Taxi Driver [VHS]

Robert de Niro’s Best movie, I first watched this at a time in my life where I could see many similarities between myself and Travis Bickle. The way he perceives the world and his interactions with it and it’s people are akin to anyone who doesn’t or can’t fit in. Martin Scorsese does a really fantastic job in setting the scene, developing the characters and building the story to its crescendo. A masterpiece.

Not a fan of “real life” portrayals of “ordinary people” type movies so, from that perspective, I would recommend to stay away from this. Though critics gobble this up, I prefer my movies to entertain for very much the same reasons I would go and watch them in theaters. Not to diminish the skills and talents of Mr. De Niro (far from it), but praising this movie is like praising the cook for frying eggs with such depth of character and realism. This is a waste of time and a few quid you don’t want to make.

On the one hand it is well made and well acted (it was headed by one of the world's best actors, after all). And it was very much 'of its time' in cinematography history - i.e. of the 1970s. If you like well-made psycho-dramas then you'll probably applaud this.Also, it might be seen as exposing the worst of human behaviours / instincts for the sleazebag horrors of what New York and others had largely become by then - and make us react against it.Or it's a film of debauchery. A psychotic killer on the loose, looking for someone to kill. And of the worse type of exploitation, and lowest of the low attitudes towards others (including a cynical presidential candidate - does that bring anybody to mind). In short, negative and depressing.Or both.Overall, for us, it was too cynical and far too sordid. Not one we'll ever watch again.

Scrap the old dvd releaseget this new 35th Anniversary blu-ray of Taxi Driver, nice sharp & clear picture quality in 1:85:1 widescreenplus a new 5.1 Master audio mix which does sound alot clearer & better than the old dvd qualityplus 1-2 hour's worth of special features, old & newMaking Taxi Driver retrospective Documentary taken from the old DVD releasewith Martin scorsese, writer Paul schrader, Actors Robert Deniro, Jodie Foster, Cybil sheppard, Harvey Keitel and othercast & crew from the filmplus other featurettes aswell, Martin scorsese on Taxi Driver, Producing Taxi DriverTravis's new York locations now & then and other featurettes aswellplus the old DVD commentary is on this blu-ray aswellall this on 1 Blu-ray Discpackaging is ALL REGIONS, but the U.S. blu-ray is a fold out Digi-pak, this U.K. blu-ray is just standard clamshell caseDefinitely time to upgrade for sure get this new blu-ray version5 stars for this blu-ray

A classic film for good reasons. Travis Bickle manages to be a simple character and a complex one at the same time. The seediness of New York by night is intense, helped along by a lone saxophone. The awkward innocence he displays to get a date with Betsy only to blow it with what he thinks is a perfectly acceptable visit to a porn cinema, is wonderfully acted. The transition from nobody to somebody, by a simple urge to clean up the city which manifests in murder to protect child prostitute Iris, and the classic reaction to a hold-up in a general store, summing up the vigilante side of his disgust with the city and his sense of right and wrong being at odds with the society surrounding him. He goes seamlessly from timid to ruthless. I never tire of watching this film, it is a masterpiece by any definition.

This is one of the Martin Scorsese movie's that you have to see, it is a bit of a slow paced movie but that just gives it time to tell you the story and let you try to understand Robert De Niro's character, and why he feels the way he does, when he looks at his surroundings in New York at that time. If you are not familiar with what I mean then look at movies based in New York in the 1970's and compare them with movies based in New York today, and you can see how much New York has changed. The 1970's been very sleazy, covered in graffiti and crime infested in a lot of areas, compared to how much cleaner New York is today. There is still crime in New York, just like there is in most other big cities around the world, but you can definitely see the difference. This is a good movie and a must see for fans of Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese.

Shows how easy it is to be an ex-military person in civvy life, feeling the loneliness, and confused about other people's behaviour, especially seedy city areas.I nearly gave it three stars, but gave four because the movie did keep my attention throughout.This movie does not follow the usual expected route of action. There are false leads, and overall it is more about mood than plot.