10 Comments
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Eliot Wilson's avatar

I must confess I never expected to read the phrase “Travis Bickle, like Luke Skywalker…” but fair play to you, valid point.

Whitney McKnight's avatar

Yeah, me neither. But I applaud nonetheless.

Tobias Sturt's avatar

This is what comes of reading too many screenplay writing books

Lawrence Cochran's avatar

This is one of those movies that make such an impression. Always on my top fave list.

Tobias Sturt's avatar

Definitely rewarded going back and rewatching it (again, but the first rewatch in maybe twenty years)

Whitney McKnight's avatar

I so highly dislike Paul Schrader, but this film is among the best of the 70s' gritty genre. You took this review to unexpected places. I have to think about it. Well done.

Tobias Sturt's avatar

Yeah, I do think that its a good example of how collaborative film can be - Schrader seems a pretty unpleasant individual to me, but Scorsese, and everyone else, including Julia Cameron and Marcia Lucas, for instance, made the film into something bigger and more interesting.

Whitney McKnight's avatar

Plus, as I have been thinking about your review, everyone was relatively so new at their game, including the cast, so you could say they were all setting out on their respective journeys. There was no "Here's who this person is in Hollywood, wow," and "Here's how we do things, asshole" kind of mentality.

Pete Wolf's avatar

Travis Bickle, Luke Skywalker, Internet men. I can see how Bickle spawns Mr. Internet. But what is poor little Luke doing in there? Surely he is pure and innocent as any decent american hero should be! Bickle warns us of heroes to come. Luke comforts us of heroes that were.