Taxi Driver Review

For this blog I wanted my first review to be of my favorite movie in the history of cinema, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.  Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver is my favorite film . I love everything about this film. It’s directing, acting, writing. All of it. What I love about the direction of the film is how Scorsese sucks you into this guy’s world, And whose world is it? A Psychotic Taxi Driver living in New York Since the first shots, You are captivated. The gas and the Taxi emerges through. It places you in this world, Travis world of a very cynical New York. You see the film through his eyes. If he’s disgusted by someone, You are disgusted by them, If something bad happens to him and he’s feeling sad, you feel sad, you emphasize with him. All of this was through Scorsese’s direction. Scorsese already proved himself as a great director in Mean Streets but his skill was proven in this movie. Today he’s one of the best filmmakers of all time but when this was made he was just some director who needed to prove himself and he did. But with Travis,  You feel for this guy, You empathize with him. In this film Scorsese made you empathize with him, You empathize with a psychotic Taxi Driver in New York. Only a great director can do that, And that is Scorsese. When I first saw this movie I was at an especially lonely place in my life. And I understood Travis, I almost related to him, But then after you really start to understand and feel for this guy, Scorsese and De Niro start to show who he really is. As the movie progresses you see his running narration and it keeps getting crazier. And you start to wonder do I really feel for this guy, Do I really like him but you continue to feel for him until he becomes completely unhinged and sets out to kill Palatine and start the rampage.And then you think fuck I emphasized with this psychotic guy. That’s how Scorsese uses this movie to connect to you on an emotional level and then shock the audience. Now the Acting in this film is phenomenal. I mean Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster are both Fantastic, But Robert De Niro in this movie, holy shit. To me this is the greatest performance in the history of cinema. From the first scene, Travis is an iceberg. You know some things up with him, some things wrong with his head by the way he’s acting but you only see the top of the iceberg, but you know there’s something beneath you can sense it. Throughout the entire movie life continues to fuck Travis over. Things go to shit with A women he met at a political campaign office named. Betsy, (Which is his fault because a Porn Theater isn’t really the ideal dating spot) But he tries so hard to gain it back but it doesn’t work. But for some reason you still feel bad for the guy. You want him to get better. But throughout the movie his anger, his resentment builds up through his running narration. The iceberg underneath is building up. He’s getting crazier. Through the film you he’s constantly looking at the street with disgust and he’s wishing for someone to clean up the street. Then when a customer is talking to him in his cab. (Played by Scorsese) is talking to Travis about killing his wife. He’s a very psychotic guy but so is Travis so in a sick way he inspires Travis. He directs Travis into taking cleaning up the street into his own hands. And the guy who directs him into this decision is the director of the film. So Travis decides to take the law into his own hands. He buys guns and sets out on a rampage. He also sets his sights on Iris (A teenage prostitute) who he met earlier and couldn’t get her out of his head. He meets her and tries to talk her out of that life but she won’t go. And after everything continues to fuck him over, He shaves his head into a mohawk and sets out, Unhinged, angry and full of Resentment. But still, You don’t see the entire iceberg. The idea goes into his head about killing Charles Palantine, The politician Betsy worked for. It seems he wants to do this to get back at Betsy for what she did to him. Take away what’s important to her. He finally views himself as someone who can change things and wants to start by killing Palatine and then show the world who he is. But it doesn’t work out. He fails and starts to think about what he has left, Iris. He focuses all his attention on getting her out, And that night, He sets out to The Brothel where Iris works, To free her. And that scene, The Brothel Shootout. He releases all his anger and resentment that he has built up and you no longer see the tip of the iceberg. You see the iceberg as a whole. You see Travis for who he is. And who he is is an unhinged psychotic man who drives a Taxi. He took it all out on the people in the Brothel and when he tries to kill himself, He’s out of bullets and survives the encounter. The ending is almost ironic. This villainous character who is a psychotic killer is the hero.He rescues Betsy from that horrible life. And he’s praised for that by the entire city and Betsy’s family. He’s finally the somebody that he’s wanted to be the entire movie. And after that, He seems okay. He is happier. He is working and he drives Betsy to her apartment. And he is friendly towards her and he ends up giving her a free ride, A completely different attitude from earlier when he wanted to kill Palatine. As he’s driving away, In the final shots something grabs Travis’s attention and you see his eyes. You see they are full of rage and you know what else you see.? The tip of the iceberg. He is still angry, he still has rage. But the question begs, When will his violence strike again? And he probably won’t be the hero next time. And that character we see through the entire movie. We would not have had that performance without Robert De Niro in the role. That’s why this is my favorite performance in the cinema and De Niro is my favorite actor.  During this period Robert De Niro was hotshit in Hollywood in terms of Talent. He and Al Pacino were the biggest stars of the day and were both completley different. But The Godfather series launched both of them. They both did great stuff before for example Mean Streets, But they became the two biggest actors of the day. And De Niro definitely represented the strong silent type where Pacino was the loud angry one. And this film definitely played on his strengths the same way something like Scarface would play on Al Pacino’s Strengths. It’s because he didn’t need to speak to show his rage. He could show it all through his eyes. Like what I was talking about earlier throughout the movie and when you’re understanding Travis, And feeling for him and then you are shocked when you find out his real nature. Of course Scorsese’s Direction and the camera were big parts of that but without De Niro it would not have been possible. Taxi Driver is what I consider to be the greatest movie of all time. Now that’s just me. But to me it is. The purpose of a story is to see another type of life, someone else’s experiences and attitudes. Now if we like that character we become attached to them. Relate to their struggles sometimes. It’s to see an experience from someone else’s life and sympathize, become attached, maybe even relate. And in this movie you see the story through the main characters eyes. You feel the same ways he does and you see his worldview. And you start to sympathize with the guy. And who is that guy. A psychotic Taxi Driver who goes on a murderous rampage. If you saw Travis Bickle in your life, In the world you live in, He’d be a terrible person because he is. He’d be in prison on the news. You would hate the guy you would despise him. But in this movie, when you see the world through his eyes and start to emphasize with him. You are emphasizing with the same terrible person you would hate if you saw on the news. The very fact this movie does that to you with this piece of shit villainous guy is astounding and shows the power of cinema. If you saw the movie through the eyes of someone the viewer personally relates to it would be way easier to emphasize or become attached to them but this movie makes you work and it works really hard to do that to you. That’s the power of cinema this movie has. It takes first person movie experience to an entirely new level and crushes it. It makes you emphasize with someone you wouldn’t like. That truly shows the power of cinema and the power this movie has. To me it is the greatest film ever made and my favorite film of all time.