By ISAAC SERRATO
Staff Writer
There have been loner movies for a while now like Joker (2019) or Drive with Ryan Gosling. But what started this sub-genre of movies? Well, this sub-genre of movies started in 1976 with the classic, but also controversial film Taxi Driver.
Taxi Driver starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, with the legendary Martin Scorsese being the director of this film, with this film launching his career making him a household name in the New Hollywood era.
Taxi Driver takes place in New York City in the 1970s. Where the city experienced debt, a skyrocketing increase in crime/organized crime, gang wars, militant groups, police being defunded/ laid off, first responders laid off, a recession, immigrants moving in causing cultural tensions. The Bronx, once a nice area became a hellscape with abandoned apartments with squatters, people causing fires to claim insurance money, Brooklyn being a hotspot for crime, social distortion, Manhattan being filled with pee, traffic, murders, gangsters, serial killers with high rates of theft in the area. Staten Island had huge increases in crime, subways were nasty, vandalized (so were the trains), also unsafe, parks were dangerous at night. Schools were dangerous, seaports, banks, labor unions, were totally run by the mafia. New Jersey was the only safe place nearby but it had a mobster problem too with the police not knowing how to fight the mobs, out-gunned, out-manned, under-resourced/funded, or outright corrupt/bought out.
Robert De Niro plays an ex-marine (Travis Brickle) who served in Vietnam comes back home, moving to New York City in the 1970s. Travis decides to get a job as a Taxi Driver working 12-16 hours a day not because he has to but because he suffers from insomnia (possibly having schizotypal personality disorder). He can’t seem to sleep. He lives in a rundown apartment by himself in a rough area of Manhattan where he constantly rants on about the lowlifes, the terrible smell, the negative attitudes, with how he can’t wait “for the rain to come and wash all the scum off the street”. Travis is also socially awkward, isolated with his friends becoming increasingly worried about his mental health, addicted to adult material, taking up graveyard shifts because he can’t sleep. He witnessed the horror of moral decay, inner-city violence, poverty, disgusting crimes, or street drugs. Seeing this, Travis is disgusted with the city, society, along with arguing the system thinking the system is not doing its job of “cleaning up the streets”. His life changes when he meets a 12-year-old girl being trafficked, Iris (played by Jodie Foster), Travis seeing this goes on a mentally ill path as this breaks him as he sees a poor run-away being abused. Then Travis meets a young political officer for a presidential candidate, Besty (played by Cybill Shepherd). He falls in love with her but due to his disconnections from reality, social skills being poor, he loses her. This sends Travis further into a crazy mental state, where he takes action to “clean up” the streets. He ultimately does this because “On every street, there’s a nobody who dreams of being somebody. He’s a lonely forgotten man desperate to prove that he’s alive”. Travis is possibly angry that he fought in Vietnam not being thanked for his service, angry that he can’t get a woman even though he has the best intentions at heart, can’t help people because he isn’t a police officer, angry at politicians along with the justice system not caring on what’s happening right in front of them. He takes up arms to do what is right within the process of being noticed for once.
The plot is amazing based on the summary but the dream-like lighting, the tone, atmosphere that chokes, drowning you in existentialism. The music is highly memorable with a dark, sinister but calm jazzy vibe to it. The music becomes slowly dark the more the movie goes on as Travis’s mental state declines as the movie goes on. With the musical theme being a classic, highly recognizable being yet feels so lonely like Travis.
The themes of this movie are obviously about alienation, loneliness as the film writer Schrader experienced homelessness, depression, struggling to survive on his own in a city, writing a screenplay to vent his feelings.
Overall, Taxi Driver is a must-watch for those who like thrillers, slow-burns, tense movies, psychological movies, or movies that are forceful. The movie has a great soundtrack, lighting, screenplay, with good acting by amazing actors. Be warned this movie is not for the faint of heart as it has ultra-violent action, displays of inner-city crime with no filter. Those who are sensitive or easily offended stay away from this film as this movie has moments of racism along with the use of offensive terms, slang, or pure harsh treatment of other people with abuse being afflicted on children. If you can handle the extreme content, slow pace with the gritty material then you have a fun time with this movie.
