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Insanity ala mode

Chelse McKee, staff

As midterms come to a close, be thankful that your insanity was only temporary. But for these films, the insanity is immortalized on the reel.

Robert De Niro delivers one of his most memorable roles as a psychologically disturbed night-shift taxi driver, Travis Bickle, fixated on the scum of the urban world. In the film, he quickly becomes obsessed with saving two women (played by Cybill Shephard and Jodie Foster) who he considers too pure and ethereal for the city and attempts to rescue them.

Scorsese creates a debatably sympathetic view of Bickle’s plight as Bickle struggles to cope in the city. Meanwhile, he explores the true definition of heroism. Where is the line drawn between a criminal and a hero?

An interesting note is that the famous lines: “You talking to me? Well, I don’t see anyone else here,” were completely ad-libbed by De Niro. The script originally called for De Niro to just be looking in the mirror with his gun.

The film blurs the line of sanity and reality. With a strictly one-person point of view, Bickle’s disdained view of the city is seemingly justified as the audience sees what he sees. With that, the question brought up in the end of the film is: is what the audience seeing real or has the audience completely succumbed to Bickle’s delusional madness?

The film revolves around a small family who move to the Overlook Hotel due to the father’s (played by Jack Nicholson) new position. Shortly, “cabin fever” sets in for Nicholson, resulting in a series of psychologically horrific events.

Kubrick was known for doing scenes over and over again. It’s rumoured that Shelley Duvall (who plays Wendy) had to do 127 takes for one scene.

It’s Kubrick’s perfectionism that brings the tense, grinding aggravation out in Nicholson. There are so many visual allusions to losing direction, such as hedge mazes and winding hallways, that the descent into madness for Nicholson’s character becomes, not only impossible for him to find his way out of, but also for the audience. Nicholson’s mental downward spiral, paired with Duvall’s stagnant desire to remain with her husband, creates one of the most suspenseful, one of the most horrific films of all time.

The only issue I have with this film is the ending (a last-minute substitute after Kubrick switched the endings following the film’s completion). The supposed “twist” would still elude me if I hadn’t read the book.

Vertigo is said by many to be Hitchcock’s best film, beating out such Hitchcock staples like Psycho and Rear Window. The film is based on the book “D’Entre les Morts” as well as the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Scottie, (played by Jimmy Stewart) who suffers from vertigo, is employed to monitor a woman, Madeleine, (played by Kim Novak) whose husband believes her to be possessed by a ghost. Unfortunately, Scottie falls in love with the woman. To say anything more would be a spoiler.

There is the question of whether Scottie was truly in love with Madeleine or if he is just in love with the idea of her. As true obsessive thrillers go, the answer is never resolved in the film, but leaves the interpretation open to the audience. A true Technicolor gem set to the musical composition of Bernard Herrmann (Taxi Driver, Psycho).