TAXI DRIVER by BRYAN TOSH

Title/Year: Taxi Driver (1976)

Director/Birth Country/Year Born: THE Martin Scorsese – United States (Queens, NYC) – 1942

Budget: $1.3 million (estimated)

Gross: $28,262,574 (domestic)

Synopsis: Ex-Marine, Travis Bickle (De Niro) suffers from insomnia. He gets a job as an NYC taxi driver during the night shift. Bickle battles with his demons as well as the “demons” he sees on his routes throughout NYC. He thinks something must be done to clean up the streets and takes it upon himself to do so.

Narrative and Visual Keywords: Vietnam – New York – Marine – insomnia – Taxi – Porn – Politics – Veteran – Dirt – Filth – Streets – Prostitution – Race – Vigilante

Characterization/ Dialogue: Travis can work “Anytime, anywhere” due to his state of insomnia. Also, one of THE most infamous and mis-quoted lines in film history, “You talkin’ to me?”

Camera/lighting/editing technique: Hello Dolly! Scorsese loves 'em, especially in this film. There are numerous dolly shots and they are used at a variety of speeds and in a variety of situations.

Political/ Social Commentary: The world as seen through the eyes of a Vietnam veteran, trying to adjust to the world of late 70’s NYC.

Historical Relevance/ Recognition: Nominated for four Academy awards (Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Original Score, and Best Picture), two Golden Globes (Best Actor, Best Screenplay), and a Writer’s Guild of America Screen award. Did not win in any of those categories however.

Notable Collaboration: Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese have collaborated on numerous projects. Of course Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, GoodFellas, Casino, The King of Comedy, Mean Streets, and they both even provided voices in the animated film Shark Tale.

Random fact, Etc.: The screenwriter, Paul Schrader, has also written the films American Gigolo, Light Sleeper and The Walker. With Taxi Driver, these four films make up a series. Schrader himself has said that the characters in each film are actually one larger character just at different ages and times of his life.

This film tells the story of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a lonely, Vietnam veteran honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. He suffers from insomnia and finally decides to put his sleepless nights to good use by getting a job as a taxi driver. During his shift, he is exposed to the seedy, filthy side of New York City. It ends up having a profound effect on his psyche. His insomnia plays a part in this as well.

Travis can only take so much of the darkness that resides in NYC. He latches onto a young woman named Betsy (Cybil Shepard) who works in a campaign office. She is completely opposite of the world he is exposed to during the night. Travis musters up the courage to ask Betsy out. At first it is just coffee and pie at a local café. Things take a wrong turn though when Travis decides to introduce Betsy to a part of the dark world he is exposed to. He ends up taking her to a movie theater. Instead of a romantic comedy or action film, he ends up taking her to an adult film.

Betsy wants nothing to do with Travis at this point and Travis falls a bit deeper into the darkness. It begins to eat away at him and feels that something should be done. Someone should stand up and clean away the filth in the streets.

In some ways Travis is in control of his actions. He goes about his day at work. Does his job, punches a clock, and pays his bills. There are signs that maybe he doesn’t really know exactly what he is doing OR doesn’t realize what he is doing is wrong. One example would be the simple act of taking a date to an adult film. He is convinced that he never realized something like that would rub Betsy the wrong way, thus causing her to question any further involvement with Travis.

Another example that it may seem like he is partially in control and partially out of control could be during the gun dealer scene. Travis has finally decided something needs to be done, or perhaps he really had no choice. The gun dealer opens up his cases of guns, going over the finer points of each one.  Travis picks each one up, examining the features himself, aiming each one out the nearby window. He ends up taking ALL of the guns including the custom holster for the magnum.

Some political subtext helps to re-enforce Travis’ view of this world. Through-out the film, a political campaign for Presidential candidate Charles Palantine plays out. The campaign’s slogan states “We ARE the people” which, to me, is a play-off of the famous “We the people”. In the campaign, Palantine wants to put the power back in the hands of the people. This translates to what Travis wants as well. Senator Palantine even takes a ride in Travis’ cab in one scene where Travis doesn’t hold back in sharing his world view with the good Senator.

Early on in the film, Travis’ thoughts and opinions are merely that, thoughts and opinions. He is a bit lost and lonely early on as well. Travis finds a moment of companionship in Betsy, who works for the Palantine campaign. Travis’ relationship with Betsy is short lived and he is, once again, alone. One short scene encompasses Travis’ masculinity being stripped away before our eyes. He pleads with Betsy over the telephone in an attempt to make amends. Scorsese puts emphasis on how uncomfortable the situation is by dollying the camera off toward the nearby hallway. Travis’ masculinity is reinstated later in the film when he takes matters into his own hands. The first example of this is during the scene in which Travis’ purchases a small arsenal of guns. The second example is during the sequence with the young prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster). In an attempt to “rescue” Iris from her lot in life, Travis’ masculinity is reinstated even further. The final example is, of course, during the climax of the film. Travis finally sees his vision through and puts his weapons to good use, making an attempt to clean up the filth in the streets.

This is another remarkable accomplishment by Scorsese and company, featuring one of film history’s most memorable lines. For me personally, I have other Scorsese films that I would rank slightly higher, VERY slightly, but still up there on my list of favorite films.

REFERENCES:  www.imdb.com
                            www.wikipedia.org
                            www.boxofficemojo.com