Taxi Driver

I had the joy of watching this for the first time the other night, along with my first viewing of Raging Bull. It was great being able to see this for the first time, because I love each time I get to see a new Martin Scorsese movie, especially with the first viewing because most of the time, the first viewing is the best. Taxi Driver is definitely not the exception though, because I loved it, I’d rank it behind Raging Bull, and ahead of Goodfellas and The Departed, seeing as sadly those are the only Scorsese movies that I’ve seen so far. Now this one felt more like The Departed than it felt like Raging Bull or Goodfellas, maybe it’s just because this one didn’t quite have that ‘it’s based of a real person’ feel like the latter two did, which I recently found out really were based of real people. I was quite surprised when I found this out.

This really had no gangster movie type of feel to it though, like the other three of his that I’ve seen. I didn’t quite like the score to this one as much as I did to Raging Bull, I don’t know it just seemed to ominous for it to be a favorite of mine, it went with the movie great though, because Taxi Driver really did have an ominous feel to the whole movie. I do have to say though, that this is the darkest Scorsese movie that I’ve seen so far, from what I’ve seen of the ones I haven’t seen yet, this still looks like his darkest movie. But I could end up being surprised when one really is dark though, so you never know.

I do think that this is personally Robert DeNiro’s best role that I’ve seen so far, it was just amazing how he went from a semi-normal guy to just like snapping towards the end. I’m not sure if he really snapped towards the end though, because he did feel like that throughout the whole movie, his character just seemed to get really dark there towards the end. It was really weird seeing Jodi Foster in this though. Maybe it’s because she just seemed so young playing her role in this, it’s funny though, because I think from her face she looks exactly as she does now.

This for me was actually sort of like the opposite of Raging Bull I guess you can say, because instead of the last 15 minutes or so being dull, like it is for me in Raging Bull, for this it’s the first 15 minutes or so that’s dull to me. I did like it more than the ending to Raging Bull though, because I liked them seeing set up Robert DeNiro’s character, Travis Bickle. I loved the build-up to the ending to though, I was glad that it didn’t disappoint building up to amazing ending throughout the whole movie, it actually delivered. The ending to this is actually probably my favorite thing about Taxi Driver, aside from DeNiro’s acting in it. Right now, I think that it could probably make it into my top 10, I’m not sure if it’s going to hold up as well with a re-watch though, I sure hope it does but I’m not sure if it will. Also with a re-watch it’ll make it easier for me to find a spot for it in my top 10, which is if it’s going to end up in my top 10.

9.5/10