This is only the second time I've ever seen this film. The first time I saw it was when I was 18, and I didn't like it at the time. I think I was expecting something else the first time. It was good to see the movie again, years later, with an entirely different perspective on filmmaking and on life in general.I felt more connected to the characters with this viewing. I understood where Travis Bickle was coming from, maybe just from being older and having lived more life. Scorcese did an incredible job bringing the audience into this spiral of disgust and insanity. I also feel that the score added so much to the film, and I definitely felt Hitchcock's influence all over the film, which I wouldn't have been able to appreciate at 18.
Interesting thing about this movie: As I mentioned, I had seen it once before and I basically remembered what happened in it, but only up to a point. In my memory, the last frame of the film was Harvey Keitel's dead body. I had completely forgotten that Travis had gotten away with his killing spree. I found this strange because it's a fairly significant aspect of the story. After the screening, I had a conversation with a classmate and he had the same memory (or lack thereof) that I did. He had also forgotten the way the film ultimately ends. I have to wonder if this was planned on Scorcese's part....were we not supposed to remember that?
