God's Lonely Man

Updated
God's Lonely Man
Faneditor Name:
Original Movie Title:
Genre:
Fanedit Type:
Original Release Date:
1976
Original Running Time:
113
Fanedit Release Date:
Fanedit Running Time:
67
Time Cut:
46
Available in HD?
Brief Synopsis:
My version of Taxi Driver (1976).
Intention:
The intention was to make a different storyline without the "Betsy" character. Travis Bickle is in my cut a lonely suicidal person who has some very bad idea's in his head. When he meets the 12-year-old Iris who is forced to play the hooker for a low life pimp, Bickle is going on a bloody rampage to set her free.
Additional Notes:
Taken from the 4K edition.
Release Information:
Digital

User reviews

3 reviews
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.7(3)
Audio Editing
 
9.3(3)
Visual Editing
 
10.0(3)
Narrative
 
8.3(3)
Enjoyment
 
8.7(3)
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
8.0
I've long had a love-hate relationship with Taxi Driver, but this edit addresses nearly all of those problems. The ham-fisted narration is gone, the schizophrenic and silly romantic subplot (the less horny Travis seems, the more we can all appreciate him as any kind of heroic, even anti-heroic, father figure to Iris without it seeming creepy), and overall the film has a focus and silent eerieness that it was missing with the v/o. I don't want to spend time in Travis' head, privy to his thoughts, but I absolutely want to watch him struggle through his alienated, tortured existence.

Maniac's done a great job of whittling down Taxi Driver to a violent, gut punch of a short film, and while some may argue that Travis' motives for assassinating Palantine make less sense without his rejection by Betsy the campaign worker, how many times have we now seen mass shootings/killings that had no discernable point? Travis' motiveless attempt on Palantine seems as arbitrary as his own nocturnal travails which lends a different kind of bleak poetry to the movie.

My only real disappointment came at the end with the excising of the best shot in the whole movie, Travis' funny, sad, terrifying finger-gun to the temple when the police arrive. I'm not sure what was accomplished by losing that, but everything up to that point made me appreciate the movie in new ways, and may well be the only version I watch for a long time.
R
Top 10 Reviewer 156 reviews
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Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
9.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
The film changes the focus of the story, and is a companion piece.
Technically very well executed, musical themes being given a more prominent role.
A timeless narrative.
Very enjoyable, highly recommended.

User Review

Do you recommend this edit?
Yes
Format Watched?
Digital
P
Top 500 Reviewer 19 reviews
Report this review Comments (0) | Was this review helpful? 0 0
Overall rating
 
9.2
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
9.0
Visual Editing
 
10.0
Narrative
 
8.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Taxi Driver is a masterpiece of cinema. It is however a bit of a slow grind, so I was interested to see what Maniac had done with it. This edit features the removal of Betsy and instead focusses the story on the Travis' goal of cleaning up the city.

The A/V cuts were all very well done and unnoticable. The voiceovers were removed in favour of rescores, which were fine but mostly too loud. A/V quality was excellent.

The new story was still strong despite over 40 minutes being removed. The pace is higher but not so much so, rather the story is more focussed. There are however a couple plot holes. The first one is rather minor - Travis kicks off his TV. In the original, this is due to his frustration at the character from the TV show getting a divorce against the partner's wishes - mirroring his break up with Betsy. The 2nd plot hole is more signifiant. The scene where Travis shows up to the Palantine rally is included. He alerts the suspicions of security. Later, he shows up to another rally and attempts to assassinate Palantine. This doesn't make any sense in the context of the new story. Travis shows support and admiration of Palantine in the beginning, but then decides to kill him. In the original, this is due to his resentment at Betsy and her association with Palantine's party. With Betsy removed, all 3 of these scenes should have been cut as well. Travis showing support at the 2nd Palantine rally could have been kept, but his attempted assassination seems unmotivated.

Overall, while I prefer the original, I did still enjoy this edit, as the overarching plot of Travis' anger at prostitution and degeneracy is put into focus, which is the most interesting plotline from Taxi Driver. I believe the edit would be improved by removing the aforementioned scenes that don't fit with this plotline.
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