Bringing Out the Dead

What About It?

I'm not sure why "Bringing Out the Dead" hasn't received much attention compared to Scorsese's other films. I feel it stands up to them all, or more accurately, fits right in with them. Of course you set a rather high bar when you compare any film to "Goodfellas" and "Taxi Driver" (even if it's the same director) but it belongs in their company. For a film that simply follows an ambulance around for a good part, the ambulance sequences are thrilling, showing us the world as it may look to those who strive to move like sharks to save lives, although each stop drains something away from them.

Scorsese gives us the too bright lights at Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy Hospital where patients line the hallway, as others who can't get in bleed in the waiting room. It's remarkable that people function in this setting, but they do, as if it's just another place to work. The city is as dark as the hospital is bright, and of course the ambulance running back and forth brings it's own lights with it, and music too, as if the rides back and forth from the city to the hospital are simply possibility. Once you get there, what's done is done, but there's a kind of faith at work between the two stops. Every ambulance ride is about the effort to save and the energy comes through visually.

I think of Scorsese's work with Paul Schrader as it's own body of work (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ) all dark movies, concerned with the intricacies of the lost and tortured soul. It's interesting that Schrader studied theology, and Scorsese makes no secret of being a Roman Catholic. While I would not call any of their works "religious" they are all very focused on man's inner life, variation's of "God's lonely man." and what makes him tick, and what he carries around.

In "Bringing Out the Dead" Frank's NY is Travis Bickle's NY, only a little further down the road. It has a behind the scenes feeling, like this is what happens after Travis Bickle goes home at night.  Frank is a man, who unlike Bickle isn't searching for a calling, as he already has one. Like a prophet in the old testament, being in the desert too long is wearing him down. We catch him in the middle of a "dark night of the soul." Since he lost "Rose," a homeless girl, on a call, he can't seem to save anyone. When he resuscitates Mary's father, you could  argue that he's saved someone but it doesn't hit him that way. As we see later in the movie, this act is simply a matter of buying time, keeping the body alive, more for the benefit of the family than the man, which ties in with his own thinking about his role.

When he's on call, driving around NY is like descending into hell to give out ice water. It's also like gambling, taking calls in hopes that one of them will pay off, and he can be god again. Until that happens, he functions as a "grief mop" bearing witness to people's most trying times. Like Dante, Frank needs a guide to get where he's going, and here he has three of them, his paramedic partners; Larry who can still treat the job as a job, Marcus who has turned to faith to cope, and Wolls who has turned psychotic, (if he wasn't that way to begin with.) In a way, they also resemble Scrooge's ghosts, their presences suggesting a past, present and future. Well adjusted Larry makes sense as the past and sociopath Wolls as the future. Marcus as the present isn't as obvious, but if we take a close look, especially at Marcus' favorite story, of almost falling before being caught by god, and compare this to Frank nearly falling when he saves Cy the drug dealer, the parallel makes more sense. They both function on a kind of faith, but Frank's faith is more of a grounded one, trusting in the physical rope rather than waiting for the supernatural. Frank doesn't need more of the supernatural, as it is, he can't stop seeing the ghost of Rose on every corner. His solution to this is a physical one, to save somebody.

His turning point isn't resuscitating Mary's father, but bringing Mary home from Cy's after she falls off the wagon, and getting himself some sleep on her couch. He feels like he's saved somebody because, not unlike Orpheus, he went into Mary's darkest place and brought her out. She tells us she's been clean for years, but the prospect of her father dying is too much for her. Despite her dislike of Cy, she can't help but seek him out for his help. The man/ woman dynamic here has little to do with the romantic either, which is part of what makes it work. Frank falls asleep on Mary's couch, because after he's retrieved her, he feels companionship which isn't tied only to doing his job. From there, it's not as far to go to feel like god again, and when he saves Cy, we can see that he's on an upswing. He's able to let Mary's dad go at this point, which is presented as a service to the man as if he doesn't need the life saving "technicality" anymore and knows that the right thing is to let him go.

We're not sure if Frank can really hear the thoughts of Mary's dad, but we know at least that he thinks he can, and they do seem logical enough. And we don't need to wonder if that's really Rose he sees everywhere. The important thing is that he sees her. He's a guy surrounded by ghosts, because some people for some reason just stick with you more than others. We don't even always know why. In Rose's case, it may have been his difficulty in trying to revive her, or something about the way she looked, likely a combination of factors. When he takes drugs at Cy's place we see that he has other ghosts on his mind, but Rose is the central one, she puts a face to his failure.

Scorsese does a remarkable job making this dreary world an engaging place. His use of music and bright lights makes these ambulance rides like none we've ever seen. The adrenaline rush of saving lives comes through in the filming as does the let down of living between calls. This role is perfect for Nicholas Cage and one look at him sells the idea that he's falling apart. He plays Frank like a sleep walker who is almost nudged awake every now and then. Surrounded by the dead, and those dealing with the dead makes him a very lonely guy, and watching him try to connect with the world, the awkwardness of it all is obvious.

John Goodman is a great contrast as Larry the most stable of the paramedics we meet here. He has everything in it's place and serves as great contrast to show us that in this film, we're not pretending that every paramedic is like Frank. They do all have their own ways of coping, and Larry's method of choice is food. His presence when Frank fails to save Rose adds gravity to the situation that using the other more unhinged paramedics wouldn't have done. Ving Rhames is also great to watch. His evangelist persona combined with his fixation on being a ladies man, makes him an entertaining character. While he certainly likes to push the Holy Ghost, he's not above cheap theatrics worthy of a tent revival preacher. His solution to the angst is not one that interests Frank at all, being as intangible as his story of almost falling off a building. Tom Sizemore is a standout here, his performance gives us a guy so disturbed it's uncomfortable to watch him. He's as likely to kill someone as he is to save them, and if not for Frank's second thoughts, he would've killed Noel. He's the most cautionary tale of Frank's partners.

The rest of the supporting cast is terrific. Patricia Arquette gives us a Mary who's temporarily as lost as Frank is. She's consumed by regret that she hadn't made peace with her father, and faced with his possible death, her years of sobriety are tested. Her verbal assault on Frank, who walks her to Cy's place, reveals that she's well aware she isn't doing what she should. She gets back to a more sensible place and having Frank as a kind of sounding board seems to help her as much as him, although we sense that this could well be just a temporary universe to get them through the worst of it. Cliff Curtis gives us an original drug dealer. He presents himself as an alternative doctor, out to make everyone relax. His conversation with Frank when he's stuck on the railing is one of the most interesting scenes in the film. The sparks from the torch look like fireworks, as Cy considers his mortality. Despite it all, he loves the city, even knowing that it's going to kill him.

Marc Anthony's portrayal of Noel is central to the film. And he does  a wonderful job playing a man who is mentally damaged in a way that makes him entirely unpredictable. Frank keeps crossing paths with him as if Noel is the embodiment of what he doesn't know. Every time they bring him to the hospital, he's released and ends up back there again. He screams for a cup of water, but the doctor informs us that water is the last thing he needs. Still, he ends up getting the water, as people can't absorb the idea that water could hurt him. Giving him the water seems an attempt to make his treatment less inhumane, but in fact that attempt at kindness hurts him. His situation is similar to keeping Mary's dad alive. It seems the kind thing to keep him from dying, but at the same time, they're overriding what his body wants to do, until finally Frank lets him go.

Frank sees himself as a part of "God" when he's saving lives. He tells us, "Saving someone's life is like falling in love. The best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterwards, you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see. Once, for a few weeks, I couldn't feel the earth - everything I touched became lighter. Horns played in my shoes. Flowers fell from my pockets. You wonder if you've become immortal, as if you've saved your own life as well. God has passed through you. Why deny it, that for a moment there - why deny that for a moment there, God was you?" However, he also tells us that no one can bear the other side of that, and take the blame when things go wrong, even though we watch him doing just that, because whether he admits or not, playing god requires someone taking the credit to take the blame as well, certainly one of the oldest theological dilemmas.

Frank tells Mary "We're all dying." and more than most, he knows that no one is exempt. Who he can save or not, is often outside his control. As he points out, all of his training is useless on most of his calls. People live and die and which is better isn't always clear cut. It's certainly not always up to Frank. While he loves the feeling of saving a life, by acting as god, he's setting himself up for responsibility that he can't handle. Finally, he lets himself off the hook, and Rose appears at the end as if to confirm it. She says "It's not your fault. No one asked you to suffer. That was your idea." He finally understands that he's just a guy trying to do his part, he doesn't make the decisions, and as a result he can get some rest. He can find his own suffering, he doesn't need to carry everybody else's.

What Happens?

Frank Pierce (Nicholas Cage) and his fellow EMT's serve as NY's clean up crew. Frank sees the dead and dying every day and it takes its toll on him. He's overworked as there's more than enough misery to keep whatever crew is available going around the clock, and he can't turn away. He visits people at their most vulnerable times, and tells them what he thinks they need to hear, but it's a one way transaction. His only sense of companionship is with those in the field, his fellow paramedics and the staff at the "Our Lady of Perpetual Mercy" hospital.

Frank is sleepwalking through the middle of a bad spell, where he can't seem to save anybody. One case in particular, a homeless woman named Rose (Cynthia Roman) sticks with him, giving a face to every recent failure. He sees Rose's ghost everywhere, in random street scenes, and women he's looking at seem to turn into her. Frank is another version of "God's lonely man" although unlike Bickle, he has a calling as much as he might like to abandon it. He tells us "Saving someone's life is like falling in love. The best drug in the world. For days, sometimes weeks afterwards, you walk the streets, making infinite whatever you see. Once, for a few weeks, I couldn't feel the earth - everything I touched became lighter. Horns played in my shoes. Flowers fell from my pockets. You wonder if you've become immortal, as if you've saved your own life as well. God has passed through you. Why deny it, that for a moment there - why deny that for a moment there, God was you?"  But given his bad luck, he reevaluates his role, concluding that he's a "grief mop," whose main purpose is to bear witness to all the suffering he visits.

He doesn't have to do this alone (at least not in a physical sense) and his partners are a good gauge for Frank's condition. His first partner in the film, Larry (John Goodman) is a paramedic who doesn't what he does as a calling, so much as a job. Larry plans to have his own ambulance outfit one day and doesn't appear bothered by any of their calls. Not having the same thing for lunch two days in a row, is as important to him as any injured person they're responding to. Goodman really gets the part down, and it makes sense that we start the journey with his stability as a balance to Frank's sure sliding off the rails. He's with Larry when they get a call about a man having a heart attack. When the man appears to die, Frank tells the man's daughter, Mary (Patricia Arquette)  to put on some Frank Sinatra when she says that's the music her father likes. Against all expectations, Frank gets a heartbeat from the dead man, as if he can turn his bad luck streak around by force. He uses the same approach with the hospital. They tell him they have no room, but he wheels in new patients anyway. In this case though, he has no other options, he can't keep them in the ambulance.

He runs into Mary several times at the hospital as she waits on her father with the rest of the family. He develops an interest in her, although he has no real sense of social skills. It doesn't really matter though, since this isn't an everyday exchange, Mary is having a hard time coping with the sudden tragedy, and is so wrapped up in her own grief, she's unapproachable to Frank, except in his role as a part of the medical system. Frank doesn't seem to really know the difference though, as his attraction to her seems another part of him trying to break his bad streak, maybe he can help her. Mary takes pity on a man, Noel, strapped down at Mercy, screaming for a glass of water. We're informed that water is the last thing Noel needs, as he has a kidney problem, and water could have serious consequences. Mary doesn't hear that though. She can't get over the fact that her friend is screaming for a little water and no one wants to help him. She lets him go and Frank doesn't even think to stop her. Larry and Frank run into Noel on the street, covered in blood and making a scene on the street. Frank is able to calm him down by assuring him they have a room at the hospital where they can kill him if he wants. Frank stops by the station and expects to be fired, even demanding his captain fire him. "I'll fire you tomorrow." he says, which Frank has certainly heard before.

Frank's second partner is Marcus (Ving Rhames) more of a character than Larry was. Marcus can't stop telling a story about almost falling off a ledge, but miraculously being pulled back. He loves to talk about women and Jesus. Frank knows how Marcus works and times the resuscitation of an overdose victim so that Marcus can present it as a supernatural healing for the benefit of the kid's friends. Marcus can't help but try and flirt with the dispatcher (Queen Latifah) who doesn't seem terribly amused by him, but can't stop giving out the calls. Mary's Dad starts showing cognitive signs and gets moved out of emergency. Frank stops at Mary's place and lets her know. Back out on calls, they find a woman who's about to deliver a baby, but insists that she hasn't had sex and can't even be pregnant. They deliver two babies, the one Marcus delivers is healthy, but Frank delivers one that's dead. Marcus gets a rush from the experience and tells Frank he wants to start working more nights. Frank pleads with Marcus not to take another call, but Marcus is energized and ready to go so ignores him. Marcus speeds off and narrowly avoids hitting a cab, but still ends up flipping the ambulance on it's side. Frank gets out and walks away, telling Marcus "I quit." Marcus tells him "It doesn't work that way. You need the Holy Ghost."

Frank checks on Mary's Dad and runs into Mary and follows her to a building nearby. She tells him how frustrated she is with the situation and asks him to wait outside for her since it's a dangerous building. He suggests that he come in with her but she insist that he stay outside. After waiting a while he knocks on the door and finds it's a drug dealer, Cy's (Cliff Curtis) apartment. Cy welcomes him in and tells him that Mary told him to pass on the message that she'd crash there for a while. He notices that Frank could use some relaxation himself, and after finding Mary sleeping peacefully, he agrees to take something that Cy offers. He starts feeling the drugs, but rather than relax he imagines himself pulling ghosts out of the ground, and then thinks of Rose, recalling his attempts to save her. He starts screaming upsetting everyone in Cy's house. He then grabs Mary and carries her out. He walks Mary home, ad she tells him that she knows Cy has hurt people, and could have been the one to put a bullet in Noel's head, making him crazy. She asks him what he wants from her, but he has no answer. He falls asleep on her couch while she tells him he can't stay. He wakes up refreshed feeling "as if I've turned a corner." He reports to the station and is assured he'll be fired tomorrow.

Hi last partner is Tom Wolls (Tom Sizemore) a paramedic in a worse place than Frank is. Tom seems an outright sociopath. He tells Frank that he admires his ambulance because "I can't kill her." illustrating by busting a headlight. He and Frank know each other very well and were even partners at one time. Wollis is completely unhinged. Frank visits Mary's dad in the hospital and finds his heart has stopped. A nurse tells him to shock him, as "he always comes back." Frank hears the man talking in his head however, telling him not to do it. Unable to help the nurse takes over and revives him again. They're called to a suicide attempt in the homeless community. Noting that the attempt is an unconvincing one, Tom makes the mentally disturbed man a patch to keep on his forehead to eliminate his suicidal tendencies. Frank loses his temper and scolds the man for not really trying. They're next called to the drug dealer Cy's apartment, where there was a shooting  that left Cy impaled on a railing many stories above the street. Frank cuts the railing with a torch, almost falling when he cuts it free except that his coworkers strapped him to the building, enabling him to save Cy and himself.

At the hospital, Cy thanks him for saving his life. Frank checks on Mary's Dad again, finding they've shocked him fourteen times and are considering implanting a defibrillator to shock him when he needs it. He runs into Mary who apologizes for her stoned behavior. She asks about her father and tells him. "I think about how tough he was and now I know he had to be that way, to make us tough. Because, this city, it'll kill you if you're not strong enough." Frank tells her, "No, the city doesn't discriminate. It gets everybody." Before catching up wit Wolls, he tells her "We're all dying Mary Burke." Frank starts seeing Rose on the street again, after telling Wolls they have to keep moving, saying "No stopping. We're sharks. We stop. we die." Frank suggests they go break some windows, and Wolls tells him they need a reason first. They see Noel on the street again, breaking car windows with a bat. Wolls suggests they work him over. Frank insists that Noel is mentally ill and can't help himself. Wolls insists that noel knows exactly what he's doing and that they should team up to catch him. Frank approaches Noel who offers him the bat suggesting he take a few swings which he does. Wolls tries to sneak up on Noel, who runs when he sees him. They both chase him independently. Wolls finds Noel first and beats him savagely until Frank stops him and threatens to call for back up unless Wolls helps save him. Frank gives Noel CPR and they get him to the hospital.

Frank visits Mary's dad again, who is still being shocked regularly to stay alive. He hears him in his head again, asking him to "let me go." Frank puts the wires on his own chest and puts the breathing tube in his mouth to fool the monitors and let him die. He then starts attempting CPR, knowing it's too late. The doctor tells them to stop CPR and let him go. Frank offers to tell the family. He walks over to see Mary, and tells her about her father. In mid conversation, he sees her turn into Rose. He tells her "Forgive me Rose." She answers "It's not your fault. No one asked you to suffer. That was your idea." SHe then turns back into Mary, and he tells her that Noel will be alright. She asks him to come inside and he falls asleep with her.

Goodfellas

 What About it?
(for a full summary of the film, scroll down to "What Happens?")

Goodfellas is basically a story about a "nobody" trying to be a "somebody." as Henry says, describing his younger days. In a very real way, Henry is attracted to the status and the air of celebrity that the gangsters he knew carried with them. Coming from a humble background, with everyone he knew in the same boat, being a somebody, was as unlikely to him as being President. It's a story about getting there and what you'll do to stay there. Henry has a problem accepting where he come from and who he is. He views his father with contempt, and it's telling that once he's an adult, he makes no mention of hisfamily at all. His father is just a "schnook." in Henry's estimation. Once he becomes fascinated with the power and glamour of being a gangster, the thought of living a life like his father is not even imaginable to him. To Henry, living right across the street from the cab stand where they hang out is too much enticement to resist. He sees their comings and goings for years in the most glamorous light, only the public face rather than the  complete picture, which is likely all he would see as an outsider anyway, as appearances are important to them all. The normal experience of a first job becomes his entry into the organization, and the taste of respect and celebrity has him hooked. It's no wonder that high school ceases to be a priority, when he's working with men who drop hundred dollar bills like they were nothing, and even as a kid he's making more money than most adults in his neighborhood.

He's eager to get more involved, looking up to Jimmy, who adds a style to the business. Even the gangsters celebrate Jimmy and Henry is thrilled to be working for him. From very early, Henry's morals are not fixed. We see that he quickly abandons concern for a man who runs down the street after getting shot, reasoning that Pauly wouldn't want the man dying in his place of business. He replaces conventional right and wrong with the rules of the organization. His first arrest is treated as a cause for celebration with Pauly and Jimmy actively cheering the arrest as a rite of passage. By this time, it should be clear that the organization is not untouchable, but in Henry's mind the power is more than a good enough trade off. Henry is presented as the most stable of his group. He's not as wild or ruthless as Jimmy, and not nearly as psychotic as Tommy. Henry is the "everyman" of the mafia here. although that position is certainly relative. The fact that he's telling the story, might lead us to believe that he's presenting himself as favorably as possible. But it's not unlikely that he would look somewhat normal anyway compared to his friends. who both present their own cautionary tales.

Scorsese is at his best here, successfully making Henry's world an insular one. While he drives the same streets as anyone, he and his family see nothing but their own community. As Karen points out, this makes their lives seem "normal." Rather than feeling like the outside world is foreign, they view it as unimportant, existing only to serve their needs. Even prison bends to accomodate them. Their group is the elite in their estimation, affording a life of ridiculous privelege. Karen is soon as comfortable there as Henry is, an easier adjustment as she doesn't get involved with Henry's activities, only has to act as if they're normal. Like Henry, she doesn't mind at all that "everbody wants to be nice to them." She's attracted to the dangerous lifestyle and as she says, she's "turned on" when Henry pistol whips a guy who assaulted her and tells her to hide the gun.

Goodfellas is also largely about the friendship between Henry, Jimmy and Tommy. Their association is like a group within the already closed group. Jimmy starts off as a mentor figure, but soon becomes a "peer" although more experienced, and with more clout than Henry and Tommy. Jimmy doesn't hesitate to have every member of his crew killed rather than pay them, but with Tommy and Henry, there's hesitation. They genuinely enjoy each other's company and have a lot of shared history. Henry and Jimmy might get angry with Tommy, for killing Billy Batts or a defenseless bartender, but they accept these things as part of him, choosing to help him kick the man while he's down and later to bury the body.  Jimmy is certainly capable of having either of them killed as we see when he suspects Henry might talk, but even then he's hesitant and would rather not do it himself.

Tommy is an interesting contrast to Henry. Henry considers everything while Tommy just does whatever he feels like at the moment. He feels some entitlement assuming that he's going to be "made" someday. an honor which Jimmy and Henry can never even hope for. Of the three of them, Tommy is the most cold blooded, able to kill somebody without thinking twice about it. His sense of self importance is monstrous, not allowing even the smallest slight, as we see when Spider, the mild mannered bartender, works up the courage to say "go fuck yourself" after getting shot in the foot and having his injury mocked.  Killing Spider however, is not a major offense and even "allowed" withing their rules. Tommy however isn't stopped even by their most sacred rules, and his pride is more important than the restriction on killing a Made man. The insult he feels when reminded that he used to shine shoes, especially coming from someone in a higher position than his own, is not something he can walk away from, whatever the consequence. The fact that Jimmy and Henry help him with this is, when it's an offense certain to get them killed, is another reminder that the three really do have quite a bond.

Of course the habit of breaking the rules, is one which only grows. Once you've helped kill a Made man, the idea of dealing drugs although it's forbidden, is not so intimidating. Henry sets up his own organization within the organization, using his "everyman" status to get away with it. It's interesting that Pauly warns him about getting involved with drugs and cautions him about Jimmy and Tommy's unpredictability being a source of trouble, when Henry is the architect of the whole drug operation. This is also another instance demonstrating the three's true loyalties. Henry doesn't worry about Jimmy or Tommy messing up his plan and brings them in right away. Their "society of three" is broken up however, when Tommy is whacked. The only 100% Italian of them all, Tommy was their key to fully arriving in the organization, if only by proxy. This is a stark reminder that they don't "belong" as much as they would like to, and could be eliminated far more easily than Tommy was. The true incentive against betrayal, loyalty, is removed and even Jimmy and Henry's relationship is weakened by this.  Despite their previous rule breaking, both Jimmy and Henry felt for the most part, loyal to Pauly, but this weakens that bond as well. "There's nothing we could do." Henry repeats what Jimmy was told about Tommy getting killed, which clearly both he and Jimmy resent.

Goodfellas is a masterpiece of film. Scorsese uses every element available to it's best effect, including the soundtrack as a vital piece of the story. No detail is spared, and the glamorous world that Henry starts in, devolves convincingly into a world where Henry is sweating, run down and paranoid (although justifiably) knowing that he's wanted dead, but having no idea where it will come from. We get that certain death is the only way he would ever leave. Once the decision is made, Henry shows no regret about betraying either Jimmy or Pauly. He points them out in court without hesitation. His only regret is that he no longer feels like royalty.  Henry's amoral nature hasn't changed at all, he's made the only choice he can make to stay alive. The casting is perfect, Ray Liotta is perfect as the most grounded of the three friends and the lynchpin of the story. He's the one after "the American Dream" and lacks the malice that his friends have. Joe Pesci is a force of nature here, Tommy's outbursts come across so convincingly that it's hard to decide between being entertained and horrified. DeNiro is of course, the perfect choice for Jimmy, the weathered veteran, who knows more than the others, but doesn't always feel compelled to share. He shows more menace smoking a cigar and thinking than Tommy could with all his outbursts.  Lorraine Bracco is also great, her Karen, showing us the same story Henry sees but from a different perspective. Her involvement suggests that anyone could get caught up in this lifestyle.

We also see that times change, and at the end there's no cab stand where the gangsters can hang out untouchably. That time period is over and Pauly and Jimmy, the representaives of Henry's ideal lifestyle are both in prison. Even if Henry could eliminate the threat to his lifestyle, he couldn't have that lifestyle back, only perhaps what he could manage selling drugs. In his rush to be a "somebody" he didn't realize that he only became a "nobody" in a different circle. Despite the respect given to him by people outside the organization, he was far from irreplaceable, Tommy's death proving tha the wasn't "special" and there were heights he couldn't even aspire to.  While the money made him comfortable, it became little more than a game, whatever was made being spent right away, until all that was left was a bag of cocaine, which Karen had flushed down the toilet. In the end, he ends up more restricted than his father ever was, having to live by the rules of the witness relocation program. Unlike his father, Henry has to live with what he thought he was, and the memory of living in privelege, while knowing he'll never have it again. He could also remember the fact that he was about to be killed, but his voice doesn't focus on that, the lifestyle being remembered nostalgically, in which case the negatives no longer matter, any more than they would in a dream.

What Happens?

Goodfellas starts off with the announcement that it's based on a true story, and from there takes us to "New York, 1970" and the inside of a car driven by Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) who has two passengers, Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro) and Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) Henry hears a banging noise and wonders if he has a flat tire. It becomes obvious the banging is coming from the trunk and the three pull over to take a look. Jimmy and Tommy hold weapons while Henry opens the trunk and they find their beaten and bloodied passenger is clearly not dead. Tommy stabs the man repeatedly followed by Jimmy shooting the man a few times.

Taxi Driver

When the word "anti hero" is used, odds are that in short order Travis Bickle comes to mind. He's definitely a character that stays with you, thanks to the painful story and DeNiro's amazing performance. Travis is the modern anti hero, not smooth or polished. He can't put a wisecrack together unless it's in front of the mirror. He's just a guy that wants to amount to something yet either doesn't have the character or the opportunity, only the painful awareness of everything he isn't. His only solace is his own convictions, he has strong opinions about many things most notably that the streets of NY are infested with scum, and need to be cleaned up.

We begin the movie with an introduction to Bickle's world view, a close up on his eyes in red light, while soothing music plays, interspersed with the world out the windshield, which is little more than bright and busy lights scored by the more ominous music of building drums.

We find Travis interviewing for a job at a cab company. His interviewer clearly suspects his and possibly anyone's motives for wanting to drive a cab.
Personnel Officer: So whaddya want to hack for, Bickle?
Travis Bickle: I can't sleep nights.
Personnel Officer: There's porno theaters for that.
Travis Bickle: Yeah, I know, I tried that.
Personnel Officer: So now what do you do?
Travis Bickle: I ride around most nights - subways, buses - but you know, if I'm gonna do that I might as well get paid for it.

When asked about his driving record, Bickle says "It's clean, as clean as my conscience." He gives his education as "a little, here and there." and also states that he was honorably discharged from the Marines. The interviewer tells him to check back when the next shift starts. We next find Bickle at home in his apartment writing a letter, which he starts by thanking god "for the rain, which helps wash away the garbage and trash off the sidewalks." He states he's working long hours, six-seven days a week, and he's happy that this keeps him busy. He continues:
"All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take 'em to Harlem. I don't care. Don't make no difference to me. It does to some. Some won't even take spooks. Don't make no difference to me."

We see Travis pick up a businessman with a prostitute, who promises a big tip if "he does the right things." he tells us that every night he has to clean bodily fluids from the backseats of his cab. We see Travis popping pills after his shift before heading for a porno theater. He makes an advance at the girl selling refreshments the theater, who rejects him, threatening to call the manager. Resuming his letter, he says,
"The days go on and on... they don't end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people."

He then goes on to describe seeing Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) for the first time, at Palantine campaign headquarters. He sees her as angel appearing in the midst of the filth in the streets. We see Betsy at work for the Palantine campaign, stating to a coworker, "push the man first, then the issue." She points out that "the taxi driver" is staring at them through the window. He speeds of startled when Betsy puts her coworker up to confronting him.

Travis meets his his fellow drivers at a diner after a shift. While they're very friendly to him, he has a hard time staying socially engaged drifting off between comments, forcing them to repeat themselves to get an answer from him. They swap fare stories, and Travis mentions some news he heard about a cabbie getting cut. One of the drivers, noticing that Travis handles some rough neighborhoods tells him that if he ever needs a gun, he can get him a good deal. Travis declines and seems content to sit at the table drifting into his own thoughts.

Travis gets dressed up in nice clothes, and shows up at Palantine campaign headquarters, volunteering to work for Palantine's campaign, insisting that he speak directly to Betsy. When she questions him, finding he knows nothing about Palantine, Bickle tells her she's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen, then continuing:
Bickle: I'll tell you why. I think you're a lonely person. I drive by this place a lot and I see you here. I see a lot of people around you. And I see all these phones and all this stuff on your desk. It means nothing. Then when I came inside and I met you, I saw in your eyes and I saw the way you carried yourself that you're not a happy person. And I think you need something. And if you want to call it a friend, you can call it a friend.
Betsy: Are you gonna be my friend?
Bickle: Yeah.
She seems charmed by his unconventional approach and agrees to meet him for a cup of coffee at 4:00. They talk about Betsy's work and Travis brings up her coworker:
 Bickle: I would say he has quite a few problems. His energy seems to go in the wrong places. When I walked in and I saw you two sitting there, I could just tell by the way you were both relating that there was no connection whatsoever. And I felt when I walked in that there was something between us. There was an impulse that we were both following. So that gave me the right to come in and talk to you. Otherwise I never would have felt that I had the right to talk to you or say anything to you. I never would have had the courage to talk to you. And with him I felt there was nothing and I could sense it. When I walked in, I knew I was right. Did you feel that way?
Betsy: I wouldn't be here if I didn't.

Coffee goes pretty well and Betsy seems fascinated with Travis. She agrees to go to a movie with him at another time, telling him before going back to work,

 Betsy: You know what you remind me of?
Travis Bickle: What?
Betsy: That song by Kris Kristofferson.
Travis Bickle: Who's that?
Betsy: A songwriter. 'He's a prophet... he's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction. A walking contradiction.'
Travis Bickle: [uneasily] You sayin' that about me?
Betsy: Who else would I be talkin' about?
Travis Bickle: I'm no pusher. I never have pushed.
Betsy: No, no. Just the part about the contradictions. You are that.

Travis runs out to buy a Kris Kristofferson album, and looks forward to meeting Betsy for a movie. He happens to pick up Senator Palantine in his cab, and when Palantine asks him the one thing in the country that bugs him the most, he inspires a rant from Travis comparing the city to a cesspool.

An underage prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster) gets in his cab to get away from her pimp, Sport (Harvey Keitel) who pulls her out of the cab, when Travis doesn't take off fast enough. Sport throws a bill onto his seay and tells him to forget about it. Travis meets Betsy, dressed up in a suit jacket and tie and reveals that the Kristofferson album was for Betsy. He surprises Betsy, by bringing her to a dirty movie. She attempts to sit through it, but leaves quickly, offended and not willing to talk about it. He calls her and finds she's not interested in seeing him at all. He sends her flowers which she won't accept and end up sitting in his own apartment. Desperate, he storms into Palantine headquarters only to be escorted out.

Travis picks up an odd fare, who has him park across the street from an apartment building so he can look at his wife in another man's window. The fare explains in detail that he's going to kill her, explaining what a 44 Magnum will do to a woman. This clearly rattles Travis. He meets with the other cabbies at the diner again, and he pulls "The Wizard" aside, looking for advice, stating he has some bad ideas in his head.

The Wizard: Look at it this way. A man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - That becomes what he is. You know, like - You do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a cabbie for thirteen years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - You get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton Place. You got a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People are born, y'know? I envy you, your youth. Go on, get laid, get drunk. Do anything. You got no choice, anyway. I mean, we're all fucked. More or less, ya know.
Travis Bickle: I don't know. That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard.
Wizard: It's not Bertrand Russell. But what do you want? I'm a cabbie. What do I know? I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.
Travis Bickle: Maybe I don't know either.


Travis starts watching Palantine on TV at home, and continues looking in on campaign headquarters while driving by. He recognizes Iris on the street and starts following her, observing as she picks up a john before speeding off. His despair increases and he refers to himself as "God's lonely man." also commenting that "there is a change. Travis takes advantage of his fellow cabbie's offer to hook him up with a gun. Rather than choosing a gun, Travis takes all the guns the salesman shows him. He starts a meticulous workout program, stops eating junk food, getting himself "organized" for a mission taking shape in his mind. He practices pulling his guns in the mirror, and taping a knife to his boot. He chats with a Secret Service agent at a public appearance and practices, intimidating banter while now pointing his gun at Palantine posters. He defines his mission to himself:
 "Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up."


Travis happens to be in a convenient store, when it's held up, and shoots the would be robber in the face. Concerned because he doesn't have a permit, the store owner takes the gun and beats the robber to death with a steel rod, telling Travis to take off. Travis starts watching TV with his gun in hand. He writes a card to his parents, claiming that he's working for the government and so can't reveal his address. He also claims he has a girlfriend named Betsy.  Palantine's people are ramping up for a big appearance. Starting to feel edgy Travis kicks over his television. He sees Iris on the street again and this time approaches her. She directs him to "Matthew"(Sport) Sport takes him for a cop, but after talking comes to an agreement. Iris takes him to a room, but rather than have sex, he talks to her. He reminds her of the day she got in the cab trying to get away. He offers to help her get away, but she doesn't understand, explaining that she must have been stoned when she tried to get away. He asks to see her again in a non professional way and she agrees to breakfast tomorrow. At breakfast he tries to talk her into going back to her parents. Iris rebuffs him.
Iris: God, you're square.
Travis Bickle: Hey, I'm not square, you're the one that's square. Your full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for peanuts? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screwing fuck with bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that bein' hip? What world are you from?

Iris starts considering leaving, but insists that something must be done about Sport, so he can't do the same thing to other girls. Iris asks him to leave with her, to go to a commune in Vermont, but he says he wouldn't hang out with people like that. Travis tells her, that he's working for the government and may be going away for a while, but tells her he'll give her the money to go.

Iris confronts Sport, telling her she doesn't like what she's doing. Sport talks to her like she's his girlfriend, convincing her to stay. Travis starts to make final preparations, making up an envelope with money for Iris and burning all the dead flowers which came back from Betsy. He arrives at Palantine's big rally, and we see that Travis has shaved his head leaving only a mohawk. Pushing through the crowd to meet Palntine, he's spotted by the secret service agents just before he can pull out his gun. He runs back to his apartment and then heads out to see Sport. After having a few words, in which Sport claims he doesn't know and Iris. He shoots Sport and the man running the rooms where the girls take their Johns. Sport isn't dead however and runs up behind Travis in the hallway shooting him. Travis kills him and another man runs into the hall shooting Travis again, before Travis kills him too. Iris witnesses the whole scene. Travis tries to shoot himself, but finds he has no bullets left, so he sits and waits for the cops.

Travis battle with Sport, makes him a hero in the newspapers, and we hear Iris' parents lettter, thanking him for saving Iris and sending her home. Travis goes back to driving his cab, and ends up with Betsy as a fare. Betsy reveals that she read about him in the papers and downplays his ordeal. He lets her off, and when she asks about the fare, he takes off . We resume seeing the city from Travis' point of view as he drives off.

"Taxi Driver" is a brilliant character study. Scorsese does a brilliant job filtering the world through Bickle's eyes, while at the same time keeping the facts in the real world. We see what happens and then get Bickle's take on it. Scorsese makes the world very dark and gritty, the streets covered with literal trash to match the human element that bothers Bickle. His use of through the windshield scenes are remarkably effective, showing us the world as Bickle moves through it viewing through the glass, almost like a child visiting the zoo. He is even isolated from his passengers, seeing them only through his rear view mirror. Whatever they do, doesn't affect him in the front seat. Bernard Hermann's score is also amazing, involving us in Bickle's precarious mental state shifting from dreamlike to threatening and back as needed, serving as an echo of his condition. It's notable that once Bickle finds his mission, the music disappears, as if for a moment, he's quieted the noise in his head.

DeNiro is amazing in this role, becoming Bickle inside and out. It's tough to admire DeNiro for it though, since his performance is so flawless we don't really see him, only Travis Bickle. For all his flaws and disturbances DeNiro's Bickle also has a certain dignity. This is a remarkably complex role, but we never see DeNiro acting, only Bickle struggling. The supporting cast is also terrific, Cybill Shepherd portrays Betsy believably as a woman who may as well exist in a different universe from Travis.  She is lonely, as Travis surmised, but she doesn't live with her loneliness like he does. The difference between them is largely one of background and social skills, but those two factors are quite significant. She also has aspirations, Palatine's campaign is a cause she sees as greater than herself, and perhaps this also attracts Bickle, the idea that she has found such a thing. His first chosen cause, is Betsy herself. As he puts it, "She's appeared like an angel. Out of this filthy mess..."Whether devoting himself to her beauty or to the idea of Love itself, this is a cause, which could make him great. His social ignorance however, makes this impossible, and for Betsy, who rarely travels outside convention, his social faux pas is unforgivable. He lured her outside her comfort zone, and then, in her thinking, insulted her, so she ran right back. While she recognizes that Bickle is full of contradictions, she can't imagine that anyone could bring her to a porno movie with innocent intentions. Young Jodie Foster is wonderful as Iris, making the most of her fairly limited time. Harvey Keitel as Sport is charmingly sleazy, and his exchanges with DeNiro are remarkably entertaining.

Travis Bickle is not a man plagued by a great outside evil. He is rather plagued by his own mind  and the absence of anything great in his life. He blames "the filth" that infests the streets, but at the same time, he drives around at night as if he's seeking it out. For a man bothered by the darker elements, he always ensures that he's surrounded by them. He makes it very clear that he want to be "something."  yet he can accomplish little when he lives most of his life inside his own head. He attempts to be social, hanging out with the other drivers for example, but he can't contribute easily to conversations, always getting caught up in his own lonely thoughts. It's notable that the other drivers don't find Bickle that strange and take his idiosyncrasies in stride. He's socially awkward, but not unique in that. He's a character that anyone could run into anywhere. He's lonely and frustrated but the intensity isn't obvious.

Bickle needs to "make a stand." Of that much, he is certain. He just doesn't know what he should make a stand for. His world doesn't offer easy black and white answers. How he chooses is another interesting point. Bickle is intelligent, but not educated. He comes to ideas and believes them but doesn't examine them through books or even conversation. He believes what feels right and "makes sense" to him, not much further than that. Intellectually, he chooses killing Palatine as his cause. The obvious reason would seem to be that he's identified Betsy as "like all the rest." and so determined her cause is not worthy either, and so deems it worthy of being eliminated.

My feeling is that Bickle also recognizes Palatine's insincerity, instinctively feeling insulted by Palatine's condescension when he was in the cab. Palatine says "I've learned more in cabs, than in all the limousines" While on the surface, Bickle accepts that, we sense his Bickle's belief straining, although at the time it stays in place because he still sees a chance with Betsy. It's worth remembering that while Bickle seems oblivious, he hears what's going on and doesn't forget, as evidenced several times, such as in the diner with drivers he was offered a good deal on guns, which he seems to disregard, but picks up on later. Another example is his brief first encounter with Iris, which he initially doesn't act on, but does a little later. He recalls what Palatine told him in the cab, agreeing with his own assessment of  New York as a cesspool, and stating that, yes, something should be done, but it would require drastic changes. He later sees Palatine on television, stating that he feels the people have answered his demands and risen to meet them. The two ideas are contradictory, and it's likely that's enough to tell Bickle that Palatine is a liar, or at least give him a justification to be angry. Keeping a liar from being President is a far more likely cause for Bickle than revenge against Betsy, a cause that goes against his reasoning (although that feeling is certainly there, he can't act on it for that reason.) We know from the beginning of the movie that he prizes his clean conscience, and while he may be capable of anything, it seems likely that he would need to justify his cause to himself.

A man who doesn't see himself as good, couldn't pass judgment as he does on the streets of the city. He doesn't see himself as evil by any means, only lost and confused. His moral center however can't be defined by an "average" moral center. We see him shoot a robber in the face without hesitation, only concerned that the cops will bother him about his lack of a permit. We don't know where he's been or what he's done in the past. He claims he was a Marine, but given all his claims later on of working for the government, this may be suspect. His sloppiness when killing Sport and his crew, suggests that if he was, he was never in the habit of killing. Whether or not he was a Marine, killing is not a problem for him at all, and neither is dying. It's implied that he thinks he'll be killed after shooting Palatine, given his questioning the secret service agent about his gun and his statement to Iris that he'll be "going away." His attempted suicide after shooting Sport's crew confirms that he's ready to die.

It's only by luck that he fulfills his secondary cause, freeing Iris from Sport. It seems likely that if he had indeed killed Palatine and been killed himself, Iris would've kept the money, but not gotten free. So even after finding the cause to give himself to, it's only his failure that allows him to accomplish anything truly worthy. Whether he would've accomplished this if he didn't believe they'd catch him for trying to shoot Palatine is uncertain. His sense of borrowed time, spurs him to make a last action and almost by accident he ends up accomplishing something good.

One very unsettling part of the movie, is the fact that Bickle has not changed. He played out his messiah fantasies and came out as a hero. He's celebrated, since no one knows of his attempted assassination. The loneliness that plagued him, doesn't show any indication of having gone anywhere. In fact, his perceived heroism, would likely increase his sense of isolation and give more credibility to the urges he struggles with. We don't know what he'll do next, but I would wager it won't be comforting. It's only a matter of time before he runs into another woman he needs to "save."

This isn't a film about morality. It doesn't condemn or praise Travis Bickle, just shows us a picture of who he is and what he does. We wonder, is Travis Bickle a product of his circumstances, is he just mentally ill, or both? While he's clearly psychotic, some of his concerns are valid in the context of the movie. He knows what his own problem is when he states,  "I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people." He clearly believes that he should be like other people but he doesn't know how. He can't get past the lack of something to stand for. He wants to be admirable, so much so that he'll give his life to achieve it. He's terribly misguided and naive in certain ways, but given what he sees in his life, it's not much of a stretch to think that his quest is not only to make himself worthy, but to prove that something worthy exists. (not that his mind would accept the prrof if he found it) If the film gives any answer, it's that sometimes good exists, but rarely does it happen due to your plans. The true tragedy is the ease with which Bickle walks through the word without raising a single red flag, finding himself a hero as a result of his psychosis being again unnoticed by the system and society around him.