Taxi Driver

(1976, 113 min) In 1974, New York City was in financial dire straits and on the verge of filing for bankruptcy. As a result of low city funding, the NYC sanitation department went on strike during the summer of 1975. The hot city streets were filled with stinking garbage, setting the perfect stage for Taxi Driver – widely considered one of the best films of the decade.

Director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader’s gritty study of a lonely urban isolation – for those few who may not have seen it – introduced us to Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), one of the most recognized antiheroes in cinema history. A well-meaning yet dangerously unstable and easily influenced war veteran, Travis is alternately drawn to and disgusted by the porn theaters, hookers, pimps and drug addicts that frequented 42nd Street and Times Square during the overnight hours. Though originally optimistic about living a life of normalcy and becoming “a person like other people,” Travis’s intimate view of the city’s crime and corruption and icy rejection from Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), his object of amorous infatuation, make him increasingly violent, leading him to believe that he is predetermined to become “God’s Lonely Man.”

Scorsese employs seductive cinematography by Michael Chapman and a jarring and emotionally resonant score by master-composer Bernard Herrmann (who suffered a heart attack and died mere hours after finishing his recording) to showcase Travis’s transformation from relatively mild-mannered cabbie to destruction-bent urban survivalist. De Niro too, in one of his most captivating performances, transforms himself both mentally and physically as Travis begins purchasing guns and training in an effort to assassinate a well-respected politician and save Iris (Jodie Foster), a charismatic 12-year-old prostitute, from a life amidst the “scum.” Heavily layered and deeply affective, Taxi Driver gave eager audiences a glimpse into the deteriorating minds of the John Hinckley Jrs and Charles Whitmans of the world, culminating in an abrasive and unforgettable sequence of bloody redemption.

This brand new 2-disc edition is jam-packed with never-before-seen special features. Included are the original screenplay with interactive scene-display options, multiple photo galleries, "The Making of Taxi Driver," along with six separate featurettes, two highly informative audio commentaries by Paul Schrader and film studies Professor Robert Kolker as well as interviews with Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, producer Michael Phillips, Oliver Stone, Roger Corman, and even a few real-life NYC cab drivers who speak about the dangers that their profession presented during the ‘70s. Just as relevant today as it was upon its original release, Taxi Driver belongs, without doubt, in every serious DVD collector’s library. If you have seen it before, see it again. If you have never seen it, what are you waiting for? Yeah, I’m talkin’ to you!

– Robert O'Neill

© TLA Entertainment Group