About this episode

Tracy Letts joins the hosts to discuss the themes and impact of Martin Scorsese's film Taxi Driver in a nearly four-hour episode.

You poddin' to me? Well, listener, actually - we are podding to you. For nearly FOUR HOURS. The great Tracy Letts joins us to talk about Scorsese's monumental Taxi Driver, a film that is both fully ingrained in the American psyche and completely surprising and effective on every rewatch. Of course we're gonna spend our longest episode ever talking about it! This week, we discuss Paul Schrader's "God's Lonely Man" fixation, Ben's uncle's experiences as a New York City cab driver, the 1976 Oscars, Taxi Driver's themes of male loneliness and white supremacy, the incredible performances of Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster, and how totally normal it is to go to a porno theater on your second date. Oh, and there's plenty of physical media talk. Taxi Driver discussion begins at 46:52 Listen to the 1976 Draft ep of the Big Picture Check out MVD Marquee / Radiant / Vinegar Syndrom Buy The Haunting to listen to Tracy and Sean do a commentary Watch Bette Davis and Robert Wise, Oscars 1987 Watch "The King of Horror" Read Transcendental Style in Film Read You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again Read Drama: An Actor's Education Read Night-Shifting for the Hip Fleet “By Mark Jacobson…

People in this episode

Hosts: Griffin, David

Guest: Tracy Letts

Topics covered

• Taxi Driver
• film analysis
• male loneliness
• white supremacy
• American cinema
• physical media

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Taxi Driver, The Haunting, Transcendental Style in Film, You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again, Drama: An Actor's Education, Night-Shifting for the Hip Fleet

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