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Taxi Driver (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
Genre: Crime Drama
So I watched this for the very first time and I was totally impressed with Robert DeNiro! His performance was worthy of the Oscar, indeed he was nominated Best Actor. I mean he was the character! He immersed himself into the role, it was really quite an amazing feat of method acting.
And I'm guessing it's DeNiro as the mentally unstable taxi driver that people love. Sure I could see this movie being a cult classic, but one of the all time great classics? Nah, I don't think so.
The first act, which ends after he takes Cybil Shepard to a porn film was all amazing. The intensity and oddness of the taxi driver, along with the ultra realness of the gritty world that he inhabited, was powerful stuff. It felt like I was there! I'd give the first act a 4/5, good stuff!
But when the director Martin Scorsese appears in the film for the second time, things went downhill. As soon as I spotted him it took me right out of the film's world and made me acutely aware I was watching a movie. Worse than that, I realized as Scorsese set in the cab talking about shooting his cheating wife...his dialogue...and his body language was a duplicate of the taxi drivers. That took me out of the film even further...and it reminded me of Tarantino's stale choice to insert himself into Django Unchained. Neither director is a great actor, so leave the acting to the professionals.
In the final act I was hoping the relationship between Jodie Foster's 12 year old prostitute and her would be hero, the taxi driver, would be dynamic and would power the last part of the film. Unfortunately we only get one good scene between them in the restaurant, that develops their bond.
And while it can be said the prostitute was what triggered him to go on a shooting rampage, there wasn't enough about their relationship to bring the movie to a fevered pitch. Instead the final act of the shooting rampage just seems to be rushed. It's like there needed to be another scene before the ending.
As it was I found the ending emotionally unsatisfying, as I the viewer hadn't sufficiently been primed by the movie to hate the pimp and the hotel manager enough to really want to see them dead.
But I'm surprised I enjoyed the shooting spree as entertainment. I found it kind of funny/entertaining when he blows his fingers off, it was kind of comically filmed. But it lacked utter seriousness in the way it was filmed and so didn't deliver an emotional wallop like I would have hoped for.
Even the sound effects for the guns seemed muted and the camera angles got all artsy during the shooting. It was like Scorsese made a conscious decision to downplay the violence...especially in his choice of ending music score with an overbearing harp, of all things.
Writer: Paul Schrader
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
Genre: Crime Drama
So I watched this for the very first time and I was totally impressed with Robert DeNiro! His performance was worthy of the Oscar, indeed he was nominated Best Actor. I mean he was the character! He immersed himself into the role, it was really quite an amazing feat of method acting.
And I'm guessing it's DeNiro as the mentally unstable taxi driver that people love. Sure I could see this movie being a cult classic, but one of the all time great classics? Nah, I don't think so.
The first act, which ends after he takes Cybil Shepard to a porn film was all amazing. The intensity and oddness of the taxi driver, along with the ultra realness of the gritty world that he inhabited, was powerful stuff. It felt like I was there! I'd give the first act a 4/5, good stuff!
But when the director Martin Scorsese appears in the film for the second time, things went downhill. As soon as I spotted him it took me right out of the film's world and made me acutely aware I was watching a movie. Worse than that, I realized as Scorsese set in the cab talking about shooting his cheating wife...his dialogue...and his body language was a duplicate of the taxi drivers. That took me out of the film even further...and it reminded me of Tarantino's stale choice to insert himself into Django Unchained. Neither director is a great actor, so leave the acting to the professionals.
In the final act I was hoping the relationship between Jodie Foster's 12 year old prostitute and her would be hero, the taxi driver, would be dynamic and would power the last part of the film. Unfortunately we only get one good scene between them in the restaurant, that develops their bond.
And while it can be said the prostitute was what triggered him to go on a shooting rampage, there wasn't enough about their relationship to bring the movie to a fevered pitch. Instead the final act of the shooting rampage just seems to be rushed. It's like there needed to be another scene before the ending.
As it was I found the ending emotionally unsatisfying, as I the viewer hadn't sufficiently been primed by the movie to hate the pimp and the hotel manager enough to really want to see them dead.
But I'm surprised I enjoyed the shooting spree as entertainment. I found it kind of funny/entertaining when he blows his fingers off, it was kind of comically filmed. But it lacked utter seriousness in the way it was filmed and so didn't deliver an emotional wallop like I would have hoped for.
Even the sound effects for the guns seemed muted and the camera angles got all artsy during the shooting. It was like Scorsese made a conscious decision to downplay the violence...especially in his choice of ending music score with an overbearing harp, of all things.