Rating: 
Summary: Not as Good as I was expecting.
Review: I had heard for a long time that this was a good movie. So I orderded it from amazon. Now I only wish I hadn't. The first few times I tried to watch it I ended up having to turn it off and go to bed. Note: I am not someone who falls asleep at movies easily!! This movie is just so boring!!! And there really isn't much of a story line to it. It's just stupid. It has a weird ending too, where your kinda like ok what just happened? It's a waste of time. Don't see it!!!
Rating: 
Summary: One of the greatest performances not to win an Oscar
Review: Robert De Niro's performance in TAXI DRIVER remains, after twenty-five years, one of the most powerful ever witnessed in an American film. It is almost shocking today that he didn't win the Oscar for Best Actor. The reason isn't hard to locate. Just as Shirley MacLaine lost in 1960 to Elizabeth Taylor when Academy voters thought the latter might be dying (obviously, she survived), so Robert De Niro lost in 1976 when Peter Finch, who had been nominated for NETWORK, actually died. I liked Finch in NETWORK, but today his performance seems to pale beside that of De Niro's. In addition to Henry Fonda's mythic performance as Tom Joad in THE GRAPES OF WRATH, it is almost inconceivable that his performance was not acknowledged at the time.De Niro is in very nearly every scene in this film, and without a stunning performance in that role, you do not get a stunning film. Luckily, De Niro is unforgettable. Although his famous scene in front of the mirror (the "You talking to me" scene, which was entirely improvised) is rightfully celebrated, in every second of the film his presence dominates. I seem to remember reading years ago in an interview with screenwriter Paul Schrader that Travis Bickle was based very much on the narrator from Dostoevsky's NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND. If he didn't say that, I will. It isn't just that Travis seems socially out of place, but morally and metaphysically out of place. He doesn't seem to be a person with a genuine core, and at the end of the film, he seems equally capable of good or evil. He ends up doing good, but Scorsese has pointed to the arbitrariness of his actions. He could easily have assassinated the political candidate instead of the pimp. He ends the movie a hero, but an more an ironic hero than an anti-hero. In a flip of a metaphysical coin, he accidentally ends up a good guy instead of a madman. In a way, this film is a group effort, with tremendous performances by Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster, and a tremendous score by the legendary Bernard Herrmann (CITIZEN KANE, NORTH BY NORTHWEST, PSYCHO). But the main credit for this film should go jointly to De Niro, Scorsese, and Paul Schrader. Unbelievably, neither Scorsese nor Schrader even received an Oscar nomination. This, of course, says a lot more about the inherent conservatism of the Academy than about the job these men did. In fact, most of the greatest directors to work in American cinema (Hitchcock, Ernst Lubitsch, Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges, Orson Welles, among many others) never won a Best Director Oscar, and neither has Scorsese. And very few better, more literate scripts have been produced in America. I'm writing here on the assumption that anyone reading this has seen this film, probably more than once. If that isn't the case, this truly is one of the greatest American films. It is a landmark film, showing the ferocity and loneliness that many find in modern life in a way that has only rarely been portrayed in any art form, whether cinema or literature. To say that it is a "must see" film doesn't do it justice.
Rating:
Summary: DeNiro's finest performance!!
Review: I can go back to all the performances Robert DeNiro has made over the years, but I can honestly say that this was the best movie he ever worked in. Yes, DeNiro as Jake Lamotta in "Raging Bull" was his shinning path to greatness, his portrayal of Travis Bickle was one that still leaves me with such chills. Taxi Driver was one of Martin Scorsese's best movies.
Rating: 
Summary: BUY THIS MOVIE
Review: This movie was an excellent film with Robert De Niro in it. For all of you DeNiro fans this is his best movie he has EVER BEEN IN. BUY THIS DVD AND WATCH IT ALONE. Go to the store, buy some Goobers, then put this DVD into ur DVD player and watch it 6 times in a row, or watch it until you have memorized the script, and you can be cool like me, and be like "You talkin to me" and then tell all your freinds about how you stayed home alone on a friday night and watched a Robert De'Niro movie and then were shocked by the cool ending. Anyways this is a great movie and any movie fan should buy it. It falls into the drama/art house category by my terms, and is definitly a shocker that is worth every penny.
Rating:
Summary: A CLASSIC
Review: I have heard this film as one of those films alot of people watch over and over or to just watch in awe the acting and directing that takes place on film. A good movie for any dvd collector!
Rating:
Summary: A stunner! The first movie to ever blow me away!
Review: I vividly remember when I first saw this movie in the theaters. I was in the Navy on the USS Nimitz, which was based in Norfolk, Va., back in the '70s, and one boring Sunday afternoon I decided to treat myself to a movie. I'd heard a bit about this movie, but in no way was I prepared for the tour de force of this film. By the time the lights came on I was just stunned. I'd never been so shaken by a movie in my then-young life. I didn't get out of my seat and half an hour later the lights went down and I sat through the movie AGAIN. I knew what was coming, of course, but it was so fun to just watch the mechanics of how Scorsese put this classic together. Raging Bull may be his best film, but for my money, it's even money. Whew! Now, nearly three decades later, I can STILL feel what it was like sitting in that darkness in Norfolk watching Taxi Driver. If that's not the definition of a classic, I don't know what is...
Rating:
Summary: The case for delirium
Review: The ending of Taxi Driver has generated a lot of controversy and confusion because most people tend to assume that it's a simple continuation of the narrative of the film. In critical studies, however, the possibility is often raised that the end (after the the shoot-out scene to the end of the movie) is no less than Bickle's dying delirious imagination. I want to set forth the case that this is so. First, at the end of the shoot-out scene, Bickle rolls his eyes backwards in the classic movie signature of death. Just before, of course, he put his blood-dripping finger up to his temple and mimed blowing his own brains out (after having failed with the empty real guns). Bickle is suicidal, dying, and will not recover. Second, after this scene the camera pans across various news clippings on the wall of Bickle's room; these clippings describe him as a "hero" that saved a young girl. Also we hear the voice-over of Iris' parents saying that Bickle would always be welcome in their home for saving Iris. But think about real life crimes for a moment. When newspapers report about a man that goes on a shooting spree in a run-down part of town, do they really ever report them as "heroes"? Even if Bickle could explain to them why he did this (Iris' dad says he was in a coma after the shoot-out), would anyone really take a person like this at their word? And would Iris' parents really want to allow a murderous man a place at their table? What we have here is Bickle's fantasy about how he _wants_ the press and Iris' folks to interpret his actions, not a realistic view of how the world generally views such actions. Third (along the same lines as #2), it's hard to imagine Bickle's buddies at the cabstand glossing over his rampage and treating him like old times. Really, if a co-worker of mine were involved in so violent an incident, I would probably not hang out with him so blithely. This is Travis imaginging that things are "back to normal" after getting out of the hospital -- a fantasy of peace. Fourth, Bickle happens to find Betsy in his cab soon after returning to work. How fortuitous in a city of millions! But their conversation shows that she now respects him, considers him a hero like the newspapers and Iris' parents. Again, extremely unlikely -- especially given their history. In real life if she heard about the rampage (or recognized him trying to kill Palentine), that would only tend to confirm her earlier opinion of him as a depraved person. But here she also interprets his actions in the way he wants them to be interpreted (that he saved Iris from the human scum that were selling her) rather than how she probably would in real life. (Also note that the photography of this scene always shows Betsy's face from his viewpoint, floating in a dreamlike way in his rear-view mirror.) Fifth, when Bickle drops Betsy off she seems uncertain, embarrased, and demure, and is obviously just on the verge of offering some kind of intimate apology. Instead she asks how much is the fare. He drives off without accepting a dime. This is Bickle's triumph -- he wins their relationship battle by rejecting _her_, and by being confident, independent, and morally superior. Typical subconscious inversion tactic. Sixth, as he drives off, Bickle sees himself in the car's rear-view mirror, then adjusts it to see if he can see Betsy. As he does so, a violent wrench is given to the accompanying musical score. Then we see no one in the mirror at all as the credits roll to Bernard Hermann's haunting love theme. There's nothing in the mirror (except the rolling, ubiquitous city) because Travis is not there. Its symbolic of his death -- like that of a vampire -- that the mirror doesn't show his reflection. Travis is dead and we have just witnessed his last thoughts. Travis is only a hero in his own mind. There is no hero in this movie. It does not have a happy ending. Travis continues to justify his own behavior and viewpoint to the last, and grants himself a kind of sainthood -- beatified by the press, Iris' parents, and Betsy's acquiescence. The tragedy of the movie is deepend by this reading of its end. To my mind, this also makes the movie more coherent, since it's main theme is the psychological isolation of Travis Bickle. The end consumates his separateness. Others will never connect to his vision of himself as a master (rather than a victim) of circumstance, a protector of innocence, a scourge of evildoers, an instrument of God's judgement.
Rating:
Summary: De Niro is the man
Review: This movie is truely one of the greatest films of all time. Taxi Driver is surely De Niros greatest. Martin Scorsese is an absolute genious. I reccomend tis movie to everyone.
Rating:
Summary: Taxi Driver
Review: Travis Bickle asks a girl out on a date, and takes her to a porno film. He sucks up to a political candidate, and ends up alarming him. He tries to make small talk with a Secret Service agent, but the agent is forced to back off. He wants to befriend a child prostitute, but scares her away. Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver is the story of a man who tries to connect but cannot. Taxi Driver was Martin Scorsese's fourth film and I believe it to be his best, though I have an equal love for almost all of his films. He does a cameo in this and it is possibly the most memorable scene in the whole film. Paul Schrader, a great director in his own right, provides the script. Schrader started in film criticism, was fired, had no money and was forced to live on the streets. Taxi Driver is what came out of that. The score was Bernard Herman's last and it's a fine farewell to a great composer. Just like the cinematography, the music puts us inside Travis's head. The film has a real dream-like quality to it and it's no doubt that that comes from its wonderful and obscure cinematography. There are shots in this film that are just astounding but there is one in particular I will never forget. Travis calls up Betsy asking for a second date and slowly the camera dollies over to the empty hallway and stays there for a minute but it feels like a lifetime. I always felt, and I hope this is right, that this symbolizes Travis's loneliness. Robert De Niro gives one of the most chilling performances in film history and certainly, one of the best. Everything he does in the film is so right and I feel that it really wouldn't work if anyone else played Travis. Another Martin Scorsese regular, Harvey Keitel, turns in a surprisingly funny performance as a pimp called Sport. The scenes between these two legends are largely improvised and serve as some of the best scenes in the movie. A few of the other players are Jodie Foster, Peter Boyle and Cybil Shepard. All of these performances exceptional. "You talking to me? Well I'm the only one here..." One of cinema's true classics, Taxi Driver should be seen by all.
Rating:
Summary: You have to live like that
Review: For me this movie is good, because it showed me that I am not allow. Yes, if you didnt live alone for yourself for a long time, dont reflect on how... well how frustrating life is, especially for young lonely man it is kind of hard to understand it. If you have family and friends you never get into that mood. But if you live all by yourself for weeks, months or years you may understand that. My feelings go upside down, sometimes I work very hard and have a "normal" life. The other day, I lay at home or walk or drive. But it is more than this "feeling alone in a crowd"-stuff. Thoughts come to your mind about the world, life, whatever in a very unusual way. It is really difficult to expresse it.
Look at the docu about the movie, especially the parts where they talk abour DeNiros character and how they wrote the script.
Than you may get, what Taxidriver is really about, but you have to be a Taxidriver to know what it is to be one of use.
For the "hero"-thing. HE IS NO HERO. Only public opinion in the movie make him that. The movie doesnt want to say he is a hero.
Then if you are like a Taxidriver you go with a girl to adult-movie without thinking, because you are still in your one world and stuff. You think, I must go out with her, but all what your mind comes up with is the adult-cinema because you go there all the time.
Well whatever, FOR ME IT IS A GREAT HELP to feel better and go get that I am not the one person God or however wanted to judge. I dont know what other people see it it...
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