Release and Production Data:

¨ Released in 1976
¨ Runtime 113 minutes
¨ Rated R
¨ Directed by Martin Scorsese
¨ Screenplay by Paul Schrader
¨ Music by Bernard Herrmann

Awards:

¨ Nominated for 4 Oscars in 1977 including Best Actor (De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Foster) and Best Picture.
¨ Won accolades at 1976 Cannes film festival.

Critique

Travis Bickle, a Vietnam war vet, is a loner taxi driver in the scummy streets of New York City.  A troubled insomniac, he takes up this nighttime job to fill his sleepless nights.  As he slowly slips into isolation from a normal societal life, he becomes obsessively disgusted with the sleaze of the streets.  His attempts to make connections with society only bring him closer to insanity.  He becomes determined to wipe all the scum from the streets.  He asks Betsy, who works on the campaign for presidential candidate, Palantine, out on a date only to disgust her by taking her to a pornographic movie – something he thought all normal people did.  Travis also tries to persuade a pre-teen prostitute named Iris to leave her pimp and go back home to her family to finish school.  His attempts to be nice only scare her away.  He later attempts to assassinate Palantine as a way to get back at Betsy.  After failing to do this, he kills Iris’ pimp in a shoot-out.  In an ironic ending, the final scene shows Travis as a hero, appearing in newspapers for saving a prostitute, and by a thank-you letter from Iris’ parents.

            Director Martin Scorsese uses elements of film noir in this dark and somber film, creating the depressing atmosphere Travis Bickle lives in.  The gritty presentation of the slums of New York City is delivered well through Scorsese’s numerous cinematic techniques.  All of these techniques are used to take the audience inside of Bickle’s head.  The use of slow motion is shown especially when the audience sees what goes on in the streets through Travis’ eyes.  Subjective point of view shots show hookers, pimps, and drug dealers, emphasizing how dingy and depressing the New York streets are.  We do not see how things really are, but how they appear to Travis, thus the basis of the film.  We are inside his mind throughout all of the action. 

            The director created thorough characterization of Travis Bickle throughout the film.  Travis is a developing character, whom we observe changing drastically from beginning to end.  He starts out as a lonely insomniac and evolves into someone on the edge of insanity, resorting to violence in an effort to solve the problems of the world.  Most of this change is observed in the dialogue of the taxi driver, as he obsesses about the filth he sees.  “One day a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets,” he says.

            Voice-over narration is one of the key elements of the film.  Travis’ continuous talking to himself reveals his deteriorating mental state.  Rather than using this element for the usual purpose of commentary or narration of a story being told, Scorsese uses it for the unique purpose of letting the audience inside Bickle’s head. 

            Scorsese’s use of expressionistic color shows us how Bickle observes the nocturnal world around him.  Contrasting to the darkness, neon lights appear extra bright, and many shots are taken of blurry colors seen through water on the windshield.  This palette of color once again takes the audience inside Bickle’s mind.  During the scene were Travis shoots the pimp, Scorsese employs the use of surrealistic color.  Everything inside the building seems grungy and dirty, and the extra bright red color of the blood stands out over everything else. 

            This film is claimed to be one of Martin Scorsese’s greatest.  With his brilliant use of various cinematic techniques, the audience is taken deep into the mind of the main character.  Only then, we can observe the New York City streets through Travis’ eyes and understand why he becomes the way he does. 

True Circumstances Surrounding The Film

   Taxi Driver is described by many as a chilling masterpiece. The blood, course language and unpleasant subject matter could easily disturb the most callused viewer. Child prostitution, mental illness and murder are the staple fodder from which this film was made. The real circumstances surrounding the creation of Taxi Driver are just as disquieting as the film they inspired.

    Former film critic Paul Schrader wrote the screenplay for the film, citing several inspirations for the work. According to the June, 1998 edition of Neon in an article by Thor Magnusson, Taxi Driver was loosely based on Jean-Paul Sartes book Nausea, published in 1975. Another of Schrader's inspirations for the screenplay was his own mental status. During the writing of the screenplay, Schrader's life was in a shambles. He had recently separated from his wife and was forced to live in a small, dingy apartment. Schrader then lost his job as a film critic, leaving him little money to support himself. Throughout this period of his life, thoughts of suicide were a common occurrence.

    Schrader also studied the dairies of a would-be assassin, Arthur Bremer. In May of 1972, Bremer attempted to assassinate presidential hopeful, Alabama Governor George Wallace. As a result of the shooting, Wallace was paralyzed from the waist down. After Bremer's arrest, An Assassin's Diary was published, chronicling his plots to kill not only Governor Wallace, but also Richard Nixon. His motivations for the attack on Wallace were not related to politics. Bremer merely wanted to be famous. (From www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wallace/)

      Taxi Driver not only received inspiration from a psychotic man, it motivated another. In 1981, John Hinckley attempted to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. The President escaped serious injury, but Press Secretary James Brady suffered brain damage as a result of the shooting. Hinckley's motivations behind the assassination attempt, like Bremer's, were not political. After seeing Taxi Driver, he became not only obsessed with this film, but with its young star Jodie Foster. Hinckley's fixation with Foster ultimately led him to the conclusion that he must do something fantastic to gain her attention and admiration. On March 30th, outside a Washington hotel, he fired six shots from his Rohm R6-14 revolver into the crowd surrounding Reagan. The film was used as a cornerstone of the defenses' case to prove Hinckley's insanity. The defense told the jury that Hinckley had watched the film at least fifteen times, read and reread the books it was based upon and listened to the soundtrack endlessly. Just before resting their case, the defense played the movie from beginning to end for the court. During the viewing, Hinckley watched openmouthed and wide eyed. He looked away only to bury his head in his hands as Foster's character Iris dances with her pimp, played by Harvey Keitel. After this convincing display, along with testimony from psychiatrists, the jury found John Hinckley not guilty by reason of insanity. (From www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hinckley/hbio.htm)

    Part of what has made Taxi Driver a timeless film is its ability to make the audience identify, almost unwillingly, with an obviously deranged man. The events that inspired and were inspired by this film were as fantastic as the picture itself. The film blurs the line between reality and fantasy, leaving us to draw in our own.

Hyperlinks:

http://www.suntimes.com/ebert/greatmovies/taxi.html

http://www.geocities.com/ResearchTriangle/Forum/6370/taxidriver.html

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Guild/9891/taxidriver.html

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/2645/gent1.htm

http://www.fisk.mcmail.com/td.htm

Questions:

1. What is/are the theme(s) of this film?

2. Although director Martin Scorsese used expressionistic color throughout the film, why do you think he used surrealistic color in the scene of the shoot-out?

3. What did water symbolize in the film?

4. What was the importance of all the close-up shots used during the scenes that took place in the cab?