Film 5 (8/25/2005)

Taxi Driver (1976)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Recommended by: BacardiJim, tonguetiedlightning

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

Taxi Driver is a very well done film, to put it simply. The script was excellent, primarily because of how it slowly revealed the facets of Travis Bickle's character - and I believe that it is very important to note that it was done this way, as opposed to having some sort of introductory scene where you would hear all about the character before he really does anything. Had the latter been done, Bickle would have seemed a very dull character that would be very hard to sympathize with. Instead, we slowly get to know who Travis really is and by the end of the film we find he's not so different from us after all.

There is, however, one issue I do have with the film:

In the climax, when Bickle passes out on the couch after the police arrive, it seems as though Travis is dead. Then, of course, we find out that he's not - which is perfectly fine. What I don't like is the dramatic music during the segue from the end of the climax to when we see that he's not dead. I just think the music was a bit over the top dramatic.

Maybe that's a bad first impression, but it's still my current take.

Despite that, which is a minor point anyhow, this film was very well directed and serves as a great character study - not just for Travis Bickle, but for a handful of the players in Taxi Driver. An excellent cast with a great performace; this one will be part of my collection very soon, and deserves a longer review after more study.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Plot Effectiveness: 5/5. As I said, a great character study. By the end I really understood Travis, even though he's labeled as "weird" throughout the film (and in fact, I thought he was weird for a while, also).

Cinematography/Shot Selection: 5/5. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Scorsese consistently scores high in this area.

Overall Acting: 4/5. This might be De Niro's best film. Even Jodie Foster did very well.

Score/Soundtrack: 5/5. Having calming jazz music throughout most of the film is essential to understanding Bickle more thoroughly. This will be covered at greater length when I write a more in-depth review.

OVERALL RATING: 4.5/5

~Fentablar~