Taxi Driver/Casino/Mean Streets [DVD]

Description

Triple bill of intense film dramas from the renowned pairing of director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro. In 'Taxi Driver' (1976) Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle (De Niro) works as a New York City taxi driver, and is consumed with disgust for the 'filth' which surrounds him. His explosive, psychotic loathing eventually drives him to make an attempt on the life of a politician and, when it fails, he turns his attention to saving a prostitute (Jodie Foster) from the clutches of her pimp. In 'Casino' (1995) De Niro plays Sam 'Ace' Rothstein, the mob's frontman for a billion dollar Las Vegas casino. The story begins in 1973; Ace falls for hooker Ginger McKenna (Sharon Stone), while boyhood companion Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) is appointed as his muscle at the club. Over the years various jealousies surface and erupt in a series of violent betrayals and, ultimately, the destruction of Rothstein's empire. In 'Mean Streets' (1973) four Italian-Americans from New York's lower East Side hang around at a local bar. Charlie (Harvey Keitel), the most responsible of the group, tries to protect his girlfriend's cousin Johnny Boy (De Niro) from the local debt collectors, but his young charge seems determined to live fast and die young. Heavily influenced by the French New Wave, 'Mean Streets' provided Scorsese and De Niro with their first high-profile success.