Martin Scorsese's hellish, nightmare depiction of New York City makes for as interesting and organic a setting as has ever been used in film. The near constant hostility and seediness portrayed make the city itself the most dangerous and off putting element in the movie, which is no small feat, considering the film employs one of the most disturbingly creepy protagonists ever.

Robert DeNiro is Travis Bickle, a Vietnam war veteran warped by his experiences and by his exposure to the vibrant, pulsating Hades that is greater Manhattan. His descent into madness constitutes the driving force of the film. While he is never in great control of his bearings and interpretations of the world, it gets far worse and more pessimistic as the progresses downward into his psychosis. He begins to firmly believe that the key to the city's salvation is his taking violent, decisive action.

DeNiro gives one of his best performances as the warped, psychotic cab driver. He embodies post-traumatic madness, but also shows a true range of Bickle's personality. He wants to clean up the city, which is a good thing, but the only way he knows how to go about it is inherently and morally wrong. While DeNiro won Oscars on either side of this film (Godfather II in 1974, Raging Bull in 1980), he most deserved one for this more layered, virtuoso role.

Not to be slighted is the marvelous supporting cast, especially Jodie Foster's turn as the child prostitute Iris. She brings a depth and harsh realism to the role that is unexpected and very disturbing. Cybill Shepard, Peter Boyle, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks, and even Scorsese himself, in a brief role, accurately and vividly inhabit the film's surrealistic vision.

But it is undeniably Scorsese the director's film. He had already made a name for himself with 1973's Mean Streets, but he fully came into his own with this film three years later. It created his definitive, foreign film-influenced style that has itself gone on to influence countless up-and-coming filmmakers over the past quarter century. His inventive use of camera angles and cinematography paint this pre-Disney influenced New York in all its grittiness. Bernard Herrman's score is letter perfect in accentuating this pervading desolate mood.

Taxi Driver may most infamously be connected with John Hinckley's failed assassination attempt on President Reagan, but it was unjustly criticized at the time for being the cause of the event. While this leads into a much larger discussion of violence and the media, what can be said is that this film is hardly a proponent of Bickle's actions, and if a message is to be gotten out of it, it is that such actions taken by a lone individual are reprehensible and inexcusable. To blame the filmmakers for showcasing this behavior is just a way of passing the blame through finger pointing so that the average citizen can sleep easier at night, holding firmly to their beliefs that society didn't create John Hinckley or Travis Bickle, only deluded, nihilistic artists did.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age