Taxi Driver
TAXI DRIVER (18)
D: Martin Scorsese
Columbia/Italo-Judeo (Michael Phillips & Julia
Phillips)
US 1976
114 mins
Drama
W: Paul Schrader
DP: Michael Chapman
Ed: Marcia Lucas, Tom Rolf & Melvin
Shapiro
Mus: Bernard Herrmann
Robert De Niro (Travis Bickle), Cybill
Shepherd (Betsy), Jodie Foster (Iris), Peter Boyle (Wizard), Harvey Keitel (Sport), Albert Brooks (Tom)
Travis Bickle, a New York taxi driver on the night shifts
finds difficulty connecting with people on a social level, suffering from depression, insomnia and struggling to cope with the seediness around him on a daily basis, he takes it upon himself
to inflict some vigilante justice so he can save a teenage girl from a life of prostitution.
A controversial film at the time of it's release and even
to this day, Taxi Driver portrays a sleazy side to New York's streets and the crime that comes with it, culminating in a frenzied and violent retribution at the climax. The film also had a
fair share of real life controversies when a man cited it as an inspiration for an attempt on the life of former US president Ronald Reagan.
Still, it was important piece of 1970's cinema, launching
the career of Martin Scorsese into one of the most important filmmakers and cementing Robert DeNiro's place as one of the best actors of his generation. It also launched the career of then
juvenile actress Jodie Foster.
9/10
