Five most valuable Minutes of Taxi Driver

I chose the scene where Travis Bickle goes after the people keeping Iris as a prostitute. I chose this scene because it confused me and didn't really seem fitting when I had first watched it. I wanted to analyze it and think about what these five minutes could mean for the whole film. The anti-hero, justice, and a corrupt society are all shown in some way that revolves around Travis' decision making and his views.

The entire point of the scene is to give some closure that would be expected of Travis. For the entire film he is building up, getting weapons and preparing himself. On the other side, the city is running filled with criminals and other scum as Travis calls them. I see this as a constant fight between good and evil. "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."-Edmund Burke. This quote works very well throughout the film. As an anti-hero, Travis isn't the perfect hero but he definitely isn't a villain. He is basically in the sweet spot where he sees all that is wrong -like Iris being a prostitute at such a young age- along with other crime. Since Travis is so determined to "flush it all down" he is obviously more on the side of good than evil.

In particular find the scene were Travis is shot in the neck to be symbolic of the constant presence of good.

Regardless of any medical miracles, it is probably impossible that anyone could be shot the way Travis is, and continue to remain conscious let alone move. Regardless of that it shows Travis' determination, saving a young girl from prostitution may be the one good thing he has ever done in his life. He wants to save Iris and move on.

Iris' surprise shows that she is affected by Travis' actions. 

Later in the scene he tells Travis not to kill one of the criminals

which adds another layer to integration in crime. 

Travis tries to kill him self right after he saves Iris. His good deed is done and he is ready to move on, but he has no bullets left. Literally, Travis is likely trying to avoid prison, but this also symbolizes that he cannot escape what he has done. For the audience, they have been with Travis the whole time and can't help but see Travis as a hero. That is where Travis stands, he is good but worn by New York city and other problems with his life.



Here Travis is basically showing that he wants to die. Despite the close up, the blood on Travis' hand keeps the audience on the idea of what has just happened while letting us focus on Travis. The director is trying to show both of these aspects.

Overall this scene works as a climax to Travis' action against evil. It is important to note that Iris is returned to her family and Travis makes a full recovery after his incident. His good actions are all that kept him going and, could be the reason he is alive. Everything around him seems virtually unchanged, he doesn't even get to meet Iris' family he only receives a letter.


The directors intent seems to be something around the fight between god and evil, with the integration of an anti hero. This is not a new idea, it has been refined. Influence from westerns can be seen throughout the film. Travis and his taxi parallels a cowboy and his horse. The taxi is a generic car that isn't noticed, particularly in New York of all cities. Iris' pimp also refers to Travis as "cowboy", which seems to put Travis in a positive light since cowboys tend to be seen as heroes. Towards the end Iris' pimp also looks like a Native American with his long hair and bandanna, this goes hand in hand with Travis being a cowboy.

Overall I think the purpose of this scene is to give a fitting end to Travis' struggle and actions. Under the surface of the events in this five minutes is a lot that refers to the bigger picture of good and evil in the eyes of the director. Along with references to things that people recognize a certain feeling is achieved.

The American Anti-Hero

To start off, an anti-hero is the protagonist of a story who isn't a perfect self-sacrificing person, they have realistic flaws and personal dilemmas. These people tend to be looked down on by society, and don't socialize well with other people. These characters usually start off being very negative, but end up finding something that they care about which changes them.

These characters have been around for a long time, but began to rise in American Cinema around the 1950's. Not only was this a period of great change in the United States, but it brought many influences to create anti-heroes. People like "John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., Robert Kennedy, and Malcolm X" are important figures who fought for something in a rebellious way. Similarly, these figures ended up dying for what they fought and believed in, something anti-heroes usually end up doing. The general public also thought differently, films had to mean something, giving an opening to these new character types. Anti-heroes aren't perfect, they truly like are regular people. They have realistic opinions and issues, sometimes it makes the audience feel bad for a character.

This scene if from Gran Torino a film starring Clint Eastwood as a bigot, worn down by war and other family issues. In this scene he has just beaten up a gang member and is holding a gun to their face, all to try and protect his neighbors. He is putting himself at risk attacking a gang member, but part of his character is being fearless and above all, determined.

These rebellious figures tend to the fit the role of a "very likable rebel who was almost always the underdog." The way these characters, and people are portrayed make them seem likable since it is their perspective and their story. This means that a character who may not necessarily be likable becomes likable to an audience. People like Martin Luther King Jr. are seen in a positive light despite their rebelliousness. What it comes down to is that these characters aren't bad people, they are usually worn but very much human.

Part of creating these new characters is their environment, a perfect example is Travis Bickle from the film Taxi Driver. It take place in New York, and city itself "is a substitute for the wild west of earlier cinema..." This basically means that the world has changed, today people live in cities rather than the towns portrayed in westerns.

New York, big city, bright lights, millions of people, the city that never sleeps. Big cities like New York have become a crucial part of films. New York is important in real life, and more importantly it is iconic. Modern films have replaced the typical western with large cities.

This old western town has been seen in every western. People know what to look for, the saloon, the town drunk and horses. The simplicity of these towns match the characters of the time. The characters, more specifically anti-heroes tend to be drunk, with a high level of proficiency with a gun. The setting of a story is an important tool in characterization.

Anti-heros exist so much today because they are more realistic, and thus easier to believe and relate too. Audiences like these characters, and they are just one part of this time periods cinema.

Documentary Pre-pro

Purpose: To show the life of a recovering addict in his attempt to regain his life and be once again accepted by his family and friends.

Contacts: Tyson (Main character), family members, friends of Tyson.

Interview Questions: How has drugs and alcohol affected you?

How do you think they have affected your family and friends?

Do you think you’ll ever become mentally stable?

What are your future plans?

What will you do to become sober once again?

Shot List: Close Up’s on all those who will be interviewed. Variety of shots (CU, MCU, WS, MS, etc.) of B-Roll that supports what the interview is stating.

General Flow: Beginning - B-roll on different parts of his home leading into the opening interview of Tyson.

Middle - Interviews of family and friends, along with B-roll as to what they were talking about.

End - Variety of B-roll, officially signaling off the interview on a positive note.

Intensified Continuity

David Bordell believes that continuity in films has intensified because of rapid editing, lens length, close framing, and a free ranging camera. Basically film has become more focused on close ups and quick cuts with less camera movement. Many recent films have quick cuts throughout rather than moving the camera itself. It allows close ups to be seamlessly integrated into a film to deliver a more intense idea or emotion. "As we'd expect, action films tended to be edited more briskly than other types..." (Bordell). Action scenes in films are complemented by quick cuts because it increases intensity. For example in a scene where a protagonist and villain are crawling for and object -like a gun- cuts between the surrounding, the actors faces, and the distance from the object can be shown seamlessly. This event in a film would be much more boring in one longer shot. Of course this choice is left up to the director or editor. On the other hand "musicals, dramas, romances and comedies didn't really favor long takes" (Bordell). These types of films require smoother pacing, slow pans, and minimal cuts. Any cuts that are made should be slow and far in between in order to keep the audience involved in what they are watching. The pacing of shots and cuts is important to the emotion and effect of a film on an audience.


Lenses have drastically changed, today the telephoto lens can provide a wide range of shots with only one camera and even one shot. In addition, new technology like cranes and hovering rigs allow the camera itself to be moved around to provide coverage. "The new lenses yielded several stylistic byproducts..." (Bordell). Since cameras today are so maneuverable, shots like close ups can be gotten much more quickly than before. In dialogue scenes, no longer is a director limited to having a two shot, they have have the option of cutting between close ups and long shots. In a romantic scene, shots may get tighter and tighter to match the emotion being portrayed. 


New technology has also made showing different scenes from a film easier. Using two cameras can make continuity much easier in edit. Getting two angles at the same time can make a cut more convincing since a shot would be the same. This would be much easier and less time consuming than using one camera and having to re-shoot one scene. For example in a scene where there is an explosion, fire or collapsing building- multiple cameras can be setup to allow the most coverage without the need to re-do expensive scenes. Dramatic scenes can be shown from different angles giving the viewer more time to see something that looks cool through a heightened sense of reality. This may also be true in a scene where a character shows some great emotion that would have to be matched, if two cameras had not been used.


Skip to 2:30 on this video for a great example of using multiple angles to get the best coverage of a one time shot.

Comparison: "Arrival of a Train" and "Damsel in Distress"

The most obvious difference between these short films is the camera work. The Arrival of a Train is a single sequence with no cutting, narrative, or any real meaning. The Damsel in Distress on the other hand has a plot, suspense, characters, and a full story arc.
In the Arrival of a train the camera does not move at all, and shows everything that happens in that particular frame. It is one long sequence with no point, or characters to give value to the train or its passengers.
With Damsel in Distress, conflicts and characters are shown with cuts. The way the women is tied up is shown, followed by the hiding place of the villain. All this has to be clear because of the lack of sound in films of this time period. The cuts are fast paced for the duration of the film especially when showing parallel action. For example, the train is approaching while the dog and man come to the woman's rescue.
Although the key point of both these films is a training arriving at a certain location, the way that event is portrayed is very different. One is simply an every day event while the other is a life death situation.

Again the difference in these films is between the use or lack of film making techniques. There is no editing in the Arrival of  a Train, which does match the event. The Damsel in Distress has many quick cuts in order to keep the audience involved while telling a dramatic story without getting boring.

The Arrival of a Train is a realistic film, the audience is free to look at what they find interesting and interpret the events. The film is also very short because of the lack of a narrative. The Damsel in Distress is more formal, closeups are used to show what is important. The woman blowing the whistle gives the dog a motive to arrive, the close up on the chains show the woman's problem. When the mans bike is broken it is showing the problem that he has to face, not being able to get to the woman that quickly. Finally the resolution is shown with the train breaking the chains holding down the woman. There isn't much to interpret, the film shows the audience everything that is important.

Advanced Editing Notes

III. Soviet Montage and The Formalist Tradition

• Pudovkin created the idea of 'constructive editing'
• It is the idea of having a reason behind every shot that is shown
• a new meaning should be created, the meaning was most important, the shot was just a tool
• Pudovkin believed that close ups were too intrusive and alone had no meaning
• When he used close ups he would put them in a montage in order to drive across a particular meaning
• close ups were a way to help assemble important parts of a film
• Pudovkin, Hitchcock, and Kuleshov all agreed with the idea of breaking a film into fragments that would be assembled to create a meaning or a narrative
• The meanings that derive from a characters reaction to an object are called juxtapositions
• it is up to the audience to understand what the shots symbolize
• man+soup=hunger
• man smiling at woman and child=kind gentlemen
• man smiling in same way, towards woman in a bikini = pervert or something of the sort
• today it is used in film as more than two completely separate objects; a desperate man in a scene may see a large sum of unprotected money
• 1. Close up of mans face with eye line match
• 2. Close up of money
• 3. Close up of mans reaction
• 4. Mans action follows
• Eisenstein believed that life was about constant change, and film is about capturing important moments
• he believed that shots should be incomplete in order to allow other shots to complete meanings or ideas
• this technique is used in propaganda
• In the Odessa Steps scene there is a focus on mother and child
• The first mother reacts directly to what happens to her child, this is all done in close ups and the meaning is very clear; the mothers distress
• Key events are the boy calling for his mother, and his hands and body being trampled
• The second mother has a baby in a carriage, and the wheels on the carriage directly symbolize the mothers life
• When the mother is shot it is obvious that she is going to die leaving the baby alone
• as the wheels rock back and forth, the mother struggles between life and death
• Once the mother dies, the carriage falls down the stairs

IV Andre Bazin and the tradition of Realism

•   Bazin was a french editor; he believed that a film should portray the directors ideas, known as their stylistic choice
• this clashes with the idea of giving the audience what they want in films today
•  Realism involves long shots, using wide screens, deep focus, panning, craning or tilting-- otherwise moving the camera physically with minimal editing
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