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Taxi Driver

What did Betsy see in Travis?

What is her backstory?

by Anonymousreply 50May 29, 2023 6:25 AM

Betsy finds Travis intriguing. As she says, “I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone quite like you in my life.”

Of course, her interest lasts about five minutes, after she notices more about him.

by Anonymousreply 1May 25, 2023 2:29 AM
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by Anonymousreply 2May 25, 2023 2:32 AM

Make the dress!

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by Anonymousreply 3May 25, 2023 2:36 AM

He’s not sweaty, neurotic Albert Brooks.

by Anonymousreply 4May 25, 2023 2:41 AM

R4 - True. LOL.

by Anonymousreply 5May 25, 2023 2:56 AM

The character doesn’t really have a back story - Shepherd said Betsy originally hardly had any lines.

It’s interesting that after Travis loses Betsy, he attaches himself to Iris - who, as cast with Foster, could almost be a younger version of Shepherd. It gives Travis’ drive to save Iris more distinction.

I should say that while I admire this film I don’t enjoy it much. It’s not like I ever think, “Gee, I’m in the mood to rewatch TAXI DRIVER!”

by Anonymousreply 6May 25, 2023 3:16 AM

Cybill also said that she was cast because she had a big ass.

by Anonymousreply 7May 25, 2023 4:09 AM

At a glance Travis is not hard on the eyes. He seems a little empty, like a blank screen one sees their own projections on. The curiosity might have lasted longer had it not quickly become evident he's not playing with a full deck.

by Anonymousreply 8May 25, 2023 7:19 AM

OP, if you remember, Travis/Robert DeNiro was very attractive. And odd. So Betsy clearly found him intriguing. But that whole dirty movie thing really killed any interest.

by Anonymousreply 9May 25, 2023 12:26 PM

I've always been attracted to these lost puppies who need a meal and a bath. And it always ended in tears.

by Anonymousreply 10May 25, 2023 1:07 PM

Idea for a short: Travis, now an 80-year-old Uber driver, picks up rich bitch Betsy on the Upper West Side.

by Anonymousreply 11May 25, 2023 2:20 PM

R11 - That would work.

by Anonymousreply 12May 25, 2023 4:09 PM

R10- True. That killed any interest.

by Anonymousreply 13May 26, 2023 1:21 AM

Did you watch the film? She didn't see anything in him. She gave him a date and it was a disaster do stopped seeing him

by Anonymousreply 14May 26, 2023 1:37 AM

So she stopped seeing him

by Anonymousreply 15May 26, 2023 1:39 AM

[quote]R14 She didn't see anything in him.

Women who look like Betsy do not go out on dates with men they see nothing in.

[quote]She gave him a date and it was a disaster

Technically they went on 2 dates - he took her out for pie at a diner, and another time he took her to a… highly regarded art film.

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by Anonymousreply 16May 26, 2023 1:54 AM

R16 is correct. And Cybill was gorgeous.

by Anonymousreply 17May 26, 2023 1:55 AM

DeNiro was gorgeous in those days also.

by Anonymousreply 18May 26, 2023 2:14 AM

I don't think it was realistic for Cybil Sheppard's character to be attracted to DeNiro's character.

And no, I don't think the Jodie Foster character was a young version of Cybil Sheppard's character.

by Anonymousreply 19May 26, 2023 2:18 AM

R19 - I think we needed more from Betsy’s POV.

Iris was not a young version of Betsy.

by Anonymousreply 20May 26, 2023 3:35 AM

Travis kept it together for a while. To her, he was just a handsome young man nicely asking for a bit of her time.

by Anonymousreply 21May 26, 2023 4:59 AM

She thought Travis had BDF and liked what she saw.

by Anonymousreply 22May 26, 2023 5:07 AM

Iris was not a younger version of Betsy. Betsy at Iris's age would've been a prissy coquettish pretty girl while Iris is more the awkward slightly tomboy girl that would probably be more willing to do dirtier things than the pristine girl for survival. They were almost opposites.

by Anonymousreply 23May 26, 2023 5:22 AM

She was planning to make sure he voted for Palantine!

by Anonymousreply 24May 26, 2023 5:29 AM

Where can I see Taxi Driver? HBO and Showtime don't seem to ever air it.

And I don't have Netflix...but is this the solution if I want to see it or most any movie asap? Never tried Netflix, as I don't watch many movies.

by Anonymousreply 25May 26, 2023 5:30 AM

John Simon was so nasty to Cybil Sheppard in his review, "Having gained weight, most noticeably in the face, she looks like Mussolini in drag."

by Anonymousreply 26May 26, 2023 5:36 AM

Not sure why you're having a hard time finding it, R25. It's available to rent on iTunes.

by Anonymousreply 27May 26, 2023 6:32 AM

R26 Oh, fuck. That's rough.

by Anonymousreply 28May 26, 2023 8:52 AM

In the final scenes he does pick Betsy up in his taxi by chance. He's been in the news for 'rescuing' Iris, and she looks at him with a new appreciation. But Travis is no longer interested.

I think Iris probably ran away many more times, though. She was attracted to danger and bad boys.

The original concept was that Travis was an uber racist, believing blacks were responsible for much of the urban decay. But only a few scenes are left that allude to that.

by Anonymousreply 29May 26, 2023 11:29 AM

I think it's obvious.

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by Anonymousreply 30May 26, 2023 3:43 PM

R26- She was stunningly beautiful.

by Anonymousreply 31May 26, 2023 6:09 PM

I don't know about, "stunningly", r31. That era's models were more fresh-scrubbed "pretty" girls-next-door. See also Tiegs and Blakely. They didn't have much mystery.

by Anonymousreply 32May 26, 2023 6:25 PM

"In the final scenes he does pick Betsy up in his taxi by chance. He's been in the news for 'rescuing' Iris, and she looks at him with a new appreciation. But Travis is no longer interested.'

I think everything after the shootout is meant to be construed as fantasy. Travis either blows his brains out or is in prison for murder. The ending fantasy/dream is the logical conclusion of his decreasing grasp of reality.

by Anonymousreply 33May 26, 2023 6:56 PM

"The original concept was that Travis was an uber racist, believing blacks were responsible for much of the urban decay. But only a few scenes are left that allude to that."

Oh I think it's very much still there in text, imagery, and subtext. For instance, the slowed down shot of Travis eyeing several black pimps in the diner. It is clearly his POV and is full of menace.

by Anonymousreply 34May 26, 2023 6:58 PM

R32 Cybill was stunning then. Unusual.

by Anonymousreply 35May 26, 2023 9:19 PM

If you have HBO Max you can watch it there, R25. If not, you can rent it for a couple of bucks from iTunes, Amazon, Google, or Vudu.

by Anonymousreply 36May 26, 2023 9:35 PM

Julia Phillips, notoriously whined about the width of Cybil's rear end in the images. Cybil was costumed in white knit, the very thing that emphasizes fleshy bits.

by Anonymousreply 37May 26, 2023 10:49 PM

In his new book "Cinema Speculation," Quentin Tarantino recalls seeing "Taxi Driver" on the bottom half of a double bill with the B-movie "The Farmer" at a packed L.A. theater in the late 70s. He said during the first part of the movie the audience laughed a lot, seeing Travis as a comic fuck-up, including on his porn movie date with Betsy; when he showed up with a Mohawk at the Palantine rally, "the whole theater burst out laughing. I'm talking laughing hysterically. Get a load of this goddamn crazy fool!" The chapter on "Taxi Driver" compares Paul Schrader's script to "The Searchers." "Joe," and "Death Wish," and is worth reading, even if, like me, you disagree with a lot of Tarantino's analysis and criticisms (e,g,, he hates the Bernard Hermann score, which I thought worked very well).

by Anonymousreply 38May 26, 2023 11:14 PM

The first scene

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by Anonymousreply 39May 27, 2023 12:21 AM

You can’t ignore that Betsy and Iris look alike, and are even costumed in similar colors in their diner scenes.

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by Anonymousreply 40May 27, 2023 12:52 AM

I never 'laughed' once at Taxi Driver. There is comic relief here and there, but always an undercurrent of menace. Audiences giggle when they're nervous, and try to laugh-off the scary parts. Travis emerging with a mohawk is really disturbing.

Then there are some dummies who think every movie is supposed to be a comedy.

by Anonymousreply 41May 27, 2023 5:28 AM
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by Anonymousreply 42May 27, 2023 6:03 AM

I really hope we don't start taking Tarantino's criticism as gospel. His movies are enjoyable but he's also barely literate.

by Anonymousreply 43May 27, 2023 7:21 AM

Jodie Foster was fantastic in this. Even the grueling and devastating rape sequences in The Accused can compare to this flawless youth performance. Gene Siskel considered her a genius because he had never seen a kid undesrtand what they were doing onscreen.

by Anonymousreply 44May 27, 2023 7:46 AM

[quote]R44 Gene Siskel considered her a genius because he had never seen a kid undesrtand what they were doing onscreen.

That’s an odd comment. Many children are naturally free as performers - because children play act all the time.

by Anonymousreply 45May 27, 2023 3:56 PM

R45 - very true. I think what Siskel was getting at is that Foster gives a thought out, inhabited and knowing performance, holding her own opposite De Niro no less.

That’s not what most child actors do, or are capable of - Foster’s work in Taxi Driver is fully “adult.”

by Anonymousreply 46May 27, 2023 4:12 PM

Exactly, R46. It's the fact that Foster IS self-conscious (in a good way) that differentiates her from other child actors. She knew how what she was doing onscreen was translating to the audience.

by Anonymousreply 47May 27, 2023 4:31 PM

If they had made the movie in 2005:

Travis - John Hamm Betsy - Katherine Heigl The Albert Brooks character - Geoffrey Arend

by Anonymousreply 48May 28, 2023 11:42 PM

Travis was a bad boy and women like that. For awhile at least.

by Anonymousreply 49May 28, 2023 11:48 PM

Foster should have beat Beatrice Straight for her 2 minute performance in Network. She had won Golden Globe and the BAFTA.

by Anonymousreply 50May 29, 2023 6:25 AM
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