The Last Tycoon (Released in 1976) - Starring Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum and Jack Nicholson

The Love of the Last Tycoon is the unfinished final novel of the celebrated Irish-American author F. Scott Fitzgerald. It was compiled and published posthumously in 1941 as The Last Tycoon, and again in 1993 as Fitzgerald originally wanted it - The Love of the Last Tycoon. In keeping with Hollywood’s obsession with Fitzgerald, the book was adapted for celluloid and directed by Elia Kazan, this being the last film he ever directed in his lifetime, the screenplay was by Harold Pinter.
The film is a Roman à clef - it draws inspiration from the life of the famed MGM film producer Irving Thalberg. The monochrome first scene – a 1920s classic beauty in the arms of a cigar puffing mafia boss, the characteristic bloodied  shootout in the diner which leaves him dead- and an authoritative  voice stating “The end is too gory, cut out one role of the tape.” Monroe Stahr (Robert de Niro) - charismatic production chief and creative executive at one of the biggest studios in Hollywood. A hard taskmaster, he is used to having his say in every stage of the film making process. Whilst the rest of Hollywood feels fettered in the wake of the creation of the Writers Guild of America, Monroe continues to be authoritarian and controlling. His personal life spiraled downward after the death of his wife, an actress - after which he melted into self exile, isolating himself.
Pat Brady (Robert Mitchum) plays Stahr’s loyal supporter – "I love him. He’s a genius. I’ve always wanted him to get every credit... I’m the strong base upon which Monroe Stahr rests. I’m loyal to him …". However, Brady does wonder what will happen to him? He is torn between his fondness for Stahr and his desire for the realization of his personal ambition - “All I want is recognition.” Brady’s character draws inspiration from the life of studio head Louis B. Mayer.




When an earthquake partially throws a spanner in the works destroying sets, Monroe, in the midst of the chaos notices Kathleen Moore (Ingrid Boulting), a beautiful woman, albeit engaged to someone else - who reminds him of his late wife. Most of his waking hours are spent trying to track down the elusive woman with the silver belt(though that wasn’t Katherine). Meanwhile Cecilia, Pat Brady’s daughter (Theresa Russell) flaunts her affection for Monroe and tries to win him over.
Brimmer (Jack Nicholson) is the thorn in Monroe’s side: a union organizer from New York. The controlling Stahr is confronted with an equally pushy Brimmer - a ‘communist’. To have a writer’s strike with sixteen pictures under production is daunting in the middle of the Depression. On the internal front, Monroe has to go head-to-head with the others regarding budgets and endings - he wants to make a meaningful picture that for once doesn’t make money - an idea that doesn’t go down well with Brady and the boys. As the film progresses, one thing is clear, love clouds Monroe’s once clear vision and finally, the life he gave to his work slips away gradually - in the end, he leaves the studio where he spent all his creative potential and life, making pictures.

Taxi Driver (released in 1976) - A movie directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, and Jodie Foster

Taxi Driver is an iconic movie, one of the earlier movies by Martin Scorsese that made him famous (starting with the reputation he had gained by Mean Streets), and stars some of the same people from the movie. The movie was nominated for 4 Academy Awards, although it did not win any (it did win a Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival). The movie is also famous for another more nefarious reason, being linked to a Presidential assassination attempt (when John Hinckley, Jr. confessed that he was obsessed with Jodie Foster's role in the movie as the reason for his attempt to kill President Ronald Reagen in 1981). The movie was set in a now familiar location, the seedy parts and locations of New York, with the main character being tormented by various emotional issues, almost being self-destructive. In fact, the movie was shot during a heat wave in New York, and at the time of a strike by garbage workers. The movie won critical acclaim, but also became controversial due to the violence (and in fact, Scorsese changed the colors of the ending, making the colors desaturated to try and reduce the impact of the violence).



The movie is set in the year 1976, the same movie as the year of release, and set in the period after the Vietnam War, where there were a large number of veterans out from the war, suffering through all kinds of emotional trauma. This is the story of one emotionally distraught person, 26 year old Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), who lives in Mahattan; he is not gainfully employed and covers that with his parents by claiming that he works for a government agencies where a lot of secrecy is required. In reality, he is lonely, out of work, and drives taxis in New York at night to cover his insomnia, and spends the days in porn theaters. To anybody who asks, he claims that he was a Marine during the Vietnam War, with a large VietCong flag and a scar as evidence.
He falls for a volunteer (Betsy (Cybill Shepherd)) for the election campaign of Senator Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris), who is running for President. He gets into the campaign office by offering to volunteer, and manages to get a coffee and movie date with Betsy, but blows up the romance by taking her to see a sex education movie, which offends her. She rejects his attempts after that. At around the same time, Bickle is getting more disgusted with the street crime that he sees around him, and starts to develop his body intensely. He also thinks about assassinating Senator Palatine, but drops the attempt when Secret Service agents notice him. At around this time, Iris (Jodie Foster), a 12 year old sex worker tries to use his cab to escape her pimp, but fails. When Bickle encounters her again, he gets focused on trying to save her from the clutches of her pimp Sport, and back to her parents. He gets him into more violence, including gunfire in which Bickle kills Sport (Harvey Keitel) and another customer of Iris.