"Taxi Driver" is a brooding, sometimes violent character study. Although controversial, it has generally been highly praised. While it is a good film, it lacks focus, and De Niro's character transitions sometimes lack credibility.
A very lean Robert De Niro is Travis, a taxi driver in New York City. Travis is a loner, spending off hours in porn movie houses and brooding alone in his apartment. He keeps a journal in which he condemns the street life of NYC, and wishes that somebody would clean the city up. He develops obsessions for political staffer Cybil Shephard, her Presidential candidate Senator Palantine (Leonard Harris), handguns, and a twelve year old prostitute (Jodie Foster).
The climax of "Taxi Driver" has the heavily armed
De Niro attempting to rescue Foster from her pimp
(Harvey Keitel, who has shoulder-length hair).
This results in a graphic shootout. I don't
object to the bloodfest, but its aftermath. It is
as if nothing has happened: Travis is again
working as a cab driver, and has recovered his
mental faculties.
After Shephard's brief relationship with De Niro
ends, her character keeps resurfacing. This is as
confusing to me as De Niro's actions. He attends
a Palantine speech, apparently to assassinate
him, with the assumed motive of impressing
Shephard. But by this time, his interests have
turned to Foster and Keitel. The Bernard Herrman
score, good as it is, increases the confusion,
changing back and forth from sleepy retro jazz to
something more brooding and ominous.
"Taxi Driver" is a very interesting film. It is
impossible to predict where the story will go
next, the dialogue is very good, and the cast and
direction (by Martin Scorsese) is good.
Palantine, a stereotype of an ambitious,
platitude-spouting politician, is the only weak
character.
1976 was the year of "Network" and "Rocky",
preventing "Taxi Driver" from winning any Academy
Awards. The film was nominated for Best Picture,
Best Actor (De Niro), Best Supporting Actress
(Foster) and Best Score. (68/100)
Martin Scorsese's intense film a hallmark of 1970s filmmaking graphically depicts the tragic consequences of urban alienation when a New York City tax...More at Family Video
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