>I don't like Taxi Driver. But I do think its subject. . . the
>story of a disturbed war veteran turned right wing vigilante
>assassin is a worthy one. . . it's a type we've seen spring up
>here and there in the real world in the past several decades.
>
>
>But I'm not sure how much the film really has to say on the
>subject. I don't find it a particularly enlightening portrait
>of this character.

Yeah, it really doesn't let you know WHY Travis ticks, it just kind of shows those ticks.

>
>I also think the movie is a bit too fond of the character.
>Sometimes I even get the feeling he's speaking *for* the
>filmmakers. . . or at least for writer Paul Schrader. Perhaps
>not for Scorsese.

Y'know, it was the very last scene that made me feel a bit that way too. It was like "Now that he's gotten that killing out of his system, he can take steps towards getting over his girl problem." That last scene just struck me as a bit too neat and tidy. And granted, I understand that he still looks at her in the rearview as he drives away, leaving a bit of ambiguity. However, certainly some progression has been made, since earlier in the movie there's no way he would've even let her out of his sight, period.

>
>I've always had a problem with the part of the movie where
>Travis takes Cybil Shepard's character to the porn theater. I
>find it hard to believe. I find it hard to believe that
>Travis would have been so stupid as to take her there in the
>first place. Especially at that point in the story.
>
>I also find it hard to believe that Cybil Shepard's character
>would have walked into the theater with him at all. It
>clearly wasn't playing a musical that night. And she
>definitely wasn't into porn.
>
>The movie has lots of problems in my view.

Yeah... I hear ya. I thought that scene was one of my least favorite, with Cybill twitching in the movie theater melodramatically, as if each shot of perversion was physically torturing her...yeah.

>
>Other films have treated characters who snap suddenly and kill
>people with greater understanding than this one. For example,
>there was "Why Does Herr R. Run Amok" directed by Rainer
>Werner Fassbinder back in the early 70s. Or more recently
>there was "The Assassination Of Richard Nixon" which starred
>Sean Penn and was based on the true story of a man who plotted
>to kill Richard Nixon.

That last one in particular I really wanted to see, since I think Sam Byck is a REALLY fascinating man.