Taxi Driver

Rating:
Summary: The relations & mysteries of Taxi Driver
Review: Relations:
"Taxi Driver" has proved to be one of my favorite films and relates to other figures in Hollywood and literature. "Taxi Driver" relates to James Dean (from "East of Eden," "Rebel Without a Cause," and "Giant"), and Holden Caulfield (the alienated hero from J.D. Salingers "The Catcher in the Rye." All three figures, wheather real or unreal, film or literature, are equally alienated from society, live/has lived in New York, not to mention that they all suffer(ed) from insomnia.
In "The Catcher in the Rye" Holden gets tough in front of the mirror (never says any dialogeue while getting "tough"), in "Taxi Driver," Travis Bickle gets tough in the mirror (this time with dialogue.
Holden calls a majore portain of society "phonies," while Travis Bickle calls a majore portain of society "scums."
Holden talks about how he hates the movies, yet he see's a lot of movies. Travis talks about how he despizes the sex on the streets yet watches XXX rated movies.
Holden talks to his sister in the novel that if he were to be anything, he would be a catcher in the rye, someone who saves kids from falling out of the Field of Rye, in other words: saving kids from growing up, stop litte boys from becoming violent and most recognizalby for girls to remain virgins, in "Taxi Driver," Travis Bickles worries of a teenage prostitute get the best of him and he wants to save her.

Mysteries:
Travis is not really that specific about his past, all we know about him is how old he was (26), his clean driving record, and that he was once in the military, nothing more, we don't know where he grew up, of his parents (with the exception that they're wedding anniversary and "mother's" birthday is in July). In one of the essays on "The Catcher in the Rye," Holden is reffered to as a "rebel without a past," this seems to be the case with Travis Bickle.
When Travis meets Betsy, we are never really know how she really feels about Travis. It's not until the third or fourth viewing that you can tell by the way Betsy talks to Travis that she's not really sincere with him. In fact she may have even ben playing with him. Others might argue with that, which is why Betsys true feelings for Travis are a mystery.
Also, the end of the film remains a mystery, we're not really sure about what happends to Travis after the shootout, others would easily say that Travis recoveres from a coma and slowley returnes to civilization, but we're not really sure of wheather what happends is the reality in the film or Travis's final thoughts as he slowely dies from his wounds after the shootout. Most would want to believe that the ending is the films reality, (including myself).

Wheather film fact or film fiction, relation or no relation, "Taxi Driver" to this day remains one of the most powerful films about alienation.
'nuff said.

Rating:
Summary: Check your head Mr. Travis Bickle
Review: Travis Bickle is a cab driver. A cab driver because that is all he can do. In New York he feels the heat. He does not like what he sees in the back of his cab. He listens to it, and sees it, but he does not like it. He does not like it because everything is false. He believes that the world is not a good place. He believes that the America he lives in is one big fake. Maybe this is because Travis does not do anything more than drive a cab, but soon he will change all that. He will change it all for the better.

Travis is a man of morals. Travis is a taxi driver. Travis drives his taxis at night because he prefers that. Travis wants to do more but Travis does not want another job. Travis is not happy with what he does but it is all that he can do. Travis sees a woman who he likes. She is working for a Presidential candidate. Travis stalks her. Travis meets her. Travis does what anyone else would do when they go out with a girl. He takes her to see a blue movie.

Travis is dumped. Travis does not understand why. This is all further proof that everything is wrong about America. Travis sees a way to change all that.

This is the world according to Travis. A world that Travis will pack some heat with. Travis will have his revenge on them all. Travis will show them who is who and what is what. Travis will practice his lines in front of the mirror for that final confrontation that will show the world who he is and what is right and what is wrong.

"You talkin' to me?"

No one will stop Travis from completing his new found objective. If they do he will find another way to solve it all. The problem is not with Travis it is with the world. Travis knows he can make a difference. Travis will go out and do what nobody else will do. Travis will be the hero in the end... you'll see... oh yes you will...

*This is simply one of the all-time great classics about urban paranoia, isolation and redemption. De Niro practically holds the whole film on his own from start to finish. The ending is still one of the most shocking endings you will ever see. This is A+ drama with powerhouse acting. Unmissable.*

Rating:
Summary: Not What All The Fuss Is About.
Review: I heard a lot about the movie Taxi Driver, for a while. So I thought it would be good, because Martin Scorscece directed it. But I was wrong. The movie is just about him driving people around and hes stocking this girl by watching her constantly. And then at the end he exercises and kills 4 guys. Thats it. I thought it was going to be like The Goodfellas or Casino. Since it was made in the 70's, I will give it credit. It is just a renter.

Rating:
Summary: "All The Scum"
Review: WOW! This movie was so great. I read some of the other reviews and I could not figure out why some people put 3 start or even 4 stars. This movie definetly deserves much more than 5 stars, but to each his own. I after watching this movie I said to myself wow! I did not think that someone could make such a dark movie. This was so great it shows you what goes on in the insane/criminal mind. But in the end is the most shocking he turns out to be a hero instead of a criminal. Travis goes nuts gets a bad hair cut and kills some gangsters. Then he turns out to be a hero. WHOA what a mind blow not what you would expect at all! Scorsese scores big with this movie! The acting by De Niro is also great! He really makes you belive that he is nuts! Looking for a movie to watch....rent Taxi Driver!

Rating:
Summary: Repeated Viewings are Required.
Review: Taxi Driver is a lot like the John Wayne Western, "The Searchers".

Travis has 2 choices, Kill the Presidential Candidate or Save the Girl. His first choice is to Kill the Candidate... That says a lot about Travis. For as much as we cheer when he blows them away, for Travis this was his 2nd choice.

Why does Travis want to kill Palantine? Is it because he wants revenge? He wants to Kill the thing Betsy loves most, which is her cause? Is it because Travis sees the phoniness of politicians is just as bad as the Pimps and Prostitutes on the streets. Is it because HE wants the fame?

It's probably a little bit of everything. "Here is a man who could not take it anymore". Travis rises up!

It is also interesting to note a chilling similarity to "The Manchurian Candidate" in Taxi Driver. Just as we see the Angela Landsbury is the controller of her own son as an assassin through brain washing, we are blinded to the fact that Janet Leigh is Frank Sinatra's operator, (Note the strange conversation in the train car, "Would you like a cigarette?").
Anyway, it always amazes me how many people have seen this movie countless times, but have never noticed that it's Palantine in the Taxi with the Hooker in the opening minutes. There is no question about it, Palantine IS trash. That explains a lot... but you just don't put it together if your not watchng closely enough.

I especially like the bit with the kids throwing cans and rocks at the taxi (Booing the heel for not saving Iris from Sport). Very cool, you just don't see craft like this anymore. Thanks Marty!

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Film Ever
Review: Truly beautiful in a way that many movies aren't. Honestly one of the best screenplays ever written, Taxi Driver can't be beat. My favorite of Scorcese's films(and my favorite ever).
Taxi Driver revolves around a Vietnam war veteran who works as a taxi driver. He is the example of an alienated human being. He tries at first to win over Betsy, a political campaigner regularly by taking her to lunch, and a movie, etc. When that fails, he begins to realize that she is like the rest of them. He then tries to save a young prostitute, Iris, by... well you're gonna have to see it for yourself.
Nominated for Four oscars, if that makes any difference.

Rating:
Summary: WEAK LOOKING PRINT - POWERFUL FILM!
Review: Travis Bickle has a problem - and not just one. He's a seemingly ordinary New York cabbie who's into fetishizing a woman (Cybil Shepard)working a congressional campaign. But ol' Trav' isn't above some slumming with a teen prostitute (Jodie Foster) or turning vigilante and blowing away a drug dealer (Harvey Keitel) and some pimps. Suffice it to say, "Taxi Driver" is not your feel good movie of the summer!
TRANSFER: Columbia gives us a really, REALLY disappointing DVD to watch. It's riddled with excessive grain, digital artifacts, aliasing, tiling, edge enhancement and a muddy color scheme. There's plenty of age related dirt, grit and grain - particularly during the night scenes. WOW! WHAT A MESS! The audio is remastered - but just barely - with low to no bass and a really screechy high end.
EXTRAS: After a visual presentation this bad, nothing helped!
BOTTOM LINE: The film is a classic. The transfer is a cropper!

Rating:
Summary: DeNiro's the best !!
Review: Whoa!! Fireball performance by De Niro, competent direction by Martin Scorcese and good supporting performances by Jodie Foster and Harvey Keitel - all the elements which worked together in bringing out this classic.

De Niro is the lonely guy who takes a one-way ticket to the loony bin when he is shunned by the world. The world around him is too busy to take notice of him and his loneliness turns into frustration, then into desperation and culminates in psychosis. He becomes in hell-bent in rescuing a young prostitute (Jodie Foster) from her way of life and shoots up some pimps and low-life along the way. That is Taxi Driver in a nutshell, but what makes this great is how all the actors literally live their roles and make us feel as if they are just on candid camera. You feel a bonding with De Niro since once in a lifetime, everyone goes thru this patch of neglected loneliness.

The DVD specials consist of the usual fare - making, storyboards, trailers etc. There was some problem with my DVD and I couldn't see the 'making' completely. But it was good till the point I had seen, so no gripes. Get the DVD!!

Rating:
Summary: Alienated glory
Review: I think this is Scorsese's best film by far and great as it is I think Bernard Hermann's score takes it to another level. Travis Bickle's decline into morbid social impotence is the most deftly drawn example of alienation ever put on the screen. Straight out of Vietnam, Travis struggles to connect with the social world around him. This it seems was not an uncommon occurance for most veterans of the Vietnam war, who were often trained with one set of men, sent over to Vietnam with a different set of men and then sent into battle with yet another group of men. This constant uprooting of company alligences meant that many veterans of that war found it difficult to form lasting bonds with their comrades in arms and as such had to suffer much of their post-war psychological trauma alone. The U.S. army has since learnt from its mistakes and now makes sure all its soldiers form a career-long bond with the companies they were initially trained with.

In 'Taxi Driver' Travis's social and personal frustrations become ever more exacerbated as the movie continues, until eventually all the tension is released in the final shoot-out scene. Accepting his incompetance in everyday relationships, Travis sees that the only way he can give meaning to his life is by identifying with a Christ-like mission to save a young prostitute. He ultimately fails in his attempt to deify himself as he runs out of bullets. It is this twist of fate which gives him a second shot at life, a shot that I believe the final scene attests to.

Also, against popular opinion, I think the desaturation was a good idea. It gives that scene a gritty, documentary-style look, rather than a full-blooded gore fest which would have run the risk of making the scene look like a B-movie horror.

Rating:
Summary: A true classic with great De Niro
Review: Taxi Driver is an excellent movie that teams up veteran director Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. The movie tells the story of ex-Marine and current New York cabbie, Travis Bickle. He is a loner in every sense of the word as he drifts through life without a purpose. After being rejected by a woman he meets, Betsy, Travis changes his whole life since now he has a purpose in life. In a drastic life style change, Travis goes fanatic. He begins exercising and eating healthy, and most disturbingly takes up a interest in firearms. Soon, Bickle becomes fascinated with a young prostitute he sees on the street and tries to help her. All through the movie, Bickle's anger rises inside of him just waiting to explode. The ending here might seem a little odd, but it works well here in the context of the story and more importantly the character. This is a great character study that once it gets started never slows down.

This has always been my favorite Robert De Niro role. His performance as Travis Bickle is truly classic and at times frightening. Everyone knows his famous "You lookin' at me?" line,but his role is so much more than that and needs to be seen to be fully appreciated. Jodie Foster is also very good as Iris, a 12 year old prostitute, who Travis tries to get off the street. There are also very good performances by Cybil Sheperd, Harvey Keitel as Iris' pimp, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle, and very briefly director Martin Scorsese as a man planning on killing his wife. The Collector's Edition DVD offers theatrical trailers, a very good documentary about the making of the movie, interactive screenplay, photo gallery, and widescreen presentation. Taxi Driver is a great movie that should not be missed. De Niro's performance as Travis Bickle is fantastic and has to be seen to be believed. Do not miss Taxi Driver!