(Laurent Kelly’s article from February re-posted as the 35th anniversary restored print of Taxi Driver is playing in U.K. cinema’s now)

Ok so you surely know the drill by now? An OWF writer is challenged to come up with 50 or so reasons for why a film of their choice should be dubbed the greatest of all time, you love them, are informed, educated and entertained by all of them and then you tell us what we forgot, where we went wrong and how much you enjoyed the article

You’ve read all the ones to date, and now it’s my turn to bring you 50 Reasons Why Taxi Driver Might Just Be The Greatest Film Of All Time!

1.) Opening Credits Sequence

In the very first shot a taxi appears from out of the street smoke and then fades again almost as if we just imagined its appearance. Names appear across the smoke filled screen. A pair of fatigued eyes that were born for cinema cautiously dart back and forth with an anxious expression. We then assume the position of the taxi driver driving through a bleak and uncompromising rain.

We are immediately drawn into this dark, surreal world where the line between fantasy and reality will become increasingly blurred as we delve deeper into the mind of a severely disturbed individual. A feeling of loneliness already emanates from the screen, of a man feeling trapped, isolated, insecure. We are desperate to know more about him.

Helping to absorb us into this world is the evocative and mesmerising Bernard Herrmann score.

———————————————————————————–

2.) Bernard Hermann’s Score

There are two deeply profound pieces of music linked together in Taxi Driver. One is a dreamy, romantic jazz fuelled number which carries connotations of warmth and satisfaction. The other part of this score is a threatening and strikingly operatic piece of music with a deep undercurrent of angst and sadness that mirrors the growing rage waiting to be released inside Travis.

Overall the contrast of the piece brilliantly shows the schizophrenic nature of Travis’s personality who is capable of being both charming, sweet and also utterly ruthless and violent.

Just listening to the score tells a sort of story in itself and is just as important to the film’s success as Paul Schrader’s script, Scorsese’s direction and De Niro’s central performance. It proved to be Hermann’s last film, and what a way for one of the greats to go out!

———————————————————————————–

3.) A Brilliant War Movie!

At its core Taxi Driver is about the after-effects a man is suffering having fought in the Vietnam war. We learn in the opening scene that Travis enlisted in the Marines and he will no doubt have become desensitised to all the senseless violence that the event entailed.

Now he has returned to what is supposed to be civilisation, he has become more paranoid than ever, unable to socially interact and wanting to work by himself for long hours to escape both other people and himself. He is no longer able to trust or confide in those around him and feels alienated from what he sees as the sleaze filled streets of America.

Yet the real problem is that Travis wants to desperately be involved with what America has taken away from him, the innocence that he probably once claimed. Travis secretly wants to be like everyone else, to once again feel human and as such his aim to clean up the streets becomes a misdirected bid to ingregate himself with society and to feel like he has some worth after a war which helped to take away the worth of himself and so many other young, unfortunate men.

———————————————————————————–

4.) Funny Moment # 1

No matter how bleak or hard hitting most Scorsese films have one or two moments that are truly hilarious. I think the funniest scene in Taxi Driver is when Peter Boyle’s cabbie has spent a good minute and a half philosophising about his job and life in general and then Travis just responds with:

“I think that’s about the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“SUCK ON THIS!”

Officially the coolest line anyone has ever delivered before mowing down a lousy pimp.

———————————————————————————–

5.) The Use of Voice-Over

So many films use voice-over without any other purpose other than to make their picture more accessible and warm for audience members. Taxi Driver is one of few movies however that actually turns the cliched device into an art-form.

Travis buys a diary and of course by all accounts a diary is something private. Thus when he reads out what he is thinking he is not talking to the audience but rather validating his own thoughts and
principles. We become suffocated with this often resentful train of thought and are forced to identify with Travis’s cold outlook.

Travis’s voice is also however an outlet for expressing some of our own restrained feelings. I’m sure we all have angry thoughts occasionally rising to the surface of our minds and Travis says some of that stuff for us in this film.

———————————————————————————–

6.) Martin Scorsese’s Cameo

Scorsese proved his acting chops in his brief role as a creepy passenger who shows Travis the house where his wife is having an affair and proceeds to tell him that he is going to kill them both. Scorsese is convincing in this quietly psychopathic performance and the scene itself does a good job of foreshadowing Travis’s own violent streak.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gk5N5y40Ll0

———————————————————————————–

7.) Representation of a Psychopath

A common trait among psychopaths is that a large number of them think that they are doing something to benefit society. Jack the Ripper of course famously sent letters to the police in which he insisted that he was cleansing the environment by killing off prostitutes that walked the streets of London.

Travis himself uses the excuse of killing foul people to justify his violent actions. He thinks that he is doing something of value but really he is just a desperately unhinged individual looking for any excuse to kill.

———————————————————————————–

8.) Patience as a Virtue

Taxi Driver is a film that is not afraid to go at its own steady pace and develop some meaningful character moments. Certain lingering sequences such as Travis watching some aspirin dissolve into a glass of water show both the monotony of his life and how much of his time is spent daydreaming in a complete fantasy land. He is man who lives inside his own head and the film admirably takes the time to highlight this.

———————————————————————————–

9.) Robert De Niro’s Preparation

For a month the actor worked twelve hour shifts driving a cab. At one point he was recognised by someone who thought he must have been out of work in spite of having recently won the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Oscars.

De Niro, as would become expected of the man, stayed in character at all times ignoring most of the other members of the cast and crew in a bid to try and tap into the overwhelming loneliness and angst that his character feels.

One man he did make sure to connect with though was Scorsese. The pair had the knack of speaking the same language when it came to the art of creation and they would converse for hours even over the most minute of details.

Jodie Foster talks fondly about working with Robert De Niro and how he would make them both repeat the same lines over and over again until the words were ingrained in their minds. Then suddenly he would improvise on the spot and they would repeatedly practice the alterations.

The process was exhausting but helped make their scenes together so tight and naturalistic.

———————————————————————————–

10.) Taxi Driver – Recut

This film is responsible for one of my favourite re-cut trailers which manages to transform a dark, psychological drama into a light hearted, generic romance.

———————————————————————————–

11.) The Screenplay

“Age 26, lean, hard, the consummate loner. On the surface he appears
good-looking, even handsome; he has a quiet steady look and a disarming
smile which flashes from nowhere, lighting up his whole face. But
behind that smile, around his dark eyes, in his gaunt cheeks, one can
see the ominous stains caused by a life of private fear, emptiness and
loneliness. He seems to have wandered in from a land where it is always
cold, a country where the inhabitants seldom speak.”

You would never have got away with such a wordy opening at the scriptwriting course I attended and yet Paul Schrader’s novelistic passages do a brilliantly detailed job of immediately absorbing you into the strange and isolated mindset of Travis.

Schrader was down on his luck when writing the script. He was living in his car and had just split from his girlfriend and the script became a form of therapy to help fuel the anger that he felt from his weak emotional and physical well-being.

———————————————————————————–

12.) Lobby of Love

It’s become a rare commodity these days but Taxi Driver was made simply because a few passionate individuals felt that it needed to be made. Martin Scorsese wasn’t confident that the film would find an audience and he certainly didn’t expect Taxi Driver to become as critically acclaimed as it did.

Rather the picture was 100% artistically driven and made up its own rules as it went along. As such there is a raw intensity to Taxi Driver which isn’t seen very often in a studio system obsessed with budgets, box office numbers and audience friendly changes.

———————————————————————————–

13.) Jackson Browne – Late for the Sky

My favourite scene in the film is when we see Travis pointing his gun in the direction of the tv which is depicting a show where a number of couples are dancing. It is yet another sign that Travis is losing his mind and his helpless, sleep depraved facial expression arouse both sympathy and scares.

Jackson Browne’s haunting ballad Late for the Sky plays over the sequence and what a perfect soundtrack choice with the record capturing all the anguish and sorrow that emanates from the images on screen.

———————————————————————————–

14.) Improvisation

De Niro and Keitel first showed their ability to improvise during many key sequences in the film Mean Streets. In Taxi Driver the pair first exchange in a tense, edgy conversation in which Keitel’s pimp character winds Bickle up about being a cop. Bickle smiles it off but it is a smile hiding a manic anger waiting to explode.

It is a shame they haven’t had more screen outings together because the chemistry between these two actors is just fantastic.

———————————————————————————–

15.) Quote

“Loneliness has followed me my whole life”

Pure and powerful poetry.

———————————————————————————–

16.) Are You Talking To Me?

Travis stands in his living room, gun in hand and utters the famous quote at himself in the mirror. The follow-up line “I’m the only one here” is perhaps the most haunting delivery in the film as we realise that Travis is a man not only isolated from society but isolated from rules too. He makes his own law and it is one leading him down a dark and deadly path.

———————————————————————————–

17.) Robert De Niro’s Performance

If there is one actor who shouldn’t be defined by one performance then it is Robert De Niro but to me he will always be Travis Bickle. This is the greatest performance ever committed to celluloid with the actor completely immersed in his role giving it everything both physically and emotionally to bring to life an enigmatic, troubled soul. He makes you both connect and feel ill at ease in his presence.

———————————————————————————–

18.) Perspective Shots

There are many uncomfortable shots in Taxi Driver where Scorsese forces us into Travis Bickle’s shoes as the camera makes us linger over certain people who the protagonist has an unmotivated dislike for particuarly African Americans. These moments are used to remind us that Travis is no friend of ours – we may be able to relate to him but we are forced at times to acknowledge that there is an extremely dark side to his character which we want no part of.

A very admirable element of Scorsese’s films is that he is not afraid to paint his characters with shades of gray, he realises that liking the main character is not essential, we just have to be intrigued by their actions and behaviour.

———————————————————————————–

19.) Tagline

“On every street in every city there’s a nobody who dreams of
being somebody.”

Of course in more modern times this idea of being “somebody” has less to do with doing something artistic or profound but rather having five minutes of fame in front of a camera.

———————————————————————————–

20.) The Phone Conversation

During Travis’s awkward phone exchange with Betsy the camera pans out towards the long, empty hallway and the implication is there for all to see. She is the only thing preventing Travis from
a lonely and hateful existence.

As Travis tries hard to win her over on the phone the shot helps to create that sense of longing and desperation.

———————————————————————————–

21.) Funny Moment #2 – Smooth Operator

In another amusing moment in the film Travis buys Betsy a record and as he doesn’t have a record player he implies that they could go and listen to it together at her place. Smooth…

———————————————————————————–

22.) Nature of Violence

When Travis kills the man who is about to rob a convenience store he does so without thinking and without remorse. Vietnam has taught him to be a trained killer and to dehumanise the opposition and Travis has taken this chilling mindset back with him to the streets of New York.

———————————————————————————–

23.) Anger

This is one of the only films I’ve seen that manages to reflect anger in such a poetic and vivid manner.

———————————————————————————–

24.) Mise En Scene

Simply what is shown in the scene can sometimes say much more than words. Travis’ disorganised apartment clearly depicts a man who simply doesn’t care about how he presents himself to the world and who has very little self respect.

When he undergoes a transformation and makes plans to alter his life his apartment is tidy and organised  (or organanzized as he says!) helping to highlight his budding confidence. Of course this confidence is not actually leading anywhere positive or healthy….

———————————————————————————–

25.) Cybill Shepherd

In her autobiography, Cybill Shepherd claimed that she was treated poorly by both Scorsese and De Niro on set. Apparently De Niro asked the actress out and when rejected he refused to speak to her except for when they were in character.

Regardless of whether or not any of this is true, her performance is very well controlled. She helps to bring to life the vision of the hard working female businesswoman who despite her academic prowess is actually in many ways very naive and stupid.

Like a teenage girl she is drawn to Travis because he seems a bit edgy and out-there instead of being creeped out by a man who has been staring at her for hours outside of his window. She then seems surprised when this oddball, social outcast turns out to have a few psychological hang-ups.

———————————————————————————–

26.) Long Working Hours

We don’t know what Travis truly went through in Vietnam but we do know that the event has influenced his perception on both people and the world around him.

Has Travis taken on the job of Taxi Driver cleaning up the “cum” and “blood” and working day and night driving through rough streets as a form of self-punishment? Is he creating a personal hell for himself owing to some of the violent acts he no doubt had to go through in the war?

This theory would lend weight to the fact that the reason Travis can’t sleep is because he is plagued by vicious nightmares about his past experiences on the battleground.

———————————————————————————–

27.) Work It Out For Yourself

Part of Taxi Driver’s enduring appeal is that like a lot of great films it still makes us question and interpret certain moments even after many repeated viewings. People can draw up different conclusions for different reasons and this is a result of a picture which doesn’t spoonfeed audiences with answers but rather lets them draw their own conclusions. I really admire that aspect of the film.

———————————————————————————–

28.) Michael Chapman’s Cinematography

Chapman does an impeccable job of realising the sleaze and filth of New York streets as seen through the exaggerated, nightmarish vision of Travis.

———————————————————————————–

29.) Man’s Insecurity With Women

Taxi Driver highlights the difficulties that men have trying to interact with and understand women. Travis describes woman as cold and distant and refers them to as a type of “union”, categorising them all as something he can’t come to grips with. His treatment of Betsy is rather frightening going from being apologetic and sensitive to abrasive and angry with almost no middle ground between
these two contrasting behaviour traits.

———————————————————————————–

30.) The Mohawk

More than any poetic shot or dialogue, it is Travis Bickle’s mohawk which is the clearest sign that he has completely lost it.

———————————————————————————–

31.) Jodie Foster

The then 12 year old actress put in a fantastic, mature performance which saw her Oscar nominated. She gained insight into her role by hanging out with a real life prostitute who we see walking alongside her in the film.

Foster shows the tragic nature of a sweet and likeable young woman who is trapped in a dark and ruthless profession. The fact that she seems to want to stay in this environment is one of the most deeply troubling aspects of the film. She has become accustomed to a lifestyle where she is in a very sickening way a star and we get a sense of an attention depraved child who wanted to feel loved and turned in the wrong direction.

———————————————————————————–

32.) Travis Writes to His Parents!

There is an interesting mirroring effect in Taxi Driver where we see Travis writing to his parents and lying about how he has an important job in the government and about how things are progressing nicely with his girlfriend Betsy. We are painted a picture of a man who has not seen his parents for quite some time and so his motivation for wanting to help Iris return home is as much about doing his bit for society as it is about him using Iris as a way of making up for his own guilty conscience. When we hear the thank-you note from Iris’s parents Travis is able to feel for a second as his own parents are praising him – something that he probably hasn’t experienced a lot of during his life.

———————————————————————————–

33.) QUOTE

“June 29th. I gotta get in shape now. Too much sittin’ is ruinin’ my body.
Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on, it will be fifty push-ups
each morning, fifty pull-ups. There’ll be no more pills, there’ll be no more bad food,
no more destroyers of my body. From now on, it will be total organization.
Every muscle must be tight.”

I once wrote down this quote on my wall for motivation to work out more. Turns out a pizza was more inspiring.

———————————————————————————–

34.) Martin Scorsese

Scorsese’s handling of the film’s drama is admirable. Although he was inexplicably lacking an Oscar nomination for Best Director in 1976, he is responsible for making so many moments stand out
through his use of space and unusual camera movements which help to both distort and enlighten our view of the action. He has claimed that Taxi Driver was in many ways his most personal film and it certainly shows on screen.

———————————————————————————–

35.) The Poster

The black and white poster for Taxi Driver is simple but effective. It depicts an isolated individual with his head turned down in disgust at the filth surrounding him. That one still manages to perfectly capture the film’s central theme of loneliness.

———————————————————————————–

36.) A Walking Contradiction

Betsy describes Travis as a walking contradiction and she has a sound point. Travis says that someone needs to clean up the streets despite the filth of his own apartment and he turns his nose up at the hookers whilst regularly watching pornographic films. He protests too much and is secretly everything that he claims to hate- a sure sign that he actually hates himself.

———————————————————————————–

37.) The First Date From Hell

This is the defining scene that shows us just how out of touch Travis is with the rest of society. He has seen other couples at the lewd theatre and assumes that a high class businesswoman would want to sit and watch such footage. It makes for an utterly cringe worthy sequence just when it had seemed that Travis was effectively romancing Betsy.

———————————————————————————–

38.) God’s Lonely Man

In the book Scorsese on Scorsese, the director talks about a three week seminar he attended in China where a young student told him how much he identified with the loneliness in the film and wanted to know if it was possible to take the loneliness away:

“People related to the film very strongly in terms of loneliness. I never realised what that image on the poster did for the film – a shot of De Niro walking down the street with the line, “In every city there’s one man” and we had thought that audiences would reject the film, feeling that it was too unpleasant and no one would want to see it.”

The human element of Taxi Driver is so profound that anyone who has ever felt lonely or alienated can relate strongly to the inner conflicts of the film’s tortured protagonist.

———————————————————————————–

39.) Contemporary Importance

Taxi Driver reflected some of the violent news headlines of the time and held up a mirror to a troubled and deeply flawed society. Unfortunately of course the picture itself became partly responsible for influencing the actions of John Hinckley who tried to assassinate then President Ronald Regan. Hinckley was obsessed with both the film and actress Jodie Foster and claimed that he had done it to try to get Foster’s attention. I’m sure he did but not in the perverse way that he had anticipated.

———————————————————————————–

40.) The Dream Team

Has there ever been a more perfect combination of talented cast and crew members? Let’s look at this football team analogy to show the film’s tactical brilliance.

PAUL SCHRADER – CHAIRMAN – Has the initial ideas and vision of how the film should work.

MARTIN SCORSESE – MANAGER – Responsible for making everything click together and look visually arresting.

MICHAEL CHAPMAN – GOALKEEPER – Can’t let any of the ideas get past him as he tries to realise Marty’s vision.

HARVEY KEITEL / JODIE FOSTER / CYBILL SHEPHERD – DEFENCE – The supporting players must convincingly impact the progression of the main character.

BERNARD HERRMANN – MIDFIELD – Hermann gives the film that extra cinematic edge that helps to make the picture even more emotionally engaging.

ROBERT DE NIRO – CENTRAL STRIKER – The actor is relied upon to carry the weight of the film’s drama and conflict. Everyone else has paid their part but it is up to their main man to put the icing on the cake.

———————————————————————————–

41.) Theories About Ending

I have always had a deep hatred for endings which take the power away from the audience. In my opinion the most rewarding filmic conclusions occur when the drama is left in the open and we are left to question how life may continue or where the audience are left with a vital piece of information that the characters on screen are oblivious to i.e. the reveal of Rosebud in Citizen Kane.

The great thing about the Taxi Driver ending is that it is so open to interpretation. You can either read it literally and be disturbed as I pertained to above or you can take sides with the theory that the ending to Taxi Driver is illogical and that Travis would definitely have been placed straight behind bars.

Some believe that the ending is a fantasy sequence and that Travis dies on the sofa imagining himself as a hero. Others have used the scenes with Travis talking to himself in his apartment and gradually going mad as proof that a lot of what happens is just stuff that Travis is fantasising about in his head and that really he is just a day-dreamer who likes to imagine himself doing the things that we see in the film.

———————————————————————————–

42.) Quote

“How’s everything in the pimp business?”

———————————————————————————–

43.) The Final Shootout

One of the most grisly, pieces of relentless bloodshed ever crafted. Rather than glorify the act of violence it shows it what for it is – disgusting, grim and painful. On the surface Travis is killing a gang of pimps but in the subtext we understand that he is rebelling against a gang of Americans, the nation that sent him to a war that helped to screw up his mental wellbeing.

———————————————————————————–

44.) Influence

Taxi Driver was heavily influenced by John Ford’s western The Searchers and the film’s depiction of an enigmatic and troubled loner with a dark past who tries to redeem himself by going on a deadly mission to save a young girl.

Scorsese’s film itself was very influential on later films which depicted characters who feel cut-off from the rest of society including Born on the Fourth of July, One Hour Photo, Into the Wild and even more obscure offerings such as Edward Scissorhands.

———————————————————————————–

45.) The Trailer

Remember when film trailers intrigued you with character details as opposed to just condensing the action into a three minute preview. I love the cold, daunting narration in a trailer which manages to
highlight some of the film’s themes as opposed to just giving away the plot.

———————————————————————————–

46.) Last of the Torch Lady

Taxi Driver was the last Columbia picture to use the classic Torch Lady logo in her original pose.

 


Columbia Pictures Torch Lady Logo (1976 – w/ byline)
Uploaded by bigdan2337. – Watch feature films and entire TV shows.

———————————————————————————–

47. French Title

Although ‘Taxi Driver’ might be a bland sounding title in the English-language, the movie was released in France under the moniker;

“Chauffeur de taxi”

Very cool.

———————————————————————————–

48.) Multiple-Genres

Taxi Driver is a war movie, political drama, psychological study and an edgy thriller all rolled into one flawless and unforgettable package.

———————————————————————————–

49. Quote

“The days go on and on… they don’t end. All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don’t believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention, I believe that one should become a person like other people.”

———————————————————————————–

50.) A Timeless Classic

People will always harbour feelings of resentment and anger towards the outside world and Travis will always be there to for them to identify with. Loneliness is not going away anytime soon and neither is this film.

Want to write about this topic and have your work read by thousands every day? Click here to become a contributor to WhatCulture.

Topics: