#41 TAXI DRIVER

"Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm god's lonely man."-Travis Bickle

"All the animals come out at night. Whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies. Sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets."- Travis Bickle

"He's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction; a walking contradiction."-Betsy to Travis (A line from a Kris Kristofferson song.)



In "Taxi Driver", Martin Scorcese and Robert Deniro have teamed up to tell the story of a lonely outsider named Travis Bickle, living in a world of violence. The atypical plot focuses on the gradual descent of this man into madness through the immersion into the violence that he abhors. Its a brilliant exploration of a lonely outsider, lost, stagnant, aimless. He's like an empty vessel that gradually gets filled by the violence and darkness that, even though he detests, he gravitates towards. Travis Bickle comes from violence as a Vietnam veteran, and possibly from before that. I imagine that he experienced terrible things in Vietnam and there are things inside himself, dark places, that instead of looking at, he projects outwards. Some of the areas of the city are already so dark and violent to begin with that it gradually pushes him into a violent madness. His mind is the darkness of the city and the city is the darkness of his mind, and especially in the sinister dwellings of New York City that is a very combustible thing.

The combination of Scorcese's vision with the camera, Paul Schrader's phenomenal screenplay, a killer performance by Robert Deniro, and a great score by Bernard Herrman make all of this so potent and alive.

The movie opens with an awesome shot of an eerie cloud of steam that fills the screen. In a closeup a cab drives through the cloud in slow motion. In the background are slow basey horns that feel very film noir. It feels like the cab is either descending from or into the underworld. Travis, throughout the movie, more than once will pass through this same cloud of steam and it will always foreshadow an entry into the dark places of the city. In this one symbolic opening sequence Scorcese reveals a lot of the mood and meaning of the film. It's not quite as potent as the opening sequence in "Apocalypse Now" but it is still quite hypnotic and has a special place in my heart as a great artistic cinematic moment.

The movie begins with Travis Bickle getting a job driving a taxi on the night shift, 6pm-6am sometimes seven days a week. He can't sleep and he needs some kind of structure, something to occupy his time and his mind. Most of the movie is told in voiceover similar to the style of a classic film noir, and this movie is a film noir but not your typical one. Some examples of a typical film noir would be the bad guys are after the protagonist, or the protagonist is protecting a woman and a shitstorm may come down on him as a result, or the character is trapped with seemingly no way out. In "Taxi Driver" its more like there is something incredibly unsettling about this man, and it feels like something bad could happen, and it continues to feel more and more like that as the film progresses until he crosses the line and pops. So much of that feeling of darkness, of uncertainty, of feeling trapped that is usually found in the dark cities of the film noir universe are found in the landscape of Travis's psyche.

You see again and again that he is an outsider, someone who doesn't quite know how to fit in, and when he tries to it often goes wrong and he gets rejected. In the first scene of the movie he's trying to make a joke with the Taxi Garage Manager and it falls flat and he gets rejected.

Manager- "How's your driving record?"
Travis- "It's clean. Very clean. Clean as my conscience." (smiles creepily)
Manager- "You gonna break my chops? I get enough trouble with these guys breaking my chops all the time. If you're gonna break my chops you can take it on the arches."

He's awkward. Deep down he feels like the world is out to get him so there's a defensiveness there, and he never learned how to properly socialize, being an outsider. So when he tries to connect it often comes out strange or creepy.

As will be seen repeatedly when Travis is feeling scorned, pissed, or just overall very activated, the camera comes in close and hovers over him. You can feel a mixture of intense emotions. It's Scorsese's way of making sure that we not only understand what's going on through the acting, dialogue, and story, but by putting that camera there you feel more of this character's experience and when he uses the same technique at other times you recognize it and have an even better idea what's going on with this character. You experience more of Travis Bickle.

Not long after this he is at a porno theatre and he's trying to make conversation with the teller by asking her name, and once again it doesn't work and she calls the manager. Later, when talking to a pimp, played very well by Harvey Keitel, the pimp makes fun of him, plays around with him, and calls him square. Travis's biggest rejection in the film comes after he has succeeded in asking out Betsy, a campaign worker for a presidential candidate named Palantine, that he falls for.

His whole experience with Betsy sums up a lot about this character. When he first sees her he feels like she is a perfect angel, and its as if they are meant to be together. When he talks to her over coffee he says strange things to her. Nice things but strange things, and you feel a little uncomfortable and embarassed for him. He, in the scene over coffee, reminded me of Norman Bates from "Psycho" when he's talking to Marion Crane over dinner. During this time he is lighter, happier. The score has a pleasant jazziness. He sees couples together rather than pimps and hookers. His viewpoint of the city is reflective of his mood and what's inside of him. He has someone. He's not alone. As he's walking to a date with Betsy he's shown in slow motion, all dressed up, in the middle of a crowd of people. He's not an outsider. He has someone. He also adopts the political candidate that Betsy is working for as someone who is great. Things begin to crumble as he unwittingly takes Betsy on a date to a porno movie. She leaves the theater after only a few minutes. He feels like he's doing the right thing. This is the world he lives in. In his world couples go to pornos and its ok. She won't return his phone calls and then Betsy the angel becomes Betsy the devil.

"I realize now how much she's just like the others, cold and distant, many people like that. Women for sure. They're like a union."

The presidential candidate Palantine that Betsy works for goes from being Palantine the great to Palantine the terrible. Travis's mind is made up of exaggerated extremes. He organizes his experience in such a way that he can justify the resulting violence. With Betsy he doesn't have to feel his loneliness and rejection so much if he creates a devil out of this onetime angel. With Palantine he has a justification now for the violence that's been aching to come out of him. As the movie progresses Travis's feeling of isolation and rejection is coupled with his immersion into the seedy parts of the city and he experiences more and more of the violence. He seeks out the violence because he has violence within him and the violence that he unconsciously seeks out creates even more violence within. It's a vicious cycle. These dark parts of the city are so vivid and alive. This is reality. You see the hookers and the pimps, and yelling and screaming. You hear a black man screaming at the top of his lungs "I'm gonna kill that bitch. I'm gonna kill that bitch." You see all the red light districts and you experience it in his cab as well. Scorsese in a cameo plays a man who is telling Travis graphically that he's going to kill his wife and how he's going to do it. So it all builds to a crescendo. Deep down he really just wants to kill someone. It's bubbling inside of him. When he realizes what he must do and begins his mission of assassinating Palantine he meets with a man who sells illegal unlicensed guns. He loads up on four of them and aims one out the window at innocent bystanders. In his apartment later he points the gun at people on tv. There's a great moment in a scene where he's sitting in a porno theatre and pointing the gun at the screen. He then periodically, with his hand against his forehead, covers his eyes with a finger and then removes it. He detests the porno yet he wants to watch. He's a walking contradiction.

Scorsese really lets the camera be a key element in describing this character. When he's driving his cab the camera is never just steady. It pans up to street lamps, pans down to just show the road. It sometimes continually just focuses on the passing streetlights. It feels unsteady and endless, like he's caught in a terrible loop. There are two separate scenes in the same diner that use a number of devices to show Travis's experience. In the first scene he's sitting in the diner with some of his fellow cabbies and he notices some black pimps in the back of the diner. The camera, like I mentioned before, gets right in close and kind of hovers over him. Soon after he puts some antacid in a glass of water and it's sizzling- the camera gets closer and closer to his face, coming from slightly underneath him. He looks like he's about to lose it. This is happening right after another cabbie (doughboy) is asking him if he wants a piece (gun). The camera gets close in on his face and then down closer and closer to the sizzling glass. Without a word we know what Travis is feeling. He's about to blow. Later, in another scene at the same diner, he is leaving with another cabbie (wizard) and the black cabbie sitting at the table points a finger like a gun at him and says "bye killer" as he smirks. Once again the camera is close in on Travis. When they get outside he sees a young black kid with a funky hat walking down the street and Bickle is framed in the red glow of the diner. The camera moves a little slower and stays on Travis as he follows the kid with his bad-ass gaze.

So often in the movie you see the reflection of Travis's eyes looking in his rearview mirror. It's a great way to viscerally show the reaction to some of the darkness he encounters. You feel a mixture of his fear and rage, and you can see a violence in those eyes. He's looking at dark, scary, violent things but in the mirror you can see these things in him, especially in the scene where he first meets Iris, the 12 year old prostitute he eventually tries to save, played by Jody Foster in an oscar nominated performance. Iris gets in the backseat of the cab and tells him to quickly get them away from there. Her pimp then comes in after her and pulls her out of the cab. The whole time there's a closeup of Travis's eyes in the rearview mirror. They are shrouded in darkness and you can see the mixture of fear, rage, and violence in them. You feel his reaction to the situation and, with such complexity, see the violence that he's reacting to in his own eyes. I also love the use of the rearview mirror repeatedly because the mirror gives us a clearer image of Travis's shadow and the fact that so much of what Travis is seeing and experiencing in the cab is distorted because the rearview mirror inherently reveals things slightly differently than they actually are.

I'll also mention some other moments in the film that I love. I love the shot when Travis is leaving the room in the tenament where he's been spending time with Iris for the first time. He looks down a hallway and the far end of it is completely dark. The tenament manager comes out of the darkness towards him to collect his money and then turns around and disappears back into the darkness like a troll returning to its cave. There is a great shot earlier in the film of Travis's cab going through a fire hydrant spray and then in slow motion the windshield wipers swiping the water away. It looks and feels just like the cab is in a car wash. It's perfect because he's ending his shift, wiping away the filth. In one of the great moments in the film Travis is finally talking to Betsy after she has repeatedly not answered his phone calls. He's in a phone booth inside a building and as the conversation continues and its clear he's getting rejected the camera moves to the right away from Travis until it's just looking down an empty hallway. It really reveals the loneliness of Travis in that moment and shows that this moment is too painful for us to watch. We shouldn't be watching him. Another great moment is when Travis is watching his tv which is resting on an egg crate. He's slowly tipping the tv back and forth with his foot. It feels like at any moment the tv is going to crash to the ground and it finally does and he puts his hands over his face. He's had it. This is Travis's world. It's not the world where people sit around on a comfy sofa, watch tv and things are predictable. It's a world in which things don't feel comfortable, safe, or predictable, where a television which often serves as a surrogate mother is unstable.

So i've come this far and haven't specifically mentioned Robert Deniro's performance. Wow. One of the greats. Travis Bickle has become an iconic character in our pop culture. I don't know if anyone else could've pulled off what he pulled off. I think part of it is that Deniro knew the streets. He spent a lot of time on the streets of Little Italy and other places in New York city and understood the effect of the city and a lot of the people that live there. Also, like Scorsese, Deniro grew up as a shy outsider. Both of them collaberating together understand what it's like to be an outsider. Both embraced cinema as a place of belonging. Deniro gives such a complex, nuanced performance in this movie. In the scene where he's asking Betsy out he reveals a man who is trying to have a swagger, who's trying to appear confident and suave, but you can see the fear and uncertainty underneath. This is why Deniro is so good in this movie. It's almost like he's not even acting, but truly embodying this character. His character shifts throughout the film. He's more quite and hesitant early on, then becomes more and more agitated until he becomes a killer in the end. Once he has his mohawk he is a different person. You can really see it when he's talking to the secret service man a little before the assassination attempt. He has this fucked up smile and he talks a little faster and with more confidence. He's a man who knows who he is and what he's going to do, and he's so much different than Travis in the beginning but its still Deniro. Deniro has this way throughout most of the movie of portraying a strange, awkward loner who is deeply affected by his inner and outer environment. It's not easy to do all of this and be riveting. I mean he's in almost every scene of the movie. The entire movie is about this man. This man is the movie and because Deniro is such an incredible actor and reveals so much authenticity in his performance you're riveted.

The final third of the movie is really its own entity. It's more typical in story and structure than the rest. It's a man on a mission.
"Listen you fuckers. You screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it any more. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up." Travis is clear. He knows what his purpose is and he's prepared to die. I think he wants to. He loads up on guns, and becomes a killing machine. He's seen putting his fists over an open flame, he's got an extensive workout regiment of situps, pullups, etc., and he creates a sling device so that he can keep a gun underneath his sleeve and at a seconds notice sling it right into his hand. This is when you get the famous "Taxi Driver" moment of Travis talking to a mirror.

"You talking to me? You talking to me? You talking to me? Well then who the hell else are you talking to? Me? You talking to me? Well i'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"

He fails in his assassination attempt of Palantine. He never gets close enough. Maybe because he stands out like a sore thumb with the mohawk and army jacket, and because he appeared so strange and suspicious when he foolishly talked to the secret service agent earlier. He quickly redirects his rage. He's going to be the savior of Iris, the 12 year old prostitute who he befriends and wants to help. He will vanquish her oppressors who will be representitive of all of the scum.

In the final act the color of the movie changes. The saturation is different, somewhere between color and black and white. This was intentional so that the gore at the end didn't feel so graphic, but it really works because it should be this way. This is his release, his act of violence, and the color palette on the screen should be darker. It adds to the overall mood. He shoots Iris's pimp in the gut, proceeds into the tenament, shoots the tenament managers hand, blowing off most of his fingers , Keitel comes in after him and shoots him in the neck, and this time Travis shoots him in the chest. He shoots Keitel again just to be sure and shoots the manager in the chest. After the head pimp sneaks up on him and shoots him in the arm Travis uses his sling gun and shoots him about seven times. All of this is very real. Nothing is held back. This is Travis's operatic release. This is representative of all the violence eating away at him throughout the movie. There has to be an explosion and it has to be volcanic. To me the most intense part of this scene is when the manager continues to chase after and crawl after Travis, agonized and pissed. "You crazy son of a bitch. I'll kill you. I'll kill you. He catches up to Travis and wrestles with him and he's slapping him with his one hand because his other is just about blown away. That is just such an intense violent image. Travis then stabs him in his good hand and shoots him. Fucking christ. A total bloodbath. As the police are coming in there's a continual looping dreamlike harp playing in the score and a periodic dramatic horn section. The camera is directly overhead looking down. It really adds to the impact of what just happened and it just looks really cool. This is the violence that the whole film was leading up to and it seems fitting that the camera should be high up looking down almost like a divine witness. It starts in the final room and slowly makes it's way down the stairs to the front door, witnessing every detail of this act. The camera travels outside the tenament and there are large crowds gathering and the dramatic horn section plays periodically along with the dreamlike looping harp. Everything seems so real and with the harp and the overhead shot it also feels a little dreamlike which I think represents the state of mind that Travis is in. As if he's saying to himself "Holy fuck. Did that just happen? Did I really do that?"

Ironically Travis is made a hero for this violence. He vanquished the villains even though they represented a justification more than anything else. The important thing to Travis was the violence itself but he gets rewarded and Iris ends up home with her parents. In the film's final moment Travis is driving his cab again, seemingly chill now that he's had his release, but there's another closeup of his eyes in the rearview mirror shrouded in black. The violence and darkness is still in there. It's just a matter of time until it comes out again. The last shot is of him doing kind of a double take into the rearview mirror and it's hard to tell but either he saw something that bothered him which also supports the idea that he's going to blow again at some point or it almost looked like he saw himself in the rearview. If that's the case it would be really interesting because in an earlier scene he's having breakfast with Iris and at some point in the conversation she says "You should look at your own eyeballs once in a while." Sooner or later he has to.

#38 THE SHINING

Stanley Kubrick, over five decades, made only eleven films, but nearly half of them are masterpieces and each one is fascinating in its own way. He was a perfectionist who obsessed over all aspects of his films and focused more than just about any other director on creating atmosphere and character through the use of camera space. Watching a Kubrick film is really like watching no other and "The Shining", in my opinion, is his best.

"The Shining" is based on a very popular horror novel by Stephen King. In the novel a family spends a harsh, secluded Colorado winter in a massive Hotel, with the father serving as caretaker. The hotel is haunted and possesses its occupants to do it's evil will, and gradually takes hold of the father to try to kill his wife and daughter. In the novel the focus is on the supernatural aspects of the hotel and the possession of the father is just one aspect of the story. One of Kubrick's aims when doing pre-production for the film was to find out what really scared people in the late 20th century. Instead of the expected response of monsters or demons, more along the lines of the novel, the answer was a catastrophic incident within the family unit. Therefore the film focuses more on the Malevolence of the father and less on the hotel, and it allows Kubrick to explore a much more interesting topic.

This is most assuredly not your typical horror movie. It's an atmospheric, haunting movie about the dark shadow of the patriarchy, and its effect on the family. The movie focuses on a typical suburban family that is gradually pulled deeper and deeper into something supernatural. So it's the ordinary immersed in the extraordinary. Jack Torrance, the father, is a recovering alcoholic. Wendy Torrence, the mother, is a compliant, fragile, almost childlike woman. Danny, the son, is an anxious, quiet child. They are spending a harsh winter at The Overlook Hotel where Jack will serve as caretaker. In this Hotel the dynamic of this family plays itself out on a grand, horrific stage. There's the father who is going deeper and deeper into his shadow, partly because of the prodding of the hotel, and quite possibly as a result of his polar opposite wife who is a shadowless, goody goody, naive victim. The son caught in the middle knows he isn't safe between these two forces and develops an exaggerated coping mechanism which is his shining. He can see visions of the past, present, and future. An example of this whole dynamic in play is the classic Redrum scene.

Right before Jack really goes on his rampage Wendy is hiding, shut down, asleep in her bed. She isn't going to protect Danny. He has to protect himself as the child of an alcoholic often does with special coping mechanisms. So he has a shining, a vision of the immediate future and as he is chanting redrum in a raspy, high pitched voice, he writes the word in red crayon on the door.(which is murder spelled backwards) He then begins to say it more forcefully as he stands over his mom's bed, holding the knife that she will need to protect him. She wakes up jolted, sees the knife, and looks in the mirror opposite the door and sees the word murder written in red. Then Jack starts to hack at the door with an axe. It's a creepy and fascinating scene that sums up much of the psychology in the film.

Jack Nicholson really makes this movie with his top notch, over the top insane performance. He takes up so much space in the film and fills it with gleeful menace. Shelley Duvall is so exaggerated in her performance of this innocent woman that its almost campy but totally works. In their final confrontation at the end of the movie the raging Jack and the falling to pieces, overwhelmed Wendy are quite the combo. It's scary and hilarious because both of them in this sequence are so over the top as the hunter and hunted. Danny Lloyd rocks it as little Danny and kudos to him because its unusual to find a quality performance by a child actor in a movie. His reactions of terror, seen mainly in his eyes, as he's receiving his horrific visions are very effective. He also really plays this character well in subtler scenes. He always embodies a slightly troubled child.

The hotel itself is like the supernatural force of Man's darkest primal impulse and gradually taps into and possesses that place in Jack. It's not about some guy all of a sudden being possessed and told to kill someone. It's about a man gradually tapping into a very real place deep within that is pissed off at it's burden. It's the place that says "I'm going to do whatever the fuck i want and you better leave me the fuck alone and stop weighing me down with your fucking shit." It's the place deep within the Father that tells it's wife and son "We're going to do things my way. If you don't like it you're going to bleed." This Hotel for Jack is an invitation to go into that part of his soul and let it romp. The Hotel in fact is saying it is his work, his duty. Jack, I believe, is chosen as caretaker because he's ripe for transformation. He's stuck in this role of patriarch. There is a past of alcoholism and abuse towards his son. There is the hint at failure in employment, and he's married to this seemingly boring, classic suburban wife. He is representative of the dysfunctional suburban father who puts on a smile but feels miserable and angry underneath. This is a real person who, through the urging and help of The Overlook Hotel goes into a deep, dark place in himself, and it explodes out of him. So Kubrick is using the face of a Horror movie to tell the tale of the locked away place within the shadow of the Patriarchy, and its violent nature. This is such a big reason why this movie is so fascinating and unlike any other horror movie.

The first sequence in the film is a sweeping panoramic shot high above a winding road in the Colorado mountains. An ominous heavy based synthesized score hauntingly accompanies Jack Torrance, played by Jack Nicholson, as he drives his yellow car to the Overlook hotel. The closer he gets the more oppressive the elements of nature become, with grander mountains and more snow. Periodically there is also a rolling, high pitched shrieking chorus that accompany the music to give the scene an even eerier feel. When we finally get to the Hotel the music is at it's creepiest and there is a shot of The Overlook nestled against a harsh snowy mountain. The handheld camera used for this last shot feels like a hovering predator and the hotel looks menacing.


We begin to see Jack's descent as the family drives to The Overlook. Jack seems irritable in the car and it seems like Wendy and Danny are pissing him off.

Wendy- "Wasn't it around here that the Donner party got snowbound."
Jack- Irritably, "I think that was farther west in the Sierras."
Danny- "What was the Donner Party?"
Jack- "They were a party of settlers in covered wagon times. They got snowbound one winter in the mountains and had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive." (He says this with kind of an evil smirk.)

Danny- "You mean they ate each other?"
Jack- "They had to in order to survive."
Wendy- Disapprovingly, "Jack."
Danny- "Don't worry mom. I know all about cannibalism. I saw it on tv."
Jack- Sarcastically, "See it's ok. He saw it on the television."

Later it gets a bit more intense as Wendy walks into his enormous work area as he's writing.

Wendy- "Hey the weather forecast says it's gonna snow tonight."
Jack- Pissed, "Waddya want me to do about it?"
Wendy- "Aw c'mon hon. Don't be so grouchy."
Jack- More pissed, "I'm not being grouchy. I just want to finish my work."
Wendy- Ok. I understand. I'll come back later on with a couple of sandwichs for ya and maybe you'll let me read something then."

Jack- Irrate, "Wendy. Let me explain something to you. Whenever you come in here and interrupt me you're breaking my concentration, distracting me and it will take me time to get back to where I was. Understand?"
Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Flipping his shit, "Fine. Then we're gonna make a new rule. Whenever i'm in here and you hear me typing or whether you don't hear me typing or whatever the fuck you hear me doing, when i'm in here that means that i'm working and that means don't come in. Now do you think you can handle that?"

Wendy- "Yeah."
Jack- Kinda crazy, "Fine. Why don't you start right now and get the fuck outa here?"

If you can believe it it gets worse later as he really gets in touch with his special dark place. Wendy has just discovered all the work that he's done since he's been at the Overlook. Page after page after page reads "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." This is also an iconic moment and it shows how far gone Jack is at this point. Shortly after this discovery:

Jack- Full fledge crazy motherfucker, "I think you have some very definate ideas about what should be done with Danny and i'd like to know what they are."

Wendy- Pretty freaked, "I think maybe he should be taken to a doctor."
Jack- "When do you think maybe he should be taken to a doctor?"
Wendy- "As soon as possible."
Jack- Mocking, "As soon as possible." "You believe his health might be at stake."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "You are concerned about him."
Wendy- "Yes."
Jack- "And are you concerned about me?"
Wendy- "Of course I am."
Jack- "Of course you are. Have you ever thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever had a single moment's thought about my responsibilities? Have you ever thought for a single solitary moment about my responsibilities to my employers? Has it ever occured to you that I've agreed to look after The Overlook Hotel until May 1st? Does it matter to you at all that the owners have placed their complete trust in me and I have signed a letter of agreement, a contract in which i've agreed to that responsibility? Do you have the slightest idea what a moral and ethical principle is? Do you? Has it ever occurred to you what would happen to my future?"

The spirit of The Overlook, the voice of the Patriarchal shadow, has nudged and then led him to this place in himself. Earlier, after Jack has been accused of hurting Danny he fiercely makes his way to the deserted Gold Room, a festive Dance Hall when the Hotel is in season. He makes his way to the deserted, dry bar and says, "I'd give my god damn soul for just a glass of beer." Suddenly a bartender appears who seems to be the image of the devil. He dresses in a red tux, with pale skin, slightly pointy ears and cold beady eyes. He is more than happy to oblige. A little bit later he meets Grady, the ghost of a former caretaker who hacked his family to bits with an axe. He acts as the final voice of The Overlook, in one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The scene takes place in a bathroom as Grady is cleaning up a drink that he spilled on Jack.

Grady- "Your son has a very great talent. I don't think you're aware how great it is. But he is attempting to use that very talent against your will.

Jack- "He is a very willful boy."

Grady- "Indeed he is Mr. Torrence. A very willful boy. A rather naughty boy if I may be so bold sir."

Jack- "It's his mother. She interferes."

Grady- "Perhaps they need a good talking to if you don't mind me saying so. Perhaps a bit more. My girls sir, they didn't care for The Overlook at first. One of them actually stole a pack of matches and tried to burn it down. But I corrected them sir, and when my wife tried to prevent me from doing my duty I corrected her."


The one of a kind cinematography is another reason that this film is a masterpiece of Horror. Kubrick more than almost any other Director is a master at conveying atmosphere and character through the relation of camera space. The cinematography allows you to feel both the vastness of The Overlook and the confinement within. Throughout the film there is this alternating sense of being dwarfed by this enormous environment and of almost being trapped in a tunnel. There are long continuous, sometimes winding shots to show the colossal space that they're in but so often they are framed in the camera in such a way that you feel confined and claustrophobic. In later scenes when the tension is ramping up, point of view shots also add to the feeling of anxiety and a "no exit" sensation.

In two of my favorite scenes in the movie Kubrick makes use of a steadicam camera which made it possible to film action in long, fluent steady takes. There is an iconic scene, which I always think of when I think of this movie, in which Danny is riding his tricycle around the corridors of the hotel and the camera is right behind him, at almost exactly the same level. As he rides he alternates between riding over carpets and hard floors. What occurs as a result of all of this is a mood of overactive anxious energy which is probably what Danny is feeling inside. The whole scene is also filmed with a long lens, also, once again creating the feeling of being trapped. The other scene filmed in much the same way is the Hedgemaze scene at the end of the movie in which Jack is chasing Danny with an axe. You truly feel the immediacy of Danny's terror, and the real feeling of being chased in an imprisoned setting. You also feel the hunter in Jack as the camera settles in front of him. He encompasses all of the space in the frame so you also fully feel his madness. The two of these together create an incredibly visceral experience. Once again, through Kubrick's cinematography we truly feel the experience of these characters.

Kubrick also does a great job using lighting, color, and music to intensify the atmosphere in the film. Most of the film is well lit and it creates both a false sense of security and a surreal atmosphere. Haunted house movies are supposed to be dark. It kind of creates more of a sense of unease because it doesn't feel quite right. The lighting also symbolizes the ordinary. Things can happen in the family. Things can happen even when there's lots of light. The main color motif in the movie is red. It makes things bright and it feels dangerous. The bartender wears red, the bathroom is red when Jack has his talk with Grady, and much of the rest of the hotel is also red. The use of music throughout adds to a feeling of great unease. A high pitched ringing followed by a low rumbling base precedes Danny's horrific visions. The final third of the film is accompanied by a rythmic heartbeat, that same rumbling base, a loud rapidly beating, high pitched drumstick, a more violent, pounding base, and a loud, eery, high pitched devilish chorus of shrieking.

I'll end with my favorite scene in the movie, and one of my favorite moments in all of film. Jack, early in the film is in his massive workspace. The first thing we see is the typewriter and then we hear a loud banging noise as the camera pans up and shows Jack violently throwing a ball against the wall. That first image and the sound accompanying it says everything about the man in the moment. He's tired of fucking working. He wants to play. He walks over to a miniature replica of the gargantuan hedgemaze located in front of The Overlook Hotel. He hovers over it, looking menacingly down upon it. As he does this we get a shot of what at first looks like the miniature maze but is actually a very high shot of Danny and Wendy walking into the middle of the actual maze. The scene then shows them in the maze and the way the camera moves in front and back of them, and the limited space it occupies, you feel trapped and anxious. This is how they feel inside at this Hotel. As Jack looks down from he is the master of his domain and loving the freedom. He is the cat and they are the mice.

#19 BONNIE AND CLYDE

"Bonnie and Clyde" is a revolutionary film. It marked a new era in movie making and helped to birth a lot of the greatness that followed. It was a huge part of the bridge between Old Hollywood and New Hollywood. There was a "New Wave" film movement happening mainly in France and it was about more of the realism and less of the contrivance that Hollywood had been associated with. It was more about showing life as it was and challenging and shocking people, getting them to have more of an experience of thought and exploration, more of a soul level experience at the cinema. Arthur Penn, the director of Bonnie and Clyde was also very much interested in this and wanted to make "Bonnie and Clyde" in the spirit of "New Wave" cinema. What he did was to literally bridge classic Hollywood with "New Wave" to make an incredibly entertaining movie that kinda flipped people out and made them look at movies differently.


Great movies entertain and also reveal a depth and complexity of experience. "Bonnie and Clyde" is beloved and one of my favorite movies because it absolutely succeeds in that hybrid. The fact that the experience in the movie revolves around a rebellion of oppression and societal norm, and all of the realities of following one's own destiny, makes it lightning in a bottle.

You can talk about all of the things that make this movie great, and there are many, but at the core of it's greatness is the immense watchability of Bonnie and Clyde. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway play the aforementioned roles and their chemistry really drives this film. Warren Beatty has charisma running through his veins and is one of the king's of hollywood. Jack Nicholson himself nicknamed him the player. He is the very definition of cool and I have a hard time imagining any one else playing Clyde Barrow. Faye Dunaway, in her first major movie, brought an incredible vitality and natural feel to this role. I imagine her having been raised on a farm, the daughter of an army officer, herself brimming with so much life and creativity, helped her to occupy the skin of Bonnie Parker with much of her own. Both of these actors are also incredibly attractive. Beatty wears these classy suits and hats and Faye has that memorable beret and those exotic, cat-like eyes. They're both hypnotic to look at so when they begin their courtship to start the movie, and the dialogue pops, it's like candy.

The first thing we see in the movie is a closeup of Bonnie's lips. She then lies on her bed full of angst and she's framed by the camera in her bedposts as if she's punching the bars of a jail cell. She goes to the window and looks down to see Clyde about to steal her mother's car. Thus begins the courtship. Bonnie wants him immediately but she doesn't want him to know it, and she acts like a proper lady. Her words are going ho-hum but in her eyes you can see the attraction, and Faye Dunaway is so great at pulling off this disguised flirtation. Even though she's saying all the proper things you can sense this tiger underneath. All the while Clyde is a charismatic gentleman with supreme confidence and a southern charm. The courtship ends with a great mini-scene.

Bonnie- "What's it like robbing banks?"
Clyde- "It ain't like anything."
Bonnie- "Shoot. I knew you never robbed anyplace you faker."

He pulls out his gun and she puts her fingers around the shaft with her mouth wide open. (Phallic anyone?)

Bonnie- "But you wouldn't have the gumption to use it."
Clyde- "Alright. You just wait right here and keep your eyes open."

Clyde proceeds to rob the grocery store right across the street. They hustle to the car and as they're driving away:

Bonnie- "Hey what's your name anyhow?"
Clyde- "Clyde Barrow."
Bonnie- "I'm Bonnie Parker. Pleased to meet you."

And the legend begins.


It's not just the watchability and the chemistry of these two characters that is so great. It's how much they care for each other and truly seem destined for each other. As the story progresses we are invested in everything that happens to them up until the dark finale.


Clyde- "You could find a loverboy on every corner of town it don't mean a damn to them whether you're waiting on tables or picking cotton but it does mean a damn to me."

Bonnie- "Why?"

Clyde- "Why? Watcha mean why? Because you're different. That's why. You know you're like me. You want different things. You've got something better than being a waitress. You and me traveling together we could cut a path clean across the state, and Kansas, and Missouri, and Oklahoma, and everybody'd know about it. You listen to me Miss Bonnie Parker. You listen to me. How'd you like to go walking in the dining room of the Dolphis Hotel in Dallas wearing a nice silk dress and have everybody waitin on you? Would ya like that? Does that seem like a lot to ask? It ain't enough for you. You got a right to that."

Bonnie- "Hey. When did you figure all that out?"

Clyde- "The minute I saw ya."

Bonnie- "Why?"

Clyde- "Cause you may be the best damn girl in Texas."


And you can see she has this look on her face like she's home for the first time in her life, like this person really gets and cares about her, and she is completely his in this moment. He has this boyish grin on his face because he knows it.

Clyde isn't much of a loverboy and there are several scenes in the movie where he can't perform. From a freudian stance it's as if he has overcome this with his gun. Bonnie, although frustrated, cares deeply for him so she overlooks it. This means the world to him.

As they begin their adventure there are a series of great scenes. They are a succession of comedic and feel good scenes interspersed with sudden violence and gravity. I really think this works so well for two reasons. It shows the reality of what this experience would be like rather than the myth (something that Penn plays with throughout the film), and you have the experience of vitality in its essence. Happiness is living in the moment and embracing experience. That is so much of what this movie is all about. It's the Yin and the Yang. The bliss and the pain in all it's bloom.

Clyde robs a bank that has no money and then robs a grocery store and we are lulled into a light comedic mood as Clyde nonchalantly asks the teller if he has any more moon pies, and at this point we think this is a light romp involving two legendary bank robbers of the depression-era midwest. This is going to be a typical funny adventure and then out of nowhere comes sudden shocking violence as the butcher comes up on Clyde with a meat cleaver and tries to kill him. It happens so quickly and with so much force that you're jolted. There's a struggle and Clyde pistol whips him and they get away.

Clyde- "He tried to kill me. Why'd he try to kill me? I didn't want to hurt him. Try to get something to eat around here and a son of a bitch come up on you with a meat cleaver. I ain't against him. I ain't against him."

In a scene after this once again it's light and comedic as they meet the endearing and bashful C.W. Moss. They see his talent for working with cars and recruit him for the gang and it's such a great scene because his reaction to these two bank robbers is hysterical. We then continue the pattern of being lulled into thinking this is a certain kind of movie as they go to rob a bank together, with C.W. waiting in the getaway car. Because of a screw up by C.W. Clyde ends up killing one of the pursuers who is clinging to the back of the car. It's not a typical hollywood death. He's shot right in the face and it's bloody and shocking.

Following this truly is great scene after great scene, and it's the mixture of comedy, chase scenes, gunfights, and fantastic dialogue. The biggest reason it all works so well is the spectacular cast. Every actor who played a member of the Barrow Gang was nominated for an oscar. Never in the history of film have there been more acting nominations for one movie. C.W Moss, played by Michael J. Pollard is a loveable bashful goofball. You just grin looking at him. Buck Barrow, played by a young Gene Hackman pretty much ignites every scene he's in. He's the jokester, and he's constantly in play mode with everyone. Blanche Barrow, played by Estelle Parsons in an oscar winning performance, plays the member of the gang who just wants to be domesticated and safe. She just wants a proper life and it's really interesting experiencing her in the middle of all of this. Each of these performances is incredibly entertaining and without pretense. They all feel like authentic individuals, and each one has complexity. C.W. sometimes shows fierceness. Buck the good ole boy carouser shows sweet affection towards his wife in some scenes and anger in others. Blanche, the buzzkill, shows real vulnerability at times, and sometimes shows a more playful side. It's their energy and talent all together that elevate this film to an absolute classic.


There's so much going on in this movie. Part of what Arthur Penn, the director, does is give you a party on wheels. You have the glamorous experience of being on the run with The Barrow Gang and it's incredibly entertaining riding along in that car with the frenetic camaraderie of all of these characters. One scene in particular really sums this up. A man named Eugene, played by a very young Gene Wilder, and his girlfriend Velma are fooling around on their porch when Velma sees their car being stolen. They quickly get in her car and chase after them.

Eugene- "I'm gonna tear them apart. Stealing a man's car. Wait'll I get my hands on those kids Velma. I'm gonna tear them apart.

Velma- "What if they have guns Eugene?"

Eugene- "Listen. We'd better get the police and let them handle this. Alright now turn around. Turn around and let's go back.

The Barrow Gang then chases after them, catches up, makes faces at them through the windows of their car and have them take a ride with them in the car that belongs to Eugene. It's a great scene because part of you expects them to make it difficult for these two innocent bystanders and it turns out that they're having a ball. Buck is telling jokes, Bonnie and Clyde are being their charming selves, C.W. is a harmless innocent at heart. It's literally a party on wheels. It's as if these people in the car with them are representative of the audience watching this scene. We like these people and we're enjoying this ride. Another big part of this movie that is also exemplified at the end of this scene, continuing the pattern of light comedy with sudden violence and gravity is Bonnie and Clyde's impending doom. Bonnie asks Eugene what he does for work. "I'm an undertaker", he says. Bonnie turns around with a frown and says "Get them out of here."

Movies for the most part up to this point were about escapist entertainment. You could go to the movies and watch people fall in love, have exciting adventures where the good guys invariably would win, and generally have happy endings. It didn't matter if it was true or real. It was about what the people wanted to see. Arthur Penn, like a lot of other directors during this time, knew that there were a lot of people who were much more entertained by the truth and the complexities of existence.

Along with the glamour and thrill of this adventure we also get the violence and impending doom. As the movie progresses the violence is greater and greater as the authorities gradually tighten the noose. Buck gets fatally shot, Blanche gets blinded by bullets, and Bonnie and Clyde are the walking wounded. Buck moans in pain. Blanche screams at the top of her lungs "My eyes." Bonnie and Clyde are both visibly in pain. This is real. You really feel the result of this violence.

Throughout the movie there is also this impending doom. We witness it mainly through Bonnie, it's voice. There's a very powerful segment of the film that takes place in two scenes that really gives you a visceral experience of this doom. In the first scene Bonnie runs away from the car into a field of wheat. She is crying and miserable. She's feeling the weight of this experience. She knows in her heart that this all ends in death. During this scene as Clyde is chasing her a cloud sweeps over and chases them both, blotting out the sun, foreshadowing their demise. This wasn't planned. It was just synchronistic mother nature. She begs Clyde to see her mother again as she feels both of their mortalities. I especially love this next scene of a family reunion between the Parkers. They all meet at an abandoned quarry on a barren sand hill. This scene is filtered in blue light and sporadically shot at a slower frame rate. It gives it a dream-like feel. It works perfectly to get across in image what Bonnie is feeling inside. This part of Bonnie's life is gone. There's no turning back and you can really see the recognition of this in her eyes. She set out on this glamorous, liberating journey and now she's trapped with no way out and no turning back.

Clyde to Mother Parker- "Why just the other night me and Bonnie were talking. And we were talkin about the time we're gonna settle down and get us a home. And uh she says to me, she says, "You know, I couldn't bear to live more than three miles from my precious mother." Now how'd you like that, Mother Parker?"

Mother Parker- "I don't believe I would. I surely don't. You try to live three miles from me and you won't live long, honey. You best keep runnin, Clyde Barrow and you know it. Bye, baby."

The final scene has become iconic. In movies up to this point the heroes would often live through the picture. If they died it was often slowly, with a great speech to a loved one or to their sidekick. There might also be dramatic sad music. The point is the director would cushion the blow. It was unheard of to do what Arthur Penn did to Bonnie and Clyde at the end of the movie. At the end of the movie the cops have finally caught up to the elusive legends and set up an ambush along the country road. Clyde gets out of the car towards the traitorous Ivan Moss, father of C.W. Moss, and there are a quick succession of camera cuts that create an unease. Moss glares at an oncoming car and then towards the bushes across the road, birds quickly fly out of a tree, there's movement in the bush, Moss dives under his truck, and then at the same time Clyde and Bonnie realize something is wrong. They quickly look at each other and then they are absolutely annhilated by a swarm of bullets and you see them torn apart with no time to digest it. It's sudden and relentless. You see their bullet riddled dead bodies and there is quiet, and then THE END comes up on the screen.