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)
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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Taxi Driver is probably a movie that I will appreciate much later than in my twenties. It is a huge reaction to today’s society, which cannot be monitored. It is only possible to fight it, but the question is whether the fight will change the society or the person who is trying to fight against it. In this film, Robert De Niro made it clear that it is easier for him to change than for the society. With that he created an absolutely unbelievable scene towards the ending, which made me really sick. Even worse were the consequences, which could not be overlooked. Martin Scorsese shot a very good film, but I couldn’t deal with its story. And that was the biggest stumbling block. Otherwise, it’s an example of absolutely great filmmaking, which will be hard to match.
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Legendary American director Martin Scorsese has always had a flair for strong themes and great actors, which he proved with this disturbing crime drama in which the utterly inscrutable Robert De Niro as the frustrated loner Travis navigates the dirty streets of New York in a taxi. Absolutely disgusted with abominable social conditions, he finally decides to take justice into his own hands. The young Jodie Foster as the prostitute Iris gives an emotionally convincing performance here, suggesting that she will one day be a star of the first magnitude. (85%)
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I wouldn't be afraid to call those moments in which Robert De Niro drives through New York City at night as a taxi driver something magical. I've known about this movie for a long time, of course, but with such an iconic thing it's almost mandatory to see it on a proper screen with proper sound, so I just waited. The magic is in the sensual atmospherics, the excellent cinematography, and the perfectly fitting Herrmann soundtrack. Plus, the way Martin Scorsese "manages" it all is fantastic – there are a thousand other movies being made in New York, but Taxi Driver captures the Big Apple vibe in just the right way. All the nooks and crannies, the dirty streets, the creatures you would prefer never to meet, and the contrast with its pomposity – the beautiful buildings, the charming lights, just the spirit of the big city with all that goes with it. I don't think it's a film with extraordinary overtones or even deep philosophical undertones.) The whole film can be summed up as a dirty, gritty, and unadorned portrait of New York, one of the many excellent collaborations of the Scorsese-De Niro duo.
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