Cabbie Travis Bickle spends his nights cruising the savage streets of New York, bristling at the nightlife that feeds his inner-demons and his sordid obsession with … Mickey Mouse?
Filmmaker Bryan Boyce puts "Fair Use" of copyrighted Disney characters for parody to the test in "Walt Disney's Taxi Driver," in which clever use of CGI compositing puts Bickle and classic animated characters side-by-disturbing-side.
Martin Scorsese's dark 1976 masterpiece "Taxi Driver" is one of the milestone films of '70s cinema, but what would happen if you tweaked the story just a teensy-weensy bit to make Robert De Niro's title character fixated on Walt Disney creations instead of assassinating politicians or Jodie Foster's pimp?
The result is pitch-perfect, pointing out how in their own adorable way these animated characters are perverse enough to fit right into the skuzzier corners of a city. Be sure to stay until the end, which features a reveal that will tickle any New Yorker perturbed by the Disneyfication of Times Square.
Walt Disney's Taxi Driver from Bryan Boyce on Vimeo.
