Taxi Driver screenplay by Paul Schrader – one of the TIME 100 Best Films, Martin Scorsese has another two on that list, Goodfellas and Raging Bull – most of those best 100 movies, others and hundreds of books are reviewed on my blog, where the best piece might be https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html

 

Taxi Driver screenplay by Paul Schrader – one of the TIME 100 Best Films, Martin Scorsese has another two on that list, Goodfellas and Raging Bull – most of those best 100 movies, others and hundreds of books are reviewed on my blog, where the best piece might be https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html

 

 

9 out of 10

 

This is perhaps the epitome of ‘iconic, legendary’, nec plus ultra, although, I remember seeing art of it on the Bucharest airport, of all places, and I was not thrilled, indeed, even now, it is quite dark for this cinephile, nevertheless, I can see this is a magnum opera and watch parts of it when they have re-runs, like last night

 

Paul Schrader is not just a marvelous writer, he has an excellent sense of humor and fine sense of defining, making an accurate analysis in just a few words, his take on Killers of The Flower Moon was fabulous https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2024/01/killers-of-flower-moon-osage-murders.html and he said:

‘Leonardo DiCaprio has chosen the wrong role, that of an idiot, and three hours in the company of an idiot is too long’ words to that effect, this was exactly how I felt for what was a less than spectacular Martin Scorsese motion picture, nothing to compare with Casino  https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/03/casino-written-by-nicholas-pileggi-and.html

 

Robert De Niro is fantastic as Travis Bickle, a war veteran that has some serious mental problems, that will get more serious, as we plunge into the plot, which has some memorable lines, including the one that has been used in hundreds of movies ‘are you talking to me? I’m the only one here, so who are you talking to?’

There is one excellent book that gives us the background for this and so many other motion pictures of the period, and the title is Easy Riders, Raging Bulls https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/01/easy-riders-raging-bulls-how-sex-drugs.html by Peter Biskind, covering the time between the two movies and useful for Taxi Driver

 

We find exotic details about Martin Scorsese, who was using a lot of drugs, just like the big majority of people in the business, and is famously very tense, neurotic, and I remember something about the casting of Cybill Shepherd, who had been discovered by Peter Bogdanovich, the latter is one of those tainted in the book

Bogdanovich was married, his wife was instrumental in making the films, but he just falls for Cybill Shepherd, misbehaving is a euphemism, then he would be so pompous that he talks about himself as if he was on a level with the crème de la crème, anyway, they thought Cybill Shepherd could be a bad choice

 

It turns out she is excellent in the supporting role of Betsy, a young woman that Travis is trying to seduce, then he is stalking, ludicrous and eventually, dangerous – another thespian that I admire is Albert Brooks – let me just mention The hilarious The Muse – and he has a very a small role in Taxi Driver, where he defends Betsy

However, the career of Jodi Foster has been launched here, she was just a teenager and she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, that of a much too young prostitute, Iris, who has a chance encounter with the antihero Travis, well, he is a complex figure, the dark side could have him assassinate a politician’

 

On the other hand, he gets interested in the adolescent Iris, he feels compassion for her, maybe, he is so crazy that I find it hard to separate, how much was consideration for the girl, and what was the importance of the hatred he felt for her pimp, Sport aka Harvey Keitel, the latter will be in trouble, and I will stop here

Notwithstanding that, let me say that I had a chance meeting with Harvey Keitel, in New York, where I had the chance to spend just a few days, so that was interesting, maybe magical, I asked for an autograph and he gave it to me

 

Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/2025/02/is-this-unique-could-it-make-money.html – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se

 

 There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know

 

As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/realini-in-newsweek-participant-in.html

 

Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works

 

‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’