Did anyone notice that Robert DeNiro (or someone who looked exactly like him) was driving the taxi when Larenz came back from 'Nam? The Hughes brothers were paying homage to the movie TAXI DRIVER which took place around the same time. In Taxi Driver, DeNiro's character said he would drive in any neighborhood at any time. It was def. a reference to Martin Scorsese's masterpiece.
Kingston Xaviar
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Yeah I just saw it and I noticed that scene where the taxi driver stares in the review at Anthony but I didn't see a resemblence of De Niro at all.
shareIt was just someone who looked like Robert DeNiro
shareI've seen this movie many time and I never maked that reference.
But I do know that the Hughes brothers are big fans of Martin Scorsese.
I saw an interview in Menace II Society with the brothers when they confirmed this. The said the way the characters are introduced are similar to the Martin Scorsese's movie Goodfellas.
I've just come on here to check the cast list because I thought it might be a cameo too, but it says the 'Cabbie' was played by Rik Colitti (no pic). Checked out Google images though and it looks like the guy: http://www.thelin.net/laurent/cinema/films/tt0090555.html
But I had to rewind and freeze it twice - a nice touch...
"Wait till they get a load of me!"
That's the drunk cab driver from Crocodile Dundee. Maybe they were making a reference to Crocodile Dundee instead of Taxi Driver. Hmmm ... j/k. By the way, he looks nothing like Robert DeNiro.
As for the Hughes Brothers' Menace II Society, they ended the movie with a gun shooting at the camera as a tribute to GoodFellas. They supposedly wanted to make a "black" GoodFellas, which is kind of what Menace II Society is. In another twist, Scorsese had Pesci shooting at the camera at the end of GoodFellas as a tribute to the classic film "The Great Train Robbery" from 1903.
I just went to your link; dude looks more like Eddie Deezen than he does Robert DeNiro.
shareYup, the lookalike was a cool little nugget to throw in there.
shareLooked just like him. Don't think it WAS him.
Im the Alpha and the Omoxus. The Omoxus and the Omega
Just to clarify this once and for all for all the doubters who think it's just a coincidence. On the Criterion Laserdisc director's commentary, the Hughes bros confirm the scene is an intentional homage to Taxi Driver and refer to the sequence as "De Niro eyes". The taxi ride is even called "De Niro eyes" in the chapter listing.
Remember that Taxi Driver is also a film about a fellow Marine who returns from 'Nam and has problems re-adjusting to civilian life...
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