Taxi Driver (1976)

Director:

Martin Scorsese

Writer:

Paul Schrader (written by)

Release Date:

8 February 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

On every street in every city, there's a nobody who dreams of being a somebody.

Plot:

A mentally unstable Vietnam war veteran works as nighttime taxi driver in a city whose perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge to violently lash out, attempting to save a teenage prostitute in the process.

Plot Keywords:

Manhattan | Seduction | Shot To Death | Teenage Actress Playing Preteenage Girl | Night Life

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 18 wins & 9 nominations

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Travis Bickle (as Robert DeNiro)
Cybill Shepherd	...	Betsy
Peter Boyle	...	Wizard
Jodie Foster	...	Iris Steensma
Harvey Keitel	...	'Sport' Matthew
Leonard Harris	...	Senator Charles Palantine
Albert Brooks	...	Tom
Diahnne Abbott	...	Concession Girl
Frank Adu	...	Angry Black Man
Gino Ardito	...	Policeman at Rally
Victor Argo	...	Melio (as Vic Argo)
Garth Avery	...	Iris' Friend
Harry Cohn	...	Cabbie in Bellmore
Copper Cunningham	...	Hooker in Cab
Brenda Dickson-Weinberg	...	Soap Opera Woman (as Brenda Dickson)

Runtime:

113 min | Spain:110 min (cut version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Metrocolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR (re-release) | Stereo

Certification:

New Zealand:R18 | Brazil:14 | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Italy:VM14 | Germany:16 (re-rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Nova Scotia/Ontario) | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Chile:18 | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 (re-rating) | France:-16 (original rating) | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:18 | Israel:18 | Japan:R-15 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:18 | Peru:18 | Portugal:M/18 | Singapore:M18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1986) (cut) | UK:18 (video re-rating) (1993) (uncut) | UK:X (original rating) (cut) | USA:R

Filming Locations:

13 St between 2nd & 3rd Avenues, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Bill/Phillips

Trivia:

Cybill Shepherd turned down the chance to appear in Nickelodeon (1976) in order to accept the role of Betsy.

Goofs:

Continuity: The length of Travis' sleeves (after cutting one off).

Quotes:

[first lines]
[phone rings loudly]
Personnel Officer: Harry, answer that.
Personnel Officer: So whaddya want to hack for, Bickle?
Travis Bickle: I can't sleep nights.
Personnel Officer: There's porno theaters for that.
Travis Bickle: Yeah, I know, I tried that.
Personnel Officer: So now what do you do?
Travis Bickle: I ride around most nights - subways, buses - but you know, if I'm gonna do that I might as well get paid for it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Charlie Rose Show: Quentin Tarantino" (1994)

Soundtrack:

LATE FOR THE SKY

Live it and lose it

Scorsese's best. Not too many hyper-critical reviews of this film have anything near as intelligent to say about what the director and the screenwriter had in mind when they created this American gem.

To those people that have seen it and thought it was "slow" or the pacing was sub par, they don't know what they're talking about; "Taxi Driver" is about the gradual and eventual take-over of insanity, and not about violence, action-shoot-'em-up 'slash' car chase... or whatever they expected from it. The modern audience today is expecting everything--comedy, drama, unbearable suspense, spfx--all rolled-up into one-stop entertainment... and no, I'm not anybody's grandfather, or here to tell you that movies were great in my day, but, viewers, lighten up already.

De Niro, and the rest of the cast, do a serviceable job in this micro-cosmic window into the life of Travis Bickle--a Vietnam vet--who, true, writes mind-numbing entries in his diary, leads a, for the most part, dull existance as a cabbie, and strikes out with a female political campaigner who, after Travis becomes a hero, discovers she is indeed attracted to unstable, sometimes violent chauffeurs.

The rest of this movie's story is for the less initiated viewer; decide whether you've truly become desensitized to sexual and violent content in today's films... Ah, forget it! You have to have lived at least some of which goes on in "Taxi Driver," or you've just been plain lucky in this life so far.