182: Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver (R) - 1976 - Runtime: 113 minutes
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
Director: Martin Scorcese

So I'm totally used to seeing De Niro being past the age of 50. He's just so young in this movie. And not to mention cute! If he was promoting this movie today, I'm sure those female jackals on The View would be salivating.

Although at this point in his career he made some significant hits, Travis Bickle was De Niro's break out role. Taxi Driver was his second collaboration with Scorcese and by this point they seemed to have mastered both of their professions. Taxi Driver is in AFI's Top 100, but to me, I could find 100 better movies than this boring, and pretty much, useless piece of cinema.

Did I come off too harsh? Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know you adore slow moving, pointless melodramatic plots and movies that seems close to boiling, but never rises to the occasion. Maybe I don't "get it," but I just thought the movie was long and tedious.

Travis Bickle is taxi driver (big surprise, huh?) who sees all the filth and scum come out at night during his night shifts. And he's the only one to take care of it. He's mentally unstable - although if he just had a friend or woman in his life (possibly Cybill Shepherd - but he makes the classic mistake of taking her to a pornographic movie on their first date. After weeks of stalking her, too. Trust me, I've been there! Women, they just don't understand...) to straighten him out, he wouldn't have snapped near the end of the movie. But I guess the movie was saying it was inevitable. Whatever, too late, Mr. Scorcese. I was bored after the first half hour.

I understand this movie is a portrait of a man who's a ticking time bomb and how just a few seconds of time could either make him a hero or a villain in society's eyes. He either ends up killing a senator or killing the pimps and drug dealers. But what I don't understand is how this can't be done in an entertaining way. I say this a lot, but this movie could have been cut down by thirty minutes. Performances and direction are deserving of the accolades, but it's just not enough to get past how much I wanted something to happen.

Although De Niro in a mohawk? Classic.

Rating: Not Worth Paying For