Taxi Driver (1999, DVD)

The mid-1970s for America was a period where everyone got burned out by Vietnam, Watergate, and everything else. The 1960s counterculture movement had died while America, hit hard by the lost at the Vietnam War, the economy, and the authority of its own government shortly after the resignation of president Richard Nixon after he disgraced himself with Watergate. 1975 was pretty much the year where things just lost its way as unemployment rose and everything looked awful, especially in New York City where during the hot summer of that year, a garbage strike and poverty was everywhere. Capturing those turbulent times in New York City was filmmaker Martin Scorsese. After gaining acclaim with films like Who's That Knocking at My Door? Boxcar Bertha, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and his 1973 masterpiece Mean Streets, Scorsese decided to make a movie that captured the turbulent times.

For his next project, Scorsese turned to a young up-and-coming writer named Paul Schrader who had only wrote one film to his credit, The Yakuza, the two men scoured the city of New York for its violent nature and paranoia where the times seemed to have gotten bad. With Schrader writing and Scorsese directing, the two crafted a story of urban alienation with decaying New York with political and moralistic turmoil surrounding the city in the 1976 masterpiece entitled Taxi Driver.

Starring longtime Scorsese regular Robert De Niro as an ex-marine turned NYC cab driver named Travis Bickle, the film is a harrowing, idiosyncratic character study of a young man trying to connect with the world only to find more and more ugliness. After a failed date with a political volunteer and a meeting with a crazed man in his cab, Bickle descends into madness by plotting an assassination of a presidential candidate. Along the way, he meets a young 13-year old prostitute where he wonders about his mission in life and what contribution he can give to the world.

Winner of the 1976 Palme D'or at the Cannes Film Festival, the film also stars Scorsese regular Harvey Keitel along with Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepard, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle, and Leonard Harris. Nearly 30 years since its release, Taxi Driver remains one of the most powerful and mesmerizing American films of all-time.

After serving in the Marines and desperate for a job, a 26-year old man named Travis Bickle finally finds a job working as a taxi driver in the city of New York. Working nearly 12 or sometimes-longer hours a day making at around $300 a week, Bickle seems to find something to do. Yet, New York City is in urban decay with the place filled with scum all over the place, junkies, hookers, pimps, criminals, and all sorts of trash. Bickle has trouble sleeping where he would often go to porno theaters to try and sleep but couldn't do anything. On days and nights, he would work in the cab, sometimes with strange customers doing all sorts of things including having sex in the cab where he would have to wash the gunk from the backseat. Seeking some guidance about his life, he tries to talk to a wise, philosophical driver named Wizard (Peter Boyle) who gives him advice but the young Bickle couldn t connect.

Then one day, he sees a beautiful young woman named Betsy, who works as a campaign worker for a presidential candidate named Palantine (Leonard Harris) with another worker named Tom (Albert Brooks). Bickle courts Betsy for a conversation where he desperately tries to connect. Finally one night, he gets the chance to go on a date with her but it turns disastrous when he takes her to a Swedish porno film where she later tries to break it off with him. His failure with Betsy only brings more problems for the troubled Bickle where after having Palantine in his cab where they discussed the scum in the streets of NYC, he then encounters a mysterious man (Martin Scorsese) who makes him watch the apartment of his wife, who is having an affair as he plots to kill her.

With Bickle becoming more paranoid, he turns to Wizard about defense where a fellow cabbie hooks Travis up with a gun dealer (Steve Prince) who gives him four kinds of guns. Feeling that the government and Palantine are ruining things, he plots to assassinate while continuing to work in his cab duties where he would often encounter a young, 13-year old hooker named Iris (Jodie Foster). After scouring the area where Palantine is having one of his speeches, he talks with a tall secret service man (Richard Higgs) about the security as he pretends to try and join the Secret Service. Meanwhile, Bickle meets up with Iris while meeting her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel) where Bickle wonders why she gotten herself into this and with his feelings towards the scum of the earth, he feels he can save her. Bickle's state of mind however, becomes more troubled where he begins to shave his head into a Mohawk and wonders what he will do in is his mission to kill Palantine and save Iris but the bigger question is, will it give him some sort of sanity after being rejected by the world?

Though it was made in the mid-1970s, Taxi Driver remains engrossingly fresh with its idiosyncratic storytelling and urban realism. Though its impact since its release has been used in some strange ways with John Hinckley Jr. trying to assassinate Ronald Reagan for Jodie Foster in 1981 or Nine Inch Nails' Trent Reznor playing Bickle to stalk David Bowie for the I'm Afraid Of Americans video. Still, Taxi Driver isn't to blame for these things because it's merely a reflection of what was going on with the times and today, not much has changed in New York City. There are still junkies, hookers, criminals, and all sorts of things. Hell, the government is more distrustful than ever and the people who are alienated by all that do descend to madness sometimes.

Martin Scorsese truly captures the film with his evocative directing where he often use slow-mo camera shots and dark, eye-wielding camera angles to capture the decay of New York City. Scorsese is in top form with his directing where he makes the camera use as a viewpoint of Bickle's character or as a third party watching Bickle's descent into paranoia and madness. Even with the film's final act where it comes to the level of violence, Scorsese doesn't play around where he just brings the realism right at the face of its audience. Especially in a scene where Bickle saves a man's life from a robbery where he gets away with murder as the clerk would beat up the dead man's body. Though it might have seem gruesome at the time, Scorsese doesn't pull back where he doesn't give any clear answer of Bickle, in the terms of becoming normal. This is by far some top-notch directing from one of NYC's greatest visionaries.

While the film may belong to Scorsese, equal credit should to go to the film's writer Paul Schrader. Schrader really makes this film a part character study, part urban realism, part film-noir, part modern-day Western (though its set in NYC) since the film was inspired by John Ford's The Searchers. Schrader, like Scorsese, doesn't give any answers to Bickle's fate or state of mind since the film moves slowly, but not too slow, to examine Bickle's view on the world. Schrader also deserves credit for breaking down the stereotype of characters, notably the pimp Sport played by Harvey Keitel, that doesn't play to the typical tone of a pimp since Sport is also a lover/father figure for Iris.

Then there's Schrader wonderfully, catchy dialogue that is filled with not just a true examination of NYC circa-mid-1970s but also some of the philosophical ideas from Peter Boyle's Wizard and Bickle's alienation where he proclaims "I'm God's lonely man" and the always famous, "You're talking to me" rant.

With the duo of Scorsese and Schrader bringing a wonderful, gritty story, credit also goes to Michael and Julia Phillips in the producer's chair while cinematographer Michael Chapman shines with his enchanting, decaying photography in his sinister view of NYC while capturing the beauty of New York City beneath its ugliness. Helping out with visuals to give the film a rhythmic, idiosyncratic feel of French New Wave editing style is editors Tom Rolf and Melvin Shapiro, that gives the film a pacing that is entrancing without moving too slow or too fast. With art director Charles Rosen bringing a decaying, troubled look of Bickle's apartment and the lush colors of Iris' room, the movie has a real street-like tone with costume designer Ruth Morley doing a fantastic job in bringing an urban, classy look to Jodie Foster's hooker costume.

Then there's Bernard Herrmann's jazzy, melancholic score that plays well to the seedy side of New York City with its saxophones and jazz scales that is seductive yet troubling as it stands to be the composer's final work who died within hours of completing this amazing score.

Leading off the film's superb cast is director Martin Scorsese in a wonderful cameo as a sleazy passenger who gives Travis Bickle some inspiring and sick ideas about killing a spouse while Leonard Harris is excellent as Palantine along with small, excellent performances from Steve Prince as the gun salesman and Richard Higgs as the tall Secret Service man. Peter Boyle brings a charisma to his performance as Wizard with his wisecracks and dirty philosophy where he shows Bickle the ropes into survival of being a cab driver with such ease for the amazing character actor.

Albert Brooks, in one of his early film roles, brings some wonderful humor to the film as Tom, Betsy's campaign partner with his philosophy on women and editorials where he practically stood out by making his character shine instead of being some distraction to the film. Harvey Keitel gives an exhilarating performance as the pimp Sport with his street-tough attitude and talk along with his fatherly tone to Iris where Keitel brought a charm and wit to a role that could be stereotypical but Keitel brought a complexity where he stands out in his scenes, especially with De Niro.

Cybill Shepard is enigmatic in her role as Betsy with her intellectual ideals and tough beauty while she makes the role be more than just a typical, girlfriend-like role. Shepard brings a presence that is eerily seductive to Bickle's troubled mind where we also see why Bickle has failed to connect with her since she has more access to certain things where Shepard brought strength to her performance.

Jodie Foster, in her breakthrough performance, is amazing as the misguided, young 13-year old Iris. Foster brings grittiness and street smart to a performance that could've been terrible if it was approached the wrong way. Foster used her that wandering look and Lolita-esque quality that would pave the way for actresses like Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Kirsten Dunst, and Jena Malone where it combined attitude, a troubled sexiness and a fragility. In her scenes with De Niro, we see her just unfazed and not really wanting to pay attention until the final act and this performance would give her and Scorsese the first ever New Generation Award from the L.A. Film Critics Association and since then, Foster has become a force in the industry.

The film's greatest performance without a doubt goes to Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle. De Niro brought a complex, multi-layered performance of the troubled young man who believes he can save the world but can he save himself? De Niro used his tough-guy look and moralistic views while we see that he tries to be good and tries to connect. There's sympathy early on to his character where he tries to connect with Cybill Shepard but when he descends to madness, he's still a likeable guy even though the role wasn't meant to be likeable. De Niro goes crazy while having some charming, subtle tones to his performance in a role that defined, especially with that "You're talking to me" line that he would unfortunately, parody in the god-awful Rocky & Bullwinkle movie that questioned him lately since he's starting to play roles that doesn't do anything for him. Still, this is the film that made De Niro into one of the greatest actors of the 1970s.

Nearly 30 years since its theatrical release, Taxi Driver is an engrossing, powerful film that really shows the world in its decay from the mind of a man losing his grip on the world. Martin Scorsese's direction, Paul Schrader's script, Michael Chapman's cinematography, the stylized editing, Bernard Herrmann's score, and the performances of Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepard, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks, and Peter Boyle, have all remained flawless since its release.

This film would not only make Scorsese one of the greatest filmmakers of his time but also gave Paul Schrader the chance to make his own films like Cat People, American Gigolo, Affliction, and Auto Focusto fine acclaim while continuing to work with Scorsese for Raging Bull and The Last Temptation of Christ. Robert De Niro meanwhile, continued to with Scorsese as a film regular along with Harvey Keitel as Taxi Driver is considered one of Scorsese's masterpieces along with Mean Streets, Raging Bull and Goodfellas. For a great introduction to the work of Scorsese, Schrader, and De Niro, Taxi Driver is the film to watch.

Martin Scorsese Reviews:

Mean Streets (1973):

(Coming Soon)

Raging Bull (1980):

http://www.epinions.com/content_213351829124

Last Temptation of Christ (1988):

(Coming in 2005)

Goodfellas (1990):

(Coming in 2005)

The Aviator (2004):

(Coming in 2005)

The Departed (2006):

http://www.epinions.com/content_263082315396