A Masterpiece!

Rating: 10/10 (21 August 2013)

Taxi Driver is among my list of favourite films of all time!
The story follows lead character Travis Bickle, (Robert De Niro) an insomniac ex-marine who leads a lonely life. In order to make some more money, he decides to apply for a job working nights as a Taxi Driver. He attends dodgy porn theatres in the day and works long nights meeting all of New York's 'scum' as he calls them. Lots of shady characters litter the story along with a cameo from the director, Martin Scorsese in the back of his taxi cap. Travis' one desire is to be with the woman he sees so very often at the Charles Palantine building, Betsy (Cybill Shepard.) As the movie progresses, you feel an awful as you witness him reach out to people and constantly get rejected, both angering and saddening him. His mind slowly descends into madness and you get the feeling that he soon will be violently out-lashing against the society in general. He begins collecting guns and isolating himself from others; watching boring shows on television and obsessing about a twelve year old prostitute (Jodie Foster) he feels it is his duty to save. He shaves his head into the now iconic mohawk and goes on a gruesome killing spree, murdering several pimps and business men within the whore house. Travis is hailed as a hero which is an attempt to talk about society and the way in some cases, it will justify violence for the greater good.
To me, Travis is not a hero but at the same time he isn't your average villain. The character is very carefully crafted, giving the illusion that he is just a lonely man that wants compassion just like everybody else. The problem is, many people can see a bit of themselves within him, as Scorsese has said himself, there are real life Travis' all over the world; he is not some made up character. Robert De Niro's portrayal of a madman slowly going insane, day by day is astounding and highly convincing. This is followed by some extremely strong leads, especially notable is Iris (Jodie Foster), Betsy (Cybill Shepard) and the pimp, Sport or Matthew (Harvey Keitel.) Along with a lot of improvising throughout the scenes, the actors and actresses hold their ground very well and all portray their characters as they would appear in real life.
One constantly overlooked scene is in fact very significant. The scene I am talking about is the one where he brakes his television, right before, Travis is looking at a show on TV. It flashes images on couples dancing and having fun while the song 'Late For The Sky' by Jackson Browne plays. The television is actually depicting the life he can never have, on one side, teenagers and youth are out having fun and partying, living like a youthful person should. On the other side, you have a very disturbed man who is loading up on guns and ammunition, isolating himself from people and attempting to for-fill his 'final mission.' Even Wizard, Travis' friend (Peter Boyle) states this when he talks to Bickle outside while they are at the diner.
The themes and undertones of this movie is what really makes it something special. Not many films at the time were about alienation, depression, mental illness and anti-heroes. This was one of the first and still holds an impact to this day.
The score by Bernard Herrmann captures the feeling and loneliness of New York City. In one part of the score, it has drums that build up suspense, almost like a horror film. Then all of a sudden, it transforms into a calm jazz song played by the saxophone. Variations of this one saxophone piece play throughout the movie.
Another cool feature I've noticed, whether intentional or not is during the credits. The camera switches to Travis' point of view as he drives around the streets of New York, looking at many of the interesting sites and buildings around the city. The same slow jazz song plays, it is all quite relaxing. Around halfway through the credits, the music suddenly changes into the suspense part of the piece. Travis then switches his viewpoint from the buildings to people. He is not fixed after the end, he can still descend into the spiral of madness he fought so hard to get out of. He is still alienated and he is still sick.
In conclusion, I award this masterpiece 10/10 Brilliant acting Brilliant themes / undertones Brilliant score Brilliant cinematography All in all, I memorable movie that stays with you long after first viewing.