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DVD Tuesday: 30 Years Later, Taxi Driver Still Stunning
Taxi Driver box art courtesy Sony Pictures
DVD Tuesday: Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese and New York City's Heart of Darkness
Did the world really need a new collector's edition of Taxi Driver (1976)? Probably not, but it's a great excuse — as though one were needed — to recommend a great film. And on top of Taxi Driver's intrinsic merits, watching it again was a fascinating reminder of how much New York City has changed since the mid-1970s. Check out Columbus Circle sans the massive glass slabs of the Time Warner Center, visit the now-vanished Bellmore Cafeteria, and witness the grunginess of Central Park's unrefurbished Maine Monument and the sheer sleazy glory of Times Square before Disney scrubbed the life out of it. There's a shocker in every scene, and that's before Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) starts his personal cleanup campaign. I remember that New York vividly and seeing Taxi Driver brings it all back.
For anyone who doesn't know the plot, it chronicles the mental disintegration of insomniac Vietnam veteran Travis, a loner whose stint as a late-night cabbie drives him right into his own personal hell. Written by Paul Schrader and directed by Martin Scorsese (it's one of the many films for which he should have gotten that Oscar), it's a feverish, mesmerizing chronicle of urban isolation and features not one but three unforgettable performances. First and foremost, there's De Niro's tragic, terrifying Travis: Everyone knows the "You talkin' to me" speech — it's great at parties. But in context it's chilling enough to raise your neck hair, no matter how many times you've seen it. Given the mighty heap of hack De Niro has spent the last decade amassing, a look at Taxi Driver or Raging Bull (1980) is a bracing reminder of what he was. Everyone knows now that Jodie Foster is an accomplished actress, but back then she was a 14-year-old child star looking to transition to adult roles — which she did, ironically, by playing Taxi Driver's 12-year-old prostitute, Iris Steensma. And Harvey Keitel had been kicking around the business for a decade when he got his teeth into the role of Sport, Iris' pimp: And he made every moment of it count.
In its day, Taxi Driver was a fiercely divisive film: For every voice calling it a masterpiece, there were complaints that it glorified violence and painted the deranged Travis as a populist hero. I'm in the former camp: Travis' rampage buys him a few minutes of tabloid fame and the gratitude of Iris' small-town parents, but I think it's a willful misreading to imagine that either Scorsese or Schrader glorifies it.
Things to consider:
• Taxi Driver's New York is the New York of Travis' mind. How does his point of view affect the way he sees the city?
• Does depicting violence and insanity on screen necessarily make them attractive?
• Foster was 14 when she played Iris. Is it inherently distasteful to cast young performers in controversial roles, an argument raised most recently apropos the Dakota Fanning film Hounddog (2007)?
Send your movie questions to FlickChick.
Hear Maitland on the weekly podcast TV Guide Talk.
See Maitland McDonagh and Ken Fox review this week's new flicks on the Movie Talk vodcast.
Previously in DVD Tuesday:
Renaissance
Blowup
Hot Fuzz
300
Ace in the Hole
Eyes Without a Face
Apocalypto
Citizen Kane
La Jetée
Gone in 60 Seconds (1974)
Bob le Flambeur
Near Dark
Perfect Blue
Pan's Labyrinth
Les Girls
The Girl Who Knew Too Much
The Queen
Expresso Bongo
I'm Not Scared
Shocking Grindhouse Double Bill! — Scanners and The Candy Snatchers
Don't Look Now
Re-Animator
Casino Royale
http://community.tvguide.com/thread.jspa?threadID=800073953#comments">Pi
The Prestige
13 Tzameti
The Departed
Suspiria
Kiss and Make Up
Kiss Me Deadly
The Long Good Friday
What Alice Found
The Devil's Backbone
The Descent
The Devil Wears Prada
Pandora's Box
The Thief and the Cobbler
Nashville
Panic in the Streets/Jack Palance Interview
The Pusher Trilogy
Scarface
Slither
Sunset Blvd.
In Cold Blood
Brick
Also: This week's new DVD releases
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Aug 21, 2007 10:39 AM
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I remember the first time I watched Taxi Driver - I have to say that I didn't really enjoy it. It took a second viewing to really appreciate what Scorsese was trying to do!
I never liked Travis Bickle - and in no way, shape or form did I ever feel that he was glorified. I have never been to NY but this movie gave me the same feeling that Dog Day Afternoon did - a mid-70's gritty, dirty New York City!
As for Jodie Foster - I think that the movie would have been completely different without her in it. Childrens roles are necessary but difficult to fill. I think that is why there are so few good child actors. It is a tough job!
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Aug 21, 2007 12:45 PM
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Maitland:
I am wondering about your views on child actors. I have heard you state several times on the Podcast that children are not "acting". That they don't have a mature emotional range or enough world experience to create a character and rely on coaching and directing to get the job done (I don't want to put words in your mouth... but that is my take on your view).
I tend to disagree except in the case of very, very young children. So I am curious to know the age (roughly) when you think this changes for a child actor. Jodie Foster is 14 in this movie and is clearly acting to me. Let me assume for a moment you'd agree. If she was 12, would you feel the same way? 10? Even if she was able to give a very similar performance?
As to your question, I think it's perfectly fine for certain child actors to be cast in difficult roles. Dakota shrugged off suggestions of mental abuse by trying to get people to understand that it's just acting. That made me like her a whole lot more!
I think the mental anguish that child actors face off-screen far outweigh anything done in front of the camera (see Jay North and, well, everyone from Diff'rent Strokes).
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Aug 21, 2007 2:04 PM
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I remember the first time I watched Taxi Driver - I have to say that I didn't really enjoy it. It took a second viewing to really appreciate what Scorsese was trying to do!
I agree-I would have to give it a second look before I could really give an informed opinion!
If only they had a New Collector's Edition of Taxi Driver....
Good points, Achy!
But how dare you call whatever they are doing on Diff'rent Strokes acting!
What you talkin' 'bout, Achy?
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Aug 21, 2007 3:33 PM
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David Thomson in the Biographical Dictionary of Film makes a point of how Foster's performance avoids sensationalism. Iris is ultimately a fairly bland and uninteresting girl (and thus more believable) beyond what she does on the streets. 70s movies in general were able to be so much more matter-of-fact about things that the industry has now gone back to sensationalizing. Which makes the participation of a 14-year-old all the more extraordinary.
BTW, it's probably been said before, but the Biographical Dictionary is a book that every film-conscious household should have a copy of. It's the most well-thumbed film book on my shelf, but Maitland, Broken Mirrors/Broken Minds is not far behind. Thanks.
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Aug 21, 2007 3:40 PM
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I saw Taxi Driver in its original release in theatres. It was many years later I caught it on video. It made an impression the first time, but I think it took the second viewing to 'get' some of its finer points.
I've been told by experts in child psychology that generally a child doesn't have the decision making skills it takes to be a master manipulator until they are 9 or 10. This is a generalization, so not always true. But if you suppose it's at all accurate, Jody Foster probably was acting at 14. I remember discussions on whether her playing this role was appropriate. I thought it was done so carefully and skillfully that it really shouldn't have been criticized. If anything, it was bland as mirakle58 stated.
No fictional story would form my opinion on any place. It may make me want to go somewhere or be careful in another place. But I don't judge by what the 'pretenders' of the world tell me.
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Aug 21, 2007 4:03 PM
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