Quentin Tarantino on Taxi Driver

Quentin Tarantino reacts to Martin Scorsese's 1976 masterpiece Taxi Driver, starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybil Shepherd and Harvey Keitel.
Sources: Sky TV, Quentin Tarantino Talks Cinema Speculation, Channel 4 (UK), Channel 10 (France)
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[@mega6836]

These longer ones are awesome, definitely make more closer to 10 minutes than 2

[@youngchoulin]

definitely, love putting these on autoplay in the background but hate how every couple minutes i gotta skip ones thats a celebrity i don't know talking about a movie I haven't seen.

[@Looneyboy]

It’s a bit harder I’m sure

[@watcherofthewest8597]

Yes. I watch the short ones but I'd take 2 hours

[@laurarules3642]

yeah I totally agree. I know I'm probably missing out on a lot of good information but I never watch the 2 to 4 minute videos

[@themusicofvoices6201]

Agreed

[@unknown360ful]

I LOVE how consistent Tarantino usually is in his criticisms. Could listen to him talking about movies all day.

[@DMalltheway]

He just won’t work with De Niro ever again

[@laurarules3642]

@@DMalltheway De Niro needs some therapy to help him get over his obsession with Trump so he can move on with his life and enjoy the remainder of his twilight years

[@DMalltheway]

@@laurarules3642 Just like Trump needs therapy to get over his obsession with Obama. Matter of fact he, De Niro and Biden can all go away to the nursing home.

[@DMalltheway]

@@laurarules3642 Trump could use therapy with his Obama obsession or better yet nursing home.

[@DMalltheway]

@@laurarules3642 The recent ex president can use therapy himself to accept an election loss.

[@SmokeDog1871]

I could listen to Tarantino talk about movies all day

[@michaellasumiso3462]

Quentin has a future as a Movie Critic

[@someemailaddress]

I bet he’d be good at making movies

[@ianbauer4703]

Give the kid a chance

[@Theomite]

We thought so too. But he recently changed his mind.

[@SKa-tt9nm]

You’d like him to take a 99% pay cut to review movies? 😁

[@yam83]

Haha. But he's not making that one anymore.

[@iamwesleyfrazier]

That is a great observation…the movie does feel like a visual BOOK.

[@taffysaur]

Try looking up Paul Schrader’s screenplay sometime. I’ve never read a movie script like it. It does read like a novel, with all these florid descriptions of scene and character motivation that are never meant to make it on-screen.

[@thedddemon]

"It's like a novel", is the most profound comment I've heard about TD.

[@Obiniu]

Tarantino understands Taxi Driver a way that the most prominent film critics wish they could

[@methylphosphatePOET]

He said it's like a GREAT novel.

[@FinalBossWTMN]

Yeah. Aspects of it remind me of the Starship Troopers novel. Not the settings or characters or story or anything like that. But, the fact that the Starship Troopers novel always felt like it was a world, and that character Johnny Reico existed....and the novel is just you getting dropped in to get to see/read about a piece of his life, just a snippet of time taken out for you to experience, and he'll continue on to fight the war after you've finished the novel. The whole world felt fleshed out, lived in, and real, the main character felt very real and fully fleshed out, and we were just along for the ride through that characters eyes, experiencing the world from their point of view. That's what Taxi Driver felt like too.

[@laurarules3642]

@@Obiniu I agree with a lot of his points but I strongly disagree that Travis is lying about serving in Vietnam and its all a fantasy of his and it never happened

[@Obiniu]

@@laurarules3642 oh, I forgot about that take, yeah it's shit. Travis being a veteran is important to his character

[@edrodriguez4822]

The cinematography is insane in that film

[@RextheDragon881]

This is a really good video. Little bit of music, few Tarantino rants, visuals from the movie. Well done

[@SacredNutrino]

I sincerely hope Tarantino starts a podcast or something after his last movie (apparently his next will be his last) Him talking about cinema is like music. He speaks with knowledge, love and intrigue.

[@groak7395]

He already has a podcast homie

[@brianvail9212]

I went to see this upon release because of Peter Boyle's casting. He provides a special presence in every NYC film he did.

[@DrVonNostrand]

Like what other than that Joe film

[@satorified1612]

I work with a guy that reminds me of the PB character in that he's always holding court with his coworkers. Always "in the know".....

[@ciaranp8986]

listening to QT ramble on with the taxi driver theme in the background for 10 minutes is very travis bickle haha

[@foodank_atr817]

Bickle does shoot a black guy though, during the store robbery. That's where he crosses the threshold. To him its justified in the moment so he does it easily and is the break in the moral wall, he's done this one, each one following will be easier.

[@Mr.A..]

Yeah I find it funny how this is Tarantino’s top 5 favourite film of all time and he forgot that moment

[@Theomite]

The only thing is, Travis was a marine and more than likely killed people in Vietnam before he came home. So killing the robber was likely more habit than improvisation. I think it may have given him the idea that what he did "over there" could be done "over here" and that changed his mind about the failure potential of his ideas.

[@laurarules3642]

@@Theomite Precisely QT argues that Travis wasn't a marine and never went to vietnam and its all part of his delusions and fantasy. But how easily he killed that dude demonstrated he's a trained and experienced killer

[@Whaddayamean13]

The point he’s making (it’s elaborated on in his book) is that the original script had EVERY person killed by Travis be black. Every single one. So much so that it was clearly deliberate

[@Chung_Wang]

TBF it is justified, so understandable that it was forgotten.

[@ScottMasson]

Quintin is probably my personal GOAT. He’s created several masterpieces, in my personal opinion.

[@aisle_of_view]

The gun buying scene was absolutely brilliant.

[@JosephHuether]

The last film score by the “Beethoven” of existential dread…Bernard Hermann.

[@tamburello9902]

And he knocked it out of the ballpark. What a legend.

[@dunnydundutta]

One of my favorite movies,such a classic film.

[@ColombianThunder]

It really is something else. It's a testament to it's quality that it still works even today. I remember i took a historical American Cinema class. It was more of an elective. The kind of class that people took because it was easy and you could get credit so it was full of people that weren't necessarily interested in cinema. Everyone was completely enraptured by it. Everything we'd seen before was tame, Hays code stuff, so for everything to culminate into the blast of violence that is Taxi Driver, you could feel the energy in the air. Truly something special.

[@JWStreeter]

i'd love to watch a movie with tarantino and hear his commentary

[@mackychloe]

same here

[@maxalburg5665]

Omg Quentin needs to make “Down Here in a Warmth” into a movie. He’d make it a masterpiece!

[@candyapu3]

I wish Jodie Foster would’ve been cast in a Tarantino movie, I feel like they’d work together really well

[@masterofallgoons]

One more chance

[@likearollingstone007]

Too old now

[@masterofallgoons]

@@likearollingstone007 why? She was nominated for an Oscar last year. Does tarantino have to only cast young people in his last movie?

[@likearollingstone007]

@@masterofallgoons Unless he would envision a Daisy Domergue ugly type of character for her, yes he usually goes for younger, good looking women. Also, Foster is usually choosing her script where women shines, more the feminist type. Not exactly Tarantino’s priority imo.

[@masterofallgoons]

@@likearollingstone007 - Lots of assumptions at work there.

[@Dailyfill]

Its nice of Quentin to record this for us on his '93 talkboy

[@MatthewSmith-fy5hk]

Taxi Driver introduced me to Jackson Browne's Late For The Sky and, for that, I am eternally grateful.

[@RobertH-f7z]

❤

[@brinsonharris9816]

That shot of the empty pair of shoes on the dance floor on American Bandstand. Martin S saw that and said “oh, yeah, that’s in.”

[@RobertH-f7z]

Yea that shot of the empty shoes was so poignant and stuck with me that image. The sense of isolation is palpable

[@Heel_Turn23]

When he’s watching the happy black couples dancing while that plays.. just wow.

[@Strobobel]

Star Wars godfather taxi driver. All came out within 5 years

[@rodycaz8984]

One of those is not like the others...

[@tuanjim799]

One of those is a children’s movie.

[@BRNRDNCK]

Star Wars is a children’s film

[@neemaf829]

ALL THE GREAT MOVIES CAME OUT IN THAT DECADE. STAR WARS, DOG DAY AFTERNOON, SERPICO, TAXI DRIVER, ROCKY, HALLOWEEN, TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, ETC.

[@gregbors8364]

@@neemaf829”All” the great movies? Now, I’m right there with you if you’re saying that the ‘70’s was the best decade for American cinema, but just saying you should check out films from the 1940’s as well.

[@godfunk]

I don’t always agree with with T but I know his love of movies equals mine and that he speaks both as a fan and a historian

[@oobieo]

Nah, I'd wager to guess his love of movies is far beyond yours. The man is encyclopedic and obsessive about movies.

[@DrVonNostrand]

"T" lol

[@CriticalDispatches]

Lol, imagine acting gatekeeper to a love of movies to fucking Quentin Tarantino.

[@colinwoods9601]

I feel the same about my contemporary, Akira Kurosawa. I mean, I’ve logged like 2,500 movies on Letterboxd so we’re practically the same guy. Jesus, bro.

[@aimsmallcq1218]

That Quentin guy should make movies.

[@Studeb]

Funny how you instantly hear the part that is older, partly cause his voice is higher pitch, but mainly cause he says "alright" after every sentence, which he stopped after being mocked too many times. :D

[@JoeBuck207]

Days go on and on.....

[@karanvirkooner1993]

it’s a classic

[@MrTezcatlipoca]

They did the same thing in his True Romance...Drexel played by Gary Oldman.

[@mackychloe]

Good point.

[@Pnanasnoic]

I could listen to QT read the personals out of the Pennysaver. God bless Quentin, he is a gift to us that can see.

[@Ryan-on5on]

Quentin sounds VERY young here! Does this come from that retrospective TV special he gave on Robert DeNiro in 1993-94, or somewhere else?

[@The3rdGunman]

1:07 Amadeus...F. Murray Abraham's performance is flawless-A Character study of a man losing his faith, descending into madness through jealousy to "commit murder". One of the very finest films EVER made.

[@tedwojtasik8781]

There were white street pimps in NY back then, they even had Chicano & Asian street pimps as well depending on the neighborhood. Charles Manson was a street pimp, how do you think he got all those women to follow him? Bickle was not a racist, not in the context of the times. Everyone was racist in the 70's but in a different way, people outside of their tribe be it Polish, German, Irish, Black, Chicano, Korean, etc. always used the derogatory when talking shit about another person or even friend. My Dad used to call one friend a Kraut, another a dirty Mick, and the other a deago whop bastard. They in turn called him a stupid Pollack. That's called social racism and that's what Bickle is conveying. If he were racist he would not be hanging out in the diner with a black cabbie. They still had real racists back then, a whole lot of em in fact but Bickle was not different than most working-class guys in 1975, except Travis had a good dose of PTSD from his time in the Nam. Taxi Driver is one of the most subtle anti-war, pro-vet movies ever made.

[@dimmykarras9287]

Totally agree. Good observations.

[@strahljd]

Just goes to show how the ruling ownership class wages war against the middle class, keeping us fighting each other whilst they pick our pockets while we're distracted with these arbitrary divisions.

[@cejannuzi]

I believe Keitel portrays the pimp as a Puerto Rican.

[@lionelmessi4953]

Bickle is a racist you dumbass. The guy who wrote him said he's a racist. Scorsese said he's a racist. The original Harvey Keitel pimp character was black, but schrader changed it because he though it would be a racist film. Everytime a black character passes by Travis Bickle he just stares them down. The scene with Scorsese cameo is implicitly identified as a situation that drives Travis over the edge in terms of his racism and rage. Just because a character that you identify with has faulty traits doesn't mean that you also have this faulty traits. and similarly, if you identify with Travis and don't want to condemn his bad traits then you are excusing yourself for having those bad traits too and thinking you are justified in having them because the movies justifies Travis having those traits. I hate when you Travis fanboys always flood comment sections trying so hard and desperately to convince us and yourselves that Travis isn't racist. Just get over it. He is racist. Doesn't mean the movie is bad, and doesn't mean that Travis is unforgivable. But if you keep nagging and harping over the fact that he's not racist then you're really not growing up and maturing and there's something going on with you that I don't want to be a part of.

[@RCAvhstape]

Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino is another one, a Korean War vet who says racist stuff but is actually a good guy.

[@ChubbyChecker182]

I have always really admired and appreciated this movie, and always was both my favourite Scorcese and also 1970s movie... BUT after i finally saw it on a Proper BIG Screen a few years ago, it got even better...if you get a chance to do so, do so, it blew me away all over again. I do think it is a Top 5 Movie of All.Time.

[@laurarules3642]

I felt that way when I upgraded taxi driver from VHS to Blu-ray lol

[@sebastianalegria3401]

Taxi Driver is arguably one of the greatest movies ever made, which had a big influence over other movie directors like Todd Phillips, who made Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix. In fact, some people find Joker an absurd film, but who we are Superheros fans, find it a masterpiece and regarding Scorsese, the more I see The Irishman, the more I consider it a masterpiece.

[@2424rocket]

You must be brain dead. The Irishman is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. It’s absolute complete crap… Go watch raging Bull and then tell me how good the Irishman is.

[@SAOTOSOEP9]

Falling Down was also a good character study movie like Taxi Driver.

[@aobane841]

Saw this on VHS when I was a kid and was floored. It felt like a fantasy because it seemed so far from my reality in Los Angeles. Moved to NYC years later for work and one night I realized I had become Travis Bickle from an existential POV.

[@MitchClement-il6iq]

The kids throwing garbage at roberts taxi is symbolic!

[@robstearns7080]

i miss the black and white checkered "print" on taxi cabs terribly......

[@inframatic]

bet you could buy a used one for next nothing. might need to fix it up tho

[@auralepiphanies4055]

There is another critique of this movie out there where alot of younger people are trashing this movie in the comments...Maybe the kids have seen it all maybe they arent living in this universe but I can attest to late 70s this was really accurate almost like binoculars into this time...I loved everything about this movie. Noone is making these kind of movies because this time doesnt really exist anymore at least in NY.

[@laurarules3642]

I read the BFI review of this movie and it was written by a feminist. I honestly couldn't believe all the feminist tripe she interjected into her interpretation of the movie. You have to remember the younger generations have been raised in these crazy times and they don't comprehend a time when things were normal so they obviously wont like this movie. Lets be honest here the younger generation can't tell you what a woman is and they don't know what bathrooms to use. They've got brains full of modern Disney tripe

[@surfshack2]

It’s a historical document of New York City in the mid-‘70’s as well as being one of the best films of all time.

[@DCI-Frank-Burnside]

So much harder to portray overlooked characters, like a disturbed taxi driver, than great figures like emperors and Gods. Takes real craft.

[@StevenLoby]

My favorite movie of all time

[@GenX1964]

9:20 This is fun at the end and now it has me wondering what Tarantino thinks about Broadcast News. It was dark and brutal and funny sort of like Network. But with the classic 80's happy ending.

[@unperson5713]

I like Tarantino. There is something about the sound of his voice, the shape of his face, he looks like he is always smelling his own farts. I find that funny.

[@MichaelElias-q2z]

Tarantino is a great filmmaker but an amazing and brilliant critic of cinema.

[@Pnanasnoic]

Funny, I never though Travis was racist, he was merely reacting to the reality around him.

[@jillsandwitch67]

are you racist

[@laurarules3642]

Precisely I live in the UK and every day we are flooded more and more boat people and white British are in the minority its not racist to say I wish the boats would stop and I feel like a stranger in my own country thats NOT racist its just a commentary on the situation thats happening

[@spiffy8576]

@@laurarules3642 People so afraid of being called racist, they are being genocided.

[@Chillllllbruh]

​@laurarules3642 Lol you're racist. Imagine being British 🤮

[@AllboroLCD]

Killing of a Chinese Bookie is the only other film that can contend with Taxi Driver. Ben Gazzara is such a tragically underrated actor, sigh....

[@josephrother7950]

Very nice reference. I recently watched that, and I felt that. I think since QT spoke on this movie, a movie like Uncut Gems gives you a first person character study that is pretty well done and maybe a number two. It gives you the anxiety of Bad Lieutenant, but you really feel bad when the Sandman takes the bullet in the end because you think he got out of it. The truth is, he was never going to truly get out of it because he was a gambling junkie.

[@tonywords6713]

Great video, man!!

[@1800astra]

At least Schrader had a good ear for dialogue in this, working stiffs and pstd veterans, and even the Manhattanites that work for Palpatine. But for all his good work, some of us will never forgive Cat People. (He is pretty good though).

[@DanielGarza-wd6wc]

4:35 did he forget the store scene? He shoots a black guy

[@mic187x2]

Quentin forgot the black stickup kid Travis kills in the store.

[@Kenzo8110]

All I’m saying is that Travis has to know it’s wrong to take Betsy to a dirty movie

[@embracethemystery]

I think that shows the character's naivete in romantic relationships. He actually doesn't understand that a sexy movie is not appropriate for a first date.

[@jackhopkins9745]

Shows what the environment

[@garyspence2128]

First real date gone bad. That's when you realize how twisted, yet almost naive, Travis really is. When keeping it real goes wrong. DeNiro is so good in that film because you actually feel sorry for him as he spirals down. Trying to save Jodie is his last desperate act to save someone. But it happens only after a failed assassination attempt. Real duality and depth to his character. Seems like the racism was all around him. Travis himself was alienated from almost everyone, save for Iris. For Bickle, any racism was the least of his flaws. Masterpiece of a film.

[@josephrother7950]

I think he has seen other couples go to those movies and thought it might work out. I don't think he really considered what she would have liked, just what he was comfortable with, which some people think like that. It is what he wanted to do, so they did it.

[@johnwatts8346]

its a truly great film, but im not sure its one i wanna rewatch over and over. and he does shoot 1 black guy- the first guy he shoots in the convenience store.

[@ocasio3024]

This movie is a masterpiece! There’s no wonder why no one has made a remake of this. No one dares to remake a masterpiece!!! Just great all around and Quentin describes this perfectly! He is iconic! ❤

[@laurarules3642]

Scorsese and DeNiro did want to do a sequel but that ship has sailed now. DeNiro is too old and too infatuated and obsessed with Trump to have the time for anything like that

[@SHINKU93]

I know this sounds corny, but this movie actually changed my life when I first saw it when I was a teenager.

[@leedobson]

Back when Deniro was great

[@neemaf829]

BACK WHEN DENIRO WAS THIN/SKINNY. LOL!

[@embracethemystery]

It's really down to the writing and directing, imo. He just started to choose crappy movies later in his career for whatever reason. At least he didn't become a cartoon character/overacter like Pacino.

[@leedobson]

@@embracethemystery no it's down to him making shitty choices

[@akidthatskates284]

Nice commentary

[@TheGrenfellRatio]

Its weird theres only 15 years between this and Reservoir Dogs

[@ocasio3024]

No one ever talks about how jacked Harvey Keitel was in this film. Mr Wolf is a jacked machine in Taxi Driver!

[@satorified1612]

Think he's always been in good shape, pre and post Taxi Driver.

[@TheTrentReznor]

And then Tarantino borrowed that for True Romance & Gary Oldman as the best white pimp character 💯. Trunk shot pumps, gangsters, Tarantino borrowed a lot from Martin😂

[@vitorafmonteiro]

But Gary Oldman's character was a white skinned dude who is mixed race and acts convinced he is black, so it evens out. He's the white but not really white pimp 😂.

[@ArcherSuh4721]

I always wondered if "guy sitting outside of the campaign headquarters" and "the psychotic passenger" that were both played by Scorsese were supposed to be the same person. I originally thought they were but then I learned "the psychotic passenger" was originally going to be played by the "This guy's a f*ckin' mook!" actor from Mean Streets but had to back out for medical reasons so Scorsese stepped in.

[@Cubodesangre666]

Obviously Phoenix in Joker enters the discussion.

[@TheTrashStash]

tarantino is mistaken. he isn't repelled by every black character, he tries to ask out the concession stand girl. and also he does shoot a black guy, the guy who is robbing the store.

[@richardrobbins387]

Travis seems appalled at his fare (Scorsese) using the N-word in their one scene together. Maybe it's pretty much everything he's describing and how crazy he sounds. But Travis kinda flinched a little when he brought up the race thing. He didn't plan on being a vigilante hero at the convenience store. It wasn't premeditated, he just happened to be there, it was his local shop.

[@k-slay4407]

I agree. I'm a black man, and I didn't see Travis as a racist at all. He despised the filth period. He would put Sport in the same group he'd put the black pimps. He was sickened by all of the city's filth. If a white guy pulled a gun at the convenience store, he would have done the same thing. He hit on a black girl at the theater and was cool with the black cabby. Remember, this was made back in the 70s. It wasn't cookie cutter like stuff today. It's real and in your face. One of many reasons why I love it.

[@TheTrashStash]

@@richardrobbins387 he seems appalled but at the same time he goes out and buys the exact same gun, the 44 lol

[@BookClubDisaster]

He shouldn't be, but IMO Travis is very likable. It's Jake LaMotta in Raging Bull who is repellant.

[@elroi3975]

Tarantino was incorrect in that Travis Bickle didn't kill any black people. He shoot the convenience store robber in the head. I guess he forgot that part.

[@MikeP-uf1rv]

He’s not a racist, he recognizes patterns.

[@inframatic]

its only racism if he uses the patterns to make sweeping conclusions about all of these people

[@jamesthomison4356]

I agree with making Sport white. The movie already had enough unsavory black characters.

[@gomezgomez7759]

Except sport wasnt white. Palantine was white. Sport n the pimps were italians or jewish fellas. In the 70s thyd still b seen as other. Minorities. Invaders. Unruly. Criminals. Dirt. Greaseballs. X. Y. Theyre tryin to pass as white. Mr. Tarantino is ajead of himself in this regard.

[@KingDom.mp3]

It's interesting how hyper-fixated Tarantino is on the race argument in this movie. Knowing a little bit about Tarantino's upbringing, he's gone on record to say that he had a bit of a fascination with black culture and blaxploitation movies so I can understand why he would view Travis as a racist however, I don't think it's a focal point to his character like how Tarantino would lead you to believe. Travis is a racist, I'm not disputing that. I just think that his racism is tied to his social isolation and alienation. Travis expresses the same amount of subtle anger and disgust towards black people as he does towards all other 'scummy' type characters like the politician and the prostitutes. They represent a world which Travis feels excluded from, and they represent a world he cannot understand. When those two elements combine, it plants seeds of what could be racism, but could also be misogyny or also anti-social behaviour. Travis is more than a racist, he's just a lonely weirdo and being a racist is like a symptom of being a lonely weirdo. The gritty 70's NYC didn't have the time to sit Travis down and interact with him as a person and likewise he doesn't get the opportunity to learn about people more than their surface level appearances.

[@douglaspouch5313]

Quentin is wrong at 4:45 - one of the most shocking murders is the films first. when Travis shoots a black man in the face during a stick up in the Bodega that he's buying groceries in. The store owner then starts to beat the lifeless body with a metal pipe. I've heard the criticism of the scene where Sport is dancing with Iris, which supposedly is the only one that is not from Travis' point of view despite there being two scenes with Betsy and Tom talking while Travis sits in his cab outside.

[@gallery7596]

I re-visited this film last year, and certain aspects of that script kinda stuck out for me this time. Example: Travis doesn't really have much of anything interesting to say that makes Cybil Shepard's interest in him seem understandable. Also, how does he think killing the political candidate she's working for will benefit him? When the assassination attempt fails, why would he then decide to rescue Iris? Why didn't he do that first?? It's still a fascinating film and is exceedingly well made, but I think that script needed revision.

[@brooke8567]

Made on cocaine

[@auralepiphanies4055]

no no I think your missing the point-he WASNT boyfriend material and his warped thinking gave him the idea if he could show her how corrupt her candidate was she would come running to him. This was his "winning" her over.

[@Kasigi03]

Bickle does shoot a black guy, albeit, he is holding up a market with a gun.

[@lovesickmovie]

Sometimes I click the link and it's into the video because of KZbin's silly thumbnail play thing. I always rock it back because I can't not hear OH NO LET'S GO!

[@StevenLoby]

I could listen to Quentin talk about who framed Roger rabit

[@seviren]

I never noticed Travis was racist. Like, at all. Lol. Also, how could he not mention the perfectly paired score? It really helped the viewer enter the world of the movie... it really made the movie stand out and pop. Like a Miyazaki movie or something.

[@nkilian83]

Tarrantino says the films big flaw he argues Travis not as racist because he doesn't shoot black people... its the first person he kills in the shop.

[@chrissychaos]

Not racially motivated though

[@jamesmillard654]

He said he didn’t kill any Black people in the big bloodbath at the end.

[@Tusc9969]

Dude were you even listening?? QT clearly said "THE FILM IS NOT RACIST AT ALL, IT'S A FILM ABOUT A RACIST" referring to Travis Bickle. The "big flaw" he was talking about was Scorsese having a racist like Travis targeting and shooting the pimps that happened to be white, which didn't make any sense because it was improbable to see white pimps in ghetto areas of NYC in that time. Obviously Scorsese hired Keitel to play a white pimp instead in fear that there would be race riots in NYC since racial tension was VERY high in the 70s. BTW, the black guy Travis shot at the store was self defense, not a target like the guys were.

[@Largentina.]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when you don't pay attention when watching a KZbin video.

[@kurtboyer299]

If Sport had dark skin the audience's focus wouldn't be on how Travis/Sport are alike, where Scorsese wanted it to be.

[@AndyJackson380]

He's not even racist 🤣

[@thomascyr8712]

''Don't make no difference to me - it does to some, some won't even take Spooks. Don't make no difference to me''. Bickle isn't ''racist''. That totally misses the mark.

[@r.shanethompson7933]

The armed robber in the store that Travis shoots with his PPK is a black guy.

[@fredricclack7137]

Serious ⏰ 🍊😊

[@r.shanethompson7933]

Cybill Shepard was an absolute GODDESS back then. The physical embodiment of female sexual perfection.

[@Chillllllbruh]

Go outside. This is sad

[@darioconstain]

Second would be American Psycho

[@dónalÓNiadh]

It is funny that Tarantino went out of his way in his most recent book, and here, to obsess about the pimp being white rather than black. How does a director from the other side of the country, know if there were white pimps in that part of New York in the 70s? I'm fairly certain that there waa more than one white pimp like Sport back then.

[@akidthatskates284]

☮️

[@scottgregory6129]

If it was not for this movie, President Ronald Reagan would have never been shot. Just one example of how compelling this film was and still is.

[@TheTrentReznor]

Well Thsnk god for Taxi Driver. We could only wish Hinkley was as good of a shot as Bickle 💯

[@CriticalDispatches]

@@TheTrentReznor Get a grip, you nutcase.

[@fidgyblitzers]

❤❤

[@vincenzollamas]

it's interesting, until watching this, i never once thought about how the pimp was white, and the people Travis kills are all white. and i realize now that it's because i never took away this strongly racist quality from Travis. yes, the character was probably racist, but i always just saw him as someone who detested any kind of person who he viewed as scum or evil, no matter what colour their skin was. so, whatever the reason, if it's largely the acting of Harvey and the other white guys, the direction, the screenplay, all of it, i never questioned whether it worked or not (though when i first saw it i was pretty young, & didn't have much of a clue as to the likelihood of the chances of a white pimp like that in New York at that time.)

[@charliebronson1274]

DeNiro is off his rocker now, but this cathartic performance is one of the best ever. It sucks that him and Peter Finch were both up for Oscars which he won posthumously for Network.

[@The00Lisa00]

What’s going on with DeNiro? How is he off his rocker, what happened?

[@charliebronson1274]

@@The00Lisa00 He's a parrot for progressives.

[@dónalÓNiadh]

​@@charliebronson1274Does it matter? James Woods and Jon Voight are parrots for the right, who care nothing for poor and working class people. They are still great actors.

[@hollywooda111]

Allllrrrriiiigght.

[@shartercam]

Didn’t he shoot a black guy in the movie, when the black guy holds up the store?

[@GrrmPleaseWrite]

The first guy Travis shoots is black, but okay

[@gomezgomez7759]

He wasnt black.

[@GrrmPleaseWrite]

@@gomezgomez7759 Really? The store robbery scene? Are you sure you’ve seen the movie, or did the 80 out-of-order KZbin shorts you watched not include that one?

[@gomezgomez7759]

@@GrrmPleaseWrite lol i was juss kiddin. But he wasnt black. He was a….

[@WalterBurton]

👍👍👍

[@brianmac3903]

Harvey's character was supposed to be black until the libs told him it can't be, who does Quentin think he's fooling?

[@Tusc9969]

QT originally wanted to hire Richard Pryor to play Sport the pimp but later went with Keitel to avoid any racial issues with the public.

[@lancecameron183]

You mean Scorsese?

[@andrewjackdaw2511]

Travis first kill was a black dude. The guy who robbed the shop.. One of my favourite film.

[@LoveAndService]

Ahhh Bobby D., still playing an unbalanced, troubled individual. What a method actor ;)

[@tryharder75]

i like listening to tarantino but he is a numpty, his level of film appreciation and art in general is very basic

[@RonnieLeeDuck]

Tarantino has a point I suppose about a "flaw" being the pimps and prostitutes Travis shoots being white. Yet, to imagine the climactic scene being Travis shooting all black pimps doesn't quite add up either. For any white person to do that it would be more of a story of someone who found community with other racists. But of course Taxi Driver is really a story depicting someone's loneliness, isolation, and gradually sinking into insanity. That character would be racist. But that doesn't mean the movie should be about racism. So him killing white people at the end I think better drives home the movie's theme.

[@FractalityX]

It's a good movie thanks to Dostoyevsky