FTDM assistant professor R. Colin Tait’s chapter “When Marty Met Bobby: Collaborative Authorship in Mean Streets and Taxi Driver” has been published in A Companion to Martin Scorsese, edited by Aaron Baker. I
n it, Professor Tait examines the unique contributions that actor Robert De Niro brought to director Martin Scorsese’s quintessential films Mean Streets and Taxi Driver and his influence upon the young Scorsese. Utilizing the actor’s own scripts and notations, he ultimately makes a case for De Niro as an integral creative force within both of these films, whose influence went beyond his acting and included writing and, in some instances, directing individual scenes. Using evidence from the new archival resource The Robert De Niro Papers and the Harry Ransom Research Center at UT Austin, Professor Tait asks that we view these two noteworthy films not simply as pieces that express Scorsese’s unique vision, but also as collaborative works that reflect the best efforts of both parties.