- Andrew Chan's Review:
- Martin Scorsese’s films don’t age. Taxi Driver is one of his most
timeless
efforts, along with The Last Temptation of Christ, Mean Streets, GoodFellas,
and Raging Bull. His films are usually filled with overt anger and
fury at
society, the mob, New York… He is so indescribably talented: he mixes his
rage
with hidden gems of humor. Beyond the gun fights, the blood, and the
swearing
is a message on society, something brilliantly and brutally real, something
about America, and something about the world. This is enough to garner
respect
and admiration- but he has also assisted in film preservation and his risqué
attitudes advanced the state of motion pictures. Taxi Driver is fiery,
enraged, and feels like poison- the streets of New York are devilishly
depicted
as the homes of prostitutes, pimps, and drug dealers. It is
uncomfortable, it
is eerie.
Robert DeNiro, in his highly acclaimed and revolutionary performance, is
Travis
Bickle, a man who is an outsider in New York. He hates New York with a
passion
and cannot wait to perform his vengeance on the city. What is
compelling is that
Travis himself is not pure. His morals are so poorly structured that
he thinks
pornography is what normal people watch. He drives his taxi nights, he
is an
insomniac. When he sees Betsy, a political campaigner (Cybill
Shepherd), he sees
what he wishes the world would be filled with- pure people like her.
He is slinky
while pursuing her and she eventually dates him. When that fails, his
repression
becomes too much- he must find an outlet through which he can express
himself.
For him, the easiest way to get rid of his fury is through violence.
He buys
a whole set if guns from an elusive drug dealer and begins playing with them
like a child plays with toys. His burning wrath at New York society is
only
increased by what he sees in his customers- people who seek the death of
their
philandering wives, rich tycoons having flings with hookers, and a
twelve-year-old
prostitute being battered by her pimp. This prostitute, Iris (Jodie
Foster) fixes
what Travis decides to do with his life- he decides to save her from her
wicked
pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel). He believes that Iris should be in school,
with her
parents. He knows she has lost her innocence, but she can still return
to a happy
childhood, she is only twelve. Jodie Foster gives an abnormally mature
and
precocious performance as Iris and her knowledge ofher character is deeply
felt.
The finale where Travis murders everyone who stands in the way of him saving
this girl is his way of doing something he thinks is good, full of heart,
and
noteworthy, and also excreting his rage through violence. It is so
chilling, so
frightening because we know that this killing spree is only a temporary way
of
distancing himself from his insanity.
Robert DeNiro’s performance is so genius because he turned Travis Bickle
into a
bitter Vietnam vet as charismatic as Humphrey Bogart, as twisted as Jack
Nicholson,
and as thoughtful as Spencer Tracy. His Travis is a multi-facted man,
an anguished
man who has become a monster. The movie’s score by the legendary
Bernard
Hermann was recorded a day before he died- it is rip-roaring and comical,
staccato
and consuming.
What is wrong with Taxi Driver is more of an opinion. The movie is
made in such
an- er- ugly way, the streets of New York are so congested, so Midnight
Cowboy-ish,
so disgusting, and the movie is so unredeeming and cold- it is hard
to care about the characters or care for the movie at all. The
atmosphere is thick,
humid, and wicked and that is what detracts from appreciating this
film. It is a
collection of atrocities performed by this ill man, each one drawing a bit
too much
attention to itself. Taxi Driver is not entertaining and it is not
boring. It is
difficult and violent, almost unbearable. Watching the film is a vile
experience.
Still, the power of the film is so shaking, so unsettling, it deserves
credit.
Martin Scorsese, with Taxi Driver, contributed to the world one of the
ugliest
and scariest horror films ever.
By Andrew Chan
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- Manolo's TAXI DRIVER Page
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