Taxi Driver ****1/2 (out of 5) (1976)

Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Albert Brooks

Directed by Martin Scorsese


A discharged Vietnam vet works as a cab driver in the tough streets of New York City. He's antisocial and unsavvy about the way the world works, but manages to eke out a workable life for himself. He begins to become obsessed with a woman working for a presidential candidate, and manages to get her to go out with him. When she ultimately rejects him, he meets a preteen hooker who he tries to help. With delusions of love fueling thoughts on assassinating the candidate, he begins to slip into madness.

TAXI DRIVER is one of those rare films that actually gets better with each successive viewing. Deep and multifaceted, this is one of the best films of the 70s, and a stroke of genius on the part of director Scorsese. De Niro and Foster deliver brilliant and forever memorable performances, and Bernard Herrmann's score is one of his best. Funny, tragic, moving and shocking...a near masterpiece of pent-up angst cinema.


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