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Taxi Driver

"Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores... everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man."

We’re continuing our 1976 series with Martin Scorsese’s gritty film Taxi Driver, one of his greatest and arguably most talked about films. Based on a screenplay by Paul Schrader, who set out to write about loneliness, Scorsese’s film burst onto the scene with Travis Bickle as the antihero in a gritty, grimy New York full of sex and violence, very much establishing Scorsese as a filmmaking force to be reckoned with. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we discuss the fascinating filmmaking techniques Scorsese employs in making this film, taking elements of experimental filmmaking and mixing it with a vibrant and alive camera to create an amazingly visual film. We talk about the performances — Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Cybill Shepard, Harvey Keitel — and what the actors bring to the table. We chat about the nature of a film essentially about a psychopath and how that affects its audience, and in particular Pete who now hates himself for not liking the movie (despite still appreciating it). And we expound on the majestic score by Bernard Herrmann — his last — and what it brings to the film, even if Andy can’t remember his name. We have a great conversation about the film with just the right amount of disagreements thrown in for your listening pleasure. Tune in!

Film Sundries

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    A show about movies and how they connect.

    When the movie ends, our conversation begins. We love movies. We’ve been talking about them, one movie a week, since 2011. It’s a lot of movies, that’s true, but we’re passionate about origins and performance, directors and actors, themes and genres, and so much more. So join the community and let’s hear about your favorite movies, too.
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