Movie review: Taxi Driver (1976)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster, Peter Boyle, Harvey Kietel
Another one of Scorsese’s best. For the first few minutes, I felt that the movie was a bit slow. I am not a great fan of slow paced movies, but boy, was I wrong. It tells the story of Travis Bickle (De Niro), 26, a mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran who works as a night time taxi driver. Travis is unable to sleep & he doesn’t know why. He is deeply affected by the sleazy night life in the city & the degrading society all around him.

“12 hours of work & I still cant sleep…DAMN…days go on & on . They don’t end..all my life needed was a sense of some place to go”.

He maintains a journal where he enters all his feelings & thoughts. He finds himself attracted to a political campaigner Betsy (Cybill Shepherd).

“I first saw her at Palantine campaign headquarters at 63rd in Broadway. She was wearing a white dress, she appeared like an angel…out of this filthy mess, she is alone…THEY CANNOT TOUCH HER”.

He tries to woo her, but fails to do so. Betsy doesn’t answer his calls after he takes her to a porn movie on their first date. Travis, who doesn’t understand this as he is “not fond of movies”, feels that she is like all the other women he has come across.
Travis feels that he needs to reinvent himself. He wants to do something that will give him an identity.

“You got a job & you become that job”

Travis buys four handguns & sets out to assassinate Senator Palantine, but he fails to do so & is chased away by the bodyguards.
Meanwhile, he forms a strong attachment with a child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster), who he tries to rescue from a pimp Matthew (Harvey Kietel). His efforts to persuade Iris to go back to her parents & rejoin school turn out to be futile. Travis finally ends up killing Matthew & his gang. Iris goes back to her parents & slowly moves towards leading a life of normalcy. Meanwhile Betsy realizes that indeed has feelings for Travis, who is now famous because of his struggle with Matthew’s gang.
The soundtrack & camera work are absolutely in sync with the story & add to the fantastic performance dished out by De Niro. The movie eventually lost out at the Oscars in the Best Movie category to Sly Stallone’s “ROCKY”, but there is no questioning the fact that it’s another gem of a movie from a gem of a director. You cannot miss this if you are a De Niro fan.