FIRST TIME WATCHING: Taxi Driver

The strangest thing about the movie was the aftermath. The little girl Iris was actor Jodie Foster in one of her very early roles, and a deranged individual stalked her in real life and in trying to duplicate Tavis by actually attempting to assassinate a president of the United States, crazy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attempted_assassination_of_Ronald_Reagan . Oh and in the film the angry man threatening his wife in the back seat was actually Martin Scorsese.

Fun fact... as a kid that grew up in NYC during the 80s... Sunmade California Raisins were offered in theaters. All theaters looked like that, not just grind house or porno ones. It wasn't until the great mid 90s purge/rebuilding and the arrival of theater chains (granted RKO theaters were still around in the 80s) like AMC did the selections change and conditions within theaters improved and Times Square and other regions in general experienced a true urban renewal. The floors were sticky... rats ran under the seats, but for big film releases like Predator, or Commando, Gremlins, Ghostbusters... those theaters were packed despite being hell holes.

Steven Prince who plays Easy Andy the gun dealer is quite a character. And has a connection to Pulp Fiction. Tarantino took a something that happened to him and turned it into a scene in Pulp Fiction: The adrenaline needle injection after the OD. Prince had to give a woman who had OD a shot of adrenaline with only the help of a medical lexicon and a magic marker.

Are you gonna do Gen V Season 2 and The Boys Season 5? Or will those just be in some polls in the future?

Too bad Nat was so judgemental about Travis, he is clearly a men dealing with ptsd and depression after Vietnam. He struggles a lot to make social connections and suffers from loneliness. He lived through the Vietnam war to come back to a decaying society.

Happy Friday Natalie I enjoyed watching this with you.

Great stuff. I followed this reaction by rewatching "The Intern," in which DeNiro plays as un-Travis Bickle a character as you could imagine. So, that's my recommendation for your next DeNiro.

One thing that often gets lost about this movie is the shear level of cringe. Watching a guy losing his grip on reality try desperately to make social connections but have no idea how is just agonizing. Scenes in this movie outdo Some of the most uncomfortable moments in The Office. BTW, the writer of the movie said that his screenplay was semi-autobiographical! I also note that at the time Jodi Foster was mostly acting in Disney movies like Freaky Friday and Candleshoe. Most of her early work was much more kid friendly which made this role rather controversial at the time. She would later credit the filmmakers for ensuring that she never felt exploited on set which unfortunately, we know happened to a lot of child actors. The ending is also one of the most hotly debated aspects of the movie. Is it real or a dying man's fantasy? If it is real, how long until he descends again?

Nat, you didn't recognize Jodie Foster? Iris, the 12 year old? Also, what Travis is doing with the tips of his bullets and the knife blade: lead is a very soft metal and by cutting x's into the tips, I believe the idea is he's making "homemade hollow-points" in essence. The idea being when they hit a soft target the 4 pieces would peel apart and create a larger wound channel.

What an iconic film. Yeah, I don't need to see this one again for a while, but it's so well made and De Niro is fantastic in it. Really encapsulates that insomnia-brained isolation and obsession that's been emulated 1000 times since. Great reaction!

Finally time to watch this iconic flick for the first time I guess 😁

I feel dumb not recognizing Jodie Foster, even if she was only 12.

Your reaction to the Sun-Maid raisins was funny. I think I've only eaten those when I got the small boxes when going around for Halloween as a kid.

Watching this reaction with a nice coldbrew on a beautiful sunny day. I forgot how amazing the music was! This makes me want to watch older noir films. Yes. Jodie Foster was actually 12 when she played a 12 year old in this movie. She won an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. While there are 2 interpretations, The film's creators, including director Martin Scorsese, writer Paul Schrader, and actor Robert De Niro, have stated that the ending is meant to be taken literally (he surives and returns to cab driving).

Tyler Talkin' to you? There's nobody else there, so he gotta be talkin' to you!

Happy Feature Friday Nat. Been looking forward to watching this one with you. It's a movie that I have never got around to watching, so after all these years I'm glad to be checking it out. This was composer Bernard Herrmann's final score. Christmas Eve 1975, he had just finished recording the final sessions for the score and headed home, and he passed away a few hours later 😢 He was best known for his work with Hitchcock in the 50s and 60s, including Psycho. Post: I really enjoyed this movie a lot. Definitely one that would be more effective watched late at night to add to the delirium and the spiralling into madness haha I'd seen a few clips and stills before, and I have the soundtrack so I kind of knew the vibe of the movie, but nothing of the story and the ending certainly surprised me. Like all of Scorsese's movies, it was well put together and throws you into a world that most of us don't know much about, and probably never want to 😅 Thanks for your reaction today Nat, and for all your work this week 😊