantera song "The Badge" on "The Crow" soundtrack. Before the song begins, you hear DeNiro say "suck on this" (gunshot) then the song begins, and after the song you hear the guy go "I'll kill you!" |
05-13-2003, 04:26 PM | #25 (permalink) | |
Winner
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I think the thing that some people found offensive about the rape scene was that they said the girl seemed to be enjoying herself.I didn't really see it and didn't think it was all that bad. Definitely quite a few similarities to Taxi Driver. |
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05-13-2003, 04:27 PM | #26 (permalink) | |
Winner
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05-13-2003, 08:35 PM | #28 (permalink) |
I and I
Location: Stillwater, OK
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Its interesting in Taxi Driver, DeNiro's character gets the job driving the taxi because he doesn't have anything better to do. Then with the young hooker, he tries to give her a bunch of money saying he has nothign to spend it on. Very interesting film...
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05-14-2003, 06:19 PM | #29 (permalink) | |
Crazy
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Spoilers for Straw Dogs:
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In the commentary on the DVD, Prince goes a long way in suggesting that Peckinpah wanted the audience to view the movie from the perspective of Susan George's character, and thus be repulsed by the rape. It works for me. He also gives many instinces in which Peckinpah came out and said David is the bad guy of the film, which is an interesting slant on it. (Peckinpah's letters are included on the second disc of the DVD, and he says it out right.) The thing about Taxi Driver for me is that it holds up in spite of several things that could really have brought it down-the washed out blood in the ending, turning the character's at the end white, an unnecessary scene (even Scorsese says to this day he isn't sure about the scene) with Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster, and some lame scenes with Albert Brooks. In spite of some potentially large flaws, the film works almost flawlessly for me. It's one of my favorites. |
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driver, taxi |
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