Taxi Driver (1976) Extra| Betsy Is A Queen!

[00:00:00] Speaker A: So, Georgia, you were saying you wish the Betsy character had been drawn out a little bit more. [00:00:05] Speaker B: Yeah. Because her character, you didn't know her as well as Travis and all these other characters in the movie. I mean, you had more background on been. I think we could have found a little bit more about her and her background. All we know is know Travis says the magic words to her. I think that really was like a hook. He said, I know you're a lonely person, like me aren't know. And I think when he said that on the very first time that they got together, I think that's what made her decide to come back and date him a second time. But because you could tell the fulfilling relationship with the Albert Brooks character, it wasn't too fulfilling. And her being in this job that she has working on the not, you didn't see any passion in that job. [00:01:06] Speaker A: Right. [00:01:06] Speaker B: So she's kind of, like, tossing around, trying to figure out a little bit about herself, but you don't know much about her. She just says, well, she's from upstate, and I'm going, yeah, that was, to me, one of the things about the movie that I wish had been brought out a little bit more about her character, because I felt like the other ones were, he just spent more time on him. You felt you knew the characters better? I felt like, no. [00:01:36] Speaker A: And, guys, we just started jumping right into it. But we wanted to talk more about civil Shepherd's character, Betsy. We just did Taxi driver, our full on review and critique, but we cut it short because we didn't want it to run too long. So now we're talking about the female lead in Taxi Driver 1970, six's taxi driver, Scorsese and De Niro. And we want to talk about Sybil shepherd. So I totally agree with you. I'm going to tell you I'm glad they didn't say too much about her because I think they wanted Betsy to have a mystique. I think they wanted Betsy to represent the typical New York girl. That song by, I think their name was Odyssey. You're a native, and, um, you know how she gets in a cab and maybe I'll put some of that music in a clip or something. And you don't need nobody to open a door for you, even though people open doors for Betsy because she's really pretty and feminine and what have you. But do you get what I'm saying? I think they wanted to have a mystique, or you don't see that? [00:02:54] Speaker B: I could totally see your point of view. You know, she's ethereal. She's kind of like the unattainable. [00:03:01] Speaker A: He said no one can touch her. Yeah. In his journal. Yeah. So I'm glad they didn't flesh her out too much or the way we thought she should be fleshed. And so let's go back to when we first see her and with Albert Brooks, because, like I said, she's pretty. And of course, any know who likes that type would go after her. What did you think about Travis Bickle approaching her? Should he have approached know? [00:03:36] Speaker B: A part of me thinks no, that it could never have know a very lengthy relationship. But on the other hand, because he was so lonely, and I felt like he needed to be able to connect with somebody that could have maybe helped him so much. If he had had another person who could have listened to him and understood him, I think that that would have been such a good thing for him to have in his life because it was so missing. He didn't have connection with anybody at all except for the cabbies a little bit, but it was very superficial, his talking to the cabbies. There was a little bit of a camaraderie, but nothing that was satisfying to him or helped him, really. [00:04:20] Speaker A: But what about her specifically? Knowing what we know about Travis Bickle, should he have approached Betsy or that Betsy type? Should he have approached her or should he. Let me just say this. Should he have approached another woman? Another type of woman? Betsy. Tier two? Tier three? Tier five. Betsy, if you will. I don't want to say this, but did he have a right to approach Betsy? [00:04:57] Speaker B: Certainly. [00:04:58] Speaker A: Okay. [00:04:58] Speaker B: However, was she way out of his league? Oh, yes. [00:05:02] Speaker A: Okay. [00:05:04] Speaker B: Yes, I felt like she was way out of his league. [00:05:06] Speaker A: Why did you think that? [00:05:08] Speaker B: Because you can tell he's not very educated or probably interested in a lot of the same things that she's interested in. She seemed to me to have very different interests, and so I thought it would have only been short term. At the longest, I didn't see that there was potential for a long term relationship. [00:05:35] Speaker A: Okay. [00:05:36] Speaker B: So I was surprised when he did, in a way. I thought, well, good for you. I'm glad you had the boldness to approach her, but by the same token, I thought, they're not going to get real far because you got to be able to bring a little bit more to it. [00:05:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Did you like Betsy? [00:05:58] Speaker B: Yes, overall, I did. I didn't expect to like her, but I did like her. [00:06:02] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. I didn't have it against her, and I didn't like her or dislike her. I think she was a device in the plot to represent females and womanhood and femininity, how women were of that time and their place in society. Because we know this is on the cusp of the sexual revolution and women's rights and everything like that. That's why I think Betsy was all women. Now, I will say this. I don't think he had a right to go up. You got a right to go up to anybody you want. I guess in a general sense, there's no law against it. But how delusional he must have been, because like we were saying earlier, and like Betsy said, he's a walking contradiction. You're an incel or you're a loner and you're lonely, but yet there's this part of you that felt you. And I think a delusional part could go up to this queen, if you will, this angel, this ethereal woman with her alabaster skin and gelden hair, and go up to her and ask her for a day. And kudos to him. I'm with you, kudo. He did it. But first of all, sir, you're insane. Whether you know it or not, you're a bum. You have no real money. And, you know, with women, we tend to like them things. We tend to like some of them things or the opposite of those things. So he doesn't have a right, nor does any man in that age group, because they were in their 20s. They were probably in the same age group, have any right. My opinion, and men, you are very okay. You perfectly fine. If you want to disagree with me, please do it constructively and respectfully. If you want to disagree with me. No. No man has a right to do so. And I like how they put that in there, because to me, they left that to the audience to come up with. And so you mentioned Albert, what do you think about what I just said? I'm sorry. [00:08:22] Speaker B: Gosh, Moya. Yeah, I could see your point of view on. I mean, he has the right to do it, but you're right. We women want a little bit more in the relationship. What can you bring to. I mean, you're right. He didn't have anything beyond the little bit of money he made from his taxi driving. And you could tell. What other interest did he have? They had nothing in common. [00:08:49] Speaker A: Zero in common. [00:08:50] Speaker B: Yeah, they didn't have anything in common. And I was thinking, yeah, they're not going to go that far, even if he didn't take her that unfortunate choice of venues on the second date. [00:09:00] Speaker A: Right? And then we saw him reacting horribly when things didn't go his way, which is very realistic as well. Let me just say this. Conversely, no woman who she ain't got herself together, so to speak, she got a lot of baggage. Whatever. Just make out of that what you want, because, ladies, I don't want you welcome to disagree with me respectfully, but you don't have it. So how dare you demand this six figure man and we getting into what they call the, oh, I forget the term. But anyway, the high value man. How dare you expect this man if he's up on a certain tier level and you got a lot of baggage emotionally and physically, if you will, maybe some kids and some debt. How dare you? Are you overweight? So there's different variables of the same type of know. How dare you expect to go up there now go up to that man. And Albert Brooks character was so funny. He was trying so hard, and he couldn't have been. He had no game because anytime a lunatic off the street could pick up Betsy, Albert Brooks had no game, right? His character. [00:10:14] Speaker B: No, didn't have. [00:10:18] Speaker A: And look, he has zero game because she couldn't even be scared into Albert Brooks arms after Travis came to her job and caused a scene. So he had zero game. But, yeah, I just wanted to talk about Betsy a little bit. What you thought about her character and how did you feel about her character? I did not bring this up, but another Scorsese and De Niro collab in the late 70s, early 80s was the king of comedy. And we got to do that one. Have you seen that one? [00:11:00] Speaker B: No, I haven't, but I would love to see. [00:11:01] Speaker A: Yeah, please put that on our list because there are so many juxtapositions. People talk about the Joker, the recent Joker movie. I think De Niro was in that one. I'm almost certain. And correct me if I'm wrong in the comments, but there's so many similarities falling down and even american ex and so to speak, and Christian Bale when he was in the machinist, this loner trope and these people going to these extremes. I love all these movies. They're really depressing. Something wrong with me. Why do I like all these movies? I haven't seen a joke or the latest one I'm supposed to see. It just never got around to. Yep. Where have I been? What's wrong with me? I agree, because I like Joaquin Phoenix's work. But anyway. But the king of comedy, girl, we have to see that. So it's almost like the bizarro Rupert Pupkin is almost said it's not the antithesis of Travis Bickle. I almost said the bizarro of Travis Bickle. But let me just say, if you want to do, I don't know if Scorsese, I haven't researched it, did it on purpose, but it's almost like the comedic turn, total cartoon comedic turn, if you will. But still very dark of taxi driver. And there's some similarities because Rupert Pupkin tries to reach for that star because Shelley Taylor, hack from Charlie's Angels fame, she replaced Kate Smith, Kate Jackson. I'm sorry for that one season she's in that. So she's the Betsy character, if you will, a little older because now Travis Bickle is older, even though it's not Travis Bickle. So when we do king of comedy, you're going to see a lot of compass in New York as well. And then you can see how New York has changed. It's cleaner. So I love how, I don't know if he did that on purpose, Garcia, but I kept thinking, oh, man, this has a lot of, remind me a lot of king of New York. But I'll leave the final thoughts with you, George. Again, I want to talk about Betsy and remember back to tax driver when she rejected said, you know, he was going on his diatribe, know the voiceover. And he was know as he writing this in his journal. But he was saying, I just realized she's just like the others. What did you think about when he said that? [00:13:27] Speaker B: It was kind of chilling in a way. When he said that, it kind of made me freeze in my tracks. Okay. Yeah. Because I thought he first thought that she was so special at the beginning, she was just an angel. Yeah. She was like angel to him. And then he says, then she kind of finds out she's got feet of clay. She's just like the know, right? Nothing special, but she feels like she's high and mighty and above everybody. [00:14:03] Speaker A: But she wasn't. I didn't find Betsy was like that. Because, girl, as soon as I saw Travis Bick, I've been. No security. No. [00:14:14] Speaker B: Oh, boy. I thought I was about to watch a train wreck in slow motion. He's going to get shot down. [00:14:22] Speaker A: Yeah, right. Have you ever gone out or gave a Travis Bickle, if you will, a chance that you can recommend? [00:14:32] Speaker B: Oh, my gosh. Oh, my God. Well, not exactly. I think I've gone out with people who aren't like, maybe classically, maybe like the ladies man. [00:14:52] Speaker A: Right. [00:14:52] Speaker B: But I'll tell you one thing about this movie that kind of chilled me a little bit was when I was in college, there was this real kind of like, pushy, dominating, real macho guy who wanted to go out with me. And I said from the very beginning, no, not interested. Why? Sorry, not interested. I see you as a friend. And he got really angry with me, and it was a little bit scary for a while. This movie kind of made me think like, oh, no, is this going to happen? It kind of scared me a little bit because I thought, oh, no, is she going to become the know me? Not having seen this movie before, it made me a little bit anxious because I didn't know how he was going to treat Betsy after that point because I realized that really negative experience I had when I was in college about not wanting to go with somebody and they were interested in me, but I didn't have the same feelings about them. [00:15:49] Speaker A: Okay. Oh, wow. So got a little triggeration right there. [00:15:53] Speaker B: Yeah, a little triggeration. Just a bit. [00:15:55] Speaker A: Yeah, right. Wow, that's so interesting. And I was about to make another point when you were saying that about that. And of course, he was pedestalizing her as well. Oh, gosh. I almost said it because we talked about the incel part of it, and hopefully it'll come back to my. Should have wrote it down, what I want to say. But there was another point about the movie. Yes. Did you think anyone in this movie, did you get a vibe of toxic masculinity or misogyny or just whatever buzwords that any of that come to mind or. It was what it was. [00:16:54] Speaker B: To be perfectly honest, I didn't really view it in terms of toxic masculinity. It was what it was. And I thought to myself, how many times have I gone out to target shooting in practice where I shoot the silhouette of a man? But it never occurs to me that I would go after somebody and try and commit acts of violence. I don't think of it that way. I think there's a lot of veterans, women and men both, where we look at this movie, and I don't think it is being toxic masculinity that you embrace, like owning or having a weapon. I don't think of it that way. [00:17:41] Speaker A: What about when he porno? Oh, go ahead, finish your thought. [00:17:44] Speaker B: I'm sorry. However, there was some things that did bother me somewhat, is like, if you subsist on daily watching pornos, what kind of a view are you going to have of women? Because women are just going to be like a toy or a thing, only to abuse and abuse for your pleasure. You're not going to see them as the whole person. And so I wondered how he could be so respectful and wanted to care for Iris after he was feeding on a steady diet of every single day, hanging out at Pornhouses and how he would view. How he viewed Betsy. [00:18:27] Speaker A: Okay, yeah. [00:18:28] Speaker B: And then for him to say, I think what he was trying to do was, oh, I want to share with you something that not. Not thinking far enough ahead. That was such a stupid move. Not thinking far enough ahead to how a decent person would react to just. That blew my mind. What were you thinking? [00:18:48] Speaker A: Right. That's why Betsy said, you are a contradiction. The YouTube channel, I think it's swerve had about him, about being Travis Bickle as a contradiction, because that's brilliant point, what you said about juxtapose how I treated Betsy, how I treated Iris. And he really was pedestalizing Betsy and was treating her like an object. And of course, if she would have let him, they'd have had sex and he'd probably been horrible because, I don't know, sometimes I bout say something real wild. I'm not going to say she might have. Might not been as bad as she thought because he was crazy. He was crazy. But anyway, he had no boundaries, let's put it like, he may have not, but I don't know. But he was kind of a prude, or he was a contradiction. [00:19:37] Speaker B: But of course, there was a prudish kind of an aspect to him, which. [00:19:40] Speaker A: Really blew my mind. And of course, Iris was a child, so he wouldn't have taken her to no porno like that. But, no, but you're right. And I agree with you now, because I think today, if they tried to make this, they couldn't make it, because they just would try to pc it, too. Know with the words, know the violence, blah, blah, whatever. It just would have been pc. Well, Travis Bicker would have been girl. I don't even want to think about what they did to that character. Well, Jody, Betsy, not Betsy. Iris would have had to rescue his, like, give me a break. Give me a. Did not. [00:20:30] Speaker B: What? [00:20:30] Speaker A: My point was, I didn't see any toxic masculinity. Even when he took her to the porno movie. People say that's just men there. This guy was out of touch. He was an insomniac, he had PTSD, he was alone, or he had very little to any interaction with women on any meaningful level, like you said in our other video. So he had no self awareness. Let's talk about that. There was a line of lack of self awareness because he said it when they left the movie, the porno movie, he was like, I'll take you where you want to go. He said, I don't know what girls like. I said, I just felt so sorry for him. And so I think I want to bring this up in our other video, but really punching the gut, sad movie the heart is a lonely hunter, starring he plays Alan Arkansas. That's it. Have you seen that? Yeah, you're right. Yeah. [00:21:30] Speaker B: Have you seen it? Years and years ago when I was. [00:21:31] Speaker A: A little kid and that movie, oh, my. [00:21:34] Speaker B: Just hit me so hard and made me, I think I cried at the end of it as a little kid. [00:21:43] Speaker A: Yeah, I saw it as an adult years ago. But juxtapose those two, that loner trope and this loner trope and how they act out and stuff. I think it's a good comparison and contrast. Guys, this was like a little bonus for us after the show, if you will. Georgia, if there's anything else, I'm going to close us out. Anything else you want to talk about from a female per navy with Betsy and. [00:22:16] Speaker B: Goodness, I think this was probably one of Sybil Shepard's better roles, to be perfectly honest. I've seen her in a couple other things, and I think that actually she did a pretty credible criticize her because they think if you look like a model that you can't act. But I think she actually did a pretty good job in this role. Oh, goodness gracious. But I was a little surprised at the end, her kind of way she looked at Travis now, after all he's been through, I was very surprised. [00:22:58] Speaker A: But I'm going to say it for the men now, that is a typical woman because she wouldn't have peed on him if he was on fire after and for. Right. Cause. Take me to a porno movie and bruh, please. But after what happened and how she changed up. So we don't want to give too much away. But that's a typical woman. So this movie was, you know, this movie, it was so raw. It was like looking at a documentary, wasn't it? [00:23:32] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:23:33] Speaker A: A docu drama, if you will. [00:23:38] Speaker B: Yeah, I have to give it know. It was. There was just so much that was so raw and real about. You're right, Moya. It really was right. [00:23:46] Speaker A: So kudos to Scorsese and De Niro and the rest of the my I hadn't thought about in a while, and we've been having this on our list and we finally got around to it. But easily one of my favorite 70s, that genre movie, the Loner trope. But this isn't the crown jewels. This is in the Mount Rushmore of top notch 70 films because you got the Godfather. Like I said, rocky, you got, oh, what is it? The one, the movie with Gene Hackman and Popeye daughter. I can't remember what the name of it is. Yeah, all those movies. So I love those type of movies. Gritty crime dramas and thrill. I love that kind of stuff. So to me, all those, that's, that's like in the top ten in the brushmore of great 70s filmmaking. But that's it, guys. Georgia, is there anything else before we get out of here for the show? After the show, just one little thought. [00:24:40] Speaker B: I want to leave y'all with. Okay. How hard must it have know for a young Jodie Foster when she finds out that this crazed guy who's trying to imitate the character in the movie decides to try to assassinate the president and then he tries to lay it at her feet like a trophy for her? How must that have felt for her at the time? I wondered about that. And then I wondered about how it affected her later on about the way she viewed men. And I'll just leave it there. [00:25:15] Speaker A: Yes, ma'am. I'm so glad you, perfect. But shout out to her. She's a twice Academy Award winner. Probably should have three or four, but she should have got something for this, too. I don't know if she, she might have been nominated. I don't know. [00:25:30] Speaker B: But anyway, she was nominated and she is a towering talent. [00:25:34] Speaker A: She is. And I love, she's so low key. She's in something right now and, oh, it escapes me. Almost said it. Oh, gosh, she's in something right now. But she minds her business. She directs, she minds her business, she does her job and then she bounces. And I appreciate her for that. But anyway, guys, thank you so much for the show. After the show, hopefully we'll do some more of these. But we didn't get around to it in the original video. But I totally want to talk about Betsy's character. See you next time, guys. I'm Moya. [00:26:12] Speaker B: And I'm Jordan. [00:26:15] Speaker A: Yes, it said Georgia. She said Georgia because it skipped. It sounded like I was doing a remix or something like that. Anyway, we thank you guys so much. How Betty Davis saved my life. Taxi driver, the Betsy. The Betsy moments. You guys take care. We'll see you next time.