Taxi Driver
AfterMean Streetsput Martin Scorsese on Hollywood ’s radar , Taxi Driversolidified his status as one of the great support film producer . It has all the blood - soaked thrills of a traditional vigilante thriller , but it also deconstructs the troubled mentality of a military man who would take the law into his own manus .
Unlike many of his compeer , Scorsese has maintained his fabled status for intimately half a century , continually directing moving-picture show that are as relevant , intriguing , and attractively craft asTaxi Driver . Taxi Driveradheres to many of the figure and hallmarks that would go on to define Scorsese ’s directorial manner , from voiceover narration to symbolical camera motion to pitch - grim sense of humour .
Voiceover Narration
Many Scorsese picture feature voiceover narrative , butTaxi Driveruses it in a unique way . Scorsese ’s voiceovers are usually used to explain the complicated inside workings of the pack ( Goodfellas , Casino , andThe depart ) or , in the face ofThe Wolf of Wall Street , the complicated inner working of the stock market .
Taxi Driveruses its voiceover tale more likeMean Streetsto present the lead character ’s internal monologue . Travis ’ voiceovers are expressed through his rambling diary accounting entry , which offer a glance into his disturbed mind and a chronicle of its worsening condition .
Dark Humor
Scorsese has only made a couple of full - blown comedies , but all of his pic have the director ’s touch dark sense of humor . Johnny Boy bungle up a postbox for merriment inMean Streets . Jake LaMotta fly into a blind fury over a well - done steak and ends up in a screaming match with his nosy neighbour inRaging Bull . The Wolf of Wall Streetcontains so many raunchy , operose - R , sex - and - drug - fueled antics that it ’s been brand “ GoodfellasmeetsThe Hangover . ”
WhileTaxi Driveris primarily a harrowing psychological thriller , there are some dark laughs along the way . For example , Travis aim Betsy to a porn theater on their first date and is completely forgetful to how incompatible that is .
Robert De Niro
BeforeLeonardo DiCaprio was Scorsese ’s go - to result mankind , he would ofttimes cast Robert De Niro in lead role . They first collaborated onMean Streets . After De Niro gave one of his o.k. performances as Travis Bickle inTaxi Driver , the brace reunify forNew York , New York , Raging Bull , The King of Comedy , Goodfellas , Cape Fear , andCasino .
After a long open frame , they joined forces once more for the Netflix crime epicThe Irishman . Scorsese is currently knead on his first movie to feature both De Niro and DiCaprio : Killers of the Flower Moon .
New York City
Scorsese sets most of his movies in his hometown of New York City . Mean Streetsis set in Little Italy , Raging Bullis go under in the Bronx , Goodfellasis set in Brooklyn , andThe Wolf of Wall Streetis set in Manhattan .
With a bleak , uncompromising shot of the sprawl metropolis , Taxi Driveris considered to be one of the quintessential New York film . Travis agrees to drive his cab all over the city to avoid loneliness .
Grisly Violence
One of the most recognizable trademark of Scorsese ’s filmmaking is fury . From the pool hall wrangle inMean Streetstothe slaying of Billy Batts inGoodfellas , the violence in Scorsese ’s films is n’t glamourous or conventionalize . On the reverse , it ’s bleak and torturous and soberingly naturalistic .
As the dreary tale of a vigilance man taking up arm , Taxi Driveris one of Scorsese ’s most violent film . The last gunplay is so grim and graphic that Scorsese had to desaturate the blood just to achieve an R rating .
Cameo Appearance By Scorsese Himself
Like many auteurs , Scorsese run to make cameo appearance in his own moving picture . Alfred Hitchcock made this the normand it ’s since been replicate by everybody from Quentin Tarantino and M. Night Shyamalan . Scorsese has appeared in many of his own moving picture , includingTaxi Driver .
He make a abbreviated cameo appearance on a crowded street during Betsy ’s introduction , but he also has a full scene with a speaking role . The director gives a disturbing number as the passenger in Travis ’ taxi who stalks his cheat married woman and fantasizes about murdering her .
Blonde Female Lead
There are a few exceptions , like Lorraine Bracco inGoodfellas , but the conduce ladies in Scorsese ’s movies run to have blonde hair . Taxi Driver ’s Cybill Shepherd is a premier representative .
Other Scorsese blondes let in Zina Bethune inWho ’s That pink at My Door , Cathy Moriarty inRaging Bull , Rosanna Arquette inAfter Hours , Michelle Pfeiffer inThe Age of Innocence , Sharon Stone inCasino , Vera Farmiga inThe Departed , Michelle Williams inShutter Island , and Margot Robbie inThe Wolf of Wall Street .
Symbolic Camera Movements
Scorsese shoots a lot of scenes with a motionless camera , but he also likes to move the camera around with gumptious genus Pan , pulls , and tracking shots , unremarkably with symbolic partial .
As Travis telephone Betsy for a second particular date , the camera goes off down the hallway to fend off the awkwardness . In the backwash of the gunplay , the television camera rises above Travis like his soul allow his body and omnisciently watches the cops entering the construction .
Bittersweet Ending
Across a five - decade - spanning vocation , only two of Scorsese ’s flick – HugoandAlice Does n’t last Here Anymore – have accept mercy on their audience with a happy ending . Scorsese ’s endings tend to be bittersweetat their best and demoralizingly bleak at their bad .
Taxi Driverseemingly has a happy ending , but it ’s so ridiculously glad ( everything Travis wants , he gets ) that audiences have taken it with a mite of salt . possibly Travis keep Iris , won Betsy ’s heart , and became a beloved hero sandwich – or perhaps he just imagined all that as he was bleeding out in a bawdyhouse swarming with throttle - toting cops .
Antihero
Martin Scorsese ’s films rarely feature a traditional protagonist who has adept morals , attempt to do the correct affair , and is easy for the hearing to root for . His lead case run to be complex antihero who make reprehensible mistakes and pay a dear cost for those mistakes .
From Jake LaMotta to Henry Hill to Jordan Belfort to Frank Sheeran , Scorsese has charted the stories of all kinds of unconventional , unlikeable protagonists . Travis Bickle , the vigilance man who wants to make clean up the street of New York , is the quintessential cinematic antihero .
NEXT:10 Ways Taxi Driver ’s Travis Bickle Is The Quintessential Antihero
