Taxi Driver (1976)

Taxi Driver
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Paul Schrader
1976/US
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die

Travis Bickle: You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talking… you talking to me? Well I’m the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to? Oh yeah? OK.

Martin Scorsese’s first masterpiece is as relevant now as it was then, sad to say.

Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is a lonely Vietnam veteran who can’t sleep at night.  So he gets a job driving a cab for 12 hours a night.  Already preoccupied with the sin and corruption of New York City, his job as cabbie just provides him with more evidence that some kind of avenging rain should come and wash the trash, human and otherwise, off the streets.  Despite his hatred for vice, he spends much of his time in porno theaters, where he does not seem to be watching the movies.

His one vision of innocence comes when he sees Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) walking down the street in a white dress.  Betsy is a campaign worker for Senator Charles Palantine who is running in the primary for the Presidential nomination (party unstated).  Travis drops into NYC campaign headquarters and chats Betsy up.  Intrigued by his crazy adoration, she agrees to have coffee with him.  Then she agrees to a date.  He takes her to a porno movie and she drops him like a hot potato.

Travis gradually becomes more unhinged.  He decides it is he that has the mission to clean up the dirty city,  He encounters Iris (Jodie Foster),  a twelve-year-old prostitute, and it becomes his mission to save her as well.  The only way he can get to her is to pay so he does and gives her a lecture on how she should go home and have a normal teenage life.  Iris agrees to meet Travis for coffee and a conversation in which it is clear that the teenage hooker has it way more together than Travis does.

As part of his mission, Travis acquires an arsenal of weapons.  He spends much of his off-time at shooting ranges or at home practicing his draw.  He continues on his downwards spiral.  I will stop here except to note we get a bloody climax and a very interesting denoument.  With Albert Brooks in his film debut as a campaign worker; Harvey Keitel as a pimp; and Peter Boyle as a fellow cabbie.

This has it all: brilliant acting; a scathing and powerful script; stunning visuals; and a fantastic score by Bernard Herrmann. Ticks all the buttons for a time not so unlike our own: loneliness, isolation, paranoia, demagogues, ideological violence, political violence,  angry white men; etc., etc.  Not for the faint of heart but highly recommended.

Taxi Driver was nominated in the categories of Best Picture; Best Actor; Best Supporting Actress (Foster); and Best Music, Original Score.

Trailer