Did DeNiro's character make anybody else cringe?

I've loved this film for years & I agree that it IS lighthearted but not in a Disney kind of way. There's obviously murders that occur & Glory's rape at the hands of one of the guys that Murray's character sent her to hang out with as she related to Wayne (De Niro)is obviously not for kids but this is lighthearted in the sense that at the heart of this film taking place in bag bad New York City is a love story. The film is called "Mad Dog & Glory" because that's who it's about, "Mad Dog" Wayne Dobie (Robert De Niro) & Glory (Uma Thurman) who are both broken in their own ways & desperately out of place in their surroundings. They're both looking for attachment, for beauty, for LOVE & they find it in each other. There is no connection intimated between Uma's character & David Caruso's like you think other than that in the specific scene that you reference when she looks at him following Wayne blowing off the danger represented by Bill Murray's character & basically saying "It's over. We won!" to the abused neighbor & her look to him is basically saying "There's no way that this is over that easily, not with him." Caruso's character knows as does Glory that Bill Murray's character won't give up so easily & deep down Wayne knows it too he's just doing what he has done for his entire life, putting the best possible spin on a negative situation.

I too love "Taxi Driver" but these two films & De Niro's two performances couldn't be more different. The only connection as far as I can tell is that De Niro plays both parts & both films take place in New York City which both characters are obviously not cut out for. Wayne is a meek character deep down, introverted & withdrawn, he's a struggling artist who longs to live in a world of art & beauty. He survives as a cop but he wishes that he could live off of his art. Murray's character may see this & may have sent him Glory as a muse, who knows? Then again when Wayne postulates that he & Milo (Murray's character) may share wishing that they were both elsewhere in their lives Milo denies it in essence claiming that he's exactly where he wants to be. (Obviously not true or he wouldn't be regularly seeing a therapist. You don't see one if NOTHING is wrong & you're perfectly content.) So maybe Frank Milo only sent Glory as a hooker to seal the deal on their "friendship" the only way that he knows how, by greasing the wheels so to speak like he does with Wayne's cop co-workers by bringing them baked goods. In stark contrast to Wayne's quiet desperation & need for love De Niro's "Taxi Driver" character Travis Bickle seeks control more than anything else. He despises the city that he lives in but he despises his life as well. He hates his job, he hates his love life or lack thereof, he hates pretty much everybody & everything around him with the exception of those who appear to have a beauty or wisdom which is unattainable to him somehow like Peter Boyle's fellow taxi driver "Wizard", or Cybill Shepherd's "Betsy" character, or Jodie Foster's character "Iris" the young prostitute who happens to be the only one that he can save from the filth that he despises if not outright attain. You see, characters are just like regular people in that they're often best defined by what it is that they seek, what it is at their core & what's at the core of Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver" is an angry desire to control & it's reflected throughout the film. Why else would he take Betsy to a porno on their first date? He wants to CONTROL her & the events between them but he discovers to his dismay that he can't control her anymore than he can control anything else in his life. His violent outburst near the end of the film is his explosive kamikaze efforts to control his death by causing it while at the same time trying to redeem himself through saving Iris from her life of prostitution & abuse. It isn't that Travis is beyond redemption, I'd argue with the character's creator (Who was loathe to agree to a "Taxi Driver" sequel when De Niro & Martin Scorsese approached him to do one because Paul Schrader feels that Bickle was on a "death trip" & would have died shortly after the end of that film having been unsuccessful in his attempt to bring about his demise then. ) that he may have indeed attained it by the end of the film(Or at the very least started down redemption road)it's just that he's blinded by his desire to control everything around him much like another great character Anakin Skywalker is in the Star Wars films. Both characters seek to build a perfect world for themselves by forcing their will & their own senses of right & wrong upon everyone else & when there's resistance to that imposition of will then they blame those that don't willingly follow their desires for the disastrous results rather than rightfully blaming themselves. You could also say that both (Anakin Skywalker & Travis Bickle) are destroyed by their obsession with controlling everything but just like [SPOILER ALERT] Anakin is redeemed before death I believe that Travis could be as well. Back to De Niro's "Mad Dog & Glory" character, he doesn't want to control everything, he seeks only to find his place in the world. You never see him trying to control anything even the scene that you mention where he pulls a gun on the guy while walking through the park (Who I'll thank you to remember had just threatened to cut Wayne up) he's REACTING to an event & the reason that it seems out of character to most viewers (And like pure insanity to you) is that he's reacting more forcefully than we've seen him react previously. Usually Wayne is the LAST guy to complain, or act forcefully, or in any way try to exert his will over others, he goes along meekly doing what he has to do throughout his humdrum life not even complaining when his friends & coworkers give him the ironic nickname "Mad Dog" which is about as far from his character as you can possibly get. He seeks acceptance, that's what's at his core in my opinion & that's why you'll notice upon repeated viewings of the film (Which I encourage you to partake in as I have)that whenever anyone points out any deficiency in his knowledge or character he quickly tries to set them straight that he DOES know this, or ISN'T in need of the dreams that Frank Milo offers to expedite ("Not me brother, I'm flush." he says to Milo after he repeats that line amusing Milo enough to respond at the notion & to repeat a tough guy line that Wayne had just offered about the criminal that they both had been held at gunpoint by recently, "You're flush?" Milo asks as he practically chuckles at the thought "Mister 'The net is closing'?") Wayne, as corny as it may sound just wants to love & be loved in return. He just wants to be valued. He finds all of that in Glory who herself wants those things in return. They both find in each other the culmination of their deepest desires in this most unlikely of scenarios & within that sometimes grim circumstance they both found their happily ever afters.


"Be nice until it's time to NOT be nice."