CinemaDome: Drive vs Taxi Driver

I was away yesterday, so a shortened voting period for this match-up. Votes will still be tallied Wed morning.

A little more apples to apples here. Both have long periods of calm punctuated by bursts of violence. Both had some impact on the underground scene. Both have dudes driving around.



vs

I love both of these movies. Drive and The Place Beyond the Pines really cemented Gosling as a top notch actor in my mind.

I think there's individual moments I like more in Taxi Driver, but as a whole I think I actually prefer Drive. Wow.

I have the (I'm guessing) unpopular opinion of not liking either of these movies. Despite Drive being an inspiration for one of my top 10 video games of all time, Hotline Miami, I was bored by this film. Gosling was a cardboard cutout. Two days ago I saw The Neon Demon, and loathed it. I suppose I just don't like this director's work.

I also didn't care for Taxi Driver, but at least I can actually remember parts of it. The "you talkin' to me" scene is enjoyable. It also launched Jody Foster's career, allowing her to one day be in an actually good movie, The Silence of the Lambs. I vote Taxi Driver.

If this was on soundtracks only, Drive would take this in a heartbeat. That saxophone in Taxi Driver really gets old.

If this was on leading performances, Robert DeNiro would lock this up.

I think it would be a virtual tie if we looked at supporting performances. On the one hand you have Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel both bringing it. On the other hand, Carey Mulligan, Oscar Isaacs, Albert Brooks, Bryan Cranston... wow.

Honestly I gotta go with feel on this one. From beginning to end, I was on the edge of my seat with DRIVE. I was in awe in several moments and just riding beautifully on that insane soundtrack. It also cemented it for me that Ryan Gosling is no Ryan Reynolds.

It's DRIVE for me.

Drive is a cool, stylish picture that's turned out to be a modern cult classic but it is also willfully empty, shallow and without any real depth. It also wears out its welcome in the last half and more or less becomes a pretty straight crime film.

Taxi Driver on the other hand is one of the most important post-Vietnam films and it is a stunning portrayal not only of NYC in the 70s, but also of a complex, complicated character that is clearly wounded by society, war, culture, and the government. Then there's also this depiction of the sort of "underworld" of cabbies, presented as sort of these lost souls looking for value and meaning in anything (like the Errol Flynn bathtub tile). The film has a very specific nocturnal atmosphere that captures that sense of it being too late, the lights being too bright, and the coffee being too black. It's all in the cinematography and the music.

It is also a master class in restraint. The first time I saw it I was in the throes of Hong Kong mania (so like 1993 or so) and I remember being disappointed with it because it had been built up as this apocalyptic, violent picture. I was expecting The Wild Bunch. But there's really just the one scene...but it packs such a wallop and stews in the broth of the entire film. At first, you think it isn't even really a big deal- vigilante shoots up a pimp and his goons. But when you reflect on the preparation, the slow boil...it is a personal apocalypse. One that Travis Bickle has turned himself quite literally into a machine (the rail holster on his arm, almost a subtle body horror/posthuman element) to achieve.

There are so many jaw-dropping scenes from a writing and acting perspective, like the bit where he takes Cybil Shepard to the porno theater. It's such an awkward, difficult scene...but he is so damaged that he just really doesn't get it. I also love the scene with Palatine in the car. It sums up so much about politics and the ignorance and insincerity between politician and constituent- something top of mind for many in 1976. Let alone now.

I'm sorry, what was the other movie again?

Michael Barnes wrote: The film has a very specific nocturnal atmosphere that captures that sense of it being too late, the lights being too bright, and the coffee being too black.

That's a great line.

I think I saw Drive, or at least part of it. Other than Ryan Gosling, it didn't make much of an impression.

Taxi Driver was on my radar for a very long time before I finally saw it, but certain lines and scenes lodged into mainstream culture to make this movie a part of me before I even saw it. Taxi Driver definitely had that late '70s New York vibe down: gritty, sleazy, dangerous, and tense. It also landed somewhat ahead of a decade worth of Hollywood obsession with traumatized Vietnam veterans, as well as the growing right-wing obsession with crime and guns.. The combination was explosive, but there was a long, slow burning fuse leading up to the riveting conclusion. Because I was aware that this movie influenced John Hinckley when he shot President Reagan, I paid close attention to the portrayal of politics, though it wasn't particularly critical for a post-Watergate movie. And the ending was a cynical reaction to the media, years ahead of the Republican backlash against the media in the '80s. Great cast, and an amazing performance by one of the best actors ever.

Vote: Taxi Driver

Might as well call it Style vs Substance.

TAXI DRIVER

This is a really tough one for me, so I'll have to think about it a little bit.

One note to add about the porno theater scene in Taxi Driver, though. There was a brief period for a couple of years in the '70s when pornos kinda went mainstream. They played in regular theaters, got reviewed in the New York Times and Chicago Tribune, and people saw them as part of a new, arty, free love development of film.

Travis Bickle is still completely out of his mind and a social misfit for taking her there, but there is some contemporary context that has been lost with time.

For a while I watched Gosling walk around wearing that ridiculous jacket and thought 'you don't get to wear that, you are a wimp'. Then the character lived up to it. That was nice. Also, the sound was amazing.
As much as we are voting style vs. substance, we are voting NY vs. LA. I can't believe I'm doing this - NY beats LA, Taxi Driver is the vastly superior film and might beat Drive even if De Niro wasn't in it, but all that happened forty years ago. Drive is a movie of today and it does have quite some (well-hidden) social commentary about now. Also, I had a good time watching it.
Drive

Shamefully enough, I have not seen Drive, and I haven't seen Taxi Driver in 30+ years. Old and uninformed, that's me.

Ryan Gosling will always be Young Hercules to me.



Vote: Taxi Driver

Whoa, whoa, is nothing sacred around here? Well, apparently not...

Taxi Driver is one of these movies that I think anyone who appreciates cinema should watch at least once, whether you like it or not. It is an obligatory experience, in my opinion, even more so than Citizen Kane. I was given that advice when I was young and thought of myself as cinephile, watched it and got really bored, but endured. It is not a fun movie, and anyone who claims otherwise is as mentally stable and trustworthy as Travis Bickle.

But it is a fucking great movie nonetheless. Some excellent comments from Barnes and Shellhead above. I'd add that Taxi Driver is a brilliant study in alienation. If you live in a city, you cross paths with hundreds if not thousands of Travis Bickles on daily basis. People who have been lonely, for whatever reason, for a such a long period of time that they don't really belong to the society. If you get to talk to them a little, you might realize something is off, but maybe not even then. Maybe you start to put the pieces together once they actually do something so nuts and unpredictable it is impossible to ignore. Secondly, this and Mean Streets (which is way less watchable than Taxi Driver) are both unique windows into New York's recent past. The areas and people have changed almost beyond recognition. But when I talk to people who lived here in 70ies and early 80ies, many say: "Watch Taxi Driver".

And, on top of that, if you endure the bulk of Taxi Driver, you're treated to one of the best shoot-outs filmed. Like, seriously, top five ever.

As for Drive, I guess it is not as boring as Taxi Driver. But it is still pretty boring, and there're no hidden depths here. It is basically Ryan Gosling staring at people and people staring back. Sometimes he bashes their brains in, which is moderately enjoyable if you like that sort of thing. There's no substance, no twist, no interesting character, scenes or dialogues. Good actors and good cinematography, but that's it. Hotseat mentioned Hotline Miami... which has better soundtrack, action sequences and story than Drive.

So, Taxi Driver all the way. Closely followed by Hotline Miami

Mean Streets SUCKED

Vote: "taxi driver"