''Taxi Driver'' is a 1976 American film directed by
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
, written by
Paul Schrader, and starring
Robert De Niro,
Jodie Foster
Alicia Christian "Jodie" Foster (born November 19, 1962) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards, three Golden Globe Awards, and the ho ...
,
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...
,
Harvey Keitel
Harvey Keitel ( ; born May 13, 1939) is an American actor. He is known for his portrayal of morally ambiguous and "tough guy" characters. He first rose to prominence during the New Hollywood movement, and has held a long-running association with ...
,
Peter Boyle,
Leonard Harris Leonard Harris or Len Harris may refer to:
* Len Harris (cinematographer) (1916–1995), British cinematographer
* Len Harris (cricketer) (1934–2006), West Indies cricketer
* Len Harris (footballer) (1924–1995), Australian rules footballer
* ...
, and
Albert Brooks
Albert Brooks (born Albert Lawrence Einstein ; July 22, 1947) is an American actor and filmmaker.
He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for 1987's '' Broadcast News'' and was widely praised for his performance as a ...
. Set in a decaying and morally bankrupt New York City following the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
, the film follows
Travis Bickle
Travis Bickle is a fictional character and the anti-hero protagonist of the 1976 film ''Taxi Driver'' directed by Martin Scorsese. The character was created by the film's screenwriter Paul Schrader. He is played by Robert De Niro, who received an ...
(De Niro), a veteran working as a taxi driver, and his deteriorating
mental state
A mental state, or a mental property, is a state of mind of a person. Mental states comprise a diverse class, including perception, pain experience, belief, desire, intention, emotion, and memory. There is controversy concerning the exact definiti ...
as he works nights in the city.
With ''
The Wrong Man
''The Wrong Man'' is a 1956 American docudrama film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film was drawn from the true story of an innocent man charged with a crime, as described in the book ''The True St ...
'' (1956) and ''
A Bigger Splash'' (1973) as inspiration, Scorsese wanted the film to feel like a dream to audiences. With cinematographer
Michael Chapman, filming began in the summer of 1975 in New York City, with actors taking pay cuts to ensure that the project could be completed on a low budget of $1.9 million. Production concluded that same year.
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely r ...
composed the film's music in what would be his final score, finished just several hours before his death; the film is dedicated to him.
The film was theatrically released by
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production studio that is a member of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is one of the Big Five studios and a subsidiary of the mu ...
on February 7, 1976, where it was a critical and commercial success, despite generating controversy for its graphic violence at the climactic ending, and casting of then 12-year-old Foster in the role of a
child prostitute
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent.
In most jurisdictions, child ...
. The film received numerous accolades including the
1976 Cannes Film Festival's
Palme d'Or
The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...
, and four nominations at the
49th Academy Awards, including for
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
,
Best Actor (for De Niro), and
Best Supporting Actress (for Foster).
Although ''Taxi Driver'' generated further controversy for its role in
John Hinckley Jr.
John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a .22 caliber revolver, Hinck ...
's motive to
attempt to assassinate then-
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, the film has remained popular and is considered one of the most culturally significant and inspirational of its time. In 2012, ''
Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' named it the 31st-best film ever in its decennial
critics' poll, ranked with ''
The Godfather Part II
''The Godfather Part II'' is a 1974 American epic crime film produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The film is partially based on the 1969 novel ''The Godfather'' by Mario Puzo, who co-wrote the screenplay with Coppola. ''Part II'' s ...
'', and the fifth-greatest film of all time on its directors' poll. In 1994, the film was considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the US
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, and was selected for preservation in the
National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
.
Plot
Travis Bickle
Travis Bickle is a fictional character and the anti-hero protagonist of the 1976 film ''Taxi Driver'' directed by Martin Scorsese. The character was created by the film's screenwriter Paul Schrader. He is played by Robert De Niro, who received an ...
is a 26-year-old
honorably discharged
A military discharge is given when a member of the armed forces is released from their obligation to serve. Each country's military has different types of discharge. They are generally based on whether the persons completed their training and th ...
U.S. Marine
The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through com ...
and
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
veteran suffering from
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...
and living alone in New York City. Travis takes a job as a night shift taxi driver to cope with his
chronic insomnia
Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...
and loneliness. He frequently goes to the
porn theaters on
42nd Street and keeps a diary in which he consciously attempts to include
aphorism
An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by ...
s, such as "you're only as healthy as you feel." He becomes disgusted with the crime and
urban decay
Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...
that he witnesses in Manhattan, and dreams about ridding "the scum off the streets."
Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy, a campaign volunteer for senator and presidential candidate Charles Palantine. Travis enters the campaign office where she works, and asks her out for coffee, to which she agrees. Betsy confesses that she feels a special connection to Travis, and agrees to go on another date with him. During their date Travis takes Betsy to a porn theater, which repulses her and causes her to leave. He attempts to reconcile with her, to no avail. Enraged, he storms into the campaign office where she works, and berates her before he is ordered to leave. Experiencing an
existential crisis and seeing various counts of prostitution throughout the city, Travis confides in fellow taxi driver nicknamed Wizard about his
violent thoughts.
However, Wizard dismisses them and assures him that he will be fine. In an attempt to find an outlet for his rage, Travis begins a program of intense physical training. A fellow taxi driver refers him to a
black market gun dealer, "Easy" Andy, from whom Travis buys four handguns. At home, Travis practices
drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...
his weapons, and modifies one to allow him to hide and quickly deploy it from his sleeve. He also begins attending Palantine's rallies to scope out their security. One night, Travis shoots and kills a man attempting to rob a convenience store run by a friend of his. On his trips around the city, Travis regularly encounters Iris, a
child prostitute
Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent.
In most jurisdictions, child ...
whom he fantasizes about saving.
Travis solicits her and tries to persuade her to stop prostituting herself. Soon after, Travis cuts his hair into a
mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
* Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
* Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...
and attends a public rally where he plans to assassinate Palantine. However, he is chased away by
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
agents who see him unzipping his jacket and putting his hand inside. That evening, Travis drives to the
brothel where Iris works, and shoots her pimp, Sport. He enters the building and engages in a shootout with Sport and one of Iris's clients, a mafioso. Travis is shot several times but manages to kill the two men. He then brawls with the bouncer, whom he manages to stab through the hand with his knife located in his shoe and finish off with a gunshot to the head.
Travis attempts to commit suicide, but is out of bullets. Bloody and injured, he slumps on a couch next to a sobbing Iris. As police respond to the scene, a delirious Travis imitates shooting himself in the head using his finger. Travis goes into a
coma due to his injuries. He is heralded by the press as a heroic vigilante and is not prosecuted for the murders, also receiving a letter from Iris's father, thanking him. After recovering, Travis returns to work, where he encounters Betsy as a fare; they interact cordially, with Betsy saying she followed his story in the newspapers. Travis drops her at home, and declines to take her money, driving off with a smile. He suddenly becomes agitated after noticing something in his rear-view mirror.
Cast
Credits adapted from:
Production
Development
According to director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
, it was
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma (born September 11, 1940) is an American film director and screenwriter. With a career spanning over 50 years, he is best known for his work in the suspense, crime and psychological thriller genres. De Palma was a leading ...
who introduced him to
Paul Schrader. ''Taxi Driver'' arose from Scorsese feeling that movies are like dreams or drug-induced reveries; he attempted to inculcate within the viewer the feeling of being in a limbo state between sleeping and waking. The director also cites
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
's ''
The Wrong Man
''The Wrong Man'' is a 1956 American docudrama film noir directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film was drawn from the true story of an innocent man charged with a crime, as described in the book ''The True St ...
'' (1956) and Jack Hazan's ''
A Bigger Splash'' (1973) as inspirations for his camerawork in the movie.
In writing the script, Schrader was inspired by the diaries of
Arthur Bremer
Arthur Herman Bremer (; born August 21, 1950) is an American convicted criminal who attempted to assassinate U.S. Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace on May 15, 1972, in Laurel, Maryland, which left Wallace permanently paralyzed ...
(who shot presidential candidate
George Wallace in 1972).
He was also inspired by the
Harry Chapin
Harold Forster Chapin (; December 7, 1942 – July 16, 1981) was an American singer-songwriter, philanthropist, and hunger activist best known for his folk rock and pop rock songs. He achieved worldwide success in the 1970s. Chapin, a Grammy A ...
song
Taxi
A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...
, about an old girlfriend getting into a cab. For the ending of the story, when Bickle becomes a media hero, Schrader was inspired by
Squeaky Fromme
Lynette Alice "Squeaky" Fromme (born October 22, 1948) is an American criminal who was a member of the Manson family, a cult led by Charles Manson. Though not involved in the Tate–LaBianca murders for which the Manson family is best known, s ...
's
attempted assassination of President
Gerald Ford, which resulted in her being on the cover of ''
Newsweek
''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...
''.
Schrader also used himself as inspiration; in a 1981 interview with
Tom Snyder
Thomas James Snyder (May 12, 1936 – July 29, 2007) was an American television personality, news anchor, and radio personality best known for his late night talk shows '' Tomorrow'', on the NBC television network in the 1970s and 1980s, and ' ...
on ''
The Tomorrow Show
''The Tomorrow Show'' (also known as ''Tomorrow with Tom Snyder'' or ''Tomorrow'' and, after 1980, ''Tomorrow Coast to Coast'') is an American late-night television talk show hosted by Tom Snyder which aired on NBC in first run form from Octob ...
'', he related his experience living in New York City while battling chronic insomnia, which led him to frequent
pornographic bookstores and
theaters
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...
because they remained open all night. Following a divorce and a breakup with a live-in girlfriend, he spent a few weeks living in his car. After visiting a hospital for a
stomach ulcer
The stomach is a muscular, hollow organ in the gastrointestinal tract of humans and many other animals, including several invertebrates. The stomach has a dilated structure and functions as a vital organ in the digestive system. The stomach i ...
, Schrader wrote the screenplay for ''Taxi Driver'' in "under a fortnight," he states "The first draft was maybe 60 pages, and I started the next draft immediately, and it took less than two weeks." Schrader recalls that "I realized I hadn't spoken to anyone in weeks
..that was when the metaphor of the taxi occurred to me. That is what I was: this person in an iron box, a coffin, floating round the city, but seemingly alone." Schrader decided to make Bickle a Vietnam vet because the
national trauma National trauma is a concept in psychology and social psychology. A national trauma is one in which the effects of a trauma apply generally to the members of a collective group such as a country or other well-defined group of people. Trauma is an in ...
of the war seemed to blend perfectly with Bickle's paranoid
psychosis
Psychosis is a condition of the mind that results in difficulties determining what is real and what is not real. Symptoms may include delusions and hallucinations, among other features. Additional symptoms are incoherent speech and behavior ...
, making his experiences after the war more intense and threatening.
In ''Scorsese on Scorsese'', Scorsese mentions the religious
symbolism
Symbolism or symbolist may refer to:
Arts
* Symbolism (arts), a 19th-century movement rejecting Realism
** Symbolist movement in Romania, symbolist literature and visual arts in Romania during the late 19th and early 20th centuries
** Russian sym ...
in the story, comparing Bickle to a saint who wants to cleanse or purge both his mind and his body of weakness. Bickle attempts to kill himself near the end of the movie as a tribute to the
samurai
were the hereditary military nobility and officer caste of medieval and early-modern Japan from the late 12th century until their abolition in 1876. They were the well-paid retainers of the '' daimyo'' (the great feudal landholders). They h ...
's "
death with honor" principle.
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is ...
was offered the role of Travis Bickle but turned it down because he thought that Scorsese was "crazy".
Pre-production
While preparing for his role as Bickle, De Niro was filming
Bernardo Bertolucci
Bernardo Bertolucci (; 16 March 1941 – 26 November 2018) was an Italian film director and screenwriter with a career that spanned 50 years. Considered one of the greatest directors in Italian cinema, Bertolucci's work achieved international ...
's ''
1900'' in Italy. According to Boyle, he would "finish shooting on a Friday in Rome ... get on a plane ...
ndfly to New York." De Niro obtained a taxi driver's license, and when on break would pick up a taxi and drive around New York for a couple of weeks, before returning to Rome to resume filming ''1900''. De Niro apparently lost and listened repeatedly to a taped reading of the diaries of criminal
Arthur Bremer
Arthur Herman Bremer (; born August 21, 1950) is an American convicted criminal who attempted to assassinate U.S. Democratic presidential candidate George Wallace on May 15, 1972, in Laurel, Maryland, which left Wallace permanently paralyzed ...
. When he had time off from shooting ''1900'', De Niro visited an army base in
Northern Italy
Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...
and tape-recorded soldiers from the
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...
, whose accents he thought might be appropriate for Travis's character.
Scorsese brought in the
film title design
Film title design is a term describing the craft and design of motion picture title sequences. Since the beginning of the film form, it has been an essential part of any motion picture. Originally a motionless piece of artwork called ''title art ...
er
Dan Perri to design the
title sequence
A title sequence (also called an opening sequence or intro) is the method by which films or television programmes present their title and key production and cast members, utilizing conceptual visuals and sound (often a opening theme song with vi ...
for ''Taxi Driver''. Perri had been Scorsese's original choice to design the titles for ''
Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' in 1974, but
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
would not allow him to hire an unknown designer. By the time ''Taxi Driver'' was going into production, Perri had established his reputation with his work on ''
The Exorcist
''The Exorcist'' is a 1973 American supernatural horror film directed by William Friedkin and written for the screen by William Peter Blatty, based on his 1971 novel of the same name. It stars Ellen Burstyn, Max von Sydow, Lee J. Cobb, Kitty ...
'', and Scorsese was now able to hire him. Perri created the opening titles for ''Taxi Driver'' using
second unit footage which he color-treated through a process of film copying and
slit-scan
The slit-scan photography technique is a photographic and cinematographic process where a moveable slide, into which a slit has been cut, is inserted between the camera and the subject to be photographed.
More generally, "slit-scan photography" ...
, resulting in a highly stylised graphic sequence that evoked the "underbelly" of New York City through lurid colors, glowing
neon sign
In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in D ...
s, distorted nocturnal images, and deep
black level
Video black level is defined as the level of brightness at the darkest (black) part of a visual image or the level of brightness at which no light is emitted from a screen, resulting in a pure black screen.
Video displays generally need to be cal ...
s. Perri went on to design opening titles for a number of major films after this including ''
Star Wars
''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...
'' (1977) and ''
Raging Bull
''Raging Bull'' is a 1980 American biographical sports drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, produced by Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler and adapted by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin from Jake LaMotta's 1970 memoir '' Raging Bull: My ...
'' (1980).
Filming
On a low budget of $1.9 million, various actors took pay cuts to create the project. De Niro and
Cybill Shepherd
Cybill Lynne Shepherd (born February 18, 1950) is an American actress and former model. Her film debut and breakthrough role came as Jacy Farrow in Peter Bogdanovich's coming-of-age drama ''The Last Picture Show'' (1971) alongside Jeff Bridges. ...
each received only $35,000 to make the film, and Scorsese was given $65,000. Overall, $200,000 of the budget was given to performers in the film.
[
''Taxi Driver'' was shot during a New York City summer heat wave and sanitation strike in 1975. The film came into conflict with the ]Motion Picture Association of America
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) is an American trade association representing the five major film studios of the United States, as well as the video streaming service Netflix. Founded in 1922 as the Motion Picture Producers and Distrib ...
(MPAA) for its violence. Scorsese de-saturated the color in the final shootout, and the film got an R rating. To achieve the atmospheric scenes in Bickle's taxi, the sound men would get in the trunk and Scorsese and his cinematographer, Michael Chapman, would ensconce themselves on the back seat floor and use available light to shoot. Chapman admitted the filming style was greatly influenced by New Wave filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard
Jean-Luc Godard ( , ; ; 3 December 193013 September 2022) was a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter, and film critic. He rose to prominence as a pioneer of the French New Wave film movement of the 1960s, alongside such filmmakers as Fran ...
and his cinematographer Raoul Coutard
Raoul Coutard (16 September 1924 – 8 November 2016) was a French cinematographer. He is best known for his connection with the Nouvelle Vague period and particularly for his work with director Jean-Luc Godard. Coutard also shot films for New Wa ...
due to the fact the crew did not have the time nor the money to do "traditional things." When Bickle decides to assassinate Senator Palantine, he cuts his hair into a mohawk Mohawk may refer to:
Related to Native Americans
* Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York)
*Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people
* Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been ...
. This detail was suggested by actor Victor Magnotta, a friend of Scorsese, who had a small role as a Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
agent and who had served in Vietnam. Scorsese later noted: "He told us that, in Saigon, if you saw a guy with his head shaved—like a little Mohawk—that usually meant that those people were ready to go into a certain Special Forces situation. You didn't even go near them. They were ready to kill."
Filming took place on New York City's West Side, at a time when the city was on the brink of bankruptcy. According to producer Michael Phillips, "the whole West Side was bombed out. There really were row after row of condemned buildings and that's what we used to build our sets ..we didn't know we were documenting what looked like the dying gasp of New York." The tracking shot over the shootout scene, filmed in an actual apartment, took three months of preparation; the production team had to cut through the ceiling to shoot it.
Music
The music by Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely r ...
was his final score before his death on December 24, 1975, and the film is dedicated to his memory. Scorsese, a long-time admirer of Herrmann, had particularly wanted him to compose the score; Herrmann was his "first and only choice". Scorsese considered Herrmann's score of great importance to the success of the film: "It supplied the psychological basis throughout." The album ''The Silver Tongued Devil and I
''The Silver Tongued Devil and I'' is the second studio album recorded by singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson. It was produced by Fred Foster, released in July 1971 on Monument Records and followed his critically acclaimed debut '' Kristofferson' ...
'' from Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are " Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", " Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the ...
was used in the film, following '' Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore'' (1974) where Kristofferson played a supporting role.
Controversies
Casting of Jodie Foster
Some critics showed concern over 12-year-old Foster's presence during the climactic shoot-out. Foster said that she was present during the setup and staging of the special effects used during the scene; the entire process was explained and demonstrated for her, step by step. Moreover, Foster said, she was fascinated and entertained by the behind-the-scenes preparation that went into the scene. In addition, before being given the part, Foster was subjected to psychological testing
Psychological testing is the administration of psychological tests. Psychological tests are administered by trained evaluators. A person's responses are evaluated according to carefully prescribed guidelines. Scores are thought to reflect individ ...
, attending sessions with a UCLA psychiatrist, to ensure that she would not be emotionally scarred by her role, in accordance with California Labor Board requirements monitoring children's welfare on film sets.
Additional concerns surrounding Foster's age focus on the role she played as Iris, a prostitute. Years later, she confessed how uncomfortable the treatment of her character was on set. Scorsese did not know how to approach different scenes with the actress. The director relied on Robert De Niro to deliver his directions to the young actress. Foster often expressed how De Niro, in that moment, became a mentor to her, stating that her acting career was highly influenced by the actor's advice during the filming of ''Taxi Driver''.
John Hinckley Jr.
''Taxi Driver'' formed part of the delusional fantasy of John Hinckley Jr.
John Warnock Hinckley Jr. (born May 29, 1955) is an American man who attempted to assassinate U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, D.C. on March 30, 1981, two months after Reagan's first inauguration. Using a .22 caliber revolver, Hinck ...
that triggered his attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
in 1981, an act for which he was found not guilty by reason of insanity. Hinckley stated that his actions were an attempt to impress Foster, on whom Hinckley was fixated, by mimicking Travis's mohawked appearance at the Palantine rally. His attorney concluded his defense by playing the movie for the jury. When Scorsese heard about Hinckley's motivation behind his assassination attempt, he briefly thought about quitting film-making as the association brought a negative perception of the film.
MPAA rating
The climactic shoot-out was considered intensely graphic by a few critics, considering an X rating
An X rating is a rating used in various countries to classify films that have content deemed suitable only for adults. It is used when the violent or sexual content of a film is considered to be potentially disturbing to general audiences.
Aust ...
for the film. The film was booed at the Cannes Film Festival for its graphic violence. In order to attain an R rating, Scorsese had the colors de-saturated, making the brightly colored blood less prominent. In later interviews, Scorsese commented that he was pleased by the color change and considered it an improvement over the originally filmed scene. In the special-edition DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
, Michael Chapman, the film's cinematographer, regrets the decision and the fact that no print with the unmuted colors exists anymore, as the originals had long since deteriorated.
Themes and interpretations
Roger Ebert has written of the film's ending:There has been much discussion about the ending, in which we see newspaper clippings about Travis's "heroism" of saving Iris, and then Betsy gets into his cab and seems to give him admiration instead of her earlier disgust. Is this a fantasy scene? Did Travis survive the shoot-out? Are we experiencing his dying thoughts? Can the sequence be accepted as literally true? ... I am not sure there can be an answer to these questions. The end sequence plays like music, not drama: It completes the story on an emotional, not a literal, level. We end not on carnage but on redemption, which is the goal of so many of Scorsese's characters.
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...
, in his review of the film, argues against the dream or fantasy interpretation, stating:Scorsese and writer Paul Schrader append the perfect conclusion to ''Taxi Driver''. Steeped in irony, the five-minute epilogue underscores the vagaries of fate. The media builds Bickle into a hero, when, had he been a little quicker drawing his gun against Senator Palantine, he would have been reviled as an assassin. As the film closes, the misanthrope
Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behavior or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from the Greek words μῖσ ...
has been embraced as the model citizen—someone who takes on pimps, drug dealers, and mobsters to save one little girl.
On the LaserDisc
The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...
audio commentary
An audio commentary is an additional audio track, usually digital, consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers, that plays in real time with a video. Commentaries can be serious or entertaining in nature, and can add informatio ...
, Scorsese acknowledged several critics
A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or governme ...
' interpretation of the film's ending as being Bickle's dying dream. He admits that the last scene of Bickle glancing at an unseen object implies that Bickle might fall into rage and recklessness in the future, and he is like "a ticking time bomb". Writer Paul Schrader confirms this in his commentary on the 30th-anniversary DVD, stating that Travis "is not cured by the movie's end", and that "he's not going to be a hero next time." When asked on the website Reddit
Reddit (; stylized in all lowercase as reddit) is an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website. Registered users (commonly referred to as "Redditors") submit content to the site such as links, text posts, images ...
about the film's ending, Schrader said that it was not to be taken as a dream sequence, but that he envisioned it as returning to the beginning of the film—as if the last frame "could be spliced to the first frame, and the movie started all over again."
The film has also been connected with the 1970s wave of vigilante film
The vigilante film is a film genre in which the protagonist or protagonists engage in vigilante behavior, taking the law into their own hands. Vigilante films are usually revenge films in which the legal system fails protagonists, leading them ...
s and has been noted as a more respectable New Hollywood
The New Hollywood, also known as American New Wave or Hollywood Renaissance, was a movement in American film history from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, when a new generation of young filmmakers came to prominence.
They influenced the types o ...
counterpart to the numerous exploitation
Exploitation may refer to:
*Exploitation of natural resources
*Exploitation of labour
** Forced labour
*Exploitation colonialism
*Slavery
** Sexual slavery and other forms
*Oppression
*Psychological manipulation
In arts and entertainment
*Exploi ...
vigilante films of the decade. However, despite similarities between ''Taxi Driver'' and the vigilante films of the 1970s, the film has also been explicitly distinguished as not being a vigilante film or not belonging to the 1970s vigilante film wave.
The film can be viewed as a spiritual successor to ''The Searchers
''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John W ...
''. As Roger Ebert pointed out, both films center on a lonely war veteran who attempts to rescue a young girl who does not want to be saved. Both also portray the main character as someone who is alienated from society and who cannot establish normal relationships with people. It is not clear whether Paul Schrader looked for this film specifically for inspiration, but the similarities are apparent.
Some critics have described the film as "neo-noir
Neo-noir is a revival of film noir, a genre that had originally flourished during the post-World War II era in the United Statesroughly from 1940 to 1960. The French term, ''film noir'', translates literally to English as "black film", indicating ...
". It has also been referred to as an antihero
An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...
film.
Television edits of the film featured a black screen with a disclaimer during the ending credits, mentioning that "the distinction between hero and villain is sometimes a matter of interpretation or misinterpretation of facts". This was thought to have been added after the 1981 Ronald Reagan assassination attempt, but it is mentioned in a review of the film from 1979.
Reception
Box office
The film opened at the Coronet Theater in New York City and grossed a house record $68,000 in its first week. It went on to gross $28.3 million in the United States, making it the 17th-highest-grossing film of 1976.
Critical response
The film received critical acclaim. Roger Ebert instantly praised it as one of the greatest films he had ever seen, claiming:
''Taxi Driver'' is a hell, from the opening shot of a cab emerging from stygian clouds of steam to the climactic killing scene in which the camera finally looks straight down. Scorsese wanted to look away from Travis's rejection; we almost want to look away from his life. But he's there, all right, and he's suffering.
On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on 96 reviews and an average rating of 9.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A must-see film for movie lovers, this Martin Scorsese masterpiece is as hard-hitting as it is compelling, with Robert De Niro at his best." Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
gives the film a score of 94 out of 100, based on reviews from 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
''Taxi Driver'' was ranked by the American Film Institute as the 52nd-greatest American film
The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Ame ...
on its AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list, and Bickle was voted the 30th-greatest villain in a poll by the same organization. ''The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'' ranked ''Taxi Driver'' at number 33 in its Top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list in 1999, based on a poll of critics. ''Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' also ranked him 18th in its "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" poll, and the film ranks at No. 17 on the magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.
'' Time Out'' magazine conducted a poll of the 100 greatest movies set in New York City. ''Taxi Driver'' topped the list placing at No. 1. Schrader's screenplay for the film was ranked the 43rd-greatest ever written by the Writers Guild of America
The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers:
* The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO
* The Writers Guil ...
. By contrast, Leonard Maltin
Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of fil ...
gave a rating of only 2 stars and called the film a "gory, cold-blooded story of a sick man's lurid descent into violence" which was "ugly and unredeeming".
In 2012, in a ''Sight & Sound
''Sight and Sound'' (also spelled ''Sight & Sound'') is a British monthly film magazine published by the British Film Institute (BFI). It conducts the well-known, once-a-decade ''Sight and Sound'' Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time, ongoing ...
'' poll, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi
Asghar Farhadi ( fa, اصغر فرهادی, ; born 7 May 1972)[Soureh Movie Database](_blank) selected ''Taxi Driver'' as one of his 10 best films of all time.
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino (; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, writer, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by stylized violence, extended dialogue, profanity, dark humor, non-linear storylines, cameos, ensembl ...
also listed the movie among his 10 greatest films of all time.
Accolades
American Film Institute
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes & Villains – #30 Villain – Travis Bickle
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes – #10 – "You talkin' to me?"
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – #22
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies – #47
* AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) – #52
Other Honors
*National Film Registry
The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception i ...
– Inducted in 1994
*The film was chosen by ''Time
Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' as one of the 100 best films of all time.
*In 2015, ''Taxi Driver'' ranked 19th on BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
's "100 Greatest American Films" list, voted on by film critics from around the world.
'' make up a series referred to variously as the "Man in a Room" or "Night Worker" films. Screenwriter
(who directed the latter three films) has said that he considers the central characters of the four films to be one character, who has changed as he has aged.
'' was in part inspired by Travis Bickle, and Carlyle's performance has frequently been compared to De Niro's as a result.
In the 2012 film ''
) believes himself to be the illegitimate son of Travis Bickle.
The vigilante ending inspired
''. The French director based the eponymous
in order to make him a "real movie hero". The script of ''
also draws inspiration from ''Taxi Driver''.
mainstay. In 2005, it was ranked number 10 on the
.
In the relevant scene, the deranged Bickle is looking into a mirror at himself, imagining a confrontation that would give him a chance to draw his gun:
's character is facing the mirror, screenwriter Paul Schrader said De Niro improvised the dialogue and that De Niro's performance was inspired by "an underground New York comedian" he had once seen, possibly including his signature line.
said of the latter part of the phrase "I'm the only one here" that it was "the truest line in the film.... Travis Bickle's desperate need to make some kind of contact somehow—to share or mimic the effortless social interaction he sees all around him, but does not participate in." In his 2009 memoir, saxophonist
say the line onstage at a concert. In the 2000 film ''
'', De Niro went on to repeat the monologue with some alterations in the role as the character
.
The first 'Collector's Edition' DVD, released in 1999, was packaged as a single-disc edition release. It contained special features, such as behind-the-scenes and several trailers, including one for ''Taxi Driver''.
In 2006, a 30th-anniversary 2-disc "Collector's Edition" DVD was released. The first disc contains the film itself, two
. This edition also retains some of the special features from the earlier release on the second disc, as well as some newly produced documentary material.
A
was released on April 5, 2011, to commemorate the film's 35th anniversary. It includes the special features from the previous 2-disc collector's edition, plus an audio commentary by Scorsese released in 1991 for
, previously released on LaserDisc.
As part of the Blu-ray production, Sony gave the film a full
digital restoration, which included scanning and cleaning the original negative (removing emulsion dirt and scratches). Colors were matched to director-approved prints under guidance from Scorsese and director of photography Michael Chapman. An all-new
soundtrack was also made from the original stereo recordings by Scorsese's personal sound team. The restored print premiered in February 2011 at the Berlin Film Festival, and to promote the Blu-ray, Sony also had the print screened at
across the United States on March 19 and 22.
In late January 2005, a sequel was announced by De Niro and Scorsese.
'', De Niro talked about the story of an older Travis Bickle being in development. Also in 2000, De Niro mentioned interest in bringing back the character in conversation with
.
In November 2013, he revealed that Schrader had done a first draft but both he and Scorsese thought that it was not good enough to go beyond.
, Scorsese, and De Niro planned to work on a remake of the film with the same restrictions that were used in ''
''. In 2014, Paul Schrader said that it was not being made. He said, "It was a terrible idea" and "in Marty's mind, it never was something that should be done."