115-677: Harvey Keitel ( / k aɪ ˈ t ɛ l / ky- TEL ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with director Martin Scorsese , starring in six of his films: Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967), Mean Streets (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Taxi Driver (1976), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and The Irishman (2019). Keitel received
230-404: A mohawk and attends a public rally where he plans to assassinate Palantine. However, Secret Service agents see Travis putting his hand inside his jacket and approach him, escalating into a foot chase. Travis escapes pursuit and makes it home undetected. That evening, Travis drives to the brothel where Iris works to kill Sport. He enters the building and shoots Sport and one of Iris's clients,
345-490: A pop culture mainstay. In 2005, it was ranked number 10 on the American Film Institute 's AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes . In the relevant scene, the deranged Bickle is looking into a mirror at himself, imagining a confrontation that would give him a chance to draw his gun: You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm
460-583: A New York City summer heat wave and sanitation strike in 1975. The film ran into conflict with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) due to its violence. Scorsese de-saturated the colors in the final shootout, which allowed the film to get an R rating. To capture the atmospheric scenes in Bickle's taxi, the sound technicians would get in the trunk while Scorsese and his cinematographer, Michael Chapman , would ensconce themselves on
575-654: A couple of weeks before returning to Rome to resume filming 1900 . Although Robert DeNiro had already starred in Godfather II (1974), he was only recognized one time while driving a cab in New York City. De Niro apparently lost 16 kilograms (35 pounds) and listened repeatedly to a taped reading of the diaries of criminal Arthur Bremer . When he had time off from shooting 1900 , De Niro visited an army base in Northern Italy and tape-recorded soldiers from
690-411: A divorce and a breakup with a live-in girlfriend, he spent a few weeks living in his car. After visiting a hospital for a stomach ulcer , Schrader wrote the screenplay for Taxi Driver in "under a fortnight." He states, "The first draft was maybe 60 pages, and I started the next draft immediately, and it took less than two weeks." Schrader recalls, "I realized I hadn't spoken to anyone in weeks [...] that
805-444: A fantasy scene? Did Travis survive the shoot-out? Are we experiencing his dying thoughts? Can the sequence be accepted as literally true? ... I am not sure there can be an answer to these questions. The end sequence plays like music, not drama: It completes the story on an emotional, not a literal, level. We end not on carnage but on redemption, which is the goal of so many of Scorsese's characters. James Berardinelli , in his review of
920-402: A far more widespread use, while widescreen processes and technical improvements, such as CinemaScope , stereo sound, and others, such as 3-D , were invented to retain the dwindling audience and compete with television. However, these were generally unsuccessful in increasing profits. By 1957, Life magazine called the 1950s "the horrible decade" for Hollywood. It was dubbed a "New Hollywood" by
1035-598: A friend of Scorsese's who had a small role as a Secret Service agent and had served in Vietnam. Scorsese later noted that Magnotta told them that, "in Saigon, if you saw a guy with his head shaved—like a little Mohawk—that usually meant that those people were ready to go into a certain Special Forces situation. You didn't even go near them. They were ready to kill." Filming took place on New York City's West Side, at
1150-426: A mafioso. Travis is shot several times, but manages to kill the two men. He then brawls with the bouncer, whom he manages to stab through the hand with his knife located in his shoe and finish off with a gunshot to the head. Travis attempts to commit suicide, but is out of bullets. Severely injured, he slumps on a couch next to a sobbing Iris. As police respond to the scene, a delirious Travis imitates shooting himself in
1265-512: A morally decaying New York City following the Vietnam War , the film follows Travis Bickle (De Niro), a veteran Marine and taxi driver , and his deteriorating mental state as he works nights in the city. With The Wrong Man (1956) and A Bigger Splash (1973) as inspiration, Scorsese wanted the film to feel like a dream to audiences . Filming began in the summer of 1975 in New York City, with actors taking pay cuts to ensure that
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#17328012079191380-1033: A nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Mickey Cohen in Bugsy (1991). He won the AACTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in The Piano (1993). Keitel has starred in several other films, including Blue Collar (1978), Thelma & Louise (1991), Reservoir Dogs (1992), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Imaginary Crimes (1994), Pulp Fiction (1994), From Dusk till Dawn (1996), Cop Land (1997), Holy Smoke! (1998), National Treasure (2004), National Treasure: Book of Secrets (2007) and Youth (2015). Additionally, Keitel has starred in three films directed by Wes Anderson : Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018). From 1995 to 2017, he
1495-403: A number of major films after this, including Star Wars (1977) and Raging Bull (1980). On a budget of only $ 1.9 million, various actors took pay cuts to bring the project to life. De Niro and Cybill Shepherd received only $ 35,000 to make the film, while Scorsese was given $ 65,000. Overall, $ 200,000 of the budget was allocated to performers in the movie. Taxi Driver was shot during
1610-720: A porn theater, which repulses her into leaving. He attempts to reconcile with her, but to no avail. Enraged, he storms into the campaign office where she works and then proceeds to berate her before being kicked out of the office. Experiencing an existential crisis and seeing various acts of prostitution throughout the city, Travis confides in a fellow taxi driver nicknamed Wizard about his violent thoughts . However, Wizard dismisses them and assures him that he will be fine. To find an outlet for his rage, Travis follows an intense physical training regimen. He gets in contact with black market gun dealer Easy Andy, and buys four handguns. At home, Travis practices drawing his weapons, even creating
1725-473: A practice inspired by European art films and classical Hollywood directors such as D. W. Griffith and Alfred Hitchcock . Films with unorthodox editing included Easy Rider ' s use of jump cuts (influenced by the works of experimental collage filmmaker Bruce Conner ) to foreshadow the climax of the movie, as well as subtler uses, such as those to reflect the feeling of frustration in Bonnie and Clyde ,
1840-532: A press. In the 1950s and early 1960s, Hollywood was dominated by musicals, historical epics, and other films that benefited from the larger screens, wider framing, and improved sound. However, audience shares continued to dwindle, and had reached alarmingly low levels by the mid-1960s. Several costly flops, including Tora! Tora! Tora! , Gene Kelly 's adaptation of Hello, Dolly! and the Julie Andrews vehicle Star! , each failed attempts to replicate
1955-514: A profound impact on her; she said to herself, "That's the kind of actor I want to be when I grow up." The 1994 portrayal of psychopath Albie Kinsella by Robert Carlyle in British television series Cracker was in part inspired by Travis Bickle, and Carlyle's performance has frequently been compared to De Niro's as a result. In the 2012 film Seven Psychopaths , psychotic Los Angeles actor Billy Bickle ( Sam Rockwell ) believes himself to be
2070-524: A quick-draw rig hidden in his sleeve. He begins attending Palantine's rallies to scope out his security. One night, Travis shoots and kills a black man attempting to rob a convenience store run by a friend of his. On his trips around the city, Travis regularly encounters Iris, a 12-year-old child prostitute . Fooling her pimp and abusive lover, Sport, into thinking he wants to solicit her, Travis meets with her in private and tries to persuade her to stop prostituting herself. Soon after, Travis cuts his hair into
2185-474: A scene of his character walking through the door, and appeared in Tony Bui 's award-winning directorial debut, Three Seasons (which Keitel also executive produced). Keitel also re-teamed with Jane Campion for Holy Smoke! (co-starring Kate Winslet ). In 2001 Keitel played opposite roles: as a U.S. Army denazification investigator in the film Taking Sides and as SS-Oberscharführer Erich Muhsfeldt in
2300-577: A series referred to variously as the "Man in a Room" or "Night Worker" films. Screenwriter Paul Schrader (who directed the latter three films) has said that he considers the central characters of the four films to be one character, who has changed as he has aged. The film also influenced the Charles Winkler film You Talkin' to Me? . Although Meryl Streep had not aspired to become a film actor, De Niro's performance in Taxi Driver had
2415-571: A son, Roman. Keitel is an honorary citizen of Romania. New Hollywood The New Hollywood , Hollywood Renaissance , American New Wave , or New American Cinema (not to be confused with the New American Cinema of the 1960s that was part of avant-garde underground cinema ), was a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of filmmakers came to prominence. They influenced
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#17328012079192530-418: A spiritual successor to The Searchers , according to Roger Ebert. Both films focus on a solitary war veteran who tries to save a young girl who is resistant to his efforts. The main characters in both movies are portrayed as being disconnected from society and incapable of forming normal relationships with others. Although it is unclear whether Paul Schrader sought inspiration from The Searchers specifically,
2645-510: A starring role as "J.R.", in Scorsese's first feature film, Who's That Knocking at My Door (1967). Since then, Scorsese and Keitel have worked together on several projects. Keitel had the starring role in Scorsese's Mean Streets , which also proved to be Robert De Niro 's breakthrough film. Keitel re-teamed with Scorsese for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), in which he had a villainous supporting role, and appeared with Robert De Niro again in Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), playing
2760-424: A time when the city was on the brink of bankruptcy. According to producer Michael Phillips , "the whole West Side was bombed out. There really were row after row of condemned buildings and that's what we used to build our sets [...] we didn't know we were documenting what looked like the dying gasp of New York." The tracking shot over the shootout scene, filmed in an actual apartment, took three months of preparation;
2875-896: A £40 million television advertising campaign for British insurance company Direct Line . In 2021, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Newport Beach Film Festival . In 2022, Keitel starred in Steven Brand 's noir thriller Joe Baby alongside Dichen Lachman , Willa Fitzgerald and Ron Perlman . Keitel has recently collaborated with Wes Anderson acting in minor roles in his films Moonrise Kingdom (2012), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018). He reunited with Martin Scorsese after 30 years appearing as Philadelphia crime family acting boss Angelo Bruno in his gangster movie The Irishman (2019) alongside Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci . He reprised his role FBI Agent Peter Sadusky in
2990-406: Is a chronological list of notable films that are generally considered to be "New Hollywood" productions. Taxi Driver Taxi Driver is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological drama film directed by Martin Scorsese , written by Paul Schrader , and starring Robert De Niro , Jodie Foster , Cybill Shepherd , Harvey Keitel , Peter Boyle , Leonard Harris , and Albert Brooks . Set in
3105-565: Is a watershed picture, the kind that signals a new style, a new trend." Biskind states that this review and turnaround by some critics allowed the film to be re-released, thus proving its commercial success and reflecting the move toward the New Hollywood. The impact of this film is important in understanding the rest of the American New Wave, as well as the conditions that were necessary for it. These initial successes paved
3220-659: The Chinatown sequel The Two Jakes (1990), directed by Nicholson. Ridley Scott cast Keitel as the sympathetic policeman in Thelma & Louise in 1991; that same year, Keitel landed a role in Barry Levinson 's Bugsy , for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor . The following year, Keitel played another mobster in the Whoopi Goldberg -starring comedy Sister Act which
3335-655: The Brighton Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn , with his elder sister, Renee, and elder brother, Jerry. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School , and enlisted in the U.S. Marines at the age of 17. After his discharge, he worked as a court stenographer for 10–12 years before beginning his acting career. Keitel studied under both Stella Adler and Lee Strasberg and at the HB Studio , eventually landing roles in some Off-Broadway productions. During this time, Keitel auditioned for filmmaker Martin Scorsese and gained
3450-651: The Directors Guild of America . In contrast, Leonard Maltin gave a rating of only 2 stars and called it a "gory, cold-blooded story of a sick man's lurid descent into violence" that was "ugly and unredeeming". In 2012, in a Sight & Sound poll, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi selected Taxi Driver as one of his 10 best films of all time. Quentin Tarantino also listed the movie among his 10 greatest films of all time. Taxi Driver , American Gigolo , Light Sleeper , and The Walker make up
3565-470: The Freedman v. Maryland court case in 1965 and the new ratings system in 1968 (reflecting growing market segmentation) set the scene for the New Hollywood. A defining film of the New Hollywood generation was Bonnie and Clyde (1967). Produced by and starring Warren Beatty and directed by Arthur Penn , its combination of graphic violence and humor, as well as its theme of glamorous disaffected youth,
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3680-788: The Jane Campion film The Piano in 1993, and played Winston "The Wolf" Wolf in Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction , an apparent reprise of his Victor the Cleaner character from 1993's Point of No Return . Keitel starred as a police detective in Spike Lee 's Clockers (an adaptation of Richard Price 's novel, co-produced by Martin Scorsese). In 1996, Keitel had a major role in Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez 's film From Dusk till Dawn , and in 1997, he starred in
3795-492: The Midwestern United States , whose accents he thought might be appropriate for Travis's character. Scorsese brought in the film title designer Dan Perri to design the title sequence for Taxi Driver . Perri had been Scorsese's original choice to design the titles for Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore in 1974, but Warner Bros would not allow him to hire an unknown designer. By the time Taxi Driver
3910-501: The Paramount Case (which ended block booking and ownership of theater chains by film studios) and the advent of television (where Rod Serling , John Frankenheimer , Arthur Penn , Paddy Chayefsky and Sidney Lumet worked in their earlier years), both of which severely weakened both the traditional studio system and Hays Code , Hollywood studios initially used spectacle to retain profitability. Technicolor developed
4025-451: The misanthrope has been embraced as the model citizen—someone who takes on pimps, drug dealers, and mobsters to save one little girl. In the 1990 LaserDisc audio commentary (included on the [DVD] and Blu-ray ), Scorsese acknowledged several critics ' interpretation of the film's ending as Bickle's dying dream. He admits that the last scene of Bickle glancing at an unseen object implies that Bickle will fall into rage and recklessness in
4140-765: The 1980s, often in the stereotypical role of a thug . Keitel played a corrupt police officer in the 1983 thriller Copkiller (co-starring musician John Lydon ), before taking a supporting role in the romantic drama Falling in Love (1984), starring Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep . Between 1985 and 1988, he was one of the busiest character actors around, appearing in 16 films and telefilms, including Brian De Palma 's mobster comedy Wise Guys (1986), starring Danny DeVito and Joe Piscopo , and as Judas in Martin Scorsese's controversial The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). He co-starred with Jack Nicholson in
4255-682: The Beach Boys and Hal Ashby as the Kinks ). Los Angeles Times article film critic Manohla Dargis described New Hollywood as the "halcyon age" of 1970s filmmaking, that "was less revolution than business as usual, with rebel hype". She also pointed out in her New York Times article that the era's enthusiasts insist this was "when American movies grew up (or at least starred underdressed actresses); when directors did what they wanted (or at least were transformed into brands); when creativity ruled (or at least ran gloriously amok, albeit often on
4370-558: The Bs" Roger Corman while others like celebrated cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond worked for lesser-known B movie directors like Ray Dennis Steckler , known for the 1962 Arch Hall Jr. vehicle Wild Guitar and the 1963 horror musical flick The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies . This, together with the breakdown of the Motion Picture Production Code following
4485-502: The Hollywood Golden Age, which deals with the relationship of characters and plot. He argues that plot in classical Hollywood films (and some of the earlier New Hollywood films like The Godfather ) "tended to emerge more organically as a function of the drives, desires, motivations, and goals of the central characters". However, beginning with mid-1970s, he points to a trend that "characters became plot functions". During
4600-512: The Living Dead , The Wild Bunch , and Easy Rider while films that failed at the box office such as New York, New York , Sorcerer , Heaven's Gate , They All Laughed and One from the Heart marked the end of the era. In fact, The Wild Angels was kind of a... it was a big success for the New Hollywood . It was Roger Corman , it was Peter Fonda , Nancy Sinatra , it
4715-432: The New Hollywood consists of several different movements. The films made in this movement are stylistically characterized in that their narrative often deviated from classical norms. After the demise of the studio system and the rise of television, the commercial success of films was diminished. Successful films of the early New Hollywood era include Bonnie and Clyde , The Graduate , Rosemary's Baby , Night of
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4830-407: The New Hollywood movement marked a significant shift towards independently produced and innovative works by a new wave of directors, but that this shift began to reverse itself when the commercial success of Jaws and Star Wars led to the realization by studios of the importance of blockbusters , advertising and control over production (even though the success of The Godfather was said to be
4945-477: The Palantine rally. His attorney concluded his defense by playing the movie for the jury. When Scorsese heard about Hinckley's motivation behind his assassination attempt, he briefly thought about quitting film-making as the association brought a negative perception of the film. The climactic shoot-out was considered intensely graphic by some critics, who even considered giving the film an X rating . The film
5060-501: The U.S. Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry . In New York City , Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle takes a job as a night shift taxi driver to cope with his chronic insomnia and loneliness, frequenting adult movie theaters and keeping a diary in which he consciously attempts to include aphorisms such as "you're only as healthy as you feel." He becomes disgusted with
5175-605: The United States, making it the 17th-highest-grossing film of 1976 . Taxi Driver received universal critical acclaim. Roger Ebert instantly praised it as one of the greatest films he had ever seen, claiming: Taxi Driver is a hell, from the opening shot of a cab emerging from stygian clouds of steam to the climactic killing scene in which the camera finally looks straight down. Scorsese wanted to look away from Travis's rejection; we almost want to look away from his life. But he's there, all right, and he's suffering. On
5290-429: The actor's advice during the filming of Taxi Driver . Taxi Driver formed part of the delusional fantasy of John Hinckley Jr. that triggered his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity . Hinckley stated that his actions were an attempt to impress Foster, on whom Hinckley was fixated, by mimicking Travis's mohawked appearance at
5405-399: The anti-everything cynicism... Was everything a bummer? Was everything a drag? Was every movie about some guy with problems?" In 1980, film historian/scholar Robert P. Kolker examined New Hollywood film directors in his book A Cinema of Loneliness: Penn, Kubrick, Coppola, Scorsese, Altman , and how their films influenced American society of the 1960s and 1970s. Kolker observed that "for all
5520-458: The art cinema movement as a significant industry force with its peak in 1974–75 with Nashville and Chinatown . Geoff King sees the period as an interim movement in American cinema where a conjunction of forces led to a measure of freedom in filmmaking, while Todd Berliner says that 70s cinema resists the efficiency and harmony that normally characterize classical Hollywood cinema and tests
5635-412: The back seat floor and use available light to shoot. Chapman later admitted the filming style was heavily influenced by New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard and his cinematographer Raoul Coutard , as the crew did not have the time or money to do "traditional things". When Bickle decides to assassinate Senator Palantine, he cuts his hair into a mohawk . This detail was suggested by actor Victor Magnotta,
5750-454: The beginning of the film, as if the last frame "could be spliced to the first frame, and the movie started all over again." The film has also been associated with the 1970s wave of vigilante films , but it has also been set apart from them as a more reputable New Hollywood film. While it shares similarities with those films, it is not explicitly a vigilante film and does not belong to that particular wave of cinema. The film can be seen as
5865-407: The challenge and adventure, their films speak to a continual impotence in the world, an inability to change and to create change." John Belton points to the changing demographic to even younger, more conservative audiences in the mid 1970s (50% aged 12–20) and the move to less politically subversive themes in mainstream cinema, as did Thomas Schatz, who saw the mid- to late 1970s as the decline of
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#17328012079195980-616: The climactic ending and the casting of then 12-year-old Foster in the role of a child prostitute . The film received numerous accolades including the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival and four nominations at the 49th Academy Awards , including Best Picture , Best Actor (for De Niro), and Best Supporting Actress (for Foster). Although Taxi Driver generated further controversy for its role in John Hinckley Jr. 's plan to assassinate then- President Ronald Reagan ,
6095-422: The contrast of that with the violence in the film: "In a sense, it is the absence of sadism — it is the violence without sadism — that throws the audience off balance at Bonnie and Clyde . The brutality that comes out of this innocence is far more shocking than the calculated brutalities of mean killers." Kael also noted the reaction of audiences to the violent climax of the movie, and the potential to empathize with
6210-502: The counterculture of the late 1960s." Easy Rider also affected the way studios looked to reach the youth market. The success of Midnight Cowboy , in spite of its "X" rating, was evidence for the interest in controversial themes at the time and also showed the weakness of the rating system and segmentation of the audience. For Peter Biskind, the new wave was foreshadowed by Bonnie and Clyde and began in earnest with Easy Rider . Biskind's book Easy Riders, Raging Bulls argues that
6325-415: The crime and urban decay that he witnesses in the city and dreams about getting "the scum off the streets." Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy, a campaign volunteer for Senator and presidential candidate Charles Palantine. Travis enters the campaign office where she works and asks her out for coffee, to which she agrees. Betsy agrees to go on another date with him. During their date, Travis takes Betsy to
6440-645: The crime drama Cop Land , which also starred Sylvester Stallone , Ray Liotta and Robert De Niro. His later roles include the fatherly Satan in Little Nicky , a wise Navy man in U-571 , diligent FBI Special agent Sadusky in National Treasure and the latter's sequel National Treasure: Book of Secrets . In 1999, Keitel was replaced by Sydney Pollack on the set of Stanley Kubrick 's Eyes Wide Shut , as he quit after doing 68 takes for
6555-684: The darker elements of humanity and society within the context of the American Dream in the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, with themes that were reflective of sociocultural issues and were centered around the potential meaninglessness of pursuing the American Dream as generation upon generation was motivated to possess it. In comparison, American Eccentric Cinema does not have a distinct context, its films show characters who are very individual and their concerns are very distinctive to their own personalities. The following
6670-409: The decision and the fact that no print with the unmuted colors exists anymore, as the originals had long since deteriorated. Roger Ebert has written of the film's ending: There has been much discussion about the ending, in which we see newspaper clippings about Travis's "heroism" of saving Iris, and then Betsy gets into his cab and seems to give him admiration instead of her earlier disgust. Is this
6785-669: The film The Grey Zone . In 2002, at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival , Keitel was honored with the Stanislavsky Award for his outstanding achievement in the career of acting and devotion to the principles of Stanislavsky's school . He also appeared in the Steinlager Pure commercials in New Zealand in 2007. In January 2008, Keitel played Jerry Springer in the New York City premiere of Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall . In 2008, Keitel
6900-467: The film has remained popular. It is considered one of the greatest films ever made and one of the most culturally significant and inspirational of its time, garnering cult status . In 2022, Sight & Sound named it the 29th-best film ever in its decennial critics' poll , and the 12th-greatest film of all time on its directors' poll, tied with Barry Lyndon . In 1994, the film was considered "culturally, historically, or aesthetically" significant by
7015-484: The film ranks at No. 17 on the magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. Time Out magazine conducted a poll of the 100 greatest movies set in New York City. Taxi Driver topped the list, placing at No. 1. Schrader's screenplay for the film was ranked the 43rd-greatest ever written by the Writers Guild of America . Taxi Driver was also ranked as the 44th best-directed film of all time by
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#17328012079197130-412: The film's period setting, was inspired by the Martin Scorsese classics Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy while Alexander Payne 's 2023 film The Holdovers took inspiration from Ashby's works. American Eccentric Cinema has been noted as influenced by this era. Both traditions have similar themes and narratives of existentialism and the need for human interaction. New Hollywood focuses on
7245-409: The film, argues against the dream or fantasy interpretation, stating: Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader append the perfect conclusion to Taxi Driver . Steeped in irony, the five-minute epilogue underscores the vagaries of fate. The media builds Bickle 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,
7360-406: The future and that he is like "a ticking time bomb". Writer Paul Schrader confirms this in his commentary on the 30th-anniversary DVD, stating that Travis "is not cured by the movie's end," and that "he's not going to be a hero next time." When asked on the website Reddit about the film's ending, Schrader said that it was not to be taken as a dream sequence but that he envisioned it as returning to
7475-600: The gang of criminals in terms of their naiveté and innocence reflecting a change in expectations of American cinema. The cover story in Time magazine in December 1967, celebrated the movie and innovation in American New Wave cinema. This influential article by Stefan Kanfer claimed that Bonnie and Clyde represented a "New Cinema" through its blurred genre lines, and disregard for honored aspects of plot and motivation, and that "In both conception and execution, Bonnie and Clyde
7590-525: The head using his finger . Travis goes into a coma due to his injuries. He is heralded by the press as a heroic vigilante and not prosecuted for the murders. He receives a letter from Iris' parents in Pittsburgh, who thank him and reveal that she is safe and attending school back home. After recovering, Travis grows his hair out and returns to work, where he encounters Betsy as a fare; they interact cordially, with Betsy saying she followed his story in
7705-512: The height of the studio system, films were made almost exclusively on set in isolated studios. The content of films was limited by the Motion Picture Production Code, and though golden-age film-makers found loopholes in its rules, the discussion of more taboo content through film was effectively prevented. The shift towards a "new realism" was made possible when the Motion Picture Association of America film rating system
7820-429: The illegitimate son of Travis Bickle. The vigilante ending inspired Jacques Audiard for his 2015 Palme d'Or -winning film Dheepan . The French director based the eponymous Tamil Tiger character on the one played by Robert De Niro in order to make him a "real movie hero". The script of Joker by Todd Phillips also draws inspiration from Taxi Driver . De Niro's "You talkin' to me?" speech has become
7935-458: The limits of Hollywood's classical model. According to author and film critic Charles Taylor ( Opening Wednesday at a Theater or Drive-In Near You ), he stated that "the 1970s remain the third — and, to date, last — great period in American movies". Author and film critic David Thomson also shared similar sentiment to the point of dubbing the era "the decade when movies mattered". Author A.D. Jameson ( I Find Your Lack of Faith Disturbing ), on
8050-462: The losses from expensive movie flops, led to innovation and risk-taking, allowing greater control by younger directors and producers. Therefore, in an attempt to capture that audience that found a connection to the "art films" of Europe, the studios hired a host of young filmmakers and allowed them to make their films with relatively little studio control. Some of whom, like actor Jack Nicholson and director Peter Bogdanovich , were mentored by "King of
8165-846: The mid-1960s to a younger, more affluent, college-educated demographic: by the mid-1970s, 76% of all movie-goers were under 30, 64% of whom had gone to college. European films, both arthouse and commercial (especially the Commedia all'italiana , the French New Wave , the Spaghetti Western ), and Japanese cinema were making a splash in the United States – the huge market of disaffected youth seemed to find relevance and artistic meaning in movies like Michelangelo Antonioni 's Blowup , with its oblique narrative structure and full-frontal female nudity. The desperation felt by studios during this period of economic downturn, and after
8280-566: The movie a scathing review. "It is a cheap piece of bald-faced slapstick comedy," he wrote, "that treats the hideous depredations of that sleazy, moronic pair as though they were as full of fun and frolic as the jazz-age cut-ups in Thoroughly Modern Millie ..." Other notices, including those from Time and Newsweek magazines, were equally dismissive. Its portrayal of violence and ambiguity in regard to moral values, and its startling ending, divided critics. Following one of
8395-419: The narrative strategies characteristic of Hollywood films of the 1970s: Seventies cinema also dealt with masculine crises featuring flawed male characters, downbeat conclusions and pessimistic subject matters alongside hard-nosed depictions of a America reeling from tense conflicts like The Vietnam War and President Richard Nixon 's Watergate scandal . Thomas Schatz points to another difference with
8510-414: The negative reviews, Time magazine received letters from fans of the movie, and according to journalist Peter Biskind , the impact of critic Pauline Kael in her positive review of the film (October 1967, New Yorker ) led other reviewers to follow her lead and re-evaluate the film (notably Newsweek and Time ). Kael drew attention to the innocence of the characters in the film and the artistic merit of
8625-472: The newspapers. Travis drops her at home, and declines to take her money, driving off with a smile. He suddenly becomes agitated after noticing something in his rear-view mirror, but continues driving into the night. Credits adapted from: Martin Scorsese has stated that it was Brian De Palma who introduced him to Paul Schrader , and Taxi Driver arose from Scorsese's feeling that movies are like dreams or drug-induced reveries. He attempted to evoke within
8740-698: The other hand, claimed that Star Wars was New Hollywood's finest achievement that actually embodied the characteristics of the respected "serious, sophisticated adult films". Steven Hyden, writing for Grantland , called the Movie Brats the "cinematic version" of classic rock (to the point of roll calling Spielberg as the Beatles , Scorsese as the Velvet Underground , Coppola as Bob Dylan , Lucas as Pink Floyd , Robert Altman as Neil Young , Brian De Palma as Led Zeppelin , Bogdanovich as
8855-526: The period's unusual narrative practices. The 1970s, Berliner says, marks Hollywood's most significant formal transformation since the conversion to sound film and is the defining period separating the storytelling modes of the studio era and contemporary Hollywood. New Hollywood films deviate from classical narrative norms more than Hollywood films from any other era or movement. Their narrative and stylistic devices threaten to derail an otherwise straightforward narration. Berliner argues that five principles govern
8970-408: The precursor to the blockbuster phenomenon). Writing in 1968, critic Pauline Kael argued that the importance of The Graduate was in its social significance in relation to a new young audience, and the role of mass media, rather than any artistic aspects. Kael argued that college students identifying with The Graduate were not too different from audiences identifying with characters in dramas of
9085-429: The previous decade. She also compared this era of cinema to "tangled, bitter flowering of American letters in the 1850s". Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino identified in his 2022 book Cinema Speculation that: "regular moviegoers were becoming weary of modern American movies. The darkness, the drug use, the embrace of sensation-the violence, the sex, and the sexual violence. But even more than that, they became wear of
9200-461: The production code enabled New Hollywood films to feature anti-establishment political themes, the use of rock music, and sexual freedom deemed "counter-cultural" by the studios. The youth movement of the 1960s turned anti-heroes like Bonnie and Clyde and Cool Hand Luke into pop-culture idols, and Life magazine called the characters in Easy Rider "part of the fundamental myth central to
9315-466: The production team had to cut through the ceiling to shoot it. The music by Bernard Herrmann was his final score before his death on December 24, 1975, several hours after Herrmann completed the recording for the soundtrack, and the film is dedicated to his memory. Scorsese, a long-time admirer of Herrmann, had particularly wanted him to compose the score; Herrmann was his "first and only choice". Scorsese considered Herrmann's score of great importance to
9430-435: The project could be completed on a low budget of $ 1.9 million. Production concluded that same year. Bernard Herrmann composed the film in what would be his final score; the music was finished just hours before his death; the film is dedicated to him. The film was theatrically released by Columbia Pictures on February 8, 1976, and was a critical and commercial success despite generating controversy for its graphic violence in
9545-436: The recent Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History (2022). Keitel was in a long-term relationship with American actress Lorraine Bracco from 1982 to 1993, but the relationship ended acrimoniously and triggered a prolonged custody battle over their daughter, Stella (born 1985). He also has a son, Hudson, from his relationship with Lisa Karmazin. Keitel married Canadian actress Daphna Kastner in 2001. They have
9660-452: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 89% based on 158 reviews and an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A must-see film for movie lovers, this Martin Scorsese masterpiece is as hard-hitting as it is compelling, with Robert De Niro at his best." Metacritic gives the film a score of 94 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Taxi Driver
9775-640: The right and responsibility of every actor or crew member to yell, 'Cut!' The films of New Hollywood influenced future mainstream and independent filmmakers such as Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Noah Baumbach . They also influenced both the Poliziotteschi genre films in Italy and a decade later the Cinéma du look movement in France. Todd Phillips 's 2019 DC Comics adaptation Joker , alongside
9890-429: The role of Jodie Foster 's character's pimp. In 1977 and 1978, Keitel starred in the directorial debuts of Paul Schrader ( Blue Collar , co-starring Richard Pryor and Yaphet Kotto ), Ridley Scott ( The Duellists , co-starring Keith Carradine ), and James Toback ( Fingers , in which Keitel played a street hood with aspirations of being a pianist – a role Toback wrote for Robert De Niro to play). In 1979, he
10005-421: The role she played as Iris, a prostitute. Years later, she confessed how uncomfortable the treatment of her character was on set. Scorsese did not know how to approach different scenes with the actress. The director relied on Robert De Niro to deliver his directions to the young actress. Foster often expressed how De Niro, in that moment, became a mentor to her, stating that her acting career was highly influenced by
10120-406: The similarities between the two films are evident. The film has been labeled as " neo-noir " by some critics, while others have referred to it as an antihero film. When shown on television, the ending credits featured a black screen with a disclaimer mentioning that "the distinction between hero and villain is sometimes a matter of interpretation or misinterpretation of facts." This disclaimer
10235-416: The studio and eventually on the audience. The new generation of Hollywood filmmakers was most importantly, from the studios' view, young, therefore able to reach the youth audience they were losing. This collective of actors, screenwriters and directors, dubbed the "New Hollywood" by the press, briefly changed the business from the producer-driven Hollywood system of the past as Todd Berliner has written about
10350-425: The studio's dime)." This era was also infamous for its excessive decadence and on-set mishaps. Incidents plaguing the behind-the-scenes of some of the horror films from this era (such as Rosemary's Baby , The Exorcist , Twilight Zone: The Movie and The Omen ) were also the subjects for the docuseries Cursed Films . Even Spielberg, who co-directed/co-produced Twilight Zone with John Landis ,
10465-837: The subjectivity of the protagonist in The Graduate and the passage of time in the famous match cut from 2001: A Space Odyssey . Also influential were the works of experimental filmmakers Arthur Lipsett , Stan Brakhage , Bruce Baillie , Jordan Belson , John Whitney , Scott Bartlett , Maya Deren and Kenneth Anger with their combinations of music and imagery and each were cited by George Lucas , Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese as influences. The New Hollywood generation of directors and screenwriters (each educated at either USC , UCLA , NYU and AFI ) such as Coppola, Lucas, Scorsese, Steven Spielberg , John Milius and Paul Schrader were sometimes jokingly labeled as "Movie Brats" or " Young Turks ". The end of
10580-477: The success of Mary Poppins , Doctor Zhivago and The Sound of Music , put great strain on the studios. By the time the Baby Boomer generation started to come of age in the 1960s, " Old Hollywood " was rapidly losing money; the studios were unsure how to react to the much-changed audience demographics. The change in the market during the period went from a middle-aged high school-educated audience in
10695-494: The success of the film: "It supplied the psychological basis throughout." The album The Silver Tongued Devil and I from Kris Kristofferson was used in the film, following Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974) where Kristofferson played a supporting role. Jackson Browne 's " Late for the Sky " is also featured. Some critics showed concern over 12-year-old Foster's presence during the climactic shoot-out. Foster said that she
10810-466: The types of film produced, their production and marketing, and the way major studios approached filmmaking. In New Hollywood films, the film director, rather than the studio, took on a key authorial role. The definition of "New Hollywood" varies, depending on the author, with some defining it as a movement and others as a period. The span of the period is also a subject of debate, as well as its integrity, as some authors, such as Thomas Schatz, argue that
10925-518: The viewer the feeling of being in a limbo state between sleeping and waking. Scorsese cites Alfred Hitchcock 's The Wrong Man (1956) and Jack Hazan's A Bigger Splash (1973) as inspirations for his camerawork in the movie. The film gives the famous Satyajit Ray 's protagonist Narasingh (played by Soumitra Chatterjee) in Abhijan (1962) as a direct influence for the character of the cynical cab driver Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro). Before Scorsese
11040-431: The way for the studio to relinquish almost complete control to these innovative young filmmakers. In the mid-1970s, idiosyncratic, startling original films such as Paper Moon , Dog Day Afternoon , Chinatown , and Taxi Driver , among others, enjoyed enormous critical and commercial success. These successes by the members of the New Hollywood led each of them in turn to make more and more extravagant demands, both on
11155-466: Was "crazy". Al Pacino and Jeff Bridges were also considered for Travis Bickle. While preparing for his role as Bickle, De Niro was filming Bernardo Bertolucci 's 1900 in Italy. According to Boyle, he would "finish shooting on a Friday in Rome ... get on a plane ... [and] fly to New York." De Niro obtained a taxi driver's license, and when on break, would pick up a taxi and drive around New York for
11270-473: Was a New Hollywood kind of movie, and it was very anti-the Old Hollywood, it was very hard-edged, violent, you know, it was not at all an Old Hollywood movie. And I didn't, I wasn't particularly aware of it. Then the following year was Bonnie and Clyde . Shadows had come out in the early '60s, so that was really the first sign of a kind of off-Hollywood movement. – Peter Bogdanovich Following
11385-530: Was a co-president of the Actors Studio , alongside Al Pacino and Ellen Burstyn . Keitel was born in New York City on May 13, 1939, the youngest child in a Jewish family. His mother Miriam ( née Klein ; 1911–1987) had immigrated from Romania , and his father Harry from Poland . His parents owned and ran a luncheonette , and his father also worked as a hat maker . Keitel grew up in
11500-616: Was a commercial success at the box office. Keitel starred in Quentin Tarantino 's Reservoir Dogs (which he co-produced) in 1992, where his performance as "Mr. White" took his career to a different level. Since then, Keitel has chosen his roles with care, seeking to change his image and show a broader acting range. One of those roles was the title character in Bad Lieutenant , about a self-loathing, drug-addicted police lieutenant trying to redeem himself. He co-starred in
11615-501: Was a hit with audiences. The film eventually won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actress ( Estelle Parsons ) and Best Cinematography . When Jack L. Warner , then-CEO of Warner Bros. , first saw a rough cut of Bonnie and Clyde in the summer of 1967, he hated it. Distribution executives at Warner Brothers agreed, giving the film a low-key premiere and limited release. Their strategy appeared justified when Bosley Crowther , middlebrow film critic at The New York Times , gave
11730-502: Was also cited as an influence. In Scorsese on Scorsese , Scorsese mentions the religious symbolism in the story, comparing Bickle to a saint who wants to cleanse or purge both his mind and his body of weakness. Bickle attempts to kill himself near the end of the movie as a tribute to the samurai 's " death with honor " principle. Dustin Hoffman was offered the role of Travis Bickle but turned it down because he thought that Scorsese
11845-498: Was booed at the Cannes Film Festival for its graphic violence. To obtain an R rating , Scorsese had the colors desaturated , making the brightly colored blood less prominent. In later interviews, Scorsese commented that he was pleased by the color change and considered it an improvement over the original scene. However, in the special-edition DVD , Michael Chapman , the film's cinematographer, expresses regret about
11960-708: Was cast as Captain Willard in Francis Ford Coppola 's Apocalypse Now (1979). Keitel was involved with the first week of principal photography in the Philippines. Coppola was not happy with Keitel's take on Willard, stating that the actor "found it difficult to play him as a passive onlooker". After viewing the first week's footage, Coppola replaced Keitel with a casting session favorite, Martin Sheen . Keitel continued to do work on both stage and screen in
12075-622: Was cast in the role of Detective Gene Hunt in ABC 's short-lived US remake of the successful British time-travel police drama series Life on Mars . In June 2009, he made a cameo appearance in the Jay-Z video for " D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) ", a nod to his Brooklyn origins. In 2013, he appeared in a music video for " Pretty Hurts " by Beyoncé . In 2013, he starred in the independent film A Farewell to Fools . Between 2014 and early 2020, he reprised his role of Winston Wolf from Pulp Fiction as part of
12190-766: Was cheaper (no sets need to be built) New Hollywood filmmakers rapidly developed the taste for location shooting, resulting in a more naturalistic approach to filmmaking, especially when compared to the mostly stylized approach of classical Hollywood musicals and spectacles made to compete with television during the 1950s and early 1960s. The documentary films of D.A. Pennebaker , the Maysles Brothers and Frederick Wiseman , among others, also influenced filmmakers of this era. However, in editing, New Hollywood filmmakers adhered to realism more liberally than most of their classical Hollywood predecessors, often using editing for artistic purposes rather than for continuity alone,
12305-524: Was going into production, Perri had established his reputation with his work on The Exorcist , and Scorsese was now able to hire him. Perri created the opening titles for Taxi Driver using second unit footage which he color-treated through a process of film copying and slit-scan , resulting in a highly stylised graphic sequence that evoked the "underbelly" of New York City through lurid colors, glowing neon signs , distorted nocturnal images, and deep black levels . Perri went on to design opening titles for
12420-524: Was hired, John Milius and Irvin Kershner were considered to helm the project. In writing the script, Schrader drew inspiration from the diaries of Arthur Bremer , who shot presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972, as well as from the Harry Chapin song " Taxi ", which is about an old girlfriend getting into a cab. For the ending of the story, in which Bickle becomes a media hero, Schrader
12535-458: Was inspired by Sara Jane Moore 's attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford , which resulted in her being on the cover of Newsweek . Schrader also used himself as inspiration. In a 1981 interview with Tom Snyder on The Tomorrow Show , he related his experience of living in New York City while battling chronic insomnia, which led him to frequent pornographic bookstores and theaters because they remained open all night. Following
12650-551: Was introduced and location shooting was becoming more viable. New York City was a favorite spot for this new set of filmmakers due to its gritty atmosphere. Because of breakthroughs in film technology (e.g. the Panavision Panaflex camera, introduced in 1972; the Steadicam , introduced in 1976), the New Hollywood filmmakers could shoot 35mm camera film in exteriors with relative ease. Since location shooting
12765-642: Was present during the setup and staging of the special effects used during the scene; the entire process was explained and demonstrated for her, step by step. Moreover, Foster said, she was fascinated and entertained by the behind-the-scenes preparation that went into the scene. In addition, before being given the part, Foster was subjected to psychological testing , attending sessions with a UCLA psychiatrist, to ensure that she would not be emotionally scarred by her role, in accordance with California Labor Board requirements monitoring children's welfare on film sets. Additional concerns surrounding Foster's age focus on
12880-519: Was ranked by the American Film Institute as the 52nd-greatest American film on its AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list, and Bickle was voted the 30th-greatest villain in a poll by the same organization. The Village Voice ranked Taxi Driver at number 33 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. Empire also ranked him 18th in its "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" poll, and
12995-432: Was so disgusted by the latter's handling of a deadly helicopter accident that resulted in the death of three actors, that he ended their friendship and publicly called for the end of New Hollywood. When approached by the press about the accident, he stated: "No movie is worth dying for. I think people are standing up much more now, than ever before, to producers and directors who ask too much. If something isn't safe, it's
13110-497: Was thought to have been added after the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, but in fact, it had been mentioned in a review of the film as early as 1979. LA Weekly , Letterboxd , and Yardbarker list this movie as belonging to the vetsploitation subgenre. The film opened at the Coronet Theater in New York City and grossed a house record of $ 68,000 in its first week. It went on to gross $ 28.3 million in
13225-489: Was when the metaphor of the taxi occurred to me. That is what I was: this person in an iron box, a coffin, floating around the city, but seemingly alone." Schrader decided to make Bickle a Vietnam vet because the national trauma of the war seemed to blend perfectly with Bickle's paranoid psychosis , making his experiences after the war more intense and threatening. Pickpocket , a film by the French director Robert Bresson ,
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