For this week's edition of "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" our series in which we invite everyone to watch the same movie and pick their best image -- "best" being in the eye of the beholder -- we flag down Martin Scorsese and he drives us right into the squalor of 70s era New York and further still into the head space of one Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro). Though Scorsese had already broken through as an important auteur, this controversial classic was the first of his eventual eight "Best Picture" nominees. It was only the third Director of Photography job ever for Michael Chapman and though Chapman didn't become Scorsese regular cinematographer, he did reunite with the director for another classic (Raging Bull)
Best Shots from Taxi Driver (1976)
14 shots chosen by 15 participating blogs
Click on the image for the corresponding article
New York as the very embodiment of hell on earth...
- The Spy in the Sandwich
The protagonist as silent predator...
-Antagony & Ecstasy
The movie is basically made up of perfect frames, over 150,000 of them...
-Nebel Without a Cause
It’s voyeurism, and he’s the audience...
-Coco Hits NY
Is Taxi Driver suggesting that evil is contagious... as it transfers it directly from the auteur to his muse?
- The Film Experience
Simple gestures can function as shorthand for multiple meanings...
-Manuel Muñoz
As if his fate is already predetermined...
-A Fistful of Films
One of the things that I've always admired about this film is the omnipresence of the political campaign in the background..."
-The Entertainment Junkie
'You do a thing... that's who you are..."
-Sorta That Guy
I saw it within him because I recognized it within myself..."
-The Film's The Thing
Never more unsettling than when he stands in a crowd clapping and smiling...
-Zitzelfilm
Robert De Niro, I will always love you."
-Paul Outlaw
Above all, it's a fascinating character study of its titular vigilante
-Film Actually
'like an angel' by Travis Bickle's own account."
-Queerer Things
The looking and the longing..."
-Dusty Hixenbaugh
THE END. And can we talk about the end? I have... feelings.
Next Week on Best Shot:
The classic comedy Nine to Five (1980). Have you ever considered how it looks? We're watching it because we're too excited for Lily Tomlin & Jane Fonda's new series Grace & Frankie to hit Netflix next month.