Taxi Driver

So it feels weird to review a movie that in many circles is considered one of the greatest films of all time. On one hand, if I gush about this movie too much I'm just saying things that have been said about a billion times before. If I rag on this movie, it feels like I didn't understand it or don't understand good movies. It's kind of a lose-lose. But whatever, I'm on a Scorsese/De Niro kick, let's talk about Taxi Driver.

Taxi Driver is the story of Travis Bickle (played by Robert De Niro), a lonely Marine Veteran who has insomnia and needs a job so he takes on work as a taxi driver in 1970's New York.

The whole movie is a slow decent into madness as Travis is rejected by a woman named Betsy (played by Cybill Shepherd) he asks out who works for a political campaign. His depression and insomniac thoughts begin to turn violent as he sees just how shitty 1970's New York, and more seriously the world is.

Along the way, he sees a child prostitute (played by a very young Jodie Foster) and she plays an important role that really doesn't feel totally fleshed out until the end, but I won't ruin it for you. Oh and Harvey Keitel is in the movie as a real creepy dude, which makes me think that Harvey Keitel had to be the chillest guy in the world because I feel like this isn't the only role I've seen him in where he's a creep.

Now I feel like I have to mention something because I feel like I'm going to hit some of the same notes I was talking about with The King of Comedy. Essentially, that and Taxi Driver are very similar movies but with a different approach. The King of Comedy tells the story of a lonely guy trying to pull himself out of his misery through the lens of a psychological dark comedy. Taxi Driver is a lonely guy trying to pull himself out of his misery through the lens of a psychological neo-noir thriller. I find it interesting that one is considered one of the greatest movies of all time whereas the other I only heard of because it was the inspiration for a Joker movie coming out this weekend.

But the point I want to make is that film takes on different meaning depending on when it is viewed. Some meanings stand the test of time, others don't hold up but take on different meanings later on.

In 1976, this movie could have been an analysis on 1970's New York, vigilantism, or violence in America's cities. In 2019, this movie could be seen as an incel's wet dream, or a commentary on race and gun violence.

I'm not saying this or The King of Comedy are bad movies, in fact just the opposite. They're films that were controversial and relevant in the time they were released as well as today and they can be interpreted in multiple different ways.

I don't believe that Scorsese was intending this to be glorifying violence, vigilantism, the same way I don't think he was intending to glorify kidnapping Jerry Lewis in The King of Comedy. The problem I can see with this is that because this movie is so iconic, because people know the line, "You talking to me?" so well, that it is misinterpreted by the wrong people for the wrong reasons. And this isn't really a line Scorsese is afraid of crossing to this day. The Wolf of Wallstreet seems to glorify the lifestyle of Jordan Belfort without any real say on whether or not that's right or not, Taxi Driver gives a bittersweet ending that is really up to interpretation. This is both a good thing and a bad thing in my opinion.

I just want to put that out there before people say that I don't understand what Scorsese was intending because the truth is, interpretation changes.

I think the thing that sets this movie apart is just the excellent performance of Robert De Niro matched with Scorsese's direction and Paul Schrader's writing.

 This trio takes a character like Travis Bickle, a guy who on paper is not someone you'd really want to be around and today would probably be on some watch list, and you somewhat root for him.

He's deranged and you are uncomfortable, unsure of what he's going to do the entire movie. While I found parts of the movie to drag a tad, I recognize that there is a lot of tensions being built. Furthermore, its easy to see the improvised dialogue as choppy and hard to follow, but it makes for some really realistic exchanges, especially the one between Travis and Peter Boyle's character, Wizard, as one where its obvious Travis is looking for a route out, but nobody really has an out for him.

It's an unsettling ride that keeps you engaged, even when the movie feels like its slowing down and it takes a while to get to why this is all happening.

One thing that I will note is that the movie doesn't really write the strongest, or competent female characters. Cybill Shepherd starts out as a pretty interesting character but then she disappears for about half the film and there is an inclining that she is the muse for Bickle's derrangement.

Furthermore, Jodie Foster gives just a dynamite performance, that is super uncomfortable at moments, but they kind of put her off to the side until she's necessary to the plot.

At the end of the day, this is more an inner monologue of Travis Bickle's psyche, but I think it might be assisted by some better written side characters. It doesn't have to be the women, but there's so much time spent on Travis being weird while he's driving a cab that I almost missed why he suddenly wants to gun down the politician that Shepherd's character works, and even now I'm not totally clear on when he turns that corner.

Overall, I think Taxi Driver is such an iconic movie for a reason. De Niro gives a great performance, the directing and writing is superb, and interpretations of the film remain relevant to this day. Performances and writing for characters outside of De Niro's are pretty one dimensional but they're not really the focus of the film.

In today's day and age, its a problematic movie, but it was a problematic movie in 1976 and I don't believe that it's intending to glorify violence or vigilantism, but that doesn't make it any less problematic.

But that's Scorsese, and I have to say, I'm really enjoying this kick that I'm on.

But when was the last time you saw Taxi Driver? Does it hold up today in your mind? Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!