God's Lonely Man

Rating: 10/10 (12 October 2010)

Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" has got to be the most interesting character study I've ever seen.
Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a former Marine living in New York City is a depressed loner with almost no friends except for the handful few he makes during his taxi-driving stint. He is also an insomniac who chooses to drive a taxi during nights mostly, because he can't sleep. During the days and during his time off, he spends his time in seedy movie theaters playing pornographic movies.
While driving his taxi in the night on the streets of New York City, Travis encounters a wide variety of passengers. In the first half hour he describes his experiences with his passengers and we even get to see one interesting episode with a particular passenger played by none other than the great director of this film himself! All these experiences have left Travis disillusioned about the world as he knows it. He narrates to the audience that there is a lot of "scum" and "filth" in the streets. He drives around some of the seediest areas of Manhattan during hours when all the sex-workers and hoodlums roam the streets. Travis is still not entirely pessimistic, though, as he narrates in the voice-over: "Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets." In the midst of all this filth, Travis gets to meet the beautiful 'Betsy' (Cybill Shepherd) who is a campaign volunteer Senator Charles Palantine, but his joy is short-lived.
Things take a different turn during the final hour of the film, which I will surely not spoil here for the viewer.
Robert De Niro delivers one of the greatest performances of his career and makes Travis Bickle one of the most memorable on-screen characters. He is an absolute treat to watch, as he practically becomes Travis Bickle and also makes one wonder if this is the same man who played the young Vito Corleone in "The Godfather Part II" not very long ago.
Of the supporting cast, Harvey Keitel is superb as "Sport", the pimp. Jodie Foster makes a strong impression in one of her earliest screen roles as the teenage prostitute, Iris, even though she gets very little screen time. Cybill Shepherd and Peter Boyle both do justice to their roles as Betsy and "the Wizard" respectively. Martin Scorsese appears for a short time and shows his ample acting skills in a scene which is perhaps one of the best director cameos ever.
Paul Schrader writes a superb script with one of the most interesting characters ever written for the screen. Equally interesting are his bizarre experiences and his eventual extreme reaction to the disturbing reality he has grown sick of seeing around him.
Martin Scorsese directs with the kind of finesse that is expected of him. No other film I've seen, visually details the dark underbelly of New York City as effectively as "Taxi Driver". The director shows you some of the sleaziest places in the City full of pimps and prostitutes roaming around. Then there are some mean hoods who come out in numbers at night. You are also taken inside a porn theater with very little seating space and shabby looking interiors and projection screen, where Travis spends his spare time.
Bernard Herrmann's score, particularly the saxophone in the main title is so mesmerizing, the music combined with the disturbing images in the film refuse to let go and keep echoing in your head long after the film is over.
"Taxi Driver" is a haunting portrayal of "God's Lonely Man". It is the kind of film that demands repeated viewings and grows on you. This film is certainly not for everyone, considering it is really character-driven and not plot-driven. People who are looking for mere entertainment are likely to be disappointed. For others, who are lovers of some serious art cinema, "Taxi Driver" is a must-watch and a must-own!