Taxi Driver

Categories: Palme d'Or winners | 1976 films | Drama films | Best Picture Oscar Nominee | Best Actor Oscar Nominee (film) | United States National Film Registry | Neo-noir | Controversial films | Cult films | Films directed by Martin Scorsese

For other uses, see Taxi Driver (disambiguation).

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American motion picture drama directed by Martin Scorsese.

It is widely considered one of the greatest American films, praised for its strong performances and gritty realism. The film also made stars out of both its lead actor, Robert De Niro, and Jodie Foster, then fourteen years old.

Bernard Herrmann, who is noted for his work with Alfred Hitchcock (especially Psycho), scored Taxi Driver. The soundtrack was the last he completed before his death.

Primary cast:

• Robert De Niro  : Travis Bickle
• Jodie Foster  : Iris Steensma
• Cybill Shepherd  : Betsy
• Harvey Keitel  : 'Sport' Matthew
• Peter Boyle  : Wizard
• Leonard Harris  : Sen. Charles Palantine
• Albert Brooks  : Tom

Plot summary

Travis Bickle (De Niro), an alienated, sexually frustrated young man of 26 from the Midwest, has recently been discharged from the Marines. He suffers from insomnia and consequently takes a job as taxi driver in New York City, and volunteers to work the overnight shift "anytime, anywhere". Bickle spends his spare time watching pornography in seedy theaters and driving around aimlessly through the darkest and most repulsive neighborhoods of Manhattan.

Bickle is horrified by what he considers the moral decay around him, and when Iris (Foster), a 12½ year-old prostitute, gets in his cab one night to escape her pimp, Bickle becomes obsessed with saving her despite her complete lack of interest in the idea, explaining that she was "stoned" when she tried to escape, and her pimp, Sport, is actually a kind and caring person.

Bickle is also obsessed with Betsy (Shepherd), an aide for New York State Senator Palantine, who is running for the presidential nomination and is promising dramatic social change. She is initially intrigued by Bickle and agrees to a date with him after he flirts with her and sympathizes with her own apparent loneliness. On the date, however, Bickle takes her to a pornographic film, and she leaves him, disgusted.

Taxi Driver has a number of other disturbing scenes reflecting both Bickle's worsening mental condition and the seedier side of New York City. Bickle purchases a hunting knife and four handguns from an energetic "salesman" named Easy Andy; a disturbed businessman in the back of Travis' cab (played by Scorsese in a last-minute substitution) explaining to Travis how he wishes to kill his wife, who is playing around with a paramour. Bickle happens across a robbery at a convenience store where he is a regular customer, then shoots the would-be robber. The store clerk then proceeds to beat the robber's dead (or dying) body in full view of any passersby. Bickle writes a letter to his parents, claiming to be involved in "sensitive" government work; he also reports to them that he is dating Betsy. Obviously desperate, Bickle tries to express his frustration to the Wizard (Boyle), an experienced cabbie, telling the Wizard "I got some bad ideas in my head" and that he feels like "doing something big"; not comprehending, the Wizard trieds to relate from his experience, but can only suggest that Bickle needs to "get laid, get drunk" and "don't worry so much."

The film's most famous scene may be when Bickle is practicing his quick-draw technique and rehearsing a speech he'll deliver if confronted: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only one here."

Bickle then plans to assassinate Senator Palentine at a public rally, perhaps seeing the Senator as a buffer between himself and Betsy. When he is spotted by Secret Servicemen and flees, Bickle desperately drives uptown and shoots Iris's pimp Sport (Keitel), before storming into the brothel and brutally killing the bouncer, the wounded Sport (who has returned), and Iris's mafioso customer.

Travis is wounded in his neck and arm in the fight, and he seems to be dying as he sits down on the couch before policemen enter the room. Once the police enter, Bickle raises a bloody index finger to his head and pretends to shoot himself. A slow-motion overhead tracking shot moves out of the room and examines his path of violence, moving over blood stains, dead bodies, down the steps and outside to the crowd of police and curiosity seekers swarming outside.

A brief epilogue of sorts ends the film and shows Shepherd's character climbing into Bickle's cab, and commenting on his "saving" Iris and Bickle's own media fame, but Travis seems to be mentally recovered now and denies himself as being any sort of hero. This curious ending has inspired some debate as to its meaning and interpretation; see below.

Analysis

The climactic shoot-out was, for its era, intensely graphic, and retains much of its visceral impact today. To attain an "R" rating, Scorsese desaturated the colors, making the brightly-colored blood less prominent. In later interviews, Scorsese commented that he was actually pleased by the color change and he considered it an improvement over the originally filmed scene, which has been lost. However, in the special edition DVD, Michael Chapman, the film's cinematographer, regrets the decision and the fact that no print with the unmuted colors exists any more.

Some critics expressed concern over young Jodie Foster's presence during the climactic shoot-out scene. However, in the documentary Making "Taxi Driver" (included in the DVD release of the movie), Foster stated that she was present during the setup and staging of the special effects used during the scene; the entire process was explained and demonstrated for her, step by step. Rather than being upset or traumatized, Foster said, she was fascinated and entertained by the behind-the-scenes preparation that went into the scene.

Regarding the film's epilogue, some have seen this epilogue as Bickle's dying fantasy, while others see it as a real resolution of Bickle's acts. As Betsy departs his cab, Travis drives away, and a curious ring sounds as Travis quickly adjusts his mirror, before the credit roll on the background of the bright and distorted city lights seen from the cab's perspective. Director Scorsese comments on Travis' final moments in the DVD, mentioning that this "mirror glance" could be a symbol that Travis might fall into depression and violent rage once again in the future, although it is still open to interpretation.

One note which may help settle the fantasy/real resolution: Travis's first acts of violence were premeditated murder and, whether or not the men he killed "deserved it", he would have been prosecuted.

Roger Ebert has written of the film's ending, "There has been much discussion about the ending, in which we see newspaper clippings about Travis's 'heroism', and then Betsy gets into his cab and seems to give him admiration instead of her earlier disgust. Is this a fantasy scene? Did Travis survive the shoot-out? Are we experiencing his dying thoughts? Can the sequence be accepted as literally true? ... I am not sure there can be an answer to these questions. The end sequence plays like music, not drama: It completes the story on an emotional, not a literal, level. We end not on carnage but on redemption, which is the goal of so many of Scorsese's characters."

Critical response

Taxi Driver was a financial success and was nominated for several Academy Awards and received honors at the Cannes Film Festival. In later years, the film was ranked #47 on the American Film Institute's list of "100 Years, 100 Movies", and #22 on its "100 Years, 100 Thrills". It is consistently in the top 50 on the Internet Movie Database's list of top 250 films, and has been selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Roger Ebert has added Taxi Driver to his list of "Great Movies."[1]

Some critics have argued Taxi Driver is perhaps the first film to address--however indirectly--the impact of the Vietnam War on soldiers who fought in the conflict. Most notably, Bickle appears to be suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder[2], a condition that was brought to major attention by the condition of some veterans of that conflict and later included in the DSM-III. More subtly, Bickle's spartan lifestyle and choice of poorly-paid, dead-end employment is evocative of the experiences of many war veterans suffering from this condition and the perception that mentally or physically disabled veterans are disowned and inadequately compensated by society or the government.

The film includes a subtle reference to military operations in the US. When Bickle determines to assassinate Senator Palantine, he cuts his hair into a mohawk. This detail was suggested by actor Victor Magnotta, a friend of Scorsese's who had a small role as a Secret Service agent, and who had served in Vietnam. Scorsese later noted that Magnotta had "talked about certain types of soldiers going into the jungle. They cut their hair in a certain way; looked like a mohawk ... and you knew that was a special situation, a commando kind of situation, and people gave them wide berths ... we thought it was a good idea."

Award wins

• Cannes Film Festival ? Palme d'Or
• New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor ? (Robert De Niro)
• BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role ? (Jodie Foster)
• BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer ? (Jodie Foster)
• BAFTA Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music ? (Bernard Herrmann)

Award nominations

• Academy Award for Best Picture
• BAFTA Award for Best Picture
• BAFTA Award for Direction ? (Martin Scorsese)
• DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures ? (Martin Scorsese)
• Academy Award for Best Actor ? (Robert De Niro)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama - (Robert De Niro)
• Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress ? (Jodie Foster)
• Academy Award for Original Music Score ? (Bernard Herrmann)
• Grammy Award for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture ? (Bernard Herrmann)
• BAFTA Award for Best Editing ? (Marcia Lucas, Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro)
• Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay - Motion Picture ? (Paul Schrader)
• WGA Award for Best Drama Written Directly for the Screen ? (Paul Schrader)

Influence

John Hinckley, Jr.

Taxi Driver was reportedly part of a delusional fantasy on the part of John Hinckley, Jr. which triggered his attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. His stated reason was that the act was an attempt to impress Jodie Foster by mimicking Travis' mohawked appearance at the Palantine rally.

Travis in pop culture

• The Clash song "Red Angel Dragnet" from their album, Combat Rock, refers to Bickle, and quotes dialogue from the film.
• Rancid's 2003 album Indestructible includes the song "Travis Bickle."
• The Scientists' song "If It's The Last Thing I Do" (a.k.a. "Travis") starts "Sometimes I feel like Travis Bickle/ Just wanna shoot up all the bad lurking in this town".
• The Narrator from the 1999 film Fight Club names himself "Travis" at one of his group meetings. Edward Norton decided to name himself in all the scenes after a classic Robert DeNiro character, but ended up adding other names as to make it less obvious.
• Millencolin's song "Botanic Mistress", from their album Home from Home, begins with the line "I felt like Travis Bickle, tyrannical, lonely and blue", and later in the song has "And I'll feel like Bickle once more, And maybe I will lose it, Go insane and start a gun war?!".
• The Beastie Boys reference Travis Bickle in the song "High Plains Drifter"
• Pantera use sounds and dialogue from movie in their song "The Badge" from The Crow soundtrack.
• The Simpsons's bartender, Moe Szyslak, practices his De Niro impressions on a mirror at night.
• In 2005, World Wrestling Entertainment parodied De Niro's "You talkin' to me?" scene in a advertisement for their event WrestleMania 21.
• Xzibit's album At The Speed Of Life includes sounds and dialogue from the movie in his song "At the Speed of Life".
• Lou Reed's song "Doin' the things that we want to" off his New Sensations album includes the line, "Here's to Travis Bickle and here's to Johnny Boy growin' up on the mean streets of New York." This is a reference to Robert DeNiro's earlier performance in Scorsese's film Mean Streets.
• The introduction to NON's 3 July 1989 concert in Osaka, Japan (released on the In the Shadow of the Sword album and the Total War video), samples the "Listen, you fuckers..." monologue.
• Chris Farley's hotel scene in Beverly Hills Ninja portrays him practicing his De Niro impression on a mirror, with some improvisation.
• In British comedy That Peter Kay Thing, the episode featuring embittered ice cream salesman Mr Softy features a scene where Softy (played by Peter Kay) laments the deterioration of ice-cream salesmanship in Bolton, in terms similar, though more subdued, to Travis' laments upon New York. Throughout his speech, the actual incidental music from the film Taxi Driver plays in the background.
• Apollo 440's song 'Krupa' samples the street drummer's patter as he plays - "Now back to Gene Krupa's syncopated style" - the reference is to jazz drummer Gene Krupa.
• In Mathieu Kassovitz's 1995 film "La Haine" (Hate), one of the chief protagonists, Vinz, re-enacts Bickle's monologue in front of his mirror with a policeman's gun.

Quotes

• Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man.

• Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.

• I first saw her at Palantine Campaign headquarters at 63rd and Broadway. She was wearing a white dress. She appeared like an angel. Out of this filthy mess, she is alone.
  They...cannot...touch...her.

• June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape now. Too much sitting has ruined my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on it'll be fifty pushups each morning. Fifty pull-ups. There will be no more pills, no more bad food... no more destroyers of my body. From now on it'll be total organization. Every muscle must be tight.

• You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin'-- You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?

• Listen, you fuckers, you screw-heads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum... the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up. Here is...

Trivia

• The only scene that doesn't feature Travis is the one between Sport and Iris talking in her room. This was added late into production.

• Paul Schrader has said that his main influence for Taxi Driver was the film The Searchers starring John Wayne. In it, a war veteran comes home to find that someone he cares for has left to join a tribe of Indians, and he embarks on a personal quest to bring her back, completely ignoring her own feelings on the matter.
• In the original screenplay, Sport was black, as were other minor characters; Scorsese thought that this would make the film appear to be racist, and they were changed to white roles. There is still an undercurrent of racial tension, however; black characters are repeatedly referred to as "Mau Maus"
• Brian De Palma was originally lined up to direct. Jeff Bridges was considered for Travis.
• The actress who played Iris's friend in the film was a real prostitute that Jodie Foster studied to pick up on the character.
• Various studios considered producing this film; one suggested Neil Diamond for the lead role.
• Brian De Palma was also considered to direct but the producers were dragged to a private screening of Mean Streets (1973) (Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese's previous collaboration) before they told Scorsese he could direct, but only if he got De Niro to play the lead.
• Harvey Keitel was originally offered the part of the campaign worker, eventually played by Albert Brooks. He decided to take the role as the pimp, even though in the script he was black and only had about five lines.
• Rock Hudson was once considered for the role of Charles Palantine, but was unavailable due to his commitment to the TV series, "McMillan and Wife" (1971).
• Robert De Niro worked twelve hour days for a month driving cabs as preparation for this role. He also studied mental illness.
• The scene where Travis Bickle is talking to himself in the mirror was completely ad-libbed by Robert De Niro. The screenplay details just said, "Travis looks in the mirror."
• Harvey Keitel rehearsed with actual pimps to prepare for his role. The scene where his character and Iris dance is improvised, and is one of only two scenes in the film that don't focus on Bickle.
• Director Martin Scorsese claims that the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy. The camera moves to the side slowly and pans down the long, empty hallway next to Bickle, as if to suggest that the phone conversation is too painful and pathetic to bear.
• Robert De Niro claimed that the final shootout scene took a particularly long time, because of both technical problems and the humor which arose from the tension created by the carnage in the scene.
• Due to her age Jodie Foster could not do some of the more explicit scenes. Instead her older sister Connie Foster was used as a double.
• Legendary composer Bernard Herrmann died on Christmas Eve of 1975, just hours after completing the recording sessions for this film. Herrmann wasn't going to write the score for the film, but agreed to do it when he saw the scene where Bickle pours Schnapps on his bread.
• When Travis calls Betsy from a payphone to apologize for having taken her to a porno movie, he makes that call from the lobby of The Ed Sullivan Theater (1697 Broadway).
• The sex film Travis takes Betsy to see is K?rlekens Spr?k (Language of Love)(1969), a Swedish sexploitation film posing as scientific or educational documentary.

Video game

In 2005, it was announced that a video game sequel to Taxi Driver was going to be made. [3]

Sources

• Making "Taxi Driver" (documentary)

External links

• Citizen Bickle, or the Allusive Taxi Driver: Uses of Intertextuality by John Thurman [4]bg:?????? ?? ?????

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