Taxi Driver directed by Martin Scorsese starring Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks rated R (violence, strong language, and scenes of sexuality)
*** out of **** / B+
Martin Scorsese's films don't age. Taxi Driver is one of his most timeless efforts, along with The Last Temptation of Christ, Mean Streets, GoodFellas, and Raging Bull. His films are usually filled with overt anger and fury at society, the mob, New York… He is so indescribably talented: he mixes his rage with hidden gems of humor. Beyond the gun fights, the blood, and the swearing is a message on society, something brilliantly and brutally real, something about America, and something about the world. This is enough to garner respect and admiration- but he has also assisted in film preservation and his risqué attitudes advanced the state of auteur motion pictures. Taxi Driver is fiery, enraged, and feels like poison- the streets of New York are devilishly depicted as the homes of prostitutes, pimps, and drug dealers. It is uncomfortable, it is eerie.
Robert DeNiro, in his highly acclaimed and revolutionary performance, is Travis Bickle, a man who is an outsider in New York. He hates New York with a passion and cannot wait to perform his vengeance on the city. What is compelling is that Travis himself is not pure. His morals are so poorly structured that he thinks pornography is what normal people watch. He drives his taxi nights, he is an insomniac. When he sees Betsy, a political campaigner (Cybill Shepherd), he sees what he wishes the world would be filled with- pure people like her. He is slinky while pursuing her and she eventually dates him. When that fails, his repression becomes too much- he must find an outlet through which he can express himself.
For him, the easiest way to get rid of his fury is through violence. He buys a whole set if guns from an elusive drug dealer and begins playing with them like a child plays with toys. His burning wrath at New York society is only increased by what he sees in his customers- people who seek the death of their philandering wives, rich tycoons having flings with hookers, and a twelve-year-old prostitute being battered by her pimp. This prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster) fixes what Travis decides to do with his life- he decides to save her from her wicked pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel). He believes that Iris should be in school, with her parents. He knows she has lost her innocence, but she can still return to a happy childhood, she is only twelve. Jodie Foster gives an abnormally mature and preconscious performance as Iris and her knowledge and identification with her character is deeply felt. The finale where Travis murders everyone who stands in the way of him saving this girl is his way of doing something he thinks is good, full of heart, and noteworthy, and also excreting his rage through violence. It is so chilling, so frightening because we know that this killing spree is only a temporary way of distancing himself from his insanity.
Robert DeNiro's performance is so genius because he turned Travis Bickle into a bitter Vietnam vet as charismatic as Humphrey Bogart, as twisted as Jack Nicholson, and as thoughtful as Spencer Tracy. He strips Travis down to his rotten, unredeemed core. The movie's score by the legendary Bernard Hermann was recorded a day before he died- it is rip-roaring and comical, staccato and consuming.
What is wrong with Taxi Driver is more of an opinion. The movie is made in such an- er- ugly way, the streets of New York are so congested, so Midnight Cowboy-ish, so disgusting, and the movie is so unredeeming, cold, and black-hearted- it is hard to care about the characters or care for the movie at all. The atmosphere is thick, humid, and wicked and that is what detracts from appreciating this film. It is a collection of atrocities performed by this ill man, each one drawing a bit too much attention to itself.
However, the power of the film is so shaking, so unsettling, it deserves credit. Martin Scorsese, with Taxi Driver, contributed to the world one of the ugliest and scariest horror films ever.
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