Taxi Driver is the story of a deeply troubled man. He can’t sleep despite working all day and spending hours at porn theatres so he decides to drive a taxi in New York at night. He doesn’t have any qualms about going to any parts of the city, just wants to get through the night. He clearly is struggling with PTSD, a term that didn’t even exist at the time the film was written and made. Well of course the disorder existed, we just hadn’t defined it properly. He is deeply dissatisfied with what he sees around him, the streets of New York, the sex and drugs-infused streets of the city after the sun goes down, and wishes for some cleansing rain to clean off all the filth. He is also a lost man looking for a purpose in life, wanting to matter.
Title: Taxi Driver
Year: 1976
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cinematographer: Michael Chapman
Producer: Michael Phillips, Julia Phillips
Screenplay: Paul Schrader
Music: Bernard Herrmann
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, and Albert Brooks
Editing: Marcia Lucas, Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro
Score: Bernard Herrmann
Runtime: 1hr 56m
Genre: Neo-noir, psychological thriller
Rating: IMDB 8.2, Rotten Tomatoes 96%
Awards: Palme d'Or [Cannes, 1977], and more.
