h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey Pinniped

The thing that made me consider it was something knibunny said in one of her posts, can't remember which one.

We could always try asking Scorsese. He'd know

But I don't have his phone number

If you're still reading this thread......

I had the good fortune of seeing two excellent films recently. North by Northwest (at a mate's) and Ocean's Eleven (remake, at the cinema). Both heartily recommended

*Sidles back in to the thread, hoping no-one has noticed she went AWOL again*

I think what I actually said was that the ending seemed like one of his pitiful delusions. And I'd forgotten about the bit at the end where Cybil Shepherd gets into his cab, and she's nice to him but he's all cool and more or less gives her the brush off, which comes across as another bit of wishful thinking on his part. In fact the more I think about it, the more I start to wonder just how much of the ending is supposed to be what actually happened and how much is Bickle's imagination. Did he even get as far as shooting the room up? I like the theory that he's actually in a padded room somewhere, though.

Welcome back, knitbunny

I was talking about Taxi Driver to a friend the other day and I put forward the "padded room" theory. My mate didn't buy it, but I think it makes sense in the context of the film.

Hi Knitbunny/Zagreb
Taxi Driver : I took a straw poll among half-a-dozen friends who've seen it, and all of them thought that the recovery/hero-worship bit at the end was his imagination. The only difference was that some thought he was hallucinating because he was dying and some thought he'd just gone insane.
I quite like Knitbunny's idea, that the slaughter was fantasy too. In fact you can maybe go further. Is the whole film a juxtaposition of his wannabe delusions set against his tedious real life? The intense work-outs and becoming super-fit seem pretty incongruous compared with what goes before, for example.
I saw it again, and I have to agree that the ending is weak once you watch it in a detached, critical way. For me, picking that up first time would never happen, what with the shock of the scenes before.
Incidentally, it seems to be one of the most intensely web-reviewed films of all. There's one review by a Tim Dirks (links to all kinds of sites) that's so comprehensive it includes about half of the dialogue. Dirks says it's supposed to be ambiguous, whether he's dying or not at the end.
Still haven't found a Scorcese version, though.
P.

I only disappear for months on end so that I get hugs 'n stuff when I get back, y'know...

I'll have to look up Taxi Driver on the net myself, I never realised so many people thought the narrative was that ambiguous. I was flicking through a book about Taxi Driver (you know the ones, they're like the Yorke Notes only about films) and it didn't mention anything like that. The author's theory was that the end was something about how popular culture celebrates the outsider anti-hero, but the sinister music creeping back in over the final shot of Travis proves he's still a ticking time-bomb.

I'm gonna have to watch it again sometime soon. I'm starting to think of it as one of those annoying sixties French nouvelle vaugue ('scuse the spelling) 'Last Year at Miranbaude' (it gets worse) is it real, or a memory or a fantasy type films. I'm sure I read somewhere they were a big influence on Scorcese? Come on Zagreb, you're the one writing a screenplay, you should know How's that going, by the way?

I'm supposed to be emailing the Screenplay to a mate who wants to co-write it

I'm doing *two* (count em) Screenplays for another friend who wants to redo an old uni short film and adapt a short story. I am a busy bee.