When people are talking about good old times, they actually want to make some bad times look better. A nice example of such behaviour is the contemporary attitude of popular media towards the 1970s. For new generations, the 'Superseventies' are the lost Golden Age of chic fashion, cult TV shows and sexual freedom unchecked by AIDS. For people who actually had to live in that period, it was the Gloomy Decade, marked by lost ideals of 1968, rampant inflation and unemployment, international terrorism, fuel crisis and loss of faith in almost everything that the previous generation stood for. Feelings of despair and nihilism found their reflections in many films of that era. Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, which symbolises both the glory and despair of the Seventies, is the most celebrated of them all.
The movie's protagonist is Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a 26-year-old former Marine who takes a job as a taxi driver in New York City because he can't sleep at night. The job exposes him to the dark side of an apocalyptic megalopolis, and Travis gradually becomes alienated from the rest of the world. The only bright spot in his life is Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), an attractive woman working in Senator Palantine's presidential campaign. Their date ends as a humiliating fiasco because Travis makes a fatal mistake by inviting her to a porno movie theatre. Losing his only link to the better side of the world, Travis gradually descends into psychosis, becoming convinced that his mission in life is to battle the scum on the streets. He purchases a formidable arsenal of guns and begins physical preparations for the inevitable conflict. That conflict finally comes when he takes a personal interest in Iris (Jodie Foster), a 12-year-old prostitute who temporarily took refuge in his taxi.
As with many great movies that have gained cult status over the years, Taxi Driver has become the object of many interpretations. For some critics and scholars, it is an exploration of universal subjects that date back to Dostoevsky — the loss of moral compass in a bleak reality of dirty, overpopulated industrial cities; the story could have been set in the 19th century as easily as in our own times. For others, the movie uses a Raskolnikov-like figure in order to portray the burning problems of 1970s America — its apparent inability to deal with the consequences of the rapid social changes that occurred in the previous decade.
The brilliant performance of Robert De Niro in the role of a lifetime can provide arguments for both sides. His Travis Bickle has a lot in common with most average viewers of today — many of us share his feelings of isolation, loneliness and outrage at crime, drugs, prostitution and senseless street violence. His pathetic attempts to establish some kind of human connection with the people around him, sometimes in the most unusual circumstances — like with Secret Service agents, pimps or job interviewers — make him a person too goofy to be the hero, and too pathetic to be the classic villain. However, most average viewers are sensible enough to recognise the thin line that separates concerned citizens or troubled souls from fanatical madmen. But despite everything, the average viewer at the end actually cheers for Travis — his crusade against 'scum' is something that the average person wants, but doesn't have the stomach or the brains to do.
While De Niro's Travis might transcend particular times and places, the other characters who appear in the film (mostly played by character actors) give it a distinctively 1970s feel. Wizard (played by Peter Boyle) presents the only link with America's better past; but only because he is the oldest taxi driver in the company and therefore everybody assumes that he 'knows stuff'. His obvious inadequacy in giving advice to a troubled Travis illustrates the inability of pre-1960s generations to find answers to the problems of the Gloomy Decade. Other characters, on the other hand, show the bad side of the New Age. Matthew 'Sport' (Keitel, who befriended real-life pimps in order to prepare for his role of a lifetime) is dressed like a hippie; Iris found an excuse for her escape to the world of drugs and child prostitution in the ideology of the Counterculture. Porno movies, which should be an element of the new times of sexual freedom, are too much even for supposedly 'liberated' Betsy. Even the politicians, like Senator Palantine, are lost in the post-Vietnam and post-Watergate mess; his broad and senseless 'messages' that cover the lack of any serious programme can't fool even idiots like Travis. The past is gone, the present is bad, and even the future seems bleak, and the feeling of pessimism can't be washed away even by an ironic happy ending.
Travis and his world find themselves in a desperate situation, and Martin Scorsese uses the best of his cinematic skills in order to pour the gloom of Schrader's screenplay onto the silver screen. New York City at night is portrayed as a Hell on Earth, and the red lights and steam coming out of the sewers give it a surreal, almost Stygian atmosphere. Another important element of the atmosphere is the score of the great Bernard Herrmann, whose efficient use of jazz elements gives a certain melancholy that softens the brutality of the motion picture.
One of the greatest ironies of Taxi Driver is the fact that the movie was, same as its protagonist, famous for the wrong reasons. Instead of receiving cult status because of its artistic merits, for many years it was tabloid-fodder because of Hinckley and his real-life re-enactment of events in the movie. Now, more than two decades later, when some other 'life imitating art' incidents have received more attention, we can finally enjoy Taxi Driver in all its artistic glory.
RATING: 9/10
(Note: The original text was posted in Usenet newgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on May 14th 1998)
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