Taxi Driver
Region One Collectors Edition DVD
 (1976)
review by Head Cheeze

Voted one of the 100 Best Films of All Time, by the American Film Institute, Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver is a film that has never lost it's visceral impact, even after more than a quarter century. Boasting one of film's best screenplays by regular Scorsese collaborator, Paul Schrader, and award worthy performances by Robert DeNiro and Jodie Foster, as well as Scorsese's expert New York eye, it's hard to imagine a more perfect example of dark cinema.

Travis Bickle (DeNiro) is a lonely and unstable Vietnam veteran living in New York City. His sleepless nights, and utter disgust with his own company, send him out into the streets of the city where he takes on a job as a cabbie. At first, Bickle relishes the job, taking enjoyment in the bizarre clientele of late night Manhattan, but soon grows disgusted by the city's decadence and deviance. When he happens upon a child prostitute named "Iris" (Foster) and her shady pimp (Keitel), Bickel is pushed over the edge and into a violent downward spiral.

Taxi Driver is a film that has inspired dozens of copycat vigilante flicks and urban dramas, but none have come close to the humanity of the original. Travis Bickle is not a despicable character, nor is he particularly wronged into doing what he does; he just does it because it's what his skewed perceptions deem the right thing to do. There is no "major character development" that causes him to lose control, instead he is just a unstable individual who acts on the horror he sees around him; things we all see on the daily basis but ignore. In a way, his rational resides in all of us, some of us just hide it a little better than others.

The Collectors Edition DVD from Columbia/Tri-Star is a great set, with a pristine digitally remasterd anamorphic print and sound mix, as well as a truckload of extras, including the original screenplay, a making-of featurette, advertising gallery, stills montage, theatrical trailers, and the usual liner notes, talent bios, and filmographies. While a commentary by the principal cast and crew would have been a more than welcome edition, this DVD sells for under $10.00, so it gets 5 skulls easily.

One of the best films of all time, and easily the best film of it's genre, Taxi Driver is unconditionally guaranteed.