I can still remember the first time I’d ever heard about Taxi Driver (1976). I was at Buckley, either 9th or 10th grade. Probably 9th. There was this neighbor girl who lived up the street. I only met her after I switched to her school. Her name was *redacted* or something.
She and I were the same age, but she was waaaaay more “sophisticated” than I was. So I remember running in to her this one time. I don’t remember if she was walking her dog, or what. But she was telling me all these things. About how she’d just spent the weekend with her cousin, in Palm Springs.
I was only a kid, but I was old enough to know that it was not a good thing to hang out with kids from Palm Springs.
Anyway, she told me about how she’d just watched Taxi Driver (1976), and about how it was amazing. This must have been around 1990 maybe? So, I’m not sure if it was in a movie theater, tape, or what. But she was sure jazzed about it.
She’d told me about how her cousin had given her some speed that weekend. And how she’d spent the whole night laying awake in bed, just staring up at the ceiling.
She’d said it was amazing.
Sometimes, when I can’t sleep, that memory comes back to me.
Nostalgia can be a funny thing sometimes.
QuantumTom 