Fall 2014 #6: Taxi Driver (1976) - Martin Scorsese

Okay so not only am I behind in finishing my “Fall 2014 Moviecation List” I am behind in writing a few reviews as well. Seeing as I basically have nothing but free time now, I thought I’d give myself something productive to do. The sixth film I saw on my list, which was, granted, a few months ago, was Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.

Yes. Featuring this line. Which Robert Ebert calls “the truest line in the film…. Travis Bickle’s desperate need to make some kind of contact somehow—to share or mimic the effortless social interaction he sees all around him, but does not participate in.”

Heavy stuff. So Robert De Niro plays an ex-Marine insomniac, Travis Bickle, who takes a job as a taxi driver to give himself something to do during the long nights of meaningless existence. After Bickle plunges himself into the happenings of late night 1970s New York, he is exposed to a world of darkness that quickly begins consuming him.

That’s when he meets a teenage prostitute, played by Jodie Foster, who insanely enough was 14 when the film was released in the US.

Bickle straddles these worlds of night and day, trying desperately to cling to the goodness inside of him by romantically pursuing Betsy, a presidential campaign volunteer. This battle expresses an internal struggle in Bickle, both as a war veteran and as a mentally unstable outsider coming to terms with the darkness in society.

The film was an instant hit, both financially and critically. Many praised the film’s controversial and up-for-interpretation ending, which needed excessive color correction just to lower it down to an R rating. 

Taxi Driver won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, with four Oscar nominations (for both Jodie Foster and Robert de Niro) but no wins. It’s an impressive look at the darker side of society, with some disturbing influences, including the diaries of Arthur Bremer, who shot presidential candidate George Wallace in 1972. 

Also important to note that the film directly inspired John Hinckley Jr., who attempted an assassination of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. At the trial, Hinckley stated that his actions were an attempt to impress Jodie Foster, including his mimicking of Bickley’s mohawk.

Crazy. The film is #52 on the AFI Top 100 and #78 on the IMDb Top 250. 

Side note: It also allowed for this to exist.