"You talkin' to me?"

Rating: 10/10 (6 May 2020)

One of the most renowned contemporary American filmmakers, with a fair amount of high-end films, is undoubtedly Martin Scorsese. From its beginnings in the sixties to the present time, it has dabbled in practically all film genres and at the same time generated work dumbbells with great actors, such as in this case, Robert De Niro with whom he has made a dozen films, including his most recent work "The Irishman" and since 2002 with Leonardo DiCaprio with whom he has also filmed several and very good movies.
"Taxi Driver" 1976, continues with his critical description of his native New York that had begun in another great 1973 film "Mean Streets" showing without contemplation the degrading life in which part of its population operates. Supported by a script by Paul Schrader, of strict Calvinist training, which denotes the strong moralistic burden of the film, Scorsese through the vision of a taxi driver "with studies here and there" Travis Bickle, (travel vehicle) presents us the imperative need of the human being to be recognized, to be someone and even more important to find meaning in life.
Thus we enter the routine life and pathology of a lonely man, in an impersonal city full of garbage, crime and vices. "I think somebody should just take this city and just ... flush it down the f----n 'toilet".
Scorsese, plays the passenger in the taxi who notes his wife's infidelity, to personally underline the rot of his society. Travis, witness of all this and of his bewildering and traumatic personal experiences, and immersed in his great psychosis, decides to take action and do justice on his own. "Listen you f-----s, you screw heads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore ..."
This film is key for countless reasons, in addition to positioning Scorsese as a 1st-level filmmaker, it consolidates Robert De Niro as a talented actor and drives the very successful career of Jodie Foster when playing a prostitute with only 12 years of age.
Both the Michael Chapman cinematography and the sometimes poignant and at other times relaxing music of Bernard Herrmann, added to the script of Paul Schrader and to the excellent interpretations of Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster make "Taxi Driver" a classic and current film from the end of the S XX.
Cast includes Cibyll Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks.