Written by Tyrone Bruinsma PAUL SCHRADER Paul Schrader is my favorite screenwriter of all time. When it comes to acclaimed screenwriters: names like Billy Wilder, Robert Towne, Shane Black and Aaron Sorkin get listed the most. Certainly, they deserve their recognition, but there’s many talented writers of all groups who don’t receive the praise they deserve. It’s why I’m happy for films like Parasite, Promising Young Woman and Get Out to win screenplay Oscars. But for today, I want to focus on an unofficial series Paul Schrader made between 1976 and 2007. I’d like to look at Paul Schrader’s Night Workers series. Similar to Edgar Wright’s Cornetto Trilogy or Lars Von Trier’s Depression trilogy-this is a series made of films not canonically connected, but thematically and stylistically strung together. The films all revolve around male workers in nightlife, somewhat underground professions who come to conflict with themselves and their world. According to Schrader, the films act as book-ends with Taxi Driver ending with Light Sleeper and American Gigolo ending with The Walker. While I will indulge those who are curious if the films could exist in a continuity later, I’ll mostly be examining themes and Schrader’s regular motifs. TAXI DRIVER Taxi Driver is one of the most acclaimed films of all time, written by Paul Schrader and directed by Martin Scorsese-the film has cemented itself into pop culture history. But while many remember the iconic “You talkin’ to me?” segment that’s been parodied everywhere-the film itself is a dark and reflective drama focused on Robert De Niro. Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a discharged Vietnam soldier who takes up a taxi driving job to make money during his sleepless nights. The film turns from a simple drama about a man working at night, into a story about a man unfit for society and eventually seeks to destroy it. Travis begins the story as a loner, a man desperate for feminine love that he’s unable to achieve by his own failings and with serious bigotry. The YouTube Channel “The Cinema Cartography” did an excellent essay on the film to break down everything from the purpose of individual shots, to the thematic core of the film. I do highly recommend the two-part video and will leave links in the description. At its core, Taxi Driver is an examination of post-Vietnam War American, toxic masculinity, self-destruction and ultimately how lonely men like Travis Bickle are. In an interview, Schrader recalls how he was approached by a man claiming to be the inspiration for Travis Bickle. Schrader’s response was to inform him, that he may feel like his pain is isolated to him-but there’s many men like Travis. Schrader’s skill as a writer is exploring, but not endorsing morally terrible people. Travis Bickle is not a good person or an aspirational figure, something that is lost by people seeking validation who also attached themselves to Tyler Durden from Fight Club. Travis is a man who is clearly broken, views women as a means of improvement, holds hatred for African Americans and wishes to exert violence against others. Despite believing himself to be above “the scum of the streets”, he gladly dives into it to validate himself and never truly improve. Men like Travis don’t want to be better; they subconsciously seek self-destruction as well as destruction of the world around them. In one scene, a passenger (played by Martin Scorsese) talks to Travis about how his wife is sleeping with a black man and wants to kill her. The character reflects how many people express or think things that they wouldn’t actually do, but Travis internalizes it and pursues this. After 3 failed attempts to win over women: a porno theatre attendant, a political worker and a child prostitute played by Jodie Foster-Travis commits to an act of terrorism and violence. He buys weapons, exercises and plans to murder politician he had previously praised. When his attempted assassination fails, he instead kills a pimp and clients at a brothel. In a final act of mutual destruction, he attempts suicide in front of the child prostitute-but is out of ammunition and the police arrive. The ending has him recuperated, working as a Taxi Driver still and continuing his self-destructive behavior. Schrader’s understanding of masculine violence and insecurity is perfectly captured in a truly despicable monster that is such an accurate and dark reflection of modern-day domestic terrorists and mass shooters. Taxi Driver is the accurate mirror for men who believe they’re unwelcome in society…but don’t realize they continue to push themselves away. Taxi Driver is a classic, having gone on to remain an influence with films like 2019’s Joker. It’s also controversial with real world events like an attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, with the perpetrator hoping to impress Jodie Foster. Schrader and Scorsese would go on to work several more times together, with Schrader also writing Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead. After Taxi Driver, Schrader gained further attention with his films Hardcore and Rolling Thunder. He’d soon return to his night workers series with 1980’s American Gigolo. AMERICAN GIGOLO American Gigolo encapsulates the Night Workers series the most in sowing them as neo noir crime dramas with complicated male protagonists tied to relationships with women. One of the earliest films produced by Hollywood juggernaut Jerry Bruckheimer, American Gigolo follows Richard Gere as male prostitute Julian Kay who becomes embroiled in a murder mystery. This film was one of 3 films that helped establish Gere as a household name alongside Days of Heaven, and Officer and a Gentleman. The film isn’t as shocking or dark as Taxi Driver, barely including sex scenes despite the profession explored. But I think that’s a benefit, the story focuses on exploring who Julian is, the relationships he develops with clients and fellow colleagues around him. It’s not a pornographic or even very erotic film, it’s a genuine drama. Do be warned that the film does contain many instances of politically incorrect language, especially for referencing homosexual acts. I can rationalize it as both the language of the time, and Julian’s condescending view of certain subcultures; but I wouldn’t blame anyone turned off by the language. What American Gigolo captures is a change in how Julian is a man who wishes to leave his profession, as opposed to Travis Bickle who self-destructively stays. But the character is constantly forced to be viewed and treated as the gigolo of his profession. He’s not given any real love or respect by anyone aside from his love interest Michelle. People view him as either eye candy, an object to control or an immoral person for his profession. Let’s be very clear about this, anyone who does sex work is not a lesser human being and should not be vilified or abused for their work. Strippers, erotic dancers, prostitutes, porn actors, cam models, erotic artists and erotic voice actors all deserve respect. What I like about American Gigolo is that it does not vilify Julian’s work, but those who would disregard him for it. Clients who can help him when he’s accused of murder disown him, police chew him out for his profession, one client treats him like a toy to control and those who wish to control him treat him poorly. While Julian is a morally complicated man, he’s no villain and doesn’t try to rationalize his actions. By the end, he’s left nearly alone and with no hope-aside from the one person who loved him as the human being he is. If Taxi Driver was a reflection of those who don’t wish to help themselves, American Gigolo is a reflection of how society can mistreat and disregard people. Taxi Driver and American Gigolo make fascinating opposites and I’ll gladly name them classics of American cinema worth watching today. After American Gigolo and Raging Bull, Schrader directed the horror movie Cat People and wrote films like The Mosquito Coast. But he’d return to the night workers series in 1992 with the conclusion to Taxi Driver, a forgotten noir thriller called Light Sleeper. LIGHT SLEEPER Light Sleeper stars Willem Dafoe as John LeTour, a money collector and dealer for his boss Ann played by Susan Sarandon. Gradually however, John confronts his past life and future prospects as drugs, murder and love intertwine. The film is very much a mixture of Taxi Driver and American Gigolo with the New York setting, a criminal underground, John as a man wanting to escape his world and the relationship with women. The film seems to have also inspired one of Schrader’s later films First Reformed from 2017, with John keeping a diary he narrates and a rocky relationship with his ex-wife. Light Sleeper is a somewhat lowkey affair compared to the prior films and even contemporary noirs. This film came out the same year as Basic Instinct that deconstructed the noir genre with action beats and hardcore sex scenes, so Light Sleeper being a moodier and dialogue focused story likely added to it being underseen. It can be seen as derivative of the of the prior films to a detriment, but there’s a moment of a pivotal character death that hits harder than either of the prior films. While you’ve probably not seen Light Sleeper, it’s absolutely worth seeing if you’re a fan of Taxi Driver, American Gigolo or the neo noir genre in general. AFFLICTION, FOREVER MINE AND THE 2000s Paul Schrader wasn’t a major player in the 90’s film scene, with one of the biggest budget films he worked on being City Hall. City Hall had writers like Paul Schrader and Nicolas Pileggi of Goodfellas and stars like Al Pacino on hand, but was quickly forgotten. Schrader did however make what many to be his best work-Affliction. Affliction is a 1997 drama about a small-town copy played by Nick Nolte emotionally unravelling after a possible murder and his mother’s death. The film continued Schrader’s themes of post-modern society, morally grey men and how they collide. It’s easily one of Schrader’s most acclaimed works, with an Oscar nomination for Nick Nolte in the lead and the late James Coburn winning best supporting actor as Nolte’s father. It’s a very easy recommendation for fans of mature dramas, representing the pinnacle of what Schrader had done in the past. After Affliction, he made a low-key romantic thriller called Forever Mine. While it was given a $17 Million budget, you’re likely to find it as a budget dvd in bargain bins. It follows Joseph Fiennes as a pool boy who becomes obsessed with the wife of criminal Ray Liotta. It’s got decent visuals and some good moments, but largely feels derivative considering the man’s prior work. His only other major film of the 2000’s before concluding the Night Workers series was the production nightmare Dominion that I covered previously. But in 2007, he ended his four-part unofficial with The Walker. THE WALKER The Walker has Woody Harrelson playing a gay male prostitute named Carter who accompanies elderly women throughout their day. The professional name for him is “A Walker”, and the film pretty much acts as a modernized retelling of American Gigolo. Carter gets attached to a murder mystery, his position in society leaves him discarded and targeted, and his relationships splinter. It’s very easy for the Night Workers series to feel like the re-treading of settings, plots and themes. The Walker is unfortunately the weakest of the series as I feel it lacks the 70’s grit of Taxi Driver, the impactful death of Light Sleeper or the atmosphere from American Gigolo. It’s a solid drama with Harrelson, Ned Beatty, Kristen Scott Thomas, Willem Dafoe and everyone else doing an excellent job. And I love how Schrader taps into post-911 distrust of politicians and leans into the story as a pure political thriller at times. But ultimately it feels stale and somewhat neutered compared to what he’s given us before. I can praise the recurring cloud of Carter’s prestigious father hanging over his head. It taps into themes present in 21st Century American about reflecting on our past and the expectations of prior generations or fathers. I also like how Harrelson is a gay character that ultimately stands up to a homophobic political system in defiance and doesn’t die. I’ll gladly spoil that because the “Kill Your Gays” trope is a toxic one that Schrader is smart enough to avoid. While not by any means the best film of 2007, The Walker is akin to an encore with no bombastic conclusion because that is not what these stories were ever about. THEORETICAL UNIVERSE?
Ok, so I will placate those interested if the 4 films could exist in the same world or continuity. I personally despise this theorizing of media needing to exist in the same universe as it often ignores good stories, characterization and themes for plot connections. But it’s very possible the films could exist within the same reality as they all reflect contemporary real life and can often look very similar. Only Taxi Driver and Light Sleeper share the same location of New York, while American Gigolo is set in Los Angeles and The Walker in Washington DC. One could argue that Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver succumbed to the dark underworld and worked in the same professional as Willem Dafoe’s character in Light Sleeper. Or maybe Travis was a driver for Dafoe’s character as Dafoe himself is always driven around by others. Dafoe himself is the only recurring actor in the films as we see him as a drug dealer in Light Sleeper and then as a politician in the Walker. Could Dafoe have gotten clean and rebuilt himself as a politician in American’s political capital? I mean if Tim Allen can go from drug criminal to children’s star…even if he bit the right-wing bullet, I don’t see Dafoe’s transformation as something unheard of. I mean America did elect a man with superbly gross views and treatment of women. Could Woody Harrelson’s Carter have met Richard Gere’s Julian and been inspired to be a male prostitute? All is possible, but I don’t treat this seriously. Like many things media nerds take seriously, this should be treated as a parlor game. The reality is the films are tied together by thematic consistency and that’s fine. Stories don’t have to be within the same continuity to matter. Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and Legend are both visually perfect retelling of classic sci-fi and fantasy respectively. Steven Spielberg’s Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan don’t have to crossover to be better World War 2 films. And even with the MCU films, they don’t have to always pay off dumb story threads to be perfect. Paul Schrader’s Night Workers series is a seriously underrated set of films. Taxi Driver and American Gigolo are classics that many modern audiences haven’t seen, Light Sleeper is a cult classic and The Walker is a solid enough drama. I do recommend all of them in you’ve never seen them, along with modern Schrader works like First Reformed. CONCLUSION What do I think the Night Workers series represents? Well, I think it represents the ever-changing perspective on masculine identity. Taxi Driver has men who did not know their place in the world after such a traumatic time. American Gigolo saw men return to building themselves through work, relationships and superficial elements. Light Sleeper had men questioning if they were ever happy with those signifiers to begin with. And The Walker turns that focus to the government-the system that controls everyone. It can be said that war, domestic terrorism, the criminalization of drugs, sex and homosexuality, and the ways we can build ourselves are all products of systematic control by the government. I said that these films were mirrors for the men within the stories, but maybe Paul Schrader made the films as a mirror for our society so we might ask “Where did we go wrong?”
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