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Taxi Driver (8-Feb-1976)
Director: Martin Scorsese Writer: Paul Schrader Music by: Bernard Herrmann Producers: Michael Phillips; Julia Phillips Keywords: Crime, Prostitution, Taxi, Pimps, New York Suffering from insomnia, Vietnam War veteran Travis Bickle takes a job as a night taxi driver. Bickle's human interactions leave something to be desired; he takes Betsy, an attractive campaign worker, on an ill-advised date to an X-rated movie. Later he meets Iris, a 12-year-old prostitute played by Jodie Foster, and tries to extricate her from that life. Scorsese's masterpiece of alienation and isolation received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Original Score.
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CAST | Robert De Niro | ... Travis Bickle | | | Starring | | Jodie Foster | ... Iris | | Albert Brooks | ... Tom | | Harvey Keitel | ... Sport | | Leonard Harris | ... Charles Palantine | | Peter Boyle | ... Wizard | | | and | | Cybill Shepherd | ... Betsy | | | Diahnne Abbot | ... Concession Girl | | Frank Adu | ... Angry Black Man | | Victor Argo | ... Melio | | Gino Ardito | ... Policeman at Rally | | Garth Avery | ... Iris' Friend | | Harry Cohn | ... Cabbie in Bellmore | | Copper Cunningham | ... Hooker in Cab | | Brenda Dickson | ... Soap Opera Woman | | Harry Fischler | ... Dispatcher | | Nat Grant | ... Stick-Up Man | | Richard Higgs | ... Tall Secret Service Man | | Beau Kayser | ... Soap Opera Man | | Vic Magnotta | ... Secret Service Photographer | | Robert Maroff | ... Mafioso | | Norman Matlock | ... Charlie T | | Bill Minkin | ... Tom's Assistant | | Murray Mosten | ... Iris' Timekeeper | | Harry Northup | ... Doughboy | | Gene Palma | ... Street Drummer | | Cary Poe | ... Campaign Worker | | Steven Prince | ... Andy, Gun Salesman | | Peter Savage | ... The John | | Martin Scorsese | ... Passenger Watching Silhouette | | Robert Shields | ... Palantine Aide | | Ralph Singleton | ... TV Interviewer | | Joe Spinell | ... Personnel Officer | | Maria Turner | ... Angry Hooker on Street | | Robin Utt | ... Campaign Worker |
REVIEWS Review by Vamsee (posted on 15-Mar-2005) Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is a Vietnam vet who works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City. He disgust for the low-life street thugs and pimps increases day-by-day. He woos Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), Senator Palantine's campaign worker. He screws up their first date by taking her out to a porno movie. Travis is also unsuccessful in persuading a child prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster) to return to her parents.
Fed up of such a life, Travis buys four handguns and attempts to kill Senator Palantine. After the attempt fails, he now unleashes his hatred on the low-life of New York City.
Review by Walter Frith (posted on 7-Jun-2007) One year after the United States had pulled out of Vietnam and the
country had began of new era of recovery. At the tail end of this era,
set in a time of one of the worst crime periods in the history of New
York City and America in general was Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver'. A
landmark film that transformed stomach turning violence into art,
confronted social issues many wanted to turn away from and made stars
out of many of its cast members. Robert De Niro had already won an
Oscar for 1974's 'The Godfather Part II' in the best supporting actor
category and 'Taxi Driver' was his first Oscar nomination as best
actor. His performance is one of hypnotic gore as he plays Travis
Bickle, a taxi driver, and a lonely drifter without family or friends
and a man who isn't evil, he just suffers from urban paranoia. He wants
to save a 12 year old prostitute (Jodie Foster) from a sleazy life and
return her to her parents in Pittsburgh, is tired of all street scum in
general (not realizing later on the potential hypocrisy of his
actions), and he executes an armed robber while defending a
neighbourhood merchant who thanks him and through all of this, believes
he is doing the right thing by planning to assassinate a leading
candidate running for president. Travis plans the assassination for two
reasons: he was scorned by a woman named Betsy (Cybil Sheppard),
volunteering her services for the candidate, and to vent his disgust
for a man working with her in the same cause (Albert Brooks). Travis
draws a great deal of influence from a middle aged cabbie named Wizard
(Peter Boyle) but uses that wisdom in a misguided fashion. If 'Taxi
Driver' had been made just ten years earlier, it would have received an
X rating by the American style of rating movies through the Motion
Picture Association of America or it may have been banned altogether.
It is still considered to have hard core violence in this the year 2000
and is not the least bit dated. This is Martin Scorsese's first truly
great film. It is a landmark achievement. Many would say that
Scorsese's first great film is 1973's Mean Streets' but as great a film
as it is, it is considered more of a cult film among film historians
than a mainstream Hollywood film. 'Taxi Driver' is hardly conventional
film making but has garnered probably more controversy than most other
films in the last thirty years. Film historian Leonard Maltin only
rates it two stars out of four which was truly a surprise when I first
read his review and the American Film Institute in 1998 rated it #47 on
their top 100 list of greatest films ever made. Scorsese directs many
scenes slowly and in a stiff manner, which works perfectly as the
terror of its psychological qualities make it a full blooded horror
film at times without monsters or elements of the paranormal. Also
getting his first big break in this film is Harvey Keitel, who plays a
street pimp and is one of the most slimy characters you will ever see
in a film. My two favourite scenes in the film are, one, where Travis
buys arms from a dealer who also trades in drugs and stolen
automobiles. He shows Travis a suitcase full of firearms and Travis'
seduction for these deadly weapons transforms him into a full workout
mode to get his body into shape and fulfill the fantasies created by
the dark side of his mind. The other killer scene actually unfolds
several times as Travis performs his assassination rehearsal in front
of a mirror where he repeats confrontational lines several times and it
is a trademark scene of style that De Niro would uses several times in
his career and it works every time. One thing that should be remembered
from this film is how devastating the influence of film can be. John
Hinckley Jr. said this film made him attempt to kill president Ronald
Reagan in order to prove his love to Jodie Foster, who, as mentioned
earlier, played a child prostitute in the film. Hinckley attempted to
kill Reagan outside a Washington D.C. hotel on March 30, 1981. Reagan
at first wasn't believed to have been shot because he didn't feel a
thing. After a chest wound was discovered in the presidential
limousine, Reagan was then rushed to the hospital and thankfully, made
a full recovery. The 53rd annual Oscar telecast was delayed one day, to
March 31, out of respect for the president. I've always found it
strange that the 1970's, in my view, the most decadent and dreary
decade of 20th century America, has produced the greatest films of the
the 20th century. 'Taxi Driver' is certainly one of the greatest films
ever made, not only because of its sheer attempt to go for the jugular,
but because is celebrates a whole host of subjects which were brought
to the attention of many who refused to believe or even know they were
present in such a vile way within society. And many of Scorsese's small
interjections of freakish characters, such as the one he plays as a
well dressed man in the back of De Niro's cab who watches his wife in a
strange apartment committing adultery and telling Travis how he plans
to kill her, give the film the detail it needs and prevents his film
from being a low level exploitation film and instead Scorsese elevates
it into influential artistry. Visit FILM FOLLOW-UP by Walter Frith
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