Movie #19: Taxi Driver

Movie #: 19
Movie Title: Taxi Driver
Year Released: 1976

Director: Martin Scorsese
Notable Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, Leonard Harris, Peter Boyle, Cybill Shepherd

Short Description: A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process. (IMDB.com)


Rank on the Top 100 Lists (as of 1/7/2013)

AFI.com: #52
IMDB.com: #54
Ranker.com: #27
Lifed.com: #27
Empire.com: #17
FilmCrave.com: #38
FlickChart.com: #29



Date Watched: 11/17/2016

Grade: 2.5 out of 5 (Satisfactory)

Rationale: At this point I'm at a loss as to why most of Robert De Niro's "best" movies seem average to me. I know he's a good actor so I don't feel he's at fault, but it's unexplainable other than the common connection of De Niro. In the case of Taxi Driver, I wasn't hooked right off the bat and by the time De Niro's Travis Bickle shaved his head and massively armed himself to become some sort of an avenger, too much of the movie had passed for me to become excited about his continued mental breakdown and forthcoming killing spree.