Taxi Driver (1976)
★★★½ — Taxi Driver (1976)
Taxi Driver arrived in 1976 at the peak of New Hollywood, a period when studios were handing creative control to a younger generation of directors willing to push against mainstream convention. Scorsese had already made Mean Streets (1973) and Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), but this was the film that established him as a major force. Paul Schrader's script drew on his own experiences of isolation and insomnia during a difficult period in his life, and the production shot largely on location in New York City, capturing a metropolis that genuinely felt on the edge. Made for a modest $1.9 million, it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and turned a significant profit, and it gave fourteen-year-old Jodie Foster a breakthrough role that required a legal guardian on set due to the material's adult content.
There’s no denying the technical mastery on display in Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver. It’s a film carved from shadow and neon, a fever dream of urban decay and isolation that pulses with paranoia and quiet rage. Robert De Niro delivers one of his most iconic performances as Travis Bickle, the insomniac Vietnam vet turned nocturnal cabbie, drifting through the rot of 1970s New York with hollow eyes and a growing sense of moral disgust. His descent is chillingly believable, rendered in small gestures like the way he stares into mirrors, mutters to himself, or obsessively cleans his arsenal. It’s acting of the highest order. The film is equally elevated by Bernard Herrmann’s smoky, jazz-tinged score, which wraps around the imagery like steam from a manhole cover, and by Michael Chapman’s gritty, voyeuristic cinematography. The direction is precise, the tension coiled tight beneath every interaction. Scenes of escalating confrontation (the infamous “You talkin’ to me?” monologue, the brutal finale) are executed with clinical intensity. As a piece of filmmaking, it’s undeniably powerful, a landmark of American cinema. And yet, for all its brilliance, Taxi Driver is deeply, profoundly uncomfortable, not because of its violence, but because of what it romanticises. Travis’s obsession with a young street worker, his relentless pursuit of her despite repeated rejections, and his self-appointed role as a saviour figure veer into deeply troubling territory. The film walks a razor-thin line between critique and complicity, and too often, it feels like it’s admiring its protagonist’s delusion rather than condemning it. I can appreciate the craft, the performance, the atmosphere, but I can’t shake the queasiness at its core. It’s a film I respect more than I can ever enjoy.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 1976 | Watched: 2025-07-25
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Martin Scorsese: Italianamerican (1974) · The King of Comedy (1982) · Gangs of New York (2002) · Cape Fear (1991)
More with Robert De Niro: The Untouchables (1987) · The King of Comedy (1982) · Shark Tale (2004) · Little Fockers (2010)
More from the 1970s: Fantastic Planet (1973) · Here and Elsewhere (1976) · Italianamerican (1974) · Punishment Park (1971)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
