This past weekend Marcia and I watched “Taxi Driver”, starring Robert De Niro, Jodi Foster, Cybil Shepard, Harvey Keitel, and Albert Brooks.
The following plot description was found on IMDB, written by Tim Jones:
Vietnam vet Travis Bickle (De Niro) is 26, a loner in the mean streets of New York City, slipping slowly into isolation and violent misanthropy. In solving his insomnia by driving a yellow cab on the night shift, he grows increasingly disgusted by the low-lifes that hang out at night: “Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.” His touching attempts to woo Betsy (Shepard), a Senator’s campaign worker, turn sour when he takes her to a porn movie on their first date. He even fails in his attempt to persuade child prostitute Iris (Foster) to desert her pimp (Keitel) and return to her parents and school. Driven to the edge by powerlessness, he buys four handguns and sets out to assassinate the Senator, heading for the infamy of a ‘lone crazed gunman’.
I know this is an iconic movie. But this is the second De Niro film that is highly regarded that I found less then enjoyable. In some respects this one makes “Raging Bull” legitimate in it’s hype. I found myself quite bored during the middle section of “Taxi Driver”. It’s not that I was expecting a lot. I never thought I would be bowled over by it. And I expected a more violent display from the character. (Marcia even mentioned she expected something more along the lines of “Scarface”.)
There is no doubting that De Niro is talented. He plays creepy quite well. But it was too subtle for me. I much prefer his version of “Cape Fear”. And though this film is probably supposed to show more of the building of his rage, it just didn’t stick with me. It wasn’t until that rage started rearing it’s head did it become interesting, and the movie was nearly over at that point. (Not that I like violence, just thought that that was what the movie was about.)
Even through my growing lack of interest while watching the movie, you can see where Martin Scorsese was wowing people. He even does a pretty good job of acting in it, playing some homicidal man looking to kill his cheating wife and her lover.
Sometimes I can really see the “classic” in classic movies (like “North by Northwest”), but others like “Taxi Driver” I feel that I am missing the point.
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