In this contextual study, I foremost discuss how Arthur Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976), were affected by their institutional context. I've selected these films as I consider them to be the most important and influential films of the American new wave of cinema; their creations consist of and highlight key factors for how the movement came to be.
Before diving into the defining era at the focus of this contextual study; the late 1960’s through to the early 1980’s, it's important to understand the impact of the French new wave of the late 1950’s and 1960’s. In fact, it was this new age of ground-breaking films made by artistic, avant-garde filmmakers for which the term 'Nouvelle Vague' (“new wave”) was coined by film critics of the time - Sterrit (1999). The industries’ traditional focus of film being simply a tool to present literature, as opposed to it being an art form of itself, fuelled young, dissatisfied filmmakers to create films with a fresh narrative and editing approach, among other components.
The French critics of this period, especially those of the film magazine Cahiers Du Cinema, believed a rise of ‘auteurs’ would be the best way forward for the French film industry. Auteur Theory refers to the idea in film criticism that the director is the primary creative visionary of a film. In other words, the director is the author of the film (“auteur” meaning “author” in French). No matter how collective and industrial the creation of a film, the basis of this theory is that when it is appropriately applied, the directors’ personal vision for the film still manages to be seen. The comprehension of auteur theory is essential when studying the rise of “New Hollywood” as to the majority of the up-and-coming directors that defined this era, it was how they thought modern cinema should be.
The auteur approach to film making allowed for audiences to better connect to the characters and stories on screen, as they were by nature, explorations of the human condition by the eye of the camera itself: the directors. For example, the theme of isolation from society and feelings of loneliness displayed in Taxi Driver, were introspectively explored by the director Martin Scorsese and tapped into the mind-set of the audiences because they're universal and deep-rooted concepts.
"I don't think people anticipated that the therapeutic writings of a twenty-something dealing with inner-city solitude would hit such a nerve with the audience" – Paul Schrader, the films screenwriter. What I find particularly interesting about this quote is how when viewed from another perspective, it also reflects the creation of the film's script by Schrader himself.
Prior to Taxi Driver, the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor was awarded to Robert De Niro for his role in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part II and Ellen Burstyn was award Best Actress for her role in Scorsese's own previous film to Taxi Driver: Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. These recognitions of talent then allowed for Scorsese to get funding for Taxi Driver in 1976, as De Niro had already agreed upon starring in the film.
Robert De Niro, a previous Scorsese collaborator at the time, portrays Travis Bickle; the anti-hero, ex-US marine protagonist in this mid 1970's based vigilantly film. Throughout the film, a series of failed attempts to connect to people take place which ultimately leads him to take violent action into his own hands. The reason for this failure, from my research and view, is due to his psychological dysfunction caused by post-traumatic stress disorder: a result of exposure to the harsh realities of the Vietnam war he was recently honourably discharged from, as previously argued by Carrie Gorringe (1995). This most notably results in Travis never taking a step back to consider the possible viewpoints of others. Instead, he believes that the way he views his New York City surroundings; as filled with low-life scum, is in fact how the city truly is. Travis' inability to deal with the givens of existence only furthermore solidifies these viewpoints. This idea of existentialism is likely to have influenced and thus utilised by Schrader after he read Albert Camus' The Stranger (1942) around the time of writing the script: a novel which is often regarded as an exemplar of such. To the audience, it is clear that Travis' problems are self-inflicted. But in order to keep viewing himself as the protagonist of his life story, he must force himself to only focus on the things he despises. He insists all of the problems in his life; sexual frustration, loneliness and anger are the cause of others.
New York City was the ideal setting for Scorsese's first attempt at a mainstream major motion picture as according to the screenwriter Paul Schrader “Only true loneliness can be depicted when the protagonist is surrounded by people everywhere he goes”. Both Scorsese and Schrader were also born and raised in a religious household in New York City, as noted by Spark Notes (2013). Scorsese in particular has noted that whilst growing up in Little Italy, he experienced a lot of crime and violence and that to him it was "just the way things were". This perspective is likely to have influenced his approach to the filming and added to the films real-life resembling grittiness Biskind, P (1999). When compared to the city of today, the New York depicted in Taxi Driver is noticeably less of a family oriented tourist destination. Times Square was host to peep shows and the streets were regularly aligned with prostitutes.
Despite being overly-exaggerated by Travis in the feature, during the mid 70's, the period in which the film is set, the city of New York was a lot filthier than today's. Due to the near Bankruptcy of the city in 1974, the trash collectors went on strike, this meant that the city became increasingly aligned with warm garbage, to which the city did not have an immediate funded solution for. Jimmy Carter, a presidential candidate at the time promised that the city would not have to file for bankruptcy. He later won the national election in 1976 and solved New York's garbage problem. Comparably within the film, Senator Charles Palentine is also running for presidency. To Travis' surprise it just happens that Palentine requires his cab service. Whilst talking to Palentine, Travis states that he is a big supporter. However he was unable to identify him without confirmation and when questioned upon his policies, Travis admits that he is unaware of any. These are great example of Travis' many contradictions.
Unknowingly, you can convince yourself of something that isn’t true. This is why such self-inflicted isolation and loneliness can lead to the formation of what we call “Mad Men” such as Travis. Travis Bickle is a true American in the sense that there are heroes and villains in his anti-hero viewpoint. The thought of being a powerless victim is what drives him to commit what he believes to be heroic acts: this is confirmed by the posting of the newspaper articles. One thing for sure is that Travis has “good” intentions, this is why we can feel for him. However, as expressed by Scorsese's most recent collaborating actor Leonardo DiCaprio (2013), this is what also traps us.
Sometimes certain camera movements and techniques were employed just because they felt 'right' during shooting. In an interview with Scorsese, the director stated that often times decisions such as the “style” of the film in terms of its visuals were just the way Scorsese thought the film would be, not necessarily intended to be Gothic New York horror-esque, Scorsese, M (2011). This is what is referred to as organic film making, it was a major part to the free-style of film making explored by the French. It was the director following the vision in his head in that particular moment, not trying to add meaning via metaphors such as the smoke in the opening shot being representative of a certain hell on earth.
Taxi Driver draws parallels to John Ford's The Searchers (1956), in which the protagonist tries to save someone who doesn't necessarily want to be saved. However the difference between The Searchers and Taxi driver is that Travis does so for his ego, not because its the moral thing to do. His violent actions in the final scene are likely to have psychologically scarred Iris, a 12 year old prostitute played by Jodie Foster, counterproductive to supposedly "saving" her: his intended plan. Due to not viewing his first film until his late teens, Schrader's influences are mostly literature such as The catcher in the Rye: similarly to Travis Bickle, Holden's attitude remains unchanged at the story's end, implying no maturation. Another work of influential loneliness is Fyodor Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground.
Upon release, despite ringing the zeitgeist of the youthful audience and therefore achieving commercial success, Taxi Driver was not a raving critical success. In fact, when it comes to truly ground-breaking films such as this, most are not referred to as such until their impact on the industry has been recognised much later. Film critic Roger Ebert (1976) was one of the few of the time that understood the messages and purpose behind the films shockingly lurid sequence of events.
Almost a decade prior to the release of Taxi Driver, Arthur Penn's legendary film Bonnie and Clyde was released on August 13th 1967. The film came at a critical time for Hollywood: the studio system had been on a dramatic downward trajectory since the mid 1940's as a consequence of the rise of television and an outdated business model that relied on attracting audiences with extravagant musicals, films based on popular novels and famous movie stars. Overall, the types of mainstream movies released had become typical and thus tiresome to many. The audiences were being pulled in to the small screen with consistent coverage of various revolutionary movements of the time such as the civil rights movement and sexual revolution. In order to survive the system had to change; studios started to have greater confidence in younger, unknown filmmakers following Penn's commercial smash hit. Thanks to the successes of Bonnie and Clyde and The Graduate, mainstream films started to become more original and less novel-based. Now revered film critic Pauline Kaul argued upon release that Bonnie and Clyde indicated the rise of a “new” Hollywood, to much disbelief of her peers.
The feature shares common revolutionary cinematic themes of idiosyncrasy, sexual frustration, alienation and rebellion with that of Taxi Driver. It awakened audiences from their movie-going slumber; they were liberated by a form of cinematic entertainment that needn’t rely on sheer spectacle alone. Subversive comedy and frank sexual discussions resonated. Unlike any mainstream films before, the "villains" in Bonnie and Clyde were The violence in Bonnie and Clyde is a means to an end for their joyous ride. 'Moreover, from the moment Clyde introduces himself and his partner, saying, "I'm Clyde Barrow and this is Miss Bonnie Parker. We rob banks", the movie brazenly romanticises the outlaws – bank robbers and killers.' page 49, Biskind, P (1999). This startled and challenged the pre-conceptions of sadism within villains that audiences and critics alike were accustomed to with “old Hollywood”. How could these murderers seem so innocent? It was this confusion that led to initial bad reviews. This film broke significant ground because it made audience members step back and consider why they disliked it when so many others didn’t.
The characters of Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker are based off real-life Great Depression-era bank-robbing outlaws of the same names. The famed outlaws and their gang, originally from Dallas, Texas, travelled across the United States until their ultimate death in a police ambush in Sailes, Louisiana. Accurate to the real ambush, the ending of the film was ground-breaking for its time as it unflinchingly showed the 167 bullets shot at their vehicle, kill the gang. The graphic violence in the film reflected the live-television news images of a brutal war in Vietnam which was taking place during production, as mentioned by Snider, E D (2010). The fact that many Americans could watch a war unfold live from their living rooms contributed to a growing opposition to the war.
Bibliography
References:
- Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Film. Directed by Arthur Penn. [DVD] Warner Bros.-Seven Arts.
- The Graduate (1967) Film. Directed by Mike Nichols. [.mov] United Artists.
- Taxi Driver (1976) Film. Directed by Martin Scorsese. [.mov] Columbia Pictures.
- EBERT, R (1976) Taxi Driver Review. www.rogerebert.com. [Online] [Accessed: 4th November 2015].
- SPARK NOTES (2013) Taxi Driver: Context [Online] Available from: www.sparknotes.com. [Accessed: 1st November 2015].
- Snider, E D (2010) What’s the Big Deal?: Bonnie and Clyde (1967) Available from: www.thefilm.com [Online] [Accessed: 27th October 2015].
- Carrie Gorringe (1995) Taxi Driver, Nitrate Online [Online] Available from www.nitrateonline.com [Accessed: 27th October 2015].
- Sterrit, David (1999). The Films of Jean Luc Godard. Cambridge, UK. Cambridge University Press, Print.
- Scorsese, M (2011) Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader & Sam Rockwell Talk "Taxi Driver" Rerelease With AMC [Online] Available from: www.youtube.com [Accessed: 28th October 2015].
- DiCaprio, L (2013) Leonardo DiCaprio on Taxi Driver | Charlie Rose [Online] Available from: www.youtube.com [Accessed: 28th October 2015].
- Biskind, P (1999) 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls'. 1st Edition. Simon and Schuster.
- Merchant, G (2005) 'The Making Of Taxi Driver'. 1st Edition. MQ Publications Ltd. Book.
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