Better quality Taxi Driver image needed!

May 22, 2008 12:19 AM

Where is this image from? Why it is from Taxi Driver, you exclaim. But in actual fact it never appears in the movie with that framing. Help me figure out where it comes from and how I can get a good quality version of it please!

I am pretty sure this would be some sort of promo shot, and my hopes are not high for finding a higher resolution version because I have looked all over the net, but it is always worth seeking guidance from the hive mind. I would like to use it to make a tshirt print, but I need a good quality version. Even if you can't help me find what I need, if you could shed light on the origins of the image to cure my curiosity that would be great too. Thanks for any help!

posted by atmosphere to grab bag (11 comments total)

I seem to remember a similarly-angled shot from one of the documentaries on the newest DVD Special Edition release. Sorry, I don't have any specifics for you.
posted by turgid dahlia at 12:51 AM on May 22, 2008

I've made t-shirts from smaller images...and a little clean-up assistance from PhotoShop.

It's such a striking image that there is no question who it is and where it is from, and the "diminished quality" may simply add to the aesthetic and artistic quality.

And, well, make it more your own and less a copyright issue.
posted by squasha at 1:59 AM on May 22, 2008

Many iconic images from movies never appear in the movie because they aren't literally from the movie.

They were instead shot on an ordinary camera by the set's still photographer. The 24 fps shooting of the actual movie camera doesn't produce ideal still photos from a technical perspective, and that's to say nothing about the actual set-up of a shot being right from a movie perspective but not framed or lit right for the publicity or documentary use for which the still image is intended.

If it was an extract from the movie camera, it's also possible the image was extracted, because of its publicity or documentary usefulness, from a take that for other reasons ended up not being used in the final edit.
posted by MattD at 5:02 AM on May 22, 2008

Lots of the stuff they film doesn't make it into the final cut. It's even true that stuff in commercials or trailers may not be in the movie. I've heard commentary tracks discuss one cause of this being that commercials or trailers might need some direct, frank expository dialogue to get the commercial viewer into the right frame of mind but when taken in context of the film as a whole, it doesn't fit.
posted by mmascolino at 6:21 AM on May 22, 2008

Probably a still cut from a reel that didn't make final cut. Tons of that stuff floating around, for gleeful fetisheads to steal and post on the net
posted by stratastar at 8:40 AM on May 22, 2008

I am quite sure that MattD is right on the money - that's your answer. "Production stills" are weird, since they'll have the same content but not the same framings. They've thrown off many a film scholar who should've known better.
posted by Dr. Wu at 9:36 AM on May 22, 2008

nth'ing that it was probably taken by a stills photographer on the set.

My knowledge of Taxi Driver doesn't extend much beyond having seen it once, and having my housemate's Italian promotional poster for it very similar to this French one hanging in my loungeroom for years.* (Does this exact shot feature in the movie either, I wonder?)

But I have read a long newspaper article discussing the 'art' of capturing the essence of a two-hour movie with a single frame.

*Which incidentally used to drive me nuts, because the serif typeface used had all the 'Y's printed backwards — as indeed does the linked one, looking carefully at the 'Y' in CYBIL.
posted by puffmoike at 10:31 AM on May 22, 2008

Apparently, this special edition DVD has a bunch of still galleries on it. You may be able to find it there.
posted by skewedoracle at 10:31 AM on May 22, 2008

I have the dvd containing a 'Photo Montage / photo gallery' and also 'advertising materials' but none of those contain the image. There's also a 'storyboard sequence' which contains a differently framed similar image. The dvd includes a 70 minute making of documentary but I haven't watched that.
posted by JonB at 11:06 AM on May 22, 2008

Thanks for the answers all. After going through everything on my speciel edition Taxi Driver dvd (which I had not even thought to check), the image still eludes me. Surely this image has to exist somewhere other than a few places on the internet...ah well.
posted by atmosphere at 5:47 AM on May 23, 2008

I spoke too soon! As I was writing my previous answer I was scanning the making of documentary, and the image appears at 40:37. Now to figure out how to get the highest quality screen cap of it..
posted by atmosphere at 6:01 AM on May 23, 2008