One of the best dramas of all time.

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2007)

The best Scorsese/De Niro picture, and that speaks volumes. Though somewhat depressing and very melancholic, this film can be viewed many times, unlike other dramas. A very unusual film in which it is impossible to predict exactly what will happen next, due to the main character's confusion and hence unpredictability. De Niro is perfectly cast, and Keitel and the young Foster are also very good. The soundtrack is excellent and the movie owes a lot to it, as well. The decadence is realistic and captured terrifically by Scorsese; the photography is superb in all its 70s grainy glory.
Now, hang on to your seats!... Before Scorsese took over the project, De Palma and Spielberg were potential directors. Christ Almighty! Thank God they didn't get their hands on this script. Imagine what kind of crap they would have made out of it...
The De Palma version: A lonely Vietnam vet decides to drive a taxi cab for a living, but he has to get to New York first. He travels across the country, and one day decides to spend the night at a motel where a certain Normana Bates works - played by Nancy Allen. While taking a shower on that same evening he is being attacked by Normana with a knife and cut into little pieces. The next morning Normana wakes up, thinking it was all a nightmare and goes into the kitchen to make some coffee. There she is ambushed by a perfectly healthy De Niro, who is holding the same knife he had been butchered with that very night (in the dream; or is it?)! (Makes sense? Not really. It would just get worse from there...:) Allen manages to escape from De Niro in the last moment and drives off to Mount Rushmore. Only hours later De Niro catches up with her and they get involved in a spectacular chase around the four presidential heads. While both of them are hanging on Lincoln's nose (each per nostril) Allen shouts "Why are you chasing me?". De Niro responds that he is working for the KGB and must eliminate her for she is an FBI agent who knows too much. Allen then denies any involvement in any spying activities, claiming she is merely a pimp. De Niro asks for proof. Allen opens her mouth to say something when suddenly another Allen appears at the top of Lincoln's head! De Niro and Allen 1 look at each other in disbelief. The mysterious Allen 2 shouts to them that they're both as good as dead. De Niro asks why. Allen 2 says it's revenge for Allen 1 using her daughter as an underage prostitute. De Niro says he had nothing to do with it, and then remembers that he has a fear of heights. He starts panicking. Allen 2 machine-guns him, saves Allen 1, and the two of them get attacked by vicious birds on their way to the motel...
The Spielberg version: A Jewish rabbi - played by Whoopie Goldberg dressed as a man - decides to become a cab driver in order to get in touch with the "real people". One of his customers is a small alien with a heart of gold (literally) who is fighting for the rights of whales on his planet, and was sent to Earth by the planet's nasty right-wingers as punishment for his liberal activism. The rabbi offers his help, but not before inviting the alien to a trip to Disneyworld. There the rabbi and the alien meet Mickey Mouse and Goofy, who are more than thrilled to help the alien go back to his planet in time to save the whales. On their way to the Kennedy Space Center they make a dangerous enemy: an unscrupulous pimp - played by Tom Cruise - who will do anything to get the alien laid with one of his 12 year-old girls, simply for the pleasure of being the first intergalactically successful pimp (plus, he wants that golden heart). Cruise is assisted by the evil Republican Party to catch our merry bunch, while the good Democrats - who sing happy songs during the film - do everything to rescue the alien and his friends. The movie ends by the Democrats winning the Congressional, Senate, and Presidential elections and jailing all Republicans while introducing a state-run economy - not to mention helping the alien go back to his planet to save the whales. President Gore gets his life's wish fulfilled when the alien - just before lift-off - gives him advice how to save the spotted owl (the alien: "Just kill all the humans living near its habitats, and you've saved it.")