Taxi Driver

A Loner.

Continuing with classic movies that are somehow related to the vintage cult we heart at Spam-Alternative, after thinking about the many choices I had to review from, I finally settled for Marti Scorsesse's best movie ever made, period. The year: 1976, the movie: Taxi Driver, fasten your seatbelt, we're in for a special ride. 

Taxi Driver has been defined by many as a classic of American cinematic power. Martin Scorsese sets his mind into one goal alone, which was to create a masterpiece about urban alienation. The magnificent script written by Paul Schrader depicts a portrait of loneliness in the largest city of the world. Travis Bickle(the main character masterly played by Robert De Niro) never once enters into a meaningful relationship with any character anywhere in the film. He is the incarnation of the most hopelessly alone person in the Big Apple during the whole film.

Awesome poster ain't it?

Travis, before his transformation.

Travis Did try to be social, if only he had a Facebook account...

Travis drives a lonely road with his thoughts, and his thoughts are dark ones. The film fools you on a first viewing. Is Travis an endearing eccentric? Sure, he's odd, but he's so polite, and he's got a quirky sense of humor. His affection for Betsy is actually rather endearing. But on a second view, you see it for what it is. The audience comes to see Travis's psychosis gradually, but there's actually far less development than one might think. When he talks about cleaning up the city, the repeat viewer knows he doesn't mean cleaning up with the law on his side.

This is less a film about a character in development as it is a kind of snapshot. To be sure, it takes the stimulus to provoke the response, but does that imply some kind of central change in the character?Tremendous supporting roles are brought to life through vivid performances by Harvey Keitel (he plays a suave pimp) and Jodie Foster who plays a teenague prostitute working for Keitel. Cybill Shepard's character, Betsy, is little more than a foil to highlight Travis's utter alienation from society, but she is still impeccably portrayed. With only two scenes that don't center on Travis, it is unavoidably a one man's movie, De Niro's movie.

Betsy, a regular working girl.

I'm the pimp 'round here, comprende?

Jodie Foster couldn't attend the film premiere, she was underage.

Travis playing the hero.

Are you talking to me?

Bread & Jam.

The life with which the supporting cast imbues their characters is a credit to themselves, and to the director's willingness to let the film develop from the intersection of diverse ideas and approaches. What would the plot lose by eliminating the Albert Brooks character (Tom)? Nothing at all. He makes almost no impact on Travis's life, which is where the plot lives. But his inclusion makes the film as a whole much richer and fuller.As a piece of American cinema history, this film will live forever. But far more important than that, this film will survive as a universal, ever-relevant examination of the workings of the alienated mind. 

Punk Rock Taxi Driver.

Famous scene.

The story doesn't end when the credits roll. We know Travis will snap again. But the story doesn't end with Travis either. It continues today in the cities and in the schools. The film is about the brutal power of the disaffected mind.This film didn't cause the incidents in Columbine, or Hawaii, or Seattle, or wherever you care to look, even with all of its disturbing images of violence. It didn't cause those things.In a way, it predicted them, and that's a credit Scorsesse fully deserves, he was a visionary and still is.

Taxi Driver, had such a strong storytelling that most of the exploitation films that were released during those days, tried to deal with the same issues with lower budgets, and less talented actors, but, hey Scorsesse's masterpiece was a trend setter itself.

Here's the movie trailer: