''Taxi Driver'' (1976 movie)- Review

Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Released: 1976
Country: United States

Genres: Crime, Drama, Psychological thriller

Main cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shephard, Albert Brooks, Leonard Harris

Rating: 5 out of 5

Review

Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a Vietnam War veteran, has insomnia. To spend his night, he takes a job, driving a taxi during night. Life may seem smooth, but inside Travis, there is a desire to clean the social indiscipline of the city: to make it a clean city with peace and sanity. But his desire is something dark, he is clearly mentally unstable, yet so gentle, yet so violent.

Like many other great films, ''Taxi Driver'' is another film whose greatness can't be explained in a few words. This, certainly, will not be one of my favorite films- but no one can deny it's greatness, it's accomplishment. The disturbing theme of the film is artistically played on screen, so engrossing and a wonder to look at.

Travis Bickle wants to clean the social indiscipline of the city. Driving taxis at night, he keeps a diary where he describes how he's passing his life. He becomes attracted to a woman named Betsy (Cybill Shephard), takes her to dates, form a relationship with her, a relation that ultimately comes to an end when he takes her to a see a pornographic film. Why did he start a relation with Betsy? Because he thinks that Betsy is a lonely person. And he knows very well what loneliness means.

Jodie Foster and Robert De Niro in ''Taxi Driver''

Travis buys guns, does exercises, to become more physically fit, that will help him to ''clean up'' the city. He comes across child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster), and becomes desperate to save her. To return to her the normal childhood.

Loneliness plays a major role throughout the film.  Travis Bickle is certainly a lonely man, and umm... it'll be really very difficult to describe him. Really.

It is an extremely well-written and well-directed film. The screenplay is wonderful. It is filled with wonderful dialogues (the most memorable dialogue: ''You talkin' to me?'' which Travis asks himself, looking into the mirror). The acting, mentionably that of Robert De Niro, is wonderful. Jodie Foster has importance only in some 20 minutes (or even less than that), but the young actress played her role perfectly in a wonderful way. Cybill Shephard's Betsy will also remain a memorable character. Actually, none of the characters, other than Travis, actually gets that much importance in the film. Sure, they are all important, they are all connected to Travis, and we don't feel that they are missing. Yet, the screen presence of most of these characters, compared to that of Travis, is quite less.

The film actually gets shocking and disturbing at it's climax. Sure, the audience expected a certain violence at the climax, but it is so disturbing, compared to the rest of the film. The ending is also excellent, but let's not go into details.

Overall, Martin Scorsese's ''Taxi Driver'' is one of the best works in the careers of both Scorsese and Robert De Niro. An excellently-made film, ''Taxi Driver'' is one of the films that should not be missed.

5 out of 5