You talkin' to me?...

Well it has been a while so I thought I'd have a go at writing another review. The movie I will review is Taxi Driver, starring Robert De Niro, a very young Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd and directed by Martin Scorsese. The movie was released in 1976 and was nominated for 4 academy awards and didn't win any. It is about a taxi driver (no surprises there) played by De Niro who drives around and picks up people, takes them to where they want to go, and collects a fare for it. The End. So that is the simple plotline and really about as in depth as I will go with it. Apparently Travis Bickle (the taxi driver [played by De Niro]) is a Vietnam Vet and he suffers from loneliness and insomnia. The weird thing about this movie is that not a real lot happens but I never got bored. In fact I actually wanted the movie to go longer which is really weird for me. As it is it runs for just under 2 hours. I think the reason I liked it was because I kept on thinking to myself - "something is going to happen". The Travis Bickle character is a loose cannon and the chances were that he was going to do something interesting at some stage, other than drive a taxi. In the back of my mind was the fact that I fell for exactly the same thinking in the movie Citizen Kane where that "something" never eventuates. In Taxi Driver it does eventuate. I won't give anything away but it becomes violent at the end. I got the feeling that the movie was just getting interesting when it ended - that is why I wanted it to go longer.

In summing up, I think this movie is more likeable by people who look for depth in movies, in this case how a man struggles with loneliness and alienation. If you read some of the other reviews about it they go in depth about such things and how the movie contains hidden meanings and metaphors as a reflection on how a man can be lonely in one of the biggest cities in the World, blah blah blah.... For me I like a movie to be entertaining. If I have to think, I'm probably not being entertained. If I have to search for the hidden meaning in a movie then I pretty much definitely am not being entertained. However, this movie had enough in it for me to be entertained and I think it would probably be my favourite De Niro movie (other than Meet The Parents - a movie where I could leave my brain at the door when I watched it).

I read that De Niro is a "method actor", meaning he immerses himself in his character when he plays them. For this he apparently drove taxis 12 hours a day for a month to prepare for the role. Personally I think it was a waste of time (though he probably made some good pocket money). Though he does drive a taxi for a lot of the movie, it isn't what it is focussed on. The taxi driver character is just a metaphor for the struggles of man juxtaposed with the bright lights and hussle and bussle of .... blah blah blah. I think I'm becoming a real movie critic!

The Rating -
Taxi Driver: 7 taxis

note: ratings are becoming a little bit difficult now as I compare them with previous movies I watched. I was going to give this 6.5 but noticed I gave Casino a 7. I enjoyed this as much as that so that is why it gets a 7. I probably didn't enjoy it more than Casablanca, but as it was the first movie I reviewed perhaps it now deserves more than the 6.5 I gave it at the time.