Taxi Driver (Collector's Edition) [DVD]

This movie has drama, excitement and a reality check on the times. Will never disappoint.

De Niro...el mejor.

Martin Scorsese points out in the documentary on the 1999 "Collector's Edition" DVD of 1976's "Taxi Driver" that he didn't feel the movie would necessarily speak to a large audience, and yet that it was a film that he really had to do, and I say more power to him. "Taxi Driver" is more than just a great movie, it's frighteningly real and incredibly powerful.Anyone who tells you that this movie is boring or that it meanders is horrendously missing the point. This is an incredibly well-realized movie, masterfully paced, and evocative. There is some great black humor in "Taxi Driver", but its primary impact is psychological, and in turn, emotional. The movie tends to be very low-key, but in a continuously arrestingly and usually creepy way. A ton of the credit for this of course goes to Robert De Niro for his incredible lead performance as the crippingly lonely cabbie Travis Bickle, a man of contrasts who's disturbed to the very core of his being. Seeing Iris, a 12-year-old prostitute remarkably portrayed by Jodie Foster, ultimately pushes Bickle to the very brink. The movie's post-shootout finale, which I agree is clearly a fantasy from Bickle's mind, is a hauntingly powerful stroke of genius.The casting is amazing all around. Harvey Keitel is right in his element, with a terrific performance as Sport, aka "the pimp". Peter Boyle is great as the so-called "Wizard", Albert Brooks adds some lighthearted humor to the proceedings where appropriate, and the wonderful Cybill Shepherd is as mesmerizing as ever. Even Martin Scorsese is absolutely brilliant filling in a bit part as a homicidal passenger in Travis' cab."Taxi Driver" additionally hints at Scorsese's excellent musical taste by using Jackson Browne's "Late For The Sky" in the soundtrack. The song's appearance in the film is a little jarring, but quite fitting, and it IS one of the best songs ever written.The making-of documentary featured in the 1999 "Collector's Edition" is highly worthwhile, containing interview segments from Scorsese, De Niro, Shepherd, Boyle, Foster, Keitel, Brooks, Schrader, etc., providing fascinating insight. It becomes apparent that the essence of Paul Schrader's screenplay was at once captured while also being appropriately flashed out thanks to Scorsese and the incredibly talented actors. The movie itself has been remastered, and the sound and picture quality are pristine.If you don't have it already, this "Collector's Edition" is the way to go. "Taxi Driver" deserves to be hailed as one of the very best movies ever, and any serious viewer should appreciate it.

Delivered on time

As I watched Taxi Driver for the first time in twenty-odd years, I was reminded of M. Night Shyamalan's Unbreakable. Not because Unbreakable comes anywhere close to Taxi Driver in terms of cinematic merit, but because Taxi Driver seemed to be aiming at the same broad theme--a comic book-style hero in a gritty, adult world. Because, if anything, Travis Bickle seems to fit quite closely a real world Batman, enraged by the injustices of the world, unable to fit in, and ultimately taking the law into his own hands. He has a raw honesty--in sizing up people, in not being offended by a porn movie--and an uncontrollable urge to act on a primal sense of right and wrong.Clearly, Travis is also more complex--and more disturbed--than the average comic book hero. After all, Scorcese is aiming for real life (as to which Unbreakable is a pale, upper-middle-class imitation), and Travis' own, flat reaction to his apparent "psychosis" (his lamentations about having "these thoughts" was particularly impressive) betray a condition that at least fits our preconceived notions of what it means to be mentally "ill." But, unlike so many "sane" people, Travis does the unthinkable--he speaks to people honestly and openly, he gets enraged by injustice and immorality (no one else in the movie seems to care very much about 12 year old prostitutes), he has a nobility about himself (not giving in to sexual temptation from Jodie Foster's character). And his apparent planning to attack a presidential candidate (the movie is never really clear as to whether he intends to harm the man, or even scare him) seems driven by the falsity of the candidate's message--his "we are the people" mantra echoing in a world where the common people (at least those encountered by Travis) are the last ones you'd want running things.The ending is fascinating. Is it real or a fantasy? The clippings of newspaper articles, as the camera scans across the board, say Travis is dead, and then later that he is comatose, but recovering. I suspect that the ending is a dream, the hallucination of a dying man who has his nobility vindicated in the end by appreciative parents and a city that needs more men like him.

It's a classic you know. I'm a fan you know? it was only like a few bucks... you know?Aside from that you could always watch it online, or get it from the library, or netflix (is it on there?)But if you would like to watch all the extra features get it, I hope you enjoy.

Great find and price for collectors find.

I purchased this for a friend and she is wild over Robert De Niro. She is crazy about it.

Excellent product! Excellent Customer Service

first rate

Good movie