Paul Schrader, I may thoroughly despise your latest directorial
effort, but I don’t intend to demean your astounding achievements. Your
strict Calvinist upbringing must have been rough, and that whole
no-watching-movies-or-theater thing really set you back. Still, you
went on to change the course of cinema. You showed the world that men,
too, could be whores with hearts of gold. You created the role that
launched Jodie Foster’s career. And most importantly, you wrote every
sick, fascinating word that Travis Bickle ever uttered.

Annie Wagner is The Stranger's former film editor. She was born and raised in Capitol Hill, but has since lived in such far-flung locales as Phoenix, AZ, Charlottesville, VA, and Wedgwood. After graduating...