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Taxi Driver on DVD (1976)

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Average rating: 75%
11122101220612
3.5
from 11,993 members
 
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle, Cybill Shepherd
Director: Martin Scorsese
Studio: SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Run time: 109 mins
Certificate: 18
Collections: 100 must-see movies
User collections: The Good Stuff, Superb Films of the 1970's, Films I own and Love, Films for 18 - 30 males, Post Vietnam Gems 1975 - 81, My Favorites, Tip Top Movies For A Good Night In!, Film fanatics fave films, 25 must see films before you die, BEST FREAKIN FILM LINES EVR!!!
Genres: Drama
Languages: English
Dubbed: French, German
Subtitles: Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish
Released: 01/11/1999

Brief synopsis of Taxi Driver

Martin Scorsese's intense film, a hallmark of 1970s filmmaking, graphically depicts the tragic consequences of urban alienation when a New York City taxi driver goes on a murderous rampage against the pitiable denizens inhabiting the city's underbelly. For psychotic, pistol-packing Vietnam vet Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), New York City seems like a circle of hell. Driving his cab each night through the bleak Manhattan streets, Bickle observes with fanatical loathing the sleazy lowlifes who comprise most of his fares. By day he haunts the porno theaters of 42nd Street, taking his cues from the violent vision of life portrayed in these movies. As badly as Travis wants to connect with the people around him--including Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a lovely blonde campaign worker, and Iris (Jodie Foster), a prepubescent prostitute he tries to save--his attempts are thwarted and his pent-up rage grows, turning him into a Mohawk-wearing walking time bomb. Paul Schrader's screenplay is filmed with a tragic realism by Scorsese, which brilliantly captures the muck and grime of New York City. De Niro, playing the fragile hero, steps inside his role so far that the results are deeply frightening. Bernard Herrmann's haunting score--which turned out to be his last--completes the urban nightmare.

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Critics Reviews

Rating of 2 stars out of 5 Radio Times

Back in the 1970s, smutty comedies such as this entry in the Adventures series were the order of the day for comedy actors trying to break into movies. Robert Lindsay, Liz Fraser, Ian Lavender and Henry McGee are among the familiar faces who probably squirmed with embarrassment at their performances in this bawdy comedy. Barry Evans is the nominal leading man, adding new meaning to the familiar drivers' refrain, “You'll never guess who I had in the back of the cab?”

Rating of 4 stars out of 4 Halliwell's Film Guide

The epitome of the sordid realism of the 70s, this unlovely but brilliantly made film haunts the mind and paints a most vivid picture of a hell on earth.

Time Out

Taxi Driver makes you realise just how many directors, from Schlesinger to Friedkin and Winner, have piddled around on... Read more on www.timeout.com

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Members Reviews

Reviews Voted Most Helpful

* * * This review contains spoilers * * *

Rated - 5 starsOne of the best ever

Ilias from West Midlands , 21/05/2004

We watch with a sense of disquiet as the life of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) begins to unfold, there is a lurking menace in those eyes, in that crooked smile that you cannot put a finger on, but which is as real as the sordidness of his surroundings.

Travis is a man at the brink of losing it. He cannot sleep, he works nights and is constantly in touch with the people he thinks are scum of the earth.

He alienates the two women he encounters in the movie, the political campaigner and the child prostitute. He also has a misplaced sense of heroism, the conviction of the righteousness of his own actions that is almost scary. It is this conviction that causes him to attempt to kill the presidential candidate and eventually leads to the bloody climax when he attempts to 'save' Iris from the world she inhabits.

Taxi Driver is a powerful movie, I think it works because all of us identify with Travis at some level, we have all been lonely, we have all faced rejection, we just handle it better.

Finally, Taxi Driver had some of the best people to deliver the goods, Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keital, Martin Scorcese & Paul Scnader. It hardly ever gets better than this.

  23 out of 25 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 1 starsWouldnt want this taxi driver - non event

e.conn from Ireland , 04/05/2005

Taxi driver seeks revenge on New York bad lads!

was looking forward to seeing this one,but was completely disappointed. The performance by Robert De niro did not live up to his usual. Really annoying music throughout.Very dated boring film with thin plotline. I fell asleep towards the end.Not good!!!

  18 out of 23 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 5 starsAbsolutely Amazing

James Martin from Bury St. Edmunds, England , 28/08/2004

The famed pairing of DeNiro/Scorcese (Goodfellas, Casino, Raging Bull) provides perhaps scorcese's second best film which chronicles DeNiro as Travis Buckle, an ex-marine who becomes a Taxi Driver in new york.

Dismayed with what he finds, Travis slowly finds himself spiralling towards one goal - 'cleaning up the streets'.

Superb direction and fantastic acting from DeNiro, Jodie Foster and even Scorcese himself make this film a dark, gritty classic.

  12 out of 15 people found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsShrader's best

devalentin from Antrim , 19/10/2003

This is one of Paul Shrader's best movies - written in a drunken depression, and you can tell! The "What are you lookin' at" etc etc is a bit cliched now. Overall, this is a brilliant depiction of alienation. If you have not seen this movie, rent it NOW!

  12 out of 16 people found this review helpful
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Most Recent Reviews

Rated - 4 starsIt wouldn't be realistic if it was British

A customer from east Yorkshire, UK , 21/07/2005

I don't really want to tell you what happens in this film because it would spoil your viewing. I'm only going to say that it wouldn't be realistic if it was British.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
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Rated - 4 starsA must see film about loneliness

gidget from port talbot , 23/11/2004

Taxi driver is a film about one mans alienation and his inability to deal with it. After returning from Vietnam, Travis Bickle finds that he cannot find his place in society. Everywhere he looks he sees something that disgusts him; prostitutes, drug dealers, pimps etc. The pollution and rubbish on the streets turns him sick. After he is rejected by the one woman he likes, he goes off the edge and becomes increasingly alienated and delusional.

Scorsese’s directing in this film is flawless. He films New York in such a way that it looks seedy and horrid, just the way Travis sees it. There is not a word or action amiss as DeNiro completely becomes Travis, in probably his best and most iconic role.

The pacing of the film is deliberate, slowly taking us through Travis’ descent into delusion. And while it may be hard to identify with Travis’ drastic actions, there is no denying that his plights are universally felt - the loneliness, the disengagement from the rest of the world is something that most people will have experienced at some point.

This is one of the best films I’ve seen that deals with a characters psychosis in such a tight and well constructed way, this is a must see.

  2 out of 3 people found this review helpful
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