Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver (1976)

1. What is this film about and what does it reveal about the 1970s? 

 Taxi Driver is about a man named Bickle, who takes to driving a taxi in search of an escape from his insomnia (which maybe he got form fighting in Vietnam) , his empty apartment and his gnawing sense of self-disgust, which threatens to erupt in revenge against the unlovely world through which he travels. He has a very pessimistic view of New York and makes sure to tell us about it, "The city is an open sewer, clean it up." He can be quoted as saying to Senator Charles Palatine when he gets into his cab at one point. They continue to talk, and the reason he recognizes the Senator is because he's trying to pursue Betsy who is on the campaign wagon. He makes small talk some more before dropping the Senator off with his friend. We then see him at one of the Senators talks, and he tries to talk to the secret service agents working. This is important because later in the film we see him practicing with guns that he's bought, and devices he's made to hide the guns and make shooting them off easier.

He plans on trying to kill the Senator when he's giving a speech later. He does this and gets caught which then leads to him not succeeding that and leads onto him killing "Sport" and making him a hero. This movie definitely shows what we talked about in class when we were talking about how "We should take the 1970s seriously." This movie shows the rebellious side of movies being made, the raw emotion that some felt in the 70's and the distrust people had for authority. Bickle takes his time when planning everything out until one night he's at the 7-11 type store. A man comes in to rob the place and he uses one of his illegal guns to kill the man. He is then told to flee, which he does and the shop owner continues to beat the life out of the man. This shows how far people will go to protect something that is their own. The burglar is clearly dead and not going anywhere but he wants his revenge for almost stealing from him. Bickle also spends a great deal of time, and effort on his toys to make his guns come to him quicker. This is also a huge scene because we see how lonely Bickle really is in a sense. He looks into the mirror and keeps repeating the phrase "You talkin' to me?Are you talkin' to me?" This could be taken in so many ways. Betsy, Iris, "Sport", his parents, he has no one that he really keeps conversation with at this time so if someone talks to him I think he would almost jump at that chance for the conversation. If he had someone then maybe we wouldn't see him go on to this downward spiral and plan to kill the Senator. This shows the defiance and the lack of trust in authority in the seventies. He also fits into the look of the Punk Rock music for American's. He wears the surplus army jacket, and he has the working class thought process. 

2. Connect either Iris, Betsy, or Tom to Chapter 7 in The Seventies. Think of how the screenwriter might suggest he is reacting to women's liberation, cultural feminism, or the crisis of masculinity. Use as least two fully described scenes from the film to make your point.

In Taxi Driver the character of Betsy is one of interest to me. She is portrayed as this innocent angel when Bickle first sees her. She's his perfect desirable woman and he pretty much stakes her out to learn about her. She doesn't have the normal job, she works in politics for the campaign of the senator. Not only does she have a leading job, but she also has a lot of respect from her colleges. Women in politics was something that was becoming more and more common in the 1970s. "Women's entry into the political mainstream precipitated substantial policy changes during the 1970s (Schulman 167)." Betsy was definitely taking advantages of the changes in her job. She wasn't the only woman working on the campaign but she was the main character for our story. She told off the man that worked with her, and when on a date with Bickle even though he was stalker-ish. She also didn't enjoy the date that he tried to take her to at the theater to watch porn. She may have thought it wasa joke, since she's a woman who can work for herself and thinks highly of herself that maybe she shouldn't be dating him. "Woman have been socialized to be passive (172)." Betsy, had not been socialized to be passive. She was always a go getter type in the film and she really showed initiative in the campaign. 

The other scene I want to highlight Betsy in is the last scene in the movie. She's in the back of Bickles Taxi and you see a silhouette, and then when she talks we know it's her. She tried to make small talk and congratulate Bickle in a way for his "heroics" which he doesn't want to accept. It's king of like we see her crawling back to him after he has all this fame about him for saving the little girl. She doesn't try to get him back either, and if she made any hints of it Bickle turned her down because of how his character had grown. By the end of the movie we can only speculate as to if Betsy had officially grown up or not. But she did embody the strong willed woman,who knew how to take care of herself in this movie. She was older and successful, attractive and strong. She was what woman of the 1970's wanted to be and were all about. 

3. Do you think this film deserves to be listed as one of the top 100 films ever produced in the United States? Why or Why not? Use as least two scenes (not the same ones you have already discussed) from the film to make your argument. (American Film institute ranking as the 52 greatest film ever made).

To be honest, at first I was absolutely befuddled as to why this movie was a top 100 film ever produced in the United States. But I gave it more thought, and I did some more looking around as to why other people thought it deserved this place and I finally came up with an answer. This movie is raw, and emotional, it shows the dark side to people, and there's never been another movie like it. It was controversial at the time of it's release, and anything controversial is always better in my book. I was reading how Jodie Foster had to undergo therapy treatments to make sure she was okay after the role was finished. How she was almost taken out of the last scene (which is the scene I want to focus on). There were people that thought putting her in the violent bloodshed was a terrible idea for someone so young, and that she would have trouble with it. She wasn't even of age to watch the movie by herself when it was released. When I went back and watched the ending scene with the blood bath of fight I saw why they would think she would need therapy. That last scene shows a lot of blood, and courage on Bickle's part. It shows determination to do the right thing, but it also shows him try to give up. If he had the extra bullets he would have killed himself, and then he wouldn't have been anyone's hero. I think this last scene is a huge reason why the film was ranked one of the top 100 films. Not just because of the epilogue like ending where we find out how everyone is doing and see the kind of person Bickle has become after the shooting.  

I think the next scene that makes the movie important is 

4. What do you think the last scenes in the film (from the newspapers on the wall to Betsy's cab ride) signify? Since it appears Travis Bickle has become a "savior" to the New York press and potentially to Betsy, then what, as Bruce Schulman asks, "what kind of nation has America become?"

After looking around at different views that critics give about the ending of the movie, I felt myself relating to the one written by James Berardinelli. In it he says the following about the last scene, "Steeped in irony, the five-minute epilogue underscores the vagaries of fate. The media builds Travis into a hero, when, had he been a little quicker drawing his gun against Senator Palantine, he would have been reviled as an assassin. As the film closes, the misanthrope has been embraced as the model citizen -- someone who takes on pimps, drug dealers, and mobsters to save one little girl." Berardinelli's point of view was one which i found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with. The media did make Bickle into a huge hero, whereas if he had originally killed the senator he would have been a assassin. His fate would have been completely different and he would have been known not for saving a little girl but killing someone who was trying to make a difference. Not to say that his killing of multiple people was something that should be taken as a matter of hero, even if it's for one little girl. He did do something that the police weren't at the time which was taking down the leader of the sex trafficking ring. There are multiple stands one could take on how he went about this issue, he didn't go to the police to tell about what "Sport" was doing, he instead just killed him himself. I also think if he had kept "Sport" alive, he could have helped with opening up about different operations that were taking place at the time too. If there was a drug ring, or a rival sex tracking ring he could have helped bring them down too (that is to say if he cooperated with the police). Betsy at the end is just like a cherry on top of this story. She sees him as a hero and is in his taxi it seems almost trying to seduce him, whereas earlier he would have jumped at the chance to be with her he just shrugs her off. He doesn't want to be seen as the hero in this story, and he's already tried to be with her and failed. It's clear that he's grown a lot since the beginning and actually doesn't see himself as anything more than a taxi driver. What kind of nation as America become? It seems that this is a story that made National headlines by the amount that were shown on his walls, so everyone has seen what he's done. It seems that America is a place where we worship blood shed, even if it involves hurting or killing someone else in the process. We play up the good that happens, and don't try to make the bad as prominent. 

Citation of quote: http://www.reelviews.net/movies/t/taxi.html

In The Heat Of The Night (1967)

In The Heat Of The Night (1967)

1. How does the film relate to Chapter 25 in Foner?

In The Heat Of The Night, covered two themes from Foner's Chapter 25. "In 1964, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in employment, institutions like hospitals and schools, and privately owned public accommodations such as restaurants, hotels, and theaters (Foner 966)." This quote actually talks of two places where Virgil Tibbs isn't accepted. The first is when he's waiting at the train, and Sam, a cop takes him in because he's black and there was a murder in town. It's then doubted that Virgil could really be a top Homocide detective from Pa where he comes from. The next example when the KKK tries to run him out of town, leading into the Diner where everyone goes to talk to the creepy guy that works there. He then says that he refuses to serve Virgil because of his color. Gillespie also doesn't take Virgil to a hotel to sleep while he's there, he takes him to another African American household to stay and live with them for the time being. These are all examples of how the townsfolk of Mississippi treated Virgil even after The Civil Rights Act was passed.

Foner also talked about a city, Birmingham. "Even for the Deep South, Birmingham was a violent city- there had been over fifty bombings of black homes and institutions since World War II. Local Blacks had been demonstrating, with no result, for greater economic opportunities and an end to segregation by local businesses (959)." I find this quote to be relevant because again it shows how hard people were working, yet the South wouldn't listen. It also shows how unfair the blacks were being treated, just like in the movie with Virgil, and the other small black family we meet. Which is another thing, we only meet that one family and Virgil who are African American, and no one else. So it begs the question of did others get chased out of town because of the KKK, or what was the thought process on that?

2. What was the symbolism behind when Police Chief Bill Gillespie told Detective Virgil Tibbs "You're just like the rest of us ain't you?"

The biggest thing to note, before going into explanation about this quote is that, the film reflects a dangerous and hate-filled time which Southerners have finally overcome. This quote is used to describe how Detective Virgil Tibbs, who is just passing through the town, waiting for another train to go see his mother, is exactly like the white folks. It's a hard realization for Gillespie to come to terms with too, because everyone in the South is so relaxed in their lifestyle that doesn't look at African American's as equals. Gillespie realizes as the movie goes on what a normal, intelligent, respectful man Virgil is. He has to hold off on his point of view, and put Virgil first too, especially when it comes to the KKK. He learns that he needs Virgil, and because of that dependancy on him, he's forced to look at him as an equal. This quote is smart in the fact that it says a lot for the South at the time, and how they learned to grow by finally seeing that it's not always someone of a different race that's at fault. In the film the person that ends up being responsible for the murder is the creepy Diner guy, who had stolen the money and everything. It gave way for people to see that it was a new era and they needed to accept it. Because of Gillespie learning to grow, he now has the capacity to teach the rest of the KKK, and the South Mississippi that they are equals.

3. In The Heat Of The Night was released in 1967. Do you think it offers a pessimistic or hopeful vision for the future of race relations in the United States? Do you feel the film's vision is realistic given what was happening during the time period?

I think In The Heat Of The Night offers a pessimistic, yet hopeful vision for the future of race relations in the United States. It's something the clearly would take a lot of time. It would win over some, and it wouldn't win over others Not everyone would be as welcoming to Virgil, not to  say at the start of the movie they were welcoming. Since Gillespie put out to look out for Hitchhikers and Virgil was taken in because of being in the wrong place, he was also treated coldly. He is questioned if his money is really his since a white man was killed, he's questioned in the murder, and until his own PA office calls to verify he's fighting to prove that he's a respectable man to them. Then they realize how much they need him to help solve the case, and they try hard to get him to stay. When he gets the results from the autopsy, he withholds the evidence from them which causes  a fight, and it gives him time to prove that the man they put in jail is not guilty. He eventually stays because Gillespie blackmails into it, and he's not happy about it. He's led on multiple car chases because of the KKK, which they make multiple appearances, all trying to kill or cause bodily harm to Virgil. By the end of the movie we finally see some acceptance, which is why i say it's hopeful for race relations. Given some time in close proximity with someone different from you, the two of you could find a way to live together and make it work. By the end it's a bittersweet goodbye because they both were so use to each other. Not everyone was welcoming of Virgil though, and that's the pessimistic attitude of race relations, represented in the KKK and others would didn't try to fight for race relations. 

4. Pick one character from the film and explain what you think he or she "stands for"-- what do you think the filmmakers want the audience to learn from thinking about the character and what does this depiction reveal about the American culture in the 1960s?

The character that I feel had the biggest impact on me from this movie was Police Cheif Bill Gillespie. I understand he also won an Academy award for Best Actor, and I find this to be completely deserving for his role in the film. When we first get use to this character he's just like every other white southern man in the movie. He doesn't approve of Detective Virgil Tibbs, yet he doesn't join the members of the KKK when we see them depicted in the film. He is very wary of Virgil's identity in the beginning too, because he doesn't think that an African American man would 1) hold a better paying job than he does 2) work as a detective in PA and 3) Actually be of real importance in the current homicide case he had, the first in a long time. Gillespie plays his role of the Chief very well, he takes in all angles on the case, he looks into any lead, and he utilizes Virgil's talent eventually. He makes the effort to become his friend, he stands up for him multiple times through out the movie, twice with the KKK. While he tells Virgil he can leave at any time to go, he doesn't really mean it and ends up blackmailing him into staying to help him solve the case. He sets him up in a place to live, and he lets him look over the body. He clearly respects Virgil by the end of the movie and is all for putting aside differences between the two and anyone else that has a problem with him. I think the Chief stands for the fact that some people didn't mind welcoming and trusting African American's into the society. Virgil was hopefully just the start for the Cheif and they even share a heartfelt goodbye at the end of the movie when he leaves on his train. I think the audience could see how over the course of the movie, the time period that goes on there is time to show the growth and start of the friendship between the two men. The biggest thing this stands for is though is that the theme of acceptance is coming into play. Acceptance of African American's to be equal at the time was something not many White folk, lets alone men really wanted at the time.