Taxi Driver (1976)

Often considered a cornerstone of cinema Taxi Driver left me wanting more. Its not that the movie is bad but perhaps the reputation preceding the product killed it for me. De Niro is in top form as loner Travis Bickle who tries hard to fit in but just cannot. Martin Scorsese has crafted a moody drama film set in his native streets of New York and the cinematography is sublime. It makes you feel uneasy because you are on the level of Travis. Great bit parts from Jodie Foster and Harvey Keital enhance the acting front and a sublime jazz score gives a nice touch. However I feel that the film is a tad overrated

Some movies just confuse me. They have fabulous reputations but I find them difficult to like due to their excessive and pointless violence. Well, I may just be "out of touch", since this movie is in the top 50 on IMDb ratings. However, I also worry that this film and other ultra-violent films like SCARFACE (the Pacino version) are adored by so many. We live in a violent world--that's a fact. And, I wonder how much of that violence is either exacerbated by it or it encourages good people to become desensitized to violence or even find it exciting. I hope to think I am better than that.Now I am not saying that there weren't some really good elements to the movie and it was very well made. But, the film is so thoroughly soaked in violence and human waste that the good is grossly overshadowed. Just because the people De Niro kills at the end are bad guys doesn't mean it is entertaining or less offensive. Regardless, these sort of films are not something I enjoy.

Everyone knows that Robert De Niro is one of the all time greatest actors... at least in my opinion. The story line follows a man who is in the world running through it like a lone wolf. Everyone has quoted "You talkin to me?" even if they don't realize where its coming from. The interesting perspective of the movie makes it that much better. For a man that can not sustain any relationships with a single human being he makes the audience love him.

Good movie, shows the true horrors of war and what the desire for justice and the urge to help people does to the minds of soldiers coming back from war. it shows a darker side of how soldiers feel justice should be appropriated in their minds. it does all this while truly delivering a suspenseful and riveting psychological thriller that sucks in the viewer to find out what happens next.