The lead character, a NYC taxi
driver, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro, like you didn’t know that?)
embodies all of the mythic qualities of the lonely male — his childish
anger, his social ignorance, the Cowboy shoot ‘em up mentality, an
updated Rebel without a cause.
There are were many impersonations of De Niro on Youtube, mostly of the notorious “You talking to me?” scene. The scene was largely improvised by De Niro who clearly was “living the role.” The scene is not as powerful as it once used to be. When Taxi Driver was first released, films resisted getting into its character’s head, to spend alone-time with someone. Before Taxi Driver, scenes were clearly part of a bigger picture, if the character spoke in private, it was usually consisted of an intelligent monologue. Unlike the mess that comes out of Bickle’s mouth.
With podcasts and even recent films, talking in private has become common. Scoresese has gone in the opposite direction, when is the last time where we have seen one of his characters just ‘be’ in front of the camera?
- Here is the original “You talking to me?”
- Same scene but with a Spanish dub. The scene loses a lot of the venom.
The impersonations:
- One guy goes head to head with De Niro.
- This is just a terrible impersonation but the guy is effectively freaky. In true De Niro fashion, he shaves his head to match the Bickle Mohawk.
- Maybe Bickle was talking to a roomate, this hilarious remix certainly thinks so.
- An ad thinks Bickle had a hearing problem.
- A funny animated version till it goes all 3D on you.
- In this video, the Parents seem to want their baby to grow up to be another Bickle!
- However, the best “you talking to me?” impersonation goes to a Dog, who I personally think is actually better than De Niro. I am serious.
- Another powerful scene is Bickle watching Soul Train on TV. It is a wonderful scene where Bickle becomes aware how far removed he is from the mainstream. What always intrigued me about this scene was when the Soul Train TV camera zooms into a pair of shoes lying neatly in the middle of the dance floor. Does anyone know what the hell those shoes were doing there? The original scene and the impersonation which basically features the guy watching TV!
- The violent ending still remains shocking to this day. The original and the animated copy.
- Then there this video where a guy puts himself in the Taxi Driver trailer. But is he wearing heels?!! Not the manly kind but the girlie kind with shiny leather. You can see them when he turns in bed. Come on man!
Anyways, there are tons of other Taxi Driver related stuff on YouTube. But the strangest part of searching for these videos was all the other videos I was finding on wild cab rides. There is so much drama surrounding a simple cab ride — drunks, wild rides, crazy drivers, crazy passengers. Maybe one of these days, I’ll do a series on that. Look out for part two of Scorsese celebration sometime next week.
(View original post on Ticklebooth)
