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List Price: $27.95 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 84082
Released: September 10, 1997 |
| Our Price: $6.49 |
| Used Price: $5.55 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Taxi Driver is the definitive cinematic portrait of loneliness and alienation manifested as violence. It is as if director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had tapped into precisely the same source of psychological inspiration ("I just knew I had to make this film," Scorsese would later say), combined with a perfectly timed post-Watergate expression of personal, political, and societal anxiety. Robert De Niro, as the tortured, ex-Marine cab driver Travis Bickle, made movie history with his chilling performance as one of the most memorably intense and vividly realized characters ever committed to film. Bickle is a self-appointed vigilante who views his urban beat as an intolerable cesspool of blighted humanity. He plays guardian angel for a young prostitute (Jodie Foster), but not without violently devastating consequences. This masterpiece, which is not for all tastes, is sure to horrify some viewers, but few could deny the film's lasting power and importance. --Jeff Shannon
Taxi Driver Reviews:
The original American Psycho 
2008-10-06 - Being a cab driver for almost 18 years, Taxi Driver is a personal favorite of mine. Driving a cab is like a drug: you get to meet new people everyday; you don't have to wait a week or two to get paid---everything's cash money; you get to know the whole city; you learn where the hot spots are--the restaurants, the bars, the clubs, etc. You set your own hours and you choose where you want to work and whom you want to serve. You have no one breathing down your neck--you are your own boss. There's a saying among cabbies: only two kinds of people get more p**** than cabbies: movie stars and rock stars.
Being a cab driver is like being a sponge. You become a therapist, a conscience, a drinking buddy, a strip club buddy, a shoulder to cry on, or a one-night stand. People show themselves to you, but you're a cabbie and you've seen it all anyway. For an extra-nice tip, a cab can be a rolling motel, a getaway car, or a safe haven to indulge strange pleasures. A cabbie is faceless from the back seat: he or she won't judge you.
After a while, every cabbie develops a callus: every passenger becomes a blur. Robert De Niro's character, Travis Bickle, sees society as converging dots flowing together like the scum on his windshield. Prostitutes, pimps, addicts, and winos gum the sidewalks. Urine stings every breath. Neon melts over his cab. This is the world that Travis lives in, and he hates it more and more everyday.
The world has become a toilet to Travis Bickle. Out of this filth appears a flower of virtue that nothing can touch--a young gorgeous campaign-volunteer named Betsy played by Cybill Shepherd. She's the most beautiful woman he's ever seen. Driving a cab at night, all Travis sees are whores; however, Betsy's incorruptible, and she alone can redeem mankind. She allows him to take her on a date. Though awkward, he says all the right things. He takes her to the theater to see a movie--a porno flick. Horrified and offended, she hails a cab and leaves him on the sidewalk. Travis is stunned. At that moment, a whore saunters by. They pause to gaze at each other--she is his mirror; they are one and the same.
Betsy destroys Travis; she's just like all the others. Now, there's nothing in the world worth saving--now, he knows what he must do. He hones his body and his mind: no more smoking; no more drinking; no more bad food--he must be fit. He'll annihilate Betsy and the whole world. By chance, he stumbles into the middle of a pimp/whore squabble; the whore is a thirteen-year-old girl. Something rises up in Travis's heart, something he never felt before. He discovers something worth saving-- a lost thirteen-year-old whore named Iris (Jodie Foster).
Taxi Driver was the second collaboration between Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese. Bernard Herman's magical score wafts over every scene. Taxi Driver was an omen, forecasting the senseless tragedies of both Columbine and Virginia Tech. No movie collection is adequate without this great film. See it. Buy it. Enjoy it.
author of Gotta Be Down!
"Mr. Cab Driver. . ."
2008-09-17 - The haunting musical soundtrack to this movie contains some of the most beautiful jazzy pieces I have ever heard. I had a custom tape made from it at one time. The story is a great psycho-drama with all of the players perfectly cast. Jodie Foster is believable as the "baby prostitute," Harvey Kietel, chilling as her pimp and Robert DeNiro is so fascinating to study as Travis Bickle, wierd product of NY subculture of the streets and psychological textbook example. It is, in retrospect, a brilliant example of post-Vietnam War 1970's atmosphere in the large cities of our country. Maybe too wierd of a movie for some to watch, but a mainstay of the viewing repretoire of a true artist.
Shows Its Age Horribly 
2008-09-10 - This is one of those 70's flicks that meant to shock the audience, and it did...back then. "Taxi Driver" is slowly-paced, pondering at times, and very self-indulgent, in particular one scene in with Martin Scorsese stating how he's going to kill his cheating wife.
There are more than dozen films better from this era, with better story lines, better acting and something more important to say.
ARE YOU TALKIN' TO ME?
2008-08-23 - You've got to have been in a coma for the past 30 years not to have seen this movie. Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle, the "troubled" cab driver is awesome and scary. Jodie Foster (Iris) is alarmingly sexy, Cybill Shepherd (Betsy) is dreamy, and Harvey Keitel (Sport) is the evil pimp. The big shoot-out towards the end of the film is an unforgettable "classic." Tension-building direction from Martin Scorsese. Robert De Niro - The Best.
Terribly overrated 
2008-06-28 - Bad acting, lame story and very poor execution. It could have been good if carried out right but it moves too slowly. The dialogue doesn't make much sense and it's like Martin was just killing film time by having the actors talk slowly so they had less to write. Nothing brilliant about this film, 1/5
