10 Movies That Influenced Audiences In Awful Ways
9. Taxi Driver Inspired An Assassination Attempt
In Taxi Driver's most iconic scene, we see Travis Bickle (De Niro) staring in the mirror at a version of himself that he could be if all the limits of society were removed from him. He is the tough guy when he isn't afraid to be arrested. He is the bad guy who can clean the city of all the corruption he sees. The man he sees isn't as lonely, afraid and disenfranchised as he feels, and this helps psych him up for the rest of the film. That De Niro improvised the scene only adds to its power.
Sadly, John Hinckley Jr. didn't pay any attention to this scene beyond the tough guy psyching up routine. His eye had been drawn to the other star of the film, 12-year-old Jodie Foster. Developing an obsession with the child actress, Hinkley moved to Conneticut so that he could more effectively stalk her, and he spent months calling her on the phone and slipping poems under her door.
In 1981, when the now teenager had failed to show an interest in the 25-year-old's unending attention, Hinkley sent her one final message:
"Over the past seven months I've left you dozens of poems, letters and love messages in the faint hope that you could develop an interest in me. Although we talked on the phone a couple of times I never had the nerve to simply approach you and introduce myself.
The reason I'm going ahead with this attempt now is because I cannot wait any longer to impress you."
On March 30 1981, Hinkley loaded a .22 caliber Röhm revolver and fired six shots at the President of the United States, Ronald Reagan. One of the bullets ricocheted off the side of the presidential limo and hit Reagan in the chest. Another hit Press Secretary James Brody in the side of the head, leaving him paralysed on the left side of his body until his death 33 years later (which was ruled a homicide as a result of this shooting). Others wounded in the attempt included police officer Thomas Delahanty and secret service agent Timothy McCarthy.
After his trial, Hinkley said the following in an interview:
"It was the greatest love offering in the history of the world. Everybody but everybody knows about John and Jodie."