Daily Dialogue — September 9, 2012

“Look at it this way. A man takes a job, you know? And that job — I mean, like that — That becomes what he is. You know, like — You do a thing and that’s what you are. Like I’ve been a cabbie for thirteen years. Ten years at night. I still don’t own my own cab. You know why? Because I don’t want to. That must be what I want. To be on the night shift drivin’ somebody else’s cab. You understand? I mean, you become — You get a job, you become the job. One guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton Place. You got a lawyer. Another guy’s a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. People are born, y’know? I envy you, your youth. Go on, get laid, get drunk. Do anything. You got no choice, anyway. I mean, we’re all fucked. More or less, ya know.”

— Wisdom (Peter Boyle), Taxi Driver (1976), written by Paul Schrader

http://static.movieclips.com/embedplayer.swf?shortid=69HeE

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is riffs, suggested by churnage.

Trivia: Paul Schrader was inspired to write the script after reading the published diary of Arthur Bremer, the man who was convicted of shooting presidential hopeful George Wallace. Eerily, Bremer was 26 years old in 1976 (the year the film was released), the same age as Travis Bickle in the film. And Schrader himself was 26 when he first wrote the screenplay, in 1972.

Dialogue On Dialogue: If a character is named Wisdom, you’d figure he would be a Mentor character.