Paul Schrader’s accomplishments and contributions to cinema certainly venture beyond screenwriting; though he is (and probably will be) largely remembered as the man who wrote Taxi Driver (1976). That classic film was the result of a conflicted screenwriter who dared to take the pulse of a post 60’s American male loneliness and universal torment documenting it with precision and expertise. Schrader said writing it was a personal exorcism of sorts (if he did not write Taxi Driver- he would have become the Taxi Driver.).
Schrader, born July 22, 1946 in Grand Rapids, Michigan to strict Calvinist parents, earned an M.A. in Film Studies from UCLA upon the recommendation of esteemed film critic and mentor, Pauline Kael. Schrader’s 1st published critiques were for the LA Free Press, and later for CINEMA magazine (examples of his sharp early writings can be found at www.paulschrader.org). His book, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu, Bresson, Dreyer (1972), explored the similarities between directors; Robert Bresson, Yasijuro Ozu and Carl T. Dreyer. Other influences on Schrader include the westerns of John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock films, and Renoir's The Rules of the Game (1939), which Schrader has called the "quintessential movie" representing "all of cinema".
In 1974, Schrader and his brother, Leonard, wrote The Yakuza, a film set in the Japanese criminal underworld. The screenplay was the subject of an intense bidding war, finally selling for $325,000, more than any screenplay to that date. The Yakuza was ultimately directed by Sydney Pollack, starred Robert Mitchum. Robert Towne (Chinatown (1974)) was credited with a rewrite.
The Yakuza’s commercial failure aside- Schrader caught the attention of a new generation of filmmakers. He wrote Obsession (1976) for Brian De Palma and an early draft of Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). Spielberg was not fond of the script deeming it "terribly guilt-ridden” and later got another writer. Schrader also penned a film titled Rolling Thunder (1977) that was later reworked without his input.
Schrader’s resonant character study of an lonely New York cabbie, Taxi Driver, exploded on the American consciousness in February of 1976 . Martin Scorsese directed the film with Robert De Niro as the lead character. De Niro's Travis Bickle, a troubled, racist, psychopathic insomniac Vietnam vet more than struck a chord with the public. Taxi Driver hangs tough to this day- undoubtedly reverberating with younger alienated men of all cultures. The film definitely put Schrader into cinema orbit. He would later write the best film of the 80’s, Raging Bull (1980) (co-written w/Mardik Martin), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and one of the best films of the 90’s, Bringing Out the Dead (1999). Scorsese directed all three films. Scorsese has claimed- Taxi Driver was Schrader’s movie, Raging Bull was De Niro’s movie, and Last Temptation was his.
Schrader directed his 1st feature Blue Collar in 1978 (like Yakuza, co-written w/his brother Leonard). It starred Harvey Keitel, Richard Pryor and Yaphet Kotto as automobile factory workers attempting to sidestep their lot in life through thievery. Schrader then wrote and directed Hardcore (1979), a film with parallels to Schrader’s youth in its depiction of Calvinism in Grand Rapids. George C. Scott played a man obsessed with rescuing his daughter from the 70’s New York City/Times Square world of hardcore Pornography. The Scott character contains shades of Schrader's own father.
Among Schrader's 80’s films we have the interesting time capsule that is American Gigolo (1980) with Richard Gere, a very underrated re-make of a 1942 noir, Cat People (1982) with Nastassja Kinski, and the superb Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1984). Inspired by Japanese writer Yukio Mishima, Mishima blends instances from Mishima's life with dramatizations of segments from his writings. Mishima is highly respected among Schrader’s peers and critics and many consider it his greatest writing and directing achievement. Schrader also made Light of Day in 1987 with Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox.
Schrader’s 90’s work includes The Comfort of Strangers (1990) with a vintage Christopher Walken performance and a creepy Helen Mirren, adapted by Harold Pinter from the Ian McEwan novel about perverse strangers in Venice courting a troubled tourist couple (Natasha Richardson and Rupert Everett)- the tightly wound Light Sleeper (1992), about a drug dealer (frequent Schrader man, Willem DaFoe) desiring a straight life, and Touch (1997), based on an Elmore Leonard novel, about a man supposedly able to cure ailing souls by laying his hands on them (Skeet Ulrich). Late in 1997, Schrader directed Affliction, a dense, profound, brilliantly performed film about a tortured small town policeman (never better Nick Nolte) consumed with solving a mystery (that may or may not be imagined) involving a fatal hunting accident as the menacing shadow of his father (Academy Award winner, James Coburn) mirrors his every step. Schrader also wrote and directed a slight misfire, Forever Mine (1999), about an affair between a cabana boy and the young wife of a sinister politician, starring Ray Liotta, Gretchen Mol and Joseph Fiennes.
Schrader’s Auto Focus (2002) is based on the life and murder of TV actor, Bob Crane (played by Greg Kinnear). Auto Focus is yet another overlooked Schrader film loaded with his usual themes (unhinged guilt, compulsive sexuality, blatant narcissism, repressed homosexuality and self-administered penance).
Schrader made headlines in 2003 for being fired from Exorcist: Dominion, a prequel film to The Exorcist (1973). The producers disliked Schrader’s cut and had the film re-shot by Renny Harlin, released as Exorcist: The Beginning (2004). Schrader's version eventually got a limited release, Dominion: A Prequel to The Exorcist (2005). Schrader made The Walker (2007), with Woody Harrelson as an effete escort involved in a murder case- and he directed Adam Resurrected (2008), featuring a career defining performance by Jeff Goldblum, as a survivor of Jewish Concentration camps living in an asylum in the desert. A mature, stunning film- Adam Resurrected is easily Schrader’s most overlooked, undervalued work as a director.
Schrader directed The Canyons in 2013 starring Lindsey Lohan. This movie is one of the filmmaker's only missteps. The movie never takes hold as Lohan's unusual character guides us further and further into the (surprise) soullessness of contemporary Los Angeles (this may be the idea- but The Canyons feels unnecessarily flat beyond any points being made). The film simply does not work.
The Canyons being a rare exception- I defend the rest of Schrader's films with their stubborn, angsty, doomed, redemption seeking protagonists. Schrader men use and abuse psychopathic and psychological extremes attempting to correct their mortal coil. Schrader film finales often roar with a furious redemptive urge followed by the unavoidable agonized sacrifice- a cathartic, ritualistic act of bloodshed. Schrader calls Taxi Driver, American Gigolo, Light Sleeper and The Walker his “man in a room" films; each story containing an angry and potentially dangerous narcissist who disappears behind a mask of masculine fraud. His characters are transparent, evasive, egoistic wolves forever rehearsing their own peculiar, unnerving societal howls.
Schrader's latest films include the personally disowned (due to well publicized artistic differences), The Dying of the Light (2014) with Nic Cage and the devilish crime thriller, Dog Eat Dog (2016) also with Cage. He’s currently makingfilm starring Ethan Hawke called First Reformed (2017), regarding an ex-military chaplain (Hawke) grieving the death of his son. Amanda Seyfried also stars.
Schrader's cinematic legacy is solid and palpable. Taxi Driver and Raging Bull are widely regarded as two of the greatest films ever made. For my money- Affliction and Adam Resurrected are his greatest directing efforts. FYI for cinephiles of all shapes and sizes- make it a point to listen in on Schrader's many talks and various bits of media regarding the art of film writing or just film in general (YouTube being one resource for this).
I urge cinema lovers, future filmmakers, writers, and the like- delve into Paul Schrader’s seductive world of misfits, rebels, psychotics, and other humans teetering on the threshold of reality and fantasy (often obliterating the line). Schrader, the writer, focuses on his creations with wisdom, skill and the necessary interest of an unflinching craftsman. Start with Taxi Driver. If you’re one of the few who have not seen it- you’re lucky- I’d love to experience it for the 1st time. Then check out Paul Schrader’s other numerous character pieces grounded in maturity, gravity, brevity and audacity.
You may catch a glimpse of yourself in every one of them.