Posted in
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Cybill Shepherd
Jodie Foster
Robert De Niro
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Genre
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Drama
Thriller
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Media
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DVD
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Studio | Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | ||
Language | English | ||
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Reviewer
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Gareth
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Description
Martin Scorsese's intense film, a hallmark of 1970s filmmaking, graphically depicts the tragic consequences of urban alienation when a New York City taxi driver goes on a murderous rampage against the pitiable denizens inhabiting the city's underbelly. For psychotic, pistol-packing Vietnam vet Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), New York City seems like a circle of hell. Driving his cab each night through the bleak Manhattan streets, Bickle observes with fanatical loathing the sleazy lowlifes who comprise most of his fares. By day he haunts the porno theaters of 42nd Street, taking his cues from the violent vision of life portrayed in these movies. As badly as Travis wants to connect with the people around him--including Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a lovely blonde campaign worker, and Iris (Jodie Foster), a prepubescent prostitute he tries to save--his attempts are thwarted and his pent-up rage grows, turning him into a Mohawk-wearing walking time bomb. Paul Schrader's screenplay is filmed with a tragic realism by Scorsese, which brilliantly captures the muck and grime of New York City. De Niro, playing the fragile hero, steps inside his role so far that the results are deeply frightening. Bernard Herrmann's haunting score--which turned out to be his last--completes the urban nightmare.
Review
There is one scene in particular which sums up the entire movie for me -and it's not the obvious one either... Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro in his best performance) is in "conversation" with another cabbie in an all night diner and he's just put two alka-seltzer in a glass of water. The camera moves into an extreme close up on the seltzer as they bubble and froth in the glass. This is a mirror to Travis's own breed of madness and alienation.
This is a brilliant film and certainly one of a kind - Taxi Driver summed up a whole generation and firmly entrenched itself into popular culture with the immortal lines "you talkin' to me?"
The dialogue is sparse and direct, especially in the case of De Niro who has to be able to convey Travis's growing estrangement without making it seem too overt, and Scorcese's direction is inspired. There are several scenes where the camera moves in unexpected ways constantly keeping the viewer off guard, making it impossible to figure out what's going to happen next.
The conclusion of the film is shocking and unavoidable -there have been forebodings throughout the entire film, as if Travis Bickle becomes the city's voice box - amplifying the violence, fear and paranoid hatred until it has no choice but to explode.
The music, by complete contrast, is chilled and jazzy - courtesy of Bernad Herrman who died soon after completing the score- but also strangely disassociated as well and it acts as a perfect counterpoint to the story sometimes accentuating the mood whilst other times softening it ready for the next burst.
This is one of the most important films of the seventies - and although both De Niro and Scorcese would work together several times to me this is their best collaboration.
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