To at the present time, not solely is “Taxi Driver” considered the most effective American movies of all time, but it surely’s additionally some of the influential. However, many of the dialogue about Martin Scorsese’s thriller, written by Paul Schrader, is targeted on the efficiency of Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle. When Quentin Tarantino wrote about “Taxi Driver” in his new e-book, he had extra to say about Harvey Keitel’s character, Sport.
In an excerpt from his upcoming e-book, “Cinema Speculation” (through IndieWire), Quentin Tarantino discusses the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the character of Sport in Scorsese’s “Taxi Driver.” More particularly, Tarantino laments the truth that Columbia Pictures felt the necessity to change Sport’s race from Black to white earlier than filming started, going towards what was written in Schrader’s script. For Tarantino, not solely is that this an ill-advised change, but it surely essentially adjustments the movie.
“The film makes it obvious [Travis Bickle] sees Black males as figures of malevolent criminality,” Tarantino wrote about “Taxi Driver.” “He’s repelled by any contact with them. They are to be feared or at the very least avoided. And since we watch the film from Travis’ point of view, we do as well.”
He added that the filmmakers had been urged by Columbia Pictures to alter Sport from Black to white “because the race riots a few years earlier still cast a long shadow.”
“And who couldn’t handle that?” Tarantino added. “Black audiences? Or is it more likely that the white folks financing the movie were the ones made to feel uncomfortable by the imagery in Schrader’s original script? So uncomfortable that a fear of Black males causing violence in cinemas was conveniently trotted out as an excuse to change Schrader’s Sport from Black to white? Any way you slice it, Scorsese, and producers Michael and Julia Phillips, and Columbia Pictures changing the pimp character of Sport from Black to white was a societal compromise.”
Obviously, Quentin Tarantino is the kind of cinephile who loves to investigate and break down traditional movies, and he’s additionally an encyclopedia relating to the behind-the-scenes tales concerned. So, it is smart that he would take the time to investigate the race swapping of Sport in “Taxi Driver.”
Tarantino can also be the kind of filmmaker who has by no means shied away from tackling race points in his movies, a lot to the chagrin of some movie followers. Whether it’s his use of racial slurs in his scripts or overtly speaking about slavery in one thing like “Django Unchained,” Tarantino has robust ideas about how Black individuals will be proven on display screen. Alas, there’s not a lot you are able to do about “Taxi Driver” many years after the actual fact.