My All Time Favorite Movies: Taxi Driver

I have been toying with the idea of doing a series of posts on my all time favorite movies for a little while now. Working at a movie theater again has started all of these conversations about movies and I always love to hear what people have on their lists of favorite movies. I decided I would take my 20 favorite movies of all time and write a blog entry about each of them. There are no set qualifications for a movie to be on this list. These are simply my 20 favorite movies of all time. They will not be numbered. Do not assume that I am going in order from 20-1. I will probably do that starting at 10, but honestly 11-20 are not numbered. They kind of exist right outside of the top 10. A few things you will realize as the list goes on are how recent so many of them are, and how Americanized the list is. I make no apologies for this. I know most people who are deep into film as I am often have many movies from the pre-1970s on their lists, but you will only find 2 or 3 of those here. I do not dislike "classic" movies in any way, but they have never stuck with me as much. I respect the craft, but I am rarely left feeling like they are my favorite movies. I cannot really explain it further than that. I am not xenophobic, but when it comes to cinema, I just prefer the American Aesthetic. I have roughly 10 foreign films that I love, but they do not make it into this list. Again, it is just my personal taste. Each post will be labeled as "favorite ever" so you can easily find them as I go on. As always, I love to hear feedback, if not on my choices, on your choices for some of your favorite movies of all time. Okay, onto this week's post. Oh and there will probably be spoilers about each title on the list.



If I am being completely honest, I would not consider Martin Scorsese one of my 5 favorite directors, but he is one of only 2 directors to have two films on my list, unless you count the Lord of the Rings movies as 3 different films (they will appear as 1 film on my list). I love many of his movies, but if I had to list 5 favorites he would barely miss the cut. His filmography is full of excellent to brilliant movies and his early work with De Niro as his lead as exceptional. I know if people are going to choose between Raging Bull and Taxi Driver, most will choose Raging Bull and I completely understand why. It is a technical marvel. It is a master film work, but for some reason, Taxi Driver is the movie that lingers for me. it is my second favorite Scorsese movie and my all time favorite Robert De Niro performance. It is a testament to the performance that it features probably the most parodied moment in cinematic history (The "you talkin' to me" scene) and yet when I watch Taxi Driver, I am still mesmerized by that moment and by that performance in general. De Niro is electric. He is electric in a way that makes you sad for what his career has become in the last 10 to 12 years. he is electric in a way where the line blurs between wanting him to succeed and fail in his quest of the film. His Travis Bickle is a world of confused and conflicted, and De Niro takes us through a brilliant journey of nuance, bravado, menace, and even heart break in a weird way.

Taxi Driver is the story of a Vietnam Veteran struggling to acclimate back into real life and since he cannot sleep any way he decides to become a late night cab driver to earn money from his insomnia. What makes the film so brilliant is watching his slow descent into madness. At first Bickle looks like your average guy and we are not entirely sure what it is going on, but he starts to crack. We see signs of frustration. He starts to get his body back in shape and looks like he is preparing for some sort of vigilante style war. Scorsese is a master film maker and he knows exactly when to take his time and when to let the movie fly. He and his editor understand how pacing of a movie like this can make or break it and everything moves in such a perfect way. The starts and stops are always unnerving because we just want to see what is going to happen. What makes the film especially brilliant is how it plays with perception of reality and fantasy. People get so upset over the perceived indeterminate ending, but I remember seeing this for the first time when I was probably 15 and thinking it was so perfect that we never know how much of the film was reality and how much was in Bickle's twisted fantasy.

Another thing that makes this film so perfect is the supporting performances. Harvey Keitel has what amounts to a cameo role that he does so much with, you wish there was more. Of course, the big find in this movie was Jodie Foster. As a 14 year old girl playing a 12 year old prostitute that Bickle feels the need to save, Foster is outstanding. he conveys depth way beyond her years and she finds a way to live inside this tough street wise little girl, but still make her vulnerable. You feel bad for everything that is going on around her that you forget this is a young actress doing all of this excellent work. Scorsese has always gotten amazing performances are out great actors, and he shows a deft touch in dealing with Foster's 12 year old character.

However, if you want my opinion, the real star of this show is the screenplay. The dialog is unforgettable. The story is juicy, relevant even today and creates this fully realized character in Travis Bickle. Paul Schrader wrote a gorgeous fever dream of a film and the right pieces were put in place to make it the terrific film it is. If you are mesmerized by the score from the beginning as New York is shown as a blurred out hazy dream, I do not know what to say to you. I feel like Taxi Driver is one of those films that works because the team was completely in sync. There is not a scene out of place, not a performance behind the others and Scorsese stands behind the camera as the mastermind behind this perfect snap shot of 1970s film making. Plus you have to love a movie that over 30 years later is still lighting up message boards with questions, theories and controversies over what exactly happened.