Taxi Driver

To me this was the best movie we saw up to this point. The way this movie was made truly gave you the real life society of the 70’s in the New York area. The environment of this movie really gave me the feeling of vigilantes across the city. Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) played such a great role of being this character that was out of the loop of a regular society.

In the beginning of the movie, when he applies for the taxi service job, he had very little educational experience with absolutely no work experience. The only experience he had was something with the military. You can tell that Travis was little crazy by the way he talked and the way he presented himself in the movie. Also just on a side note, they never showed Travis actually going to bed or getting any sleep even though he did have sleep apnea.

He was definitely a key observer because he said that he didn’t care where he went in the city, as long as he was driving, he just explored the city. With this being made, he also noticed how shitty the streets and city really got especially during the night. As he said to himself through the writing in his diary that when night did come, all the creatures and filth would come out and fill the streets. He mentioned on cleaning up cum spots in the back of his cab and also cleaning out the blood from people getting into fights. The conversation he had with Senator Palatine about how bad the streets are along with the smell was something that really pissed off Travis. Later on during the movie, Travis Bickle knew that he had to take the law in his own hands.

Specifically that shot that Francine was talking about with Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) making that phone call to Betsy wanting her back then pamming the camera to the hallway with the two doorways open was confusing to me why this shot was taken in the first place. The only honest idea on what I came up with is that Travis already lost the fight in the conversation trying to get her back for another sit down or date. He kept persisting on doing anything to get her to say yes. The pamming to the door to me meant that the damage has already been done and there is no way of fixing it. In other words, Travis just needed to move on and out the door and forget about the date that he had. It was fun while it happened type of thing. This is what this scene felt to me. He was in a lose- lose situation and already lost her before he even called.

There is more I can talk about in this movie but overall to me this was an amazing film shot in the 70’s and again the last scene with the blood bath and shoot out was definitely Martin Scorsese scene. This scene was definitely something that made the movie for me. The reason why is because from when Travis got all three of his guns, they always showed you playing with them. At the end scene in the apartment, they had every shot of Travis using every single gun he bought. Even the scene in the where he shot the robber from robbing the store. Every single gun he bought was used and had a meaning to it. I appreciated the slow camera shots after the whole gun fight ended. This shot seemed like it showed everyone in New York had their attention on what happened. To me this gun fight scene was genius. Just for the fact that he used every gun he had and kept his word to help Iris (Jodi Foster). Excellent movie and just well rounded from beginning to end. Definitely a movie you need to watch from beginning to end!

Jaws (1975)

The director Steven Spielberg made this 1975 thriller, Jaws one of the best movies of its time. The story takes place on Amity Island where young teens are enjoying themselves at a beach party until Chrissie Watkins (Susan Backlinie) goes off skinny dipping in the ocean and realized she comes to her death while screaming for help until pulled under the water for good. The main character Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) the Chief of Police for Amity Island is called about my a known case of a shark attack. From here is when the classic 1975 movie, Jaws begins!

I highly enjoyed this movie for the main reason of because it’s not only a classic film that can be watched time and time again but just the unique camera shots that are used to make such a great film. My favorite shot from the whole movie was when Brody wedged the air tank in the shark’s mouth while having the precise aim to blow up the tank and make Jaws burst into fish bait. That is a scene that was epic in the 1970’s. Just overall on how the whole movie with the cast and also the additional cast with beach scene and Jaws taking the kid on the float and how terrified everyone was just made this movie something to remember. Also in every situation of constant fear for people lives, Martin Brody always had this terrified look on his face when jaws was always approaching. Another part of the movie where the three guys are sitting in the boat (the Orca) getting drunk and singing their favorite tune waiting on the fierce jaws to show up was something that reminded me 3 older men would do while awaiting such a beast. You just never know if it your last day to live!

The Conversation

Harry Caul (Gene Hackman) is an invader of privacy and is the best investigator anywhere to hear conversations between two people. His way of life consists of being mysterious and keeping things to himself for others not to find out. This is obviously shown in the beginning of the movie when he had to unlock three different locks to get inside of his apartment. Not only this, but also doesn’t have a social life with his partner in crime Stan (John Cazale). The movie takes place in a social place between lunch times with a crowd of business people. He is assigned to track their conversation and deliver it to a director for a big company. He is concerned that once he hands these tapes, he will jeopardize their lives and that’s when the movie begins.

For myself, I did enjoy this movie to a certain extent and believe that the ending was brilliant with the way the movie was shot. It started with him being cautious about his work and getting involved with the case that he was on, to the end of tearing every little thing out of his apartment to find the bug. It felt he was the predator hunting on the prey and at the end he became the prey being watched by the predator. Also it seems to me at the end he starts losing himself a bit and drives himself crazy. The only part I didn’t really enjoy about the movie is how he had flashbacks on when he killed people in an earlier case or was accused of stealing money of some sort. I wish they explained in more detail on why that happened and the reason behind it. For that would have made the movie more clear in my mind and tell us why Harry Caul was such a paranoid individual. Over the entire movie was a mystery to me all the way at the end. I was surprised that at the end the two that were having an affair were not the victims but the murderers along. Very well put together and enjoyed the movie more than I thought possible