Taxi Driver Chad'z rating: ***1/2 (out of 4 = very good) 1976, R, 114 minutes [1 hour, 54 minutes] [drama] starring: Robert De Niro (Travis Bickle), Cybill Shepherd (Betsy), Jodie Foster (Iris), Harvey Keitel (Matthew), written by Paul Schrader, produced by Michael and Julia Phillips, directed by Martin Scorsese.
What's great about the movies is they allow us to get to know anonymous strangers. Usually the characters we meet are likable and relatable, but "Taxi Driver" tries to rob us of the innocence we're used to with a character study of a person everyone's encountered but never given a second thought to.
New York City has been and always will be associated with crime, pollution, ghettos, and the "scum" that comes with them. Everyone thinks the streets could and should be cleaned up, but most realize there's nothing that can really be done about it and don't let it get to them. Travis Bickle (De Niro) wishes he could feel that way, he's a Vietnam veteran who drives a taxi throughout city and can't help noticing the Hellish nature of the city and the society it breeds. Bickle himself seems to be forming his own reality as we constantly hear his narration of his obsession and hatred for the city and his own life.
It's easy to sympathize with Bickle as Scorsese paints a bleak, Gothic-like portrait of the city by emphasizing the heat and humidity of the summer as there always seems to be steam or mist rising from the sewers and the streets. Most of the action takes place at night where only the neon signs from cheap diners and adult movie theaters provide light. Bickle's passengers tend to be the "spooks" people avoid such as drunks, prostitutes, two-bit criminals, and "normal" people who relieve their neurosis in the privacy and anonymity of the cab (including one funny, yet disturbing scene with a cameo by Scorsese).
The entire film seems to be a long letter to society, written by Bickle, attempting to justify his mental deterioration. The first half shows his struggle to cope and be a normal person. He charms a political organizer named Betsy (Shepherd) into going out with him (why she ever liked him is beyond me). But he blows it and when she refuses to see him again he blames her and thinks she's the same as all the other scum, just better dressed.
As the film progresses Bickle slips deeper and deeper into his own world. He buys several guns illegally and it seems as if he will become a vigilante, but besides stopping a robbery, this doesn't happen. He also finds himself bumping into a young teenage prostitute named Iris (Foster) whom he wants to "save" from her pimp Matthew (Keitel).
Little happens in terms of plot, and although there are a few good scenes of Bickle's attempt to make a difference with Iris, he becomes entirely too twisted to relate to because there isn't enough (if any) back-story present. I'm sure the fact he's a veteran has something to do with it, but why not have flashbacks to something traumatic in his life? As good a job as Scorsese does in depicting the nihilism Bickle is obsessed with, he doesn't give enough specific examples. The ending is too surreal for its own good, but I guess it follows the film's logical conclusion.
Although "Taxi Driver" works as a good narrative and establishment of mood, there's still a lot more that could have been done. De Niro's performance is excellent especially considering how pathetic his character is and how exhausting it must be to carry the film virtually solo. Still, the elements that make it up are well assembled and entertaining, but most of all original.
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(C) 1997 Chad'z Polenz
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