Being a millennial, my view of Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver has at all times been coloured by historic context. Recognizing the movie’s mid-Nineteen Seventies launch date and the mix of Travis Bickle’s insomnia, disillusionment, army jacket and repair document, I’ve lengthy related the protagonist’s story with the expertise of troopers getting back from the conflict in Vietnam. Solely bolstering this impression is the whole lot I’ve ever learn concerning the movie, as dozens of writers have echoed that learn of the basic thriller… however I just lately found one critic who has challenged that interpretation: author/director Quentin Tarantino.
In 2022, the filmmaker revealed the e book Cinema Hypothesis, which is an area for him analyze plenty of beloved and underappreciated movies from the Nineteen Seventies – from the motion of Peter Yates’ Bullitt and Don Siegel’s Soiled Harry, to the thrills of Sam Peckinpah’s The Getaway and John Flynn’s Rolling Thunder, to the horror of John Boorman’s Deliverance and Brian De Palma’s Sisters. The tome is an exploration of a significant period in Hollywood historical past, and a few of Tarantino’s most fascinating take is about Scorsese’s 1976 basic – the standout being his idea that Robert De Niro’s Travis Bickle didn’t see motion in the course of the Second Indochina Struggle.
Quentin Tarantino Posits That Travis Bickle Is Not A Vietnam Veteran
Bookended with tales concerning the creator’s private historical past with movie (great perception for anybody who’s a fan of his spectacular filmmography), Quentin Tarantino’s Cinema Hypothesis is comprised of a collection of essays that every analyze a particular function, however Taxi Driver will get important focus within the e book. He not solely writes concerning the historical past of the film and offers evaluation into its storytelling, but in addition dedicates a particular chapter to ponder what would have occurred had Brian De Palma directed the film as a substitute of Martin Scorsese (per Tarantino, the Carrie filmmaker turned it down as a result of it wasn’t “industrial sufficient.”)
The work touches on many features of Taxi Driver, however a major focus is placed on the expressed racism of Travis Bickle, and it’s this evaluation of the character’s prejudices that results in conclusions about his service document being pure fiction. Discussing “societal compromises or viewers pandering” in violent movies of the Nineteen Seventies, Tarantino writes,
Even Paul Schrader – in regard to Travis Bickle – barely invests in this sort of character Tom Foolery by suggesting Travis is a Vietnam veteran, and that he did a tour in the course of the conflict. Horseshit. No fucking approach was Travis in Vietnam. The extent of Travis’ paranoia of black males is just credible if they’re an different that he has solely had superficial contact with. How do you do a tour of obligation in Vietnam and solely have superficial contact with black dudes? The reply is you possibly can’t.
Based on the Library of Congress analysis guides, 300,000 African People served in the course of the Vietnam Struggle, with the demographic making up 31 p.c of floor forces in 1965 after they solely made up 12 p.c of the USA’ inhabitants. Quentin Tarantino says that Travis Bickle might nonetheless maintain racist views after serving alongside Black troopers, however he doesn’t purchase how alienation holds such an vital place in his hate.
As for a way this impacts Quentin Tarantino’s total view of the movie, he views it as a completely pure a part of Taxi Driver as a personality piece: the attitude of Travis Bickle is to not be taken at face worth, and that extends to his claims about his army service. The creator continues,
I haven’t got an issue with Travis’ fraudulent declare within the film. The one proof the film affords up of Travis army service (no Vietnam flashbacks) is his account to Joe Spinell and his jacket. High-quality, Travis spends the whole film demonstrating to the viewers that he is an unreliable narrator, fully delusional, and he continually presents himself to characters in a fraudulent method (often to get one thing he desires in the meanwhile). He purchased the jacket in an Military Navy Retailer.
There’s precisely zero wiggle room in Quentin Tarantino’s ideas on this matter – and his sureness piqued my curiosity in a rewatch.
How Quentin Tarantino’s Concept Influenced By Personal Latest Rewatch Of Taxi Driver
As a result of this take upended what I had at all times seen as a significant side of the film’s social commentary, I instantly turned inquisitive about how Quentin Tarantino’s interpretation would arise in a revisiting of the movie. It seems that I’ll by no means have the ability to watch Taxi Driver the identical approach once more.
As Tarantino notes, the proof of Travis Bickle’s service in Vietnam is minimal; in truth, it’s by no means outright declared by the protagonist. In an early scene with Joe Spinell’s character (credited as “Personnel Officer”) as he’s attempting to get a job on the taxi dispatch, Travis says that he served within the Marines and received an honorable discharge in Could 1973, however he by no means explicitly says something about going abroad.
He wears a army jacket that options some army patches and his title stenciled on it, nevertheless it’s by no means some extent of any dialogue. A newspaper clipping states that “he fought in a particular forces unit in Viet Nam,” however the data is solely sourced to “the president of the taxi storage the place Bickle labored out of,” which suggests it was secondhand from Travis himself.
The movie additionally by no means instantly correlates the character’s conduct to extensions of post-traumatic stress dysfunction. He doesn’t sleep at evening, however there may be nothing in Taxi Driver that implies it’s as a result of he’s haunted by reminiscences of horrors he witnessed within the jungle. He’s drawn to violence not out of intuition or coaching, however as a result of he fetishizes it and sees it as a way towards satisfying his harmful hero complicated. He displays points with authority – evidenced in his aborted assassination try of presidential hopeful Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris) – nevertheless it’s much less reflective of revenge in opposition to command construction within the Marines and extra impotent response to his rejection by Betsy (Cybill Shepherd).
The concept that Travis Bickle is a Vietnam Struggle veteran is engaging to audiences as a result of it affords easy-to-understand trigger and impact: the lead character of Taxi Driver could be a very regular, well-adjusted human being if it weren’t for the terrifying experiences he had when he was combating in what historical past has proven us was a boondoggle of essentially the most excessive order. However believing that additionally means accepting Travis as the person he presents himself to be, and the movie repeatedly exhibits him as a person who purposefully misrepresents himself.
The Vietnam vet “excuse” is just too easy, and placing it apart makes Martin Scorsese’s movie that rather more daring and stunning: this maladjusted particular person is a plain product of recent society.
Curious to do a deep dive into this by yourself? Cinema Hypothesis by Quentin Tarantino is out there for buy in hardcover and paperback and on Kindle and audiobook. After you give it a learn, you possibly can take a look at Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver on streaming with a Max subscription, through digital rental/buy, or on 4K UHD.