Costume Review, Remix and Rendering #12: TAXI DRIVER (1976)
REVIEW
Travis Bickle is a Vietnam vet turned night shift taxi driver, turned almost presidential candidate assassin, turned prostitute protector. He’s an insomniac with PTSD and poor social skills. He has an obsessive personality and really skewed ideas of what it means to be a hero.
I think Travis is as much a victim as he is a criminal in this story. More times than not soldiers return from war broken humans, and little is done to help them process the atrocities that they participated in, in the name of honor, patriotism and heroism. This is a story about child sex trafficking, stalking, patriarchy, and the debate over vengeance vs. justice. But ultimately, it is a story about mental health. And I find it difficult to judge Travis’ solely based on his actions without putting them into the context of how mental illness was treated in 1970s America.
While I find this film pretty disturbing and think it will likely be triggering for many people, I do find it to be an important commentary on the vigilantism that was so prevalent in films made at that time. So I guess I give it a thumbs up and a recommended watch…but there are warning labels plastered all over this piece.
Performances were stellar all around. But I want to give special focus to the job done by Jodie Foster who, at the time, was just 12 years old. There were strides taken to protect her from the impact that the content of this film as well as the trauma of playing a child prostitute might take on an actor this young. But every time I watch this, I can’t help but think, what the actual fuck?
Ruth Morley’s work is, once again, spot on. I like to think of her as the voice of Manhattan costume design. What she did Annie Hall, Tootsie, Ghost and this film shows how fine-tuned her knowledge of NYC everyday fashion was.
REMIX
I love pretty dresses, so it should be no surprise that I remixed some of the beautiful looks worn by Betsy (Cybill Shephard).
I think I knew that I’d use the fabric for a 70s inspired piece before I decided to review this film. I purchased it, once again, at the now closed FIDM Scholarship Store. I found a beautiful pattern for a long bell sleeved dress with a surplice top and large luxe bow. But having only 4 yards of the fabric I was going to use, I knew there would have to be serious edits. So my first edit was chopping the pattern down from a dress to a blouse. Then I nixed the belt. I was confident that the pattern and silhouette would do all the heavy lifting to still convey the 70s feel I was going for.
Patterns: Simplicity Sewing Pattern Misses' Vintage 1970s Dresses
Fabric: Stretch Poly-Knit from the FIDM Scholarship Store
Style: Dress
Vintage/Contemporary: Vintage Reproduction
