Taxi driver...the magic combo of de niro/schrader/scorsese....released in 1976...the movie talks about urban alienation...loneliness felt by travis bickle ( robert de niro in one of the most chilling and tour de force performances on screen,academy rejected this performance for some unknown actor or whatever :( a taxi driver...who drives cabs in NYC at late nights picking up people from different stratas of society like hoodlums,pimps,poilticians,hookers,blue collar workers,regular joe's......
travis is simply fed up by the scum of the city that he daily witnesses...he wants a real rain to come and wash off all the filth the city has to offer....He becomes fixated on a PYT Betsy (cybill sheperd looking stunning as usual)...from a distance and wants her very badly...and starts becoming possessive of her...he eventually gets the courage to ask her on a date but it turns disastrous as he takes her to a porno movie...when he meets the following day (its my favourite scene in the movie)...he asks her why dont you answer my calls??the burning anger and rejection by someone he loved is evident in de niro's eyes.He later meets a 13 yr old prostitute (jodie foster) and is adamant about rescuing her from the clutches of her pimp owner(harvey keitel)....the climax is not only controversial but something to ponder about,he guns down harvey and his cronies in a bloodbath of an encounter......the movie has been inspired from the john wayne classic the searchers (1956)....where the protagonist is determined to save the female character from all evils of society but in a more contemporary setting.....after travis fails in his attempt to assasinate a local politician palantine he grows a mohawk acquires weaponry..the training that he undergoes at the shooting gallery indicates the mayhem he wats to unfold on the society...even the noise made by the gun is powerful even now... the haunting score is by benard hermann (the genius behind psycho,cape fear,verigo,north by northwest)...camerawork (michael chapman)...of course the most famous dialogue ever (you talkin' to me?)....rendered by travis in front of a mirror....taxi driver is not only scorsese's gratest accomplishment(it lost to a nonsensical film rocky for best picture and best director!!!!!!!)taxi driver went on to win the Palm d'or at the Cannes film festival....the movie was also a driving factor for the attempted assasination of ronald reagan in 1981....john hickley jr. claimed he was obssessed with foster's character in the movie.....
Taxi driver is a violent masterpiece...the movie released at a time when the world was going thru a turmoil especially in the u.s when the vietnam war and watergate scandal had just ended...one of my favourite character actors peter boyle :-) has a small but effective cameo in the movie...each time i watch the new recut trailer of taxi driver i am literally stunned by the genius of scorsese....
travis is simply fed up by the scum of the city that he daily witnesses...he wants a real rain to come and wash off all the filth the city has to offer....He becomes fixated on a PYT Betsy (cybill sheperd looking stunning as usual)...from a distance and wants her very badly...and starts becoming possessive of her...he eventually gets the courage to ask her on a date but it turns disastrous as he takes her to a porno movie...when he meets the following day (its my favourite scene in the movie)...he asks her why dont you answer my calls??the burning anger and rejection by someone he loved is evident in de niro's eyes.He later meets a 13 yr old prostitute (jodie foster) and is adamant about rescuing her from the clutches of her pimp owner(harvey keitel)....the climax is not only controversial but something to ponder about,he guns down harvey and his cronies in a bloodbath of an encounter......the movie has been inspired from the john wayne classic the searchers (1956)....where the protagonist is determined to save the female character from all evils of society but in a more contemporary setting.....after travis fails in his attempt to assasinate a local politician palantine he grows a mohawk acquires weaponry..the training that he undergoes at the shooting gallery indicates the mayhem he wats to unfold on the society...even the noise made by the gun is powerful even now... the haunting score is by benard hermann (the genius behind psycho,cape fear,verigo,north by northwest)...camerawork (michael chapman)...of course the most famous dialogue ever (you talkin' to me?)....rendered by travis in front of a mirror....taxi driver is not only scorsese's gratest accomplishment(it lost to a nonsensical film rocky for best picture and best director!!!!!!!)taxi driver went on to win the Palm d'or at the Cannes film festival....the movie was also a driving factor for the attempted assasination of ronald reagan in 1981....john hickley jr. claimed he was obssessed with foster's character in the movie.....
Taxi driver is a violent masterpiece...the movie released at a time when the world was going thru a turmoil especially in the u.s when the vietnam war and watergate scandal had just ended...one of my favourite character actors peter boyle :-) has a small but effective cameo in the movie...each time i watch the new recut trailer of taxi driver i am literally stunned by the genius of scorsese....
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