By Arthur Bell
Translator: Yi Ersan
Proofreading: Issac
Source: Village Voice (originally published on August 18, 1975)
Dressed in a travel jacket, polo shirt, jeans, and expensive Italian loafers, Martin Scorsese ran down East 13th Street, then poked his head into a Chick taxi and gestured to the assistant director, who walked toward a group of people gathered behind a wooden blockade fence.
"Guys," he said, "please be quiet—we'll be grateful." There will be gunshots later. Don't be afraid." A scruffy-looking woman pushed her companion with her elbow. "They're making a movie about our slums," she said. At this time, the assistant director shouted, "Please be quiet!" The shooting begins.
Robert De Niro got out of the cab in a daze and crossed the street to the doorway where the listless Harvey Keitel was standing. De Niro pushed Keitel. They yelled at each other.
Taxi Driver
De Niro then walked away, turned around, pulled a gun from The Jacket and began shooting. It sounded like the crash of the Hindenburg—so loud that, in fact, it didn't even sound much like gunfire.
Thirty minutes later, the scene began to be remade. This time, the gun didn't go off. An hour later, reshoot again. But De Niro was too close to Keitel to fire empty bullets. When the sixth article was photographed, Scorsese said, "Wash it out." De Niro said,. The assistant director shouted, "It's over."
This is Martin Scorsese's fifth feature film, Taxi Driver (the first four are Who's Knocking on My Door?). "Cold-blooded Thunderbolt Fire", "Poor Streets and Dark Alleys", "Once the Sea was Shipwrecked as Water"). It has been filmed on the streets of Manhattan for nearly eight weeks.
In addition to the East Village, filming locations include the Belmore Restaurant (a frequent place for taxi drivers); Columbus Roundabout, where a political rally for presidential candidates took place; and an abandoned apartment on West 88th Street and Columbus. A person unfamiliar with the set might think that what he was seeing was a high-budget chaotic scene, but in fact, the event was highly ordered under scorsese.
The film's plot is superficially similar to Thatheville's, but it is undoubtedly a New York story, and the setting is clearly set in an urban setting. The protagonist, De Niro, is a Vietnam Veteran. Like most taxi drivers, he was seen as part of the car: people were messing around in the back seat, trading drugs; however, he was completely anonymous to passengers.
In the course of his work, De Niro meets an ambitious presidential campaign worker (Spear Shepherd), a fourteen-year-old prostitute (Judy Foster), and a pimp (Harvey Keitel). At some point, he decided to assassinate the presidential candidate.
The result: the victims were drug dealers and pimps, who were also honored for their heroic actions.
Martin Scorsese was a little worried about how the film would be interpreted. He feared that people would think there were similarities to Arthur Bremer's attempt to assassinate George Wallace. But the fact that the assassination target is a presidential candidate is irrelevant. The problem is psychological, not political.
The plot of the film is easy to summarize, but looking at the wanderers on East 13th Street, you will wonder how many potential "taxi drivers" roam the streets of the city. Where does life begin, and when does Central Casting stop working?
This was especially striking a few weeks ago when a pizzeria at the intersection of 14th Street and Third Avenue was filming breakfast scenes. Nearby prostitutes were pushing and shoving staff, local people in Bowery were begging, and fights broke out among the tramps.
Martin's parents, Catherine Scorsese and Charlie Scorsese, sat outside the Variety Theater, proudly recounting their son's accomplishments to a good-looking street drug dealer.
Scorsese's mom was often on set, giving people humor and advice. She was a large woman with silver hair and a flawless white dress. Martin treated her the same way he treated Keitel: he would push her, and she would crash back without hesitation. Some say that this eccentric and friendly mutual understanding is very much like the relationship between Alice and her son on screen.
Between shots, Martin chatted about the movie in his rest car. The films that influenced him the most were Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising, Duel in the Sun, and John Ford's Western.
Scorpio Rising
"When I was a kid, I used to go to the Academy of Music to see Samuel Fuller's films. South Street Adventures, Bamboo House, and Forty Guns. I watch Park Avenue every night on the Million Dollar Movie. The films of Michael Powell and Emerick Presberg are great. I know it may sound crazy, but my favorite is "The End of the Song." The film was terrible in many ways, but I learned a lot about editing and mirroring from watching it repeatedly. The passage where the dolls dance is so beautiful."
Born in Corona, Queens, Martin learned the basics of life on the streets of Little Italy and then underwent some training at a professional film school.
Would Martin consider himself the maker of New York films — like Paul Mazusky was a recorder of the Southern California way of life? After all, "Poor Streets" not only captures the material soul of the city, but also touches the emotional pulse of its residents. "I don't know," Martin replied, speaking at an astonishing rate.
"Poor Streets and Dark Alleys"
"New York is a full character in Poor Streets and Taxi Driver. I love the city and accept it as it is – it's good and bad. I love the fire hydrants that spray water on summer nights, and I love the racial jokes the staff make when filming here. You won't find any of this in Los Angeles."
Did "Once Upon a Time Shipwrecked" in Tucson take him out of New York, not out of his body? The film is the result of a joint effort by screenwriters Robert Gecher, Martin, and Alan Justin, who incorporated many personal experiences into the film.
"If my film isn't autobiographical, then I'm sure I can empathize with some of the emotions in the characters. Otherwise, making a movie would take too much effort, and if I wasn't interested in the character, I would be in big trouble. Even Barry Plains in Cold-Blooded Thunderbolt expressed my attitude and views on the world."
In all his films, Martin's compassion —even to those dirty and despicable characters—shines. For example, in a scene in Taxi Driver, filmed a few weeks ago, Judy Foster told Harvey Keitel that she didn't want to be a prostitute anymore.
Instead of knocking Judy to the ground, Harvey picked her up and began dancing with her in the room. He told the little girl how much he needed her and how much he depended on her. What would have been a confrontation between a pimp and a prostitute suddenly turned into a love scene.
Martin said: "It doesn't have much to do with the structure of the story, but it gives us a deeper understanding of the two characters." Couldn't Martin make a cold and unbridled movie, like one about the Massacre in Houston a few years ago?
He pondered for a minute or two, frowned, and replied, "I'm afraid so." For example, the murder scene in this movie was filmed in six days, and walking into the corridor where we shot and seeing artificial blood was getting worse and worse every day. I'm going to be very frustrated."
An assistant suddenly interrupted us. "Martin," said the assistant, "do you want the taxi to stop by the side of the road, or do you want it to stop side by side?" "It's crazy," Martin replied. "Stick out a little bit toward the street, the front is facing this side, the back is facing that side." Martin's body swung from side to side. He seems to want to find a drawing board to sketch out a taxi, as he does in every scene in the movie, but the assistant leaves the rest car with a "got it" and Michael Phillips walks over and drops down a few Taxi Driver work T-shirts.
A few minutes later, Robert De Niro walked in and out like a pickpocket on the subway. De Niro is one of the greatest actors, but the public knows a lot more about Garbo than about him. He avoids interviews, comes and goes alone, and his private life is a mystery. Why? Martin shrugged.
"He was always shy, even when we first met when he was sixteen. When he works, he keeps all people and things out. The same is true of Alan Justin. She doesn't talk to anyone. When we filmed "Once upon a Time", she always tried to concentrate alone. I can understand this because I get distracted easily while I'm at work. Bobby chose to stay in his rest car, and that was it. I wouldn't even bother him. I would sometimes knock on his door. Ask him, "Can I come in?" He might say, 'Of course, of course.' Otherwise I'll leave him alone."
It was nearly midnight when we left the rest car, strolling down 13th Street, which was still bustling with traffic. The old woman put her elbow on the pillow and leaned out the window to look out the street. Martin walked slowly toward his mother. The two were talking witty.
Alan Justin came over to visit the class after filming of "This Time Next Year" and watched some remake footage. As time passed, the staff all became dizzy. There was black coffee everywhere, heavy footsteps, and the crowd began to thin out. The air was filled with the smell of uncollected garbage.
The sound of taxi horns also echoed in the air. One of the city's countless lost people sat in the gutter, sipping the "Rhine Gold" beer. He's just an extra. It's time for new york movies.