Taxi Driver Reviews

Not only one of Scorsese's best films, but one of the best of the 70s. It is very hard hitting, dark and still has the resonance and power to shock. The cinematography is measured and chilly, yet very atmospheric, while Bernard Hermann's swansong score is superb, yet more proof at how amazing a composer he was. The story is unsettling but wonderfully told, and the script is brilliantly written. Scorcese also directs impeccably, while the acting is just excellent. Robert DeNiro gives one of his best performances, the whole film is worth watching just for his performance, that's how good it is, but that's not to dismiss Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel and Cybill Sheppard in the supporting cast for they are just as good while Scorsese's own cameo is genuinely frightening. There you have it, another one of Scorsese's best with a brilliant atmosphere and mesmerising central performance. 10/10 Bethany Cox

This film is just as relevant today as it highlights the global terrorism committed by the United States foreign policy hitting back at home. The rise in domestic violence and terrorism in the United States is clearly rooted on the decreased quality of life of majority working class Americans as well as veterans not being properly taken care of after permanently suffering from participating in the war crimes of the United States.

Taxi Driver was released in a period when American Hollywood was going through a series of alterations. The film served as a crucial example that illustrated how Hollywood has changed from the classic era, particularly through its independent filmmaking techniques and the implementation of more oppressive themes. Taxi Driver also became a crucial feature in the career of Martin Scorsese as it introduced his own techniques of violence and crime in America, which progressively became his directorial style. For these reasons, Taxi Driver is one of Martin Scorsese’s masterpieces as well as an important benchmark in the crime genre.


Martin Scorsese has become widely recognized as the kingpin director of mafia and criminal-based films. However before gaining this reputation, Taxi Driver became arguably the benchmark that began it all; in fact, it was his first masterpiece. Before audiences see a character turn criminal, it is important to first witness psychological background and the motives, which is what we see in Taxi Driver. Even after many films that Scorsese has directed over the past 40+ years, we have rarely seen central characters expressing psychological issues as opposed to their criminal lives. In fact, we perhaps have not seen a better thought-provoking and more personal Scorsese feature since. His direction in displaying these conditions as well as the oppressive atmosphere in New York connected beautifully and has consequently left us with a landmark of the crime-drama sub-genre.


Taxi Driver has negativity and depression written all over it but not which is tear-jerking. The majority of the film appears natural with traditional landscapes of Manhattan, New York. However, it is Taxi Driver’s time-setting and circumstances that portrays The Big Apple rather darkly and somewhat horrifying. While Taxi Driver introduces psychoanalysis, it also illustrates how economically and socially low the United States of America, even in New York City, has become following their withdrawal and defeat in the Vietnam War. In addition, we witness individuals in a society who are associated with either forms of prostitution or violence. Seeing as it was filmed in 1976 and the Vietnam War ended in 1975, audiences actually do witness America at that present time.


Although the legendary Robert De Niro’s rise to fame began with his Oscar-winning performance in The Godfather: Part II, we hadn’t yet seen his breakthrough in a leading role. Re-uniting with Scorsese again after Mean Streets, De Niro delivers a ground-breaking performance, arguably his greatest of all time, as the eccentric and lonesome Travis Bickle. This character symbolizes the consequences of both witnessing and experiencing trauma in a social and personal environment. Travis is a good man but is beaten down by loneliness and obsession to sink lower and complete his pathway to insanity. De Niro’s simplicity and politeness as Travis pulled off marvellously as did his portrayal of the character whilst in his criminal state.


Furthermore, hats go off to the supporting cast in Taxi Driver. At only 12 years old, Jodie Foster goes the distance in her portrayal of child-prostitute Iris. Her performance is absolutely wonderful but how we feel about the character is a mixed bag. It is shocking to see one so young appear and act so sexually explicit but Foster portrays this in a mesmerizing manner. In fact, Iris’ appearance and her nature add a further oppressive tone to what New York City and its citizens have become. Foster’s chemistry with De Niro is unique but superb and her role is among the greatest child-star performances of all time. Finally, we witness appearances from Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd and Albert Brooks and they each deliver solid performances.


Taxi Driver is powerful American filmmaking displaying America practically in the gutter. This adds a rather uniquely creative value behind it as the film examined the brutal manipulation of the mind, something not so popular during that production period. Only Martin Scorsese could have pulled it off and his approach and execution to psychological depth has never gone any higher. Nevertheless, this psychological-drama is arguably the greatest achievement in Martin Scorsese’s directorial career, features iconic performances from De Niro and Foster and, finally, makes its mark as a benchmark of the New Hollywood era.

Martin Scorsese's searing portrait of loneliness and violence on the mean streets of New York, is an American original. De Niro's Travis Bickle, the insomniac taxi driver of the title, is an angry, alienated Vietnam veteran who takes a job driving a taxi on the night shift... It remains one of the quintessential films of 1970s American cinema, a brooding blast of modern gothic cinema that boils over in madness and self destruction. Scorsese's uncompromising vision and vivid direction and a fierce, fearless performance by De Niro have inspired countless young filmmakers and actors in the decades since its release."
The movie I've watched the most and loved over the years for the most constantly shifting reasons. It's so emblazoned in my psyche that I really can't imagine what life would be like without it. There's just something about how Michael Chapman's burnt out cinematography captures the demonic dance of the neon city lights. How Bernard Herman's score mixes high class glamour with gritty street-level militarization. How De Niro's performance balances perfectly observed urban white boy alienation with alluringly/repulsively antisocial impusles. How the editing is both pathologically hypnotic and terrifyingly confrontational. There's something wicked, contradictory, and unhealthy about this movie, but then there's something wicked, contradictory, and unhealthy about post-industrial American society. I don't know exactly what that sick thing is, but whatever it is, it's certainly buried within this film somewhere. As far as I'm concerned everyone involved never came even remotely close to matching this achievement ever again, and that's saying something.

This is an extraordinary film. De Niro in the central role delivers one of those powerhouse performances that simply blows the audience away.

I have to agree with the top most voted review on this film, so let me say that again: The TOP voted.

This film is way overrated. Almost everything says this film is powerful, intense, shocking...well, I don't think so or believe so. Instead, I think it's really overrated and definitely in some parts boring. And it also really doesn't help that Deniro/Scorsese fans keep calling this a "masterpiece" Okay, I can understand why some may like it, but I would never call this a masterpiece. And, the fact that there's even an account dedicated to Martin Scorsese fans, proves my point perfectly. And yeah, it may be a classic, but just because it is, it doesn't mean it's good, that's just a phrase for "well-know". This is proof that not all the classics are good. I even found this quite pretentious honestly. Also, people say all the time that Travis Bickel is cool and is a great film character, well to me he was just an ordinary guy who was misguided. An easily forgettable movie character. Again, it seems I'm in the minority.

Jodie Foster was great, as always. I think De Niro is okay, but it's certainly not his best performance, he never was a favourite of mine. Scorsese films are really boring, and they're all the same thing, just a different film title. I'm not a fan. This film has got be one of the most overrated and boring films ever. Just like most of his films...

So, yeah, overrated, boring and now thanks to the creepy obsessive Taxi Driver fans, it's now pretentious. Boring story, that has nothing to go on. If you saw something in this film that I didn't, you're either delusional, an idiot or a liar.

In my opinion, this was the first film to establish Robert Deniro's onscreen persona & his distinctive method of acting that he's known for, even up until to this day.
And that's probably more due to the film's director, Martin Scorcese, and his particular brand of directing. Scorcese really seemed to know when to allow Deniro's mannerisms to freight this portrayal of a cab diver whose loneliness in the vast sea of grime that was '70's era New York City was consuming him to the point of razor-edged madness. 
It was an acting freedom that Scorcese used to maximum effect and which also allowed the supporting roles of Jodie Foster, Cybil Sheperd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks and Peter Boyle to bring the depth of character that they were each able to contribute to the film (particularly, IMO, Foster and Keitel).
While Martin Scorcese is more famous for his movies that delve into the mafia lifestyle, I feel that his talent for depicting the grit of the streets, particularly of this time-period, cannot be understated andd is what really carries the feel and weight of this story.
Taxi Driver is a true staple in the decade of 70's films, and a piece of high quality and expressive cinema that I really enjoy watching over and over again.



And yeah.....
I'm talking to you.

The 'Taxi Driver' is one of the movies that are unforgettable and this is due to unique interpretations of the actors (especially Robert De Niro and Jodie Foster, who won her first Oscar nomination for 'B ACTRESS once in the 13's) but also in fact that so much identified with the protagonist, who experiences the situations facing them. An injustice by an underclass movie director's (Martin Scorcese), Oscar nominated for four but did not win.Regarded as one of the major films of the 70.

Taxi driver is the opposite of Ben Hur! Martin Scorsese was at his best with this film, and not yet concerned with chasing his elusive Oscar. The director had come from a documentary background, and in this film he stuck to his roots, allowing DeNiro the freedom to become his character as he filmed him with minimal interference. The result is a brilliant American film that mixes French New Wave shots with Wellesian angles and carefully structured sets with improvisational acting.

The cast is terrific at maintaining natural performances that ground this film in the True New York, not the traditional Hollywood New York with dance numbers and horse carriages. The images the audience sees support this realism by showing the dirty, dangerous side of the city, rather than glamorous tourist attractions. When we see Travis Bickle complain to a political candidate riding in his cab about all the scum on the streets, we know exactly what he is referring to, because by then we have already been dragged down into his world.

Is Bickle a traumatized war vet, or a born psychopath? Does he hate people in general, or does he simply not have any concept of how to connect to others? So many questions arise from our examination of this character, and thus Scorsese prods us all to reflect on society itself, and our own place in it. Do we all have a little Travis Bickle in us? Since this film came out, we have certainly seen our share of ordinary people reenact Bickle's final shoot out with the gangsters. Except in the real world, the targets are usually family members, classmates and co-workers.

This is a remarkable essay on violent behavior and a milestone in the American movement away from the Hollywood studio machine towards the modern Hollywood, where uber-directors like Spielberg, Tarantino and Cameron run the show. With all those different ways to approach a viewing of Taxi Driver, I would recommend it for any person who really loves movies because above everything else, that's what Scorsese is really about.

I already saw this movie but, since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. Basically, it was the first masterpiece produced by Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro. 3 years before, they had already made 'Mean Streets' together and it was already a real breakthrough for both of them but it is with this movie that they really started to change cinema as an Art and they will keep doing it, at least twice again with 'Raging Bull' and 'Goodfellas'. This movie was such a fascinating character study of a guy who is basically a creep. Sure, Bickle can be charismatic but more than often he would rather antagonize the people around him who would then rather take their distance increasing his loneliness in the process. Eventually, De Niro gave one of the best perfomances of his prestigious career and, plain and simply, one of the best performances ever given on a motion picture. For Scorsese, its status changed forever from promising young director to bonafide master. I mean, the whole thing was made with so much skills, every detail was closed to perfection and the story is just completely fascinating, a profound and dark study of the human soul. Basically, it is so dark, it is probably the most nihilistic movie I have seen. While, in most movies, New York is displayed as a breezing metropolis, here, you finally get to see its ugly and even filthy side. I think it is also one of the very few movies where you get to see a teenage prostitute played by an actual teenager. The fact that Jodie Foster was brilliant also helped to make this character quite remarkable. Anyway, to conclude, it is a great classic, I just love the damned thing and it is basically a must see for any movie lover.