West Side Story

. His stated reason was that the act was an attempt to impress Jodie Foster by mimicking Travis' mohawked appearance at the Palantine rally. Tony runs out into the street, where he is shot by Chino; in the aftermath of his death, Maria is able to finally bring all the young people together. which triggered his attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Bernardo's girlfriend, Anita, agrees to help, but when she is taunted by the Jets, she invents a story that Maria has been killed by Chino, the man she was supposed to marry. Taxi Driver was reportedly part of a delusional fantasy on the part of John Hinckley, Jr. He and Maria plan to run away together. Award nominations:.

When the gangs arrange a "rumble", Maria pleads with Tony to prevent the fighting, but when Bernardo unintentionally stabs Riff to death, Tony, in a rage, kills Bernardo. Award wins:. The Sharks are led by Maria's brother, Bernardo, and the Jets by Tony's best friend, Riff. we thought it was a good idea.". Tony and Maria fall in love, despite the fact that they are associated with rival gangs - Tony with the Jets, and Puerto Rican-born Maria with the Sharks. and you knew that was a special situation, a commando kind of situation, and people gave them wide berths .. The story line is a reworking of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, with minor variations, set among American and Puerto Rican street gangs in New York City's Upper West Side. They cut their hair in a certain way; looked like a mohawk ..

Nominations (1). Scorsese later noted that Magnotta had "talked about certain types of soldiers going into the jungle. Wins (10). This detail was suggested by actor Victor Magnotta, a friend of Scorsese's who had a small role as a Secret Service agent, and who had served in Vietnam. Book by Arthur Laurents
Music by Leonard Bernstein
Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Directed and Choreographed by Jerome Robbins. For example, when Bickle determines to assassinate Senator Palantine, he cuts his hair into a mohawk. On AFI's 100 years, 100 songs, "Tonight" was #59, "America" was #35, and "Somewhere" was #20. Some critics have argued Taxi Driver is perhaps the first film to address--however indirectly--the impact of the Vietnam War on soldiers who fought in the conflict.

The film was #41 on American Film Institute's 100 Years, 100 Movies and #3 on its 100 Years, 100 Passions, and has been deemed "culturally significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry. [1] (http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/taxi.html). It won a Grammy award in 1985. Roger Ebert selected Taxi Driver as a Great Film, alongside Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia and others. Generally known as the "operatic version" of West Side Story, it stars Kiri Te Kanawa as Maria, José Carreras as Tony, Tatiana Troyanos as Anita, Kurt Ollman as Riff, and Marilyn Horne who sings "Somewhere" as an anonymous character. The soundtrack was the last he completed before his death. In 1984, Bernstein decided to re-record the musical, conducting his own music for the first time. Bernard Herrmann, who is noted for his work with Alfred Hitchcock (especially Psycho), scored Taxi Driver.

Some of the songs include "Something's Coming," "Maria," "America," "Somewhere," "Tonight," "Gee, Officer Krupke," "I Feel Pretty," "One Hand, One Heart," and "Cool.". It is consistently in the top 50 on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Bernstein's score for the musical has been extremely popular. Taxi Driver was a financial success and it was #47 on the American Film Institute's list of 100 Years, 100 Movies, and #22 on its 100 Years, 100 Thrills. West Side Story is still produced frequently by local theatres and is occasionally produced by classical opera companies. We end not on carnage but on redemption, which is the goal of so many of Scorsese's characters.". The dark theme, sophisticated music, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in English language musical theatre, which had previously (with rare exceptions) tended toward light and fluffy themes. The end sequence plays like music, not drama: It completes the story on an emotional, not a literal, level.

The film won ten Motion Picture Academy Awards including Best Picture, the most Oscars received by any movie musical. I am not sure there can be an answer to these questions. In 1961, it was made into a motion picture and released on October 18 by United Artists, directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise. Is this a fantasy scene? Did Travis survive the shoot-out? Are we experiencing his dying thoughts? Can the sequence be accepted as literally true? .. West Side Story debuted on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater on September 26, 1957 and played 732 performances before going on tour - a very successful run for the time. Roger Ebert has written of the film's ending, "There has been much discussion about the ending, in which we see newspaper clippings about Travis' 'heroism', and then Betsy gets into his cab and seems to give him admiration instead of her earlier disgust. West Side Story is a musical written by Arthur Laurents (book), Leonard Bernstein (music), and Stephen Sondheim (lyrics), and was originally produced, choreographed, and directed by Jerome Robbins. Director Scorsese comments on Travis' final moments in the DVD, mentioning that this "mirror glance" could be a symbol that Travis might fall into depression and violent rage once again in the future, although it is still open to interpretation.

Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium - Ernest Lehman. As Betsy departs his cab, Travis drives away, and a curious ring sounds as Travis quickly adjusts his mirror, before the credit roll on the background of the bright and distorted city lights seen from the cab's perspective. Academy Award for Sound - Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD), and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD). Some have seen this epilogue as Bickle's dying fantasy, while others see it as a real resolution of Bickle's acts. Academy Award for Original Music Score, of a Musical Picture - Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Irwin Kostal, and Sid Ramin. A brief epilogue of sorts ends the film and shows Shepherd's character climbing into Bickle's cab, and commenting on his "saving" Iris and Bickle's own media fame, but Travis seems to be mentally recovered now and denies himself as being any sort of hero. Academy Award for Film Editing - Thomas Stanford. Rather than being upset or traumatized, Foster said, she was fascinated and entertained by the behind-the-scenes preparation that went into the scene.

Academy Award for Directing - Jerome Robbins, and Robert Wise. However, in the documentary Making "Taxi Driver" (included in the DVD release of the movie), Foster stated that she was present during the setup and staging of the special effects used during the scene; the entire process was explained and demonstrated for her, step by step. Academy Award for Costume Design, Color - Irene Sharaff. Some critics expressed concern over young Jodie Foster's presence during the climactic shoot-out scene. Fapp. In later interviews, Scorsese commented that he was actually pleased by the color change and he considered it an improvement over the originally filmed scene, which has been lost. Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Color - Daniel L. To attain an "R" rating, Scorsese desaturated the colors, making the brightly-colored blood less prominent.

Gangelin, and Boris Leven. The climactic shoot-out was, for its era, intensely graphic, and retains much of its visceral impact today. Academy Award for Best Art Direction- Set Decoration, Color - Victor A. A slow-motion overhead tracking shot moves out of the room and examines his path of violence, moving over blood stains, the 3 dead bodies, down the steps and outside to the crowd of police and curiosity seekers swarming outside. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress - Rita Moreno. In a disturbing symbol of insanity, or so it seems, he raises a bloody index finger to his head and pretends to be shooting himself. Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor - George Chakiris. He is wounded neck and arm in the fight, and he seems to be dying as he sits down on the couch before policemen enter the room.

Academy Award for Best Picture - Robert Wise, producer. When he is spotted by secret servicemen and flees, he desperately drives uptown and shoots Iris' pimp Sport (Keitel), before storming into the brothel and brutally killing the bouncer, the wounded Sport who returns, and Iris' mafioso customer. Bickle then plans to assassinate the Senator at a public rally, perhaps seeing him as a buffer between him and Betsy. Other disturbing scenes include Travis' purchasing of various weaponry (a hunting knife and four handguns) from an energetic "salesman" named Easy Andy, a disturbed businessman in the back of Travis' cab (played by the director himself in a last-minute substitution) explaining to Travis how he wishes to kill his wife, who is playing around with a paramour, and a convenience store scene where Travis entices a thief at the counter to turn around and face him before Travis calmly shoots him through the cheek. She agrees to a date with Bickle when he flirts with her and sympathizes with her own apparent loneliness, but he takes her to a pornographic film, and she leaves him, disgusted.

Bickle is also obsessed with Betsy (Shepherd), an aide for a New York State Senator running for the presidency and promising dramatic social change. Bickle is horrified by what he considers the moral decay around him, and when Iris (Foster), a 12˝ year-old prostitute, gets in his cab one night to escape her pimp, he becomes obsessed with saving her despite her complete lack of interest in the idea, explaining that she was "stoned" and her pimp, Sport, is actually a kind and caring person. Bickle spends his spare time watching pornography in seedy theaters and driving around aimlessly through the darkest and most repulsive neighborhoods of Manhattan. He suffers from insomnia and consequently takes a job as taxi driver in New York City, and volunteers to work the overnight shift "anytime, anywhere".

Travis Bickle (De Niro), an alienated, sexually repressed young man of 26 from the Midwest, has recently been discharged from the Marines. Taxi Driver is a 1976 American motion picture drama directed by Martin Scorsese. Making "Taxi Driver" (documentary). Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets..

Out of this filthy mess, she is alone.
They...cannot...touch...her.. She appeared like an angel. She was wearing a white dress. I first saw her at Palantine Campaign headquarters at 63rd and Broadway.

You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here.. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere.