are you talkin' to me?

Are you talkin' to me?

By: Craig Fish.

TAXI DRIVER : 4/5

Gods’ lonely man: Travis Bickle is the Taxi Driver (picture courtesy of: http://thisdistractedglobe.com/2007/02/22/taxi-driver-1976/)

Cast & Credits

………………………………...........................

Travis Bickle: Robert De Niro.

Iris: Jodie Foster.

Sport: Harvey Keitel.

Betsy: Cybil Shepherd.

Charles Palantine: Leonard Harris.

Directed by: Martin Scorsese.

Written by: Paul Schrader

Running time: 109 min

………………………………...........................

Nominated for four 1976 Academy Awards, TAXI DRIVER stars Robert De Niro, and chronicles the mental deterioration of a man driven to violence by loneliness and desperation.

This startlingly brilliant film, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader, follows the life of Travis Bickle(De Niro), an anti-hero taxi driver who’s inability to form normal lasting relationships with those around him, culminates into an obsessive desire to save a young prostitute named Iris(Foster) from her sordid life and contemptible relationship with ‘Sport’, (Keitel) her pimp.

Travis Bickle, is a taxi-driver who works the night shift, and despises the urban decay which he sees around him, as he drives around the streets of New York

Travis’s inability at human interaction is exhibited at a seamy diner which serves as a meeting point for other various taxi-drivers; lost in his own world he stutters out vague responses and relates a story of violence to his co-workers before dropping an antacid into a glass of water, and watches it bubble and foam, symbolising the inner disturbances of Travis’s mind, lingering beneath the surface of his everyday visage.

Amid all this Travis exhibit’s a love interest , through the narration of his diary we learn that he has been observing a young blonde woman named Betsy(Cybil Shepherd) who works as a political volunteer for presidential hopeful Charles Palentine(Leonard Harris). He views Betsy as an untouchable dream girl, yet he approaches her, and is able to secure a date. On one of these dates we once again see his inability to relate to others as he attempts to take Betsy to a porn theatre, which inevitably provokes her to break up with him.

This pushes Travis over the edge as he tries desperately to reconnect with the world that has alienated him, he begins to feel that it is his duty to save Betsy and Iris from what he feels are oppressive father figures in the form of ‘Sport’ and Palantine and a life of sordid degradation.

By the end Travis is completely alone . it is this isolation that prompts the climatic and violent ending which inevitably leaves the viewer with a sense of unease.

Indeed TAXI DRIVER is a brilliant yet disturbing movie that looks at the effects of urban detachment, isolation and mental deterioration, with brilliant acting performances, particularly De Niro’s, and a mesmerising melancholy saxophone score provided by Bernard Herman, there can be little doubt that this film is one of the best in cinematic history.

click here to view gallery and trailers of Taxi driver as well as more info.