Sep 17, 2007 04:04 PM
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Disclaimer: Hey this sucks, this seriously sucks, no entries for Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorcese in Hollywood personalities. Come on man these are the two most iconic directors of our times, and you dont have an entry for them. Do we have people here who know what movies are? seriously am losing motivation to write here. Every time I make a mouth pad request or have to force fit into some category or other. Add to that the idiotic 7500 word limit, high time MS wakes up, if they are seriously looking at some quality content. Sorry for the ranting, but here I put in a mentally exhausting effort, and then I waste my time trying to force fit this into some category and then I give a disclaimer for it. Gimme a break man. Anyway even otherwise, this review covers only Marty's work in 70's and 80's because its next to impossible to cover his work in one revu. I just want to tell all Marty fans out here on MS to please await the second part which will cover Marty's work in the 90's and current decade.
When Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, presented the Best Director Award to Martin Scorcese or Marty as his fans call him for The Departed, in the recent Oscar awards, it was a kind of emotional reunion. The four of them along with Brian De Palma made up the movie brat pack of the 1970's. While Spielberg and Lucas went totally mainstream Hollywood, De Palma created a cult of his own with Scarface and Untouchables. Coppola pushed the envelope further with Godfather series and Apocalypse Now. And then there was Marty. Like Woody Allen, Marty had a life long love affair with New York City, but with a difference. Marty's New York was not that of Manhattan, Wall Street, 5th Avenue, Tiffany's, it was not the New York of Queens, luxurious penthouses and elegant, beautiful people. His New York was that part which most of us just pass by and are thankful, that we dont belong there. It was a New York of Hells Kitchen, inner city areas, gangsters, pimps and ghettoes. It was a New York of brothels, low cost porn movie theaters, shady bars, drug addicts and prostitutes. Marty explored that part of theBig Apple, which one generally does not find in tourist brochures and which most of us pretend that it does not exist.
Marty was influenced a lot by Italian neo realism, and The Bicycle Thief was a major influence on him. After making some short movies, Marty debuted with his first feature movie, Whos That Knocking at My Door?, a 1967 B&W movie starring Harvey Keitel. And it was later on, that his buddy De Palma, introduced him to a young Robert De Niro. De Niro and Marty would kick start a collaboration, that would be right up there with other great director-actor combos like John Ford-John Wayne, Billy Wilder-Jack Lemmon and Alfred Hitchcock-Cary Grant to name a few. Harvey Keitel would also be a regular on most of his projects. Marty came up with Boxcar Bertha in 1972, not a very remarkable movie, but it was the one which provided him the grounding for movie making. And then came Mean Streets in 1973, one of his best and most underrated work.
The movie starred Harvey Keitel in the lead role, and De Niro as second lead in a tale about two friends growing up in an Italian American ghetto. Mean Streets established many signature elements of Marty's work. Catholic guilt and redemption, in where the character of Charlie played by Harvey Keitel, is torn apart by the guilt he faces in being a gangster. Gritty New York locales, most of the movie is shot in the dark, backlit streets of New York city and a soundtrack filled with rock music. The movie also features Marty's dizzying camera work, especially in the climax fight between De Niro and Keitel, where it tracks, De Niro's movement, along the streets, up the stairs. And yes most of Marty's movies had that dark claustrophobic environment. Rapid fire editing and stacatto dialogue, would be the other feature. De Niro burst on to the screen with a compelling performance as Johnny Boy, Charlie's hot headed and impulsive friend. Marty followed up Mean Streets with Alice Doesnt Live Here Any More in 1974, a soft romantic tale for which it's lead actressEllen Burstyn( who gained fame with her role as the mother in Exorcist), won anAcademy Award for Best Actress.
The 70's was an age of cynicism in the US. While the fiasco in Vietnam was a blow militarily, Watergate made the people lose faith in the American Presidency. In the economic sector, the Japanese onslaught, dealt a huge blow to the American automobile industry, and most of the cities were reeling under crime, riots and urban decay. So when Travis Bickle, arrived on screen in Taxi Driver(1976), ranting against the scum of the earth, he was in effect, echoing the cynicism of the average American. To callTaxi Driver a classic would be an understatement, its an iconic movie.And maybe I guess, because there is a bit of a Travis Bickle in me too, a bitter, cynical loner, but then thats another topic.
Take one of the best shots in the movie, where Bickle, drives the taxi through the seedy streets of New York, narrating his feelings about the scum of the earth. You have the narration, and the shots are in dark dim lit, rushing past, with the shady brothels, dimly lit shops, hustlers, small time hood. Marty actually brings that grimy, gritty New York into focus, with his camera angles, where you get the feel of riding in the taxi itself. Marty would again use the same technique in Raging Bull, where the boxing scenes, give you the feeling of being there. And yes the open ended climax, which still has people discussing about it. Now one very important aspect here is Bernard Hermann's background score, at no stage does the music intrude into the scene, and yet it forms such an important aspect of the movie. Maybe this is something a certain Ram Gopal Verma could keep in mind while making a movie. And yes Robert De Niro in a tour de force performance as Travis Bickle. He makes us totally emphathize with his character of a cynical, lonely loser who becomes an unlikely hero. Marty however was left empty handed at the Oscars, as the Academy preferred the feel good Americana of Rocky.
