Travis the Taxi Driver

Rating: 9/10 (1 October 2008)

This flick from Martin Scorcese is a deep study of the human mind, a true gem. But it surely requires an eye to appreciate it's finesse. So its suggested that don't by any chance watch 'Taxi Driver' on 'any day any time' basis. Watch it when you feel you can attend to the movie completely without much distractions. Because a true work of art like this film cant be completely appreciated with lots of thought running on our mind. Robert De Niro ( the master actor ) plays the central character of a night shift cab driver - Travis Bickler in the Post Vietnam New York city. And this film attempts to show the viewer the mental turbulence's Travis faces while dealing with his lonesome existence in the city. The audience actually gets to feel the whole existential crisis from a purely Travis's POV. The viewer also understands why its all happening, the situations are very human. Why Travis pushes himself to isolation?, why does he drive at night when he gets to witnesses all of the city's scum ? Is it intentional, does he want it unconsciously, may be. While driving at night he witnesses all kind of filth around - pimps, prostitutes, crackheads all of it. A very interesting scene is when a bearded guy gets into his cab ( Martin Scorcese himself ) and tells him about his wife cheating on him and 'What a .44 magnum will do to her pussy... that you should see'. All this while Travis seems to merely observe. Travis develops a liking for a woman - Bettsy a party worker for the Palantine, The Presidential Nominee. He approaches Bettsy while she is at work and asks her out for a date for which she agrees. When they meet up the other day Travis takes her to a Porno Theatre, Bettsy walks out of the movie real annoyed. While Travis tries his best to makeup, Bettsy seems too hard headed to give away. All this and other incidences kindle Travis's neurosis. He feels the need to take charge of things. He buys pistols and trains himself with them. In one of the scenes we see him acting out with a mirror ' You talking to me ? '. As he his getting ready for the battle we see him drawn towards a young girl - Iris ( Jodie Foster - Silence of the Lamb fame ) and seems intrigued by her. He approaches her pimp - Micheal ( Harvey Keitel - Reservior Dogs fame ) and asks if he could make out with her. Whats interesting here is Travis's disgust of Micheal and the long stare he gives him. Travis then gets to talk to Iris in private where he tells her how young she was and what young people are supposed to do. Iris a bit startled asks Travis if they can meet for breakfast the next day. They meet up and Travis points out what a lowlife she was leading and that she should return home. Iris sees his point and conveys this to Micheal only to be swayed back to prostitution. The climax and other events towards the end mark a good ending ( note:- not in the sense of the word - good, but in the sense of the reviewer). Overall a masterpiece , an interesting note though from IMDb Trivia - 'The story was partially autobiographical for Paul Schrader , who suffered a nervous breakdown while living in Los Angeles. He was fired from the AFI, basically friendless, in the midst of a divorce and was rejected by a girlfriend. Squatting in his ex-girlfriend's apartment while she was away for a couple of months, Schrader literally didn't talk to anyone for many weeks, went to porno theaters and developed an obsession with guns.' Paul Schrader wrote the script for the movie.