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Martin Scorsese (b. Nov 17, 1942) is an Italian-American filmmaker who, with the help of two gigantic eyebrows living on his forehead has been a driving force in Hollywood for nearly half a century.

Snafu, captain
Leah, Kim, co-pilots

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, Photographed by Steve Schapiro.
“The days go on and on… they don’t end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don’t believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.” 
Taxi Driver (1976)

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Shooting is never a pleasant experience for me. The only enjoyable aspect is working with people you care for. Sometimes, there’s also a magical moment when something unexpected happens, and that’s gratifying, but only for a few seconds. The torture start again straightaway! The shoot is the phase I enjoy least. I much prefer editing. That’s when everything takes shape, even though depression is just around the corner when things don’t work.
Martin Scorsese, Scorsese On Scorsese (via pstrauss)
THE POSTER THAT MARTY HATED! ..When Taxi Driver came along, I thought of it as a labor of love nobody was going to see. We’d had problems with censorship, the studio got mad at me because they’d been threatened with an X rating. I loved this Belgian artist and wanted him to make a painting that would be the poster for Taxi Driver. It was beautiful and I loved it. The studio made a B-movie poster, just black and white, Bob De Niro walking up Eighth Avenue, a porn theater behind him and it said, “In every city, there’s one.” I hated that poster, but it was the one that sold the picture. -Martin Scorsese, Playboy Interview 2003

THE POSTER THAT MARTY HATED!

..When Taxi Driver came along, I thought of it as a labor of love nobody was going to see. We’d had problems with censorship, the studio got mad at me because they’d been threatened with an X rating. I loved this Belgian artist and wanted him to make a painting that would be the poster for Taxi Driver. It was beautiful and I loved it. The studio made a B-movie poster, just black and white, Bob De Niro walking up Eighth Avenue, a porn theater behind him and it said, “In every city, there’s one.” I hated that poster, but it was the one that sold the picture.

-Martin Scorsese, Playboy Interview 2003

Taxi Driver by Jacob Wise

Taxi Driver

by Jacob Wise

Martin Scorsese said he was terrified of meeting me. He was serious. He had seen Shivers and Rabid and thought they were devastating. I said, ‘Marty, you’re the guy who made Taxi Driver!’
David Cronenberg (via swintons)
I think the immediate connection, when I read [Taxi Driver], was with the anger and the rage, and the loneliness—not being part of a group. I was always on the outside. You grow up in a neighborhood where what a ‘man’ is, quote unquote, is a guy who can go into a room and slam some people around and win … But on the other hand, I heard my father say different things about what a man is; that had to do with being morally strong.
Martin Scorsese (via iwanttobelikearollingstone)
oldfilmsflicker: Scorsese’s storyboard for Taxi Driver

oldfilmsflicker:

Scorsese’s storyboard for Taxi Driver

nickdrake:

Taxi driver, by steve schapiro

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle Paul Schrader was inspired to write the script after reading the published diary of Arthur Bremer, the man who was convicted of shooting presidential hopeful George Wallace. Eerily, Bremer was 26 years old in 1976 (the year the film was released), the same age as Travis Bickle in the film. And Schrader himself was 26 when he first wrote the screenplay, in 1972. 

Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle

Paul Schrader was inspired to write the script after reading the published diary of Arthur Bremer, the man who was convicted of shooting presidential hopeful George Wallace. Eerily, Bremer was 26 years old in 1976 (the year the film was released), the same age as Travis Bickle in the film. And Schrader himself was 26 when he first wrote the screenplay, in 1972. 


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AVC: You’ve said that he’s a Travis Bickle-like character. Do you see other parallels to Taxi Driver? RG: Well, I think not really, because so much of what that character was going through was based on coming back from Vietnam, and it was a much more political film about the realities of what people were experiencing at the time. This film is much more of a fairy tale and a myth. AVC: Do you feel they share the same fantasy of needing to rescue the girl? RG: Yeah, I think they share that fantasy of needing to be a hero. I think you have to find a way to identify with them in order to play them. I guess there’s something about you don’t know why you’re attracted to a character, but you’re attracted to them enough to want to— it’s like when a song comes on, and you feel like dancing. You don’t know why; you just want to dance. It’s hard to analyze that feeling, and if you do, you get far away from it. Read more of the interview here

AVC: You’ve said that he’s a Travis Bickle-like character. Do you see other parallels to Taxi Driver?

RG: Well, I think not really, because so much of what that character was going through was based on coming back from Vietnam, and it was a much more political film about the realities of what people were experiencing at the time. This film is much more of a fairy tale and a myth.

AVC: Do you feel they share the same fantasy of needing to rescue the girl?

RG: Yeah, I think they share that fantasy of needing to be a hero. I think you have to find a way to identify with them in order to play them. I guess there’s something about you don’t know why you’re attracted to a character, but you’re attracted to them enough to want to— it’s like when a song comes on, and you feel like dancing. You don’t know why; you just want to dance. It’s hard to analyze that feeling, and if you do, you get far away from it.

Read more of the interview here

Michel Gondry’s hilarious Sweded Taxi Driver Tribute

Michel Gondry’s hilarious Sweded Taxi Driver Tribute

winnith: Drive - A Lynchian Taxi Driver? I can’t say that Drive is a direct iteration of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, but there are certainly many similarities between the main characters. The Driver and Travis Bickle both have dark pasts that make it difficult for them to communicate with the rest of the world. Yet, they have a very strong sense of what is right and wrong, and will do anything in their power to defend their beliefs - ANYTHING. Both of them enter a path of no return once they discover someone (and perhaps in a deeper sense - SOMETHING) that they need to protect. The biggest difference between the structure of these two films is that the audience goes along for the ride in Travis Bickle’s transformation as a rogue defender, while the Driver’s actions come as a surprise each and every time. The transformation is in the audience, and not in the character.

winnith:

Drive - A Lynchian Taxi Driver?

I can’t say that Drive is a direct iteration of Scorsese’s Taxi Driver, but there are certainly many similarities between the main characters.

The Driver and Travis Bickle both have dark pasts that make it difficult for them to communicate with the rest of the world. Yet, they have a very strong sense of what is right and wrong, and will do anything in their power to defend their beliefs - ANYTHING. Both of them enter a path of no return once they discover someone (and perhaps in a deeper sense - SOMETHING) that they need to protect. The biggest difference between the structure of these two films is that the audience goes along for the ride in Travis Bickle’s transformation as a rogue defender, while the Driver’s actions come as a surprise each and every time. The transformation is in the audience, and not in the character.

(Source: winnith)

locustinthefield:  Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads…

locustinthefield: 

Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads…

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scott-gotankgo: - Taxi Driver (1976)

scott-gotankgo:

- Taxi Driver (1976)

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