Taxi Driver

[SephirothClone]

Just saw Taxi Driver today at a friends house. I must admit this fim is amazing and is now one of my favorites. I got this feeling of A Clockwork Orange when I saw it. So tonight ill go and pick the movie up! I havent seen a film like that in a very long time. De Niro gave one hell of a preformance, I just want to see a face off between him and Scarface!

[Quisp]

Great Film. I thought the DVD was pretty good too, especially if you "making of" add-ons. That stuff with director Scorcese, the writer and the cinematographer, was very interesting.

[Avid]

Great movie, great DVD!

[Flash Ahhh]

Amen.

Some costumes and wardrobes are definitely dated, but the movies theme and message has aged nicely.

And a young Cybill Shepard. Oh my my she looked fresh and tasty.

A Triumph of Pure Filmaking

Despite having an unsurpassed shoot-out bloodbath and despite having a timeless and touching storyline, the aspect that I like most about Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver is the music. Bernard Herrmann, who died shortly after completing the score, provides a melancholy feeling to the movie. This is perfect because Travis Bickle's loneliness is the heart of the story.

Robert DeNiro's performance in Taxi Driver as Travis Bickle is one of the best I have ever seen. DeNiro does every pause, smirk, and stare in exactly the right time. He transformed a despicable and psychotic character into a lonely and desperate man, who the audience can relate and understand. His scenes talking to himself in the mirror is entertaining, at the same time, terrifying.

Travis Bickle is a Vietnam veteran who cannot sleep at nights, so he decided to work long shifts at night driving a taxicab. As Travis drives around New York City, his feelings and emotion soon show: he is disgusted and angry at sleaze in the world, he hates pimps, and he is prejudiced against blacks.

Travis then falls to a beautiful campaign worker named Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), and he persuaded her to go on a date with him. Betsy is clearly intrigued by Travis' character, so she agreed. Their relationship is going well, but when Travis made a mistake on bringing her to an X-rated movie, she decided to ignore him.

In a later conversation with a fellow cab driver named Wizard (Peter Boyle), it is shown that Travis is on verge of going psychotic. The next sequences show Scorsese's genius. We clearly see how Travis slowly creates his plans and how he prepares himself. DeNiro's narration shows signs of breakdown, saying things like `here is a man who cannot take it anymore' and `loneliness has followed me all my life.'

Travis also befriends a twelve-year-old prostitute named Iris, played by a young Jodie Foster. Travis tries to convince her that she is hanging out with scums, and that she should be at school and making friends. One of the best acting scenes I have seen is when Travis talks with Iris in a restaurant. As Travis tries to convince Iris to give up prostitution, she manages to keep a steady face but clearly is suffering inside. Travis' emotion is clearly anger but he tries to hold it because he does not want to scare Iris. Foster and DeNiro play the scene with wonderful realism and emotion.

Taxi Driver is a good example of how great a film can be if it was made by talented persons. Paul Schrader's script is intense, Martin Scorsese's direction is watertight, Bernard Herrmann's music is beautiful, and the actors' acting is superb. Taxi Driver can relate to a lot of people and clearly is one of the greatest movies of all time.

A powerful movie.