Taxi Driver (1976)

Starring Robert De Niro as Travis, the viewer is captivated by this disturbed, troubled man living in New York City. Because he was feeling so lost and out of control, Travis takes a job as a taxi driver and sets his eyes on campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). He watches her from his taxi cab until finally getting the courage to ask her out for coffee. Only an extremely sad and lonely woman such as herself would agree to go out with this seemingly creepy and strange man. The awkwardness of the date is evident. After another failed date, she tells him to leave her alone. This is the point where Travis becomes obsessed with guns and purchases four. We then watch him practice whipping them out. The guns give power to this man that feels he has no control over his life. Day after day he sits in his cab-people getting in and out yet no one notices him. He’s invisible and doesn’t have the courage to do much despite viewing the city as “full of scum.” One day a young girl gets in his car attempting to run away only to be pulled out by an older man. The man throws twenty dollars at Travis to keep him quiet. It works. This obviously has an effect on Travis seeing as he continues to attempt to help Iris throughout the movie.

His first murder is when a man was robbing the convenience store he was in. This was another turning point. Now he knew what he was capable of and felt that assassinating Palentine, the presidential candidate was what he was supposed to do. But instead, he uses his guns to free Iris from her protectors and give her a chance at life. Iris was one person he actually cared about and felt obligated to help. This made him a local hero, glorifying his violence. The guns gave him power and confidence to make his own decisions. He watched a lot of television and porn, this highlighted the empty, and loneliness he felt.

This movie was fantastic for the shots of the city but what really made it great was the jazz music always playing. The music really shaped the feeling of the movie all around. It cast a mysterious shadow over the movie. It seemed really “New York” to have the jazz playing and it was important to the story. Overall, I would suggest watching this movie. I think it showed how one insignificant person in a big city can make a difference-shown by the letter from Iris’ parents. Despite the glorification of guns and violence and the psychosis of the main character, the film was interesting and gripping. The characters were developed nicely along with the story line and it had the positive message that you determine your own fate.