MoPoshy Absolutely brilliant

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Hayleigh Joseph This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

Johnny H. Taxi Driver is one of my favourite movies: it's Martin Scorsese's finest piece of work and this film further consolidated Robert De Niro's acting skills outside of The Godfather Part II; this guy didn't need an ensemble cast of gangsters in this movie to show that Travis Bickle is a truly traumatized war-vet attempting to fit in 1970s New York. De Niro is truly in a class of his own in this movie, which portrays loneliness in a way few movies can capture. It's a sad but excruciatingly well-done neo-noir thriller that gave us the big-screen career breakthrough of Jodie Foster, playing Iris, an under-age hooker.Taxi Driver is now over forty years old, and it's widely cited as one of the greatest movies of all time, and I absolutely understand why. This is a story that relates to outsiders: not just in the broad Western-country sense, but in a universal sense. Travis tries his best to fit in, but he's only really accepted when he's behind the wheel, transporting the city's filth. He tries to impress a girl and he just doesn't get what makes for acceptable means of social interaction (like taking his date to the porn theater). We see New York through Travis' eyes and it basically all washes over him until he bumps into Iris, and finds out about her 'job'. He won't have anymore of that so he decides to try and help her.Need I say anymore about Taxi Driver? It's a neo-noir masterpiece that's managed to transcend space and time in the cinematic medium, comparable to other masterpieces in generations gone by like Citizen Kane, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Godfather, Star Wars, Back to the Future and Pulp Fiction. Taxi Driver is the equivalent of Holy Texts in cinema; it's that masterful and it's that good a watch.If you're one of those film buffs that's missed out on this movie somehow, just give it a watch. This is film history at its absolute finest.

veronicasmith-19875 By Taxi Driver's release both De Niro and Scorsese were already well regarded by film fans and this film- which wasn't a huge hit upon release- is now considered one of their de factor movies along with Mean Streets, Raging Bull and Goodfellas. Travis Bickle has become a legend for many lost young men all around the world and De Niro is so good you can't help but feel for him even though he is socially clueless and probably a sociopath. Jodie Foster is excellent as the young prostitute and this is an indication of how great an actress she was even as a 12 year old. Taxi Driver has become a staple for the anarchist, lost youth and you owe it to yourself to see the reason why.

treykirssin Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" is one of those movies that sticks in your mind for a long time after you see it. You know the kind. I don't mean the interchangeable gorefests, such as the "Friday the 13th" or "Nightmare on Elm Street" films. This is a film that haunts us not with blood and gore (although there is plenty of that), but with its unflinching portrayal of the protagonist, Travis Bickle.Travis is simply one of the greatest movie characters of all time. Despite his noirish voice-overs, he never really tells us exactly how he's feeling-yet we feel like we're almost inside of his brain the entire film. The trifecta of Scorsese's direction, Paul Schrader's script, and Robert De Niro's performance paint a vivid picture of this troubled soul without words having to come into play.First things first, Travis is not a good guy. But that doesn't mean that he's unsympathetic. We can see how isolated and distanced he is from the rest of society, and recognize his attempts to reintegrate himself. We would like him to succeed. But we know he won't because the series of events in this movie feels as inevitable as a ticking clock.The movie gives us a sense of how impotent Travis feels among the everyday crime of the city. The early scenes are painful, as Travis attempts to woo Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) on a date in which he takes her to a pornographic theater. After that fails, he talks to fellow cabbie Wizard (Peter Boyle), looking for advice about the bad thoughts he's been having in a rare moment of self-reflection. But Wizard offers him nothing in return, and this is the moment in the film where Travis enters the void. He makes an attempt to assassinate the political candidate Betsy is campaigning for, but after that falls through as well, he decides to go on one final suicide mission, saving the underage prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster, in one of the best adolescent performances I've ever seen) from her pimp (Harvey Keitel). The climax is chilling, as Travis walks into the whorehouse fully armed and blows everyone in the place away, the camera switching to slow motion to embody his complete detachment from his actions.And this is where we get to the heart of the film. In an earlier scene, as Travis is rejected by Betsy over the phone, Scorsese slides the camera over to show an empty hallway, saying that it's as if we can't bear the pain of seeing Travis rejected. However, by the slow-motion finale, Travis, by way of his isolation and loneliness, has become so numb to what he sees around him that he doesn't even connect pulling the trigger with killing a human being. In his eyes, he's just pushing a button to solve a problem. In this aspect, the film remains more relevant than ever, as it goes a long way towards explaining why so many seemingly pointless crimes are committed every single day.Robert De Niro is absolutely flawless in his greatest performance. He possesses the rare skill of convincingly showing one emotion to the characters around him while also signifying to the audience what he's actually thinking. He plays a different type of role than the macho, charismatic type he usually plays in Scorsese's films (think "Mean Streets" and "Goodfellas"), and he never steps wrong, whether he's portraying social awkwardness, deep loneliness, or, finally, a vengeful wrath.Scorsese's camera has never been so restless and searching, his New York never so dystopian and hopeless, his view never so bleak and grim. What he's showing us is hell on earth, and you feel it in every scene."Taxi Driver" has as much hope as the desert has water, a portrayal of how depression and despair can lead to unthinkable acts. After it's all over, we have to ask ourselves: has anything really changed?

e-clayton-01810 First off, the cinematography was great, Robert De Niro was great, and the plot was great. I was all just great! What I like most about the film is it's unique yet mundane plot. Well, Its base is in the mundane life of a New Yorker. It's uniqueness come from these very "New York" esque random occurrences. The things that happen in the film are very out-there but could easily happen to any taxi driver in NYC . Its New York! It's a crazy ass city and the film says that perfectly. Secondly, I appreciate how the romance wasn't predictable. Anyone accustomed to mainstream film would've expected Cybill Shephard's character to forgive and fall in love with De Niro's character, but she didn't. In a way, that IS what drove the plot. It's interesting because in most film, romance drives the plot, but in this case, a lack of romance is what keeps the story moving. I also appreciate how un-Hollywood De Niro's character is. He has the makings of a secondary character due to his odd, quiet, "no-one-understands-me" personality. I think it is cool that the main character has such un-likable characteristics. i.e when he stalks Betsy (Shepard) and tells her about herself (which is apparently attractive), or when he threatens to kill her after she stops returning his calls. He is simply a weird guy and I enjoyed that. In terms of cinematography, I love the initial scene where there are a series of close ups of the taxi itself. I think that was a great choice and an interesting way of making the taxi feel like an actual, independent character. The building of the conflict and resolution were compelling as well. It's like the plot switches up on the De Niro as well as the audience. It's very clever. At the end of the day, Taxi Driver is a cinematically gorgeous film that illustrates a life not yet seen or understood by the mainstream; a seriously lonely man turned hero in the weirdest, most New Yorker way.