Jay Movie Talk Ep.363- Taxi Driver- Loneliness, Violence, and The American Outsider
January kicks off with a defining entry in cinema history: Taxi Driver
In Episode 363 of Jay Movie Talk. I begin the Loners, Drifters, & Outsiders series by revisiting Martin Scorsese's haunting character study of isolation, alienation, and violence in post-Vietnam America. Fifty years later, Taxi Driver remains as unsettling, provocative, and conversation-worthy as ever.
This episode dives deep into Travis Bickle as a character, the dangers of romanticizing loneliness, and how the film places us inside a fractured mindset rather than asking us to admire it. I discuss Scorsese's raw direction, Robert De Niro's career-defining performance, and why the film's ending still sparks debate decades later.
I also explore how Taxi Driver has influenced modern cinema, why this archetype keeps resurfacing, and whether the film feels even more relevant today than it did in the 1970s .
This isn't an easy watch, but it's an essential one. And it sets the tone for everything coming this month.
