Directed by:
Martin ScorseseScreenplay:
Paul SchraderCinematography:
Michael ChapmanComposer:
Bernard HerrmannCast:
Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle, Cybill Shepherd, Diahnne Abbott, Frank Adu, Victor Argo (more)VOD (3)
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At 26, Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is slipping slowly into isolation and violence on the streets of New York City. Trying to solve his insomnia by driving a yellow cab on the night shift, he grows increasingly disgusted by the people who hang out at night: "Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets." His touching attempts to woo Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a Senator's campaign worker, turn sour when he takes her to a porn movie on their first date. He even fails in his attempt to persuade child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) to desert her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel) and return to her parents and school. Driven to the edge by powerlessness, he buys four handguns and sets out to assassinate the Senator, heading for the infamy of a 'lone crazed gunman'. (Columbia Pictures US)
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Reviews (13)
Quite shabby and very much “about nothing”. I don’t see anything exceptional about Taxi Driver. De Niro acts like in every film – almost all his roles are the same to me – and I still can’t bring myself to like Scorsese. It’s a shame, but I’ve already come to terms with the fact that the best works of these two gentlemen will never say much to me.
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Taxi Driver is the story of a man who couldn't stand how the whole of New York was gradually being flooded with all kinds of "filth", so he decides to sort it all out on his own. This film is mainly based on the outstanding performances of Robert De Niro and partly of the then young Jodie Foster, who were perfect for their roles. Then there's the strong musical score and the well-situated cinematography (especially in the final scene as it passes from Iris's room through the stairwell to the door). In short, a very fine piece of filmmaking, but one that I can't give full marks to because there was just something else missing.
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There was a chance that his fate could have ended well, but Betsy (truly beautiful Cybill Shepherd) should not have blown him off after one date, which he didn't handle organizationally well. The next hope could be the fourteen-year-old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster, who really was 14), but can she truly save him? Is he capable of acting in a way that will help people? The ending is a fairly expected escalation of events, which only feeds into the great development that the character Travis Bickle has. His life has completely changed, but not here in New York, it changed over there, in Vietnam, New York just showed him that it's not really that different, that it doesn't really make much sense to fight for something so repulsive. Nonetheless, the film still gives us some hope in the end. This is Scorsese's only turning towards hope, towards a higher justice. However, this time he basically completely avoided religious themes and presented us with the fate of one man who will really shake you up. Violence is portrayed here so naturally that you will really think twice about visiting nighttime New York if you ever have the chance.
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I waited twenty years to see one of Martin Scorsese’s most famous movies on the big screen in a festival atmosphere. It finally happened, moreover with a freshly restored version released by the restorers themselves. And nothing happened – at most, Taxi Driver is a valuable testimony of the period, place and mood of 1970s New York, which gives it historical significance (I’ve recently praised similar qualities in Sidney Lumet’s Serpico). The innovative and creative camerawork and Bernard Herrmann’s dark music are also excellent. However, the screenplay and its treatment of the protagonist are cold and aloof and take too many shortcuts, and the climax looks almost absurd, in a cartoonish fashion, as though it was a dramaturgically botched attempt at editing a more concise and epic work.
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Scorsese's first major league feature and still one of his most famous. Once again, the master does what he does best, immersing the protagonist chin-deep in the seedy, prostitute- and small-time gangster-infested corners of New York, where no ethical laws apply. As always, the excellent De Niro is amazing in his role and his slow inner transformation is one of the best things of Taxi Driver and enhances its story. Scorsese manipulates the viewer very skilfully, for an hour and a half he just prepares them as they try to identify with the main character, which is very essential towards the final minutes and crucial for the overall impression. The atmosphere is also greatly enhanced by Herrmann's excellent and mysterious music, whose tones are heard at almost every turn. It's just a pity that the narrative wasn't given a smoother and rawer tone, because the bloody finale seems a bit contrasting and absurd in relation to the story as a whole. Taxi Driver is another impressive film from a directing legend, but I'll probably just pass on it again. 80%
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