Taxi Driver by Erik Wallin

Taxi Driver/1976


Martin Scorsese/Queens, New York/1942


Budget: 1.3 million (IMDB)


Gross: 28,262,574 (Box Office Mojo)


Synopsis: A man walks into a taxi garage looking for a job. He says he is a Vietnam vet and he can't sleep so he needs a job that will have long hours and go through the night. One night he meets a young girl that is a prostitute. He then makes his goal to rescue her from the life that she is living.


Narrative and Visual Keywords: Vigilante, love, hate, justice


Characterization/ Dialogue: The characters are very awkward towards each other. They are constantly trying to figure each other out yet they never really do. The dialogue is somewhat dry and awkward but has a lot of subtext through out.


Camera/lighting/editing technique: There are a lot of moving camera shots that has Scorsese's signature. Dollies and slides were used quite a bit. The lighting always had a dark undertone to it. You could tell they were trying to set a dark and dramatic mood with the lighting. The editing was done in a very deliberate way to make the audience feel uneasy about a lot of things. There were a lot of long shots that really added to uneasy we were supposed to feel throughout.


Political/ Social Commentary: The film talked a lot about the "filth" and "garbage" that was around New York City. It was referencing all of the violence and gang activity that was happening throughout New York during that time period and that they wanted someone to clean it up and make it safer.


Notable Collaboration: This was the second time that Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro worked together. The first time they worked together was on "Mean Streets". It would definitely not be the last time either. The two worked together on a lot of films after "Taxi Driver". Another notable collaboration was with Paul Schrader who wrote a number of movies that Scorsese directed.


Random fact: One of the most famous lines in the movie, "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking...you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? Ok." was completely ad libbed by Robert De Niro during shooting.

1. "Mean Streets" took a lot of notice because it was different from most gangster movies that people had become accustomed to. "The Godfather" had come out the year before and people were more expecting a movie that was like "The Godfather". Instead they got a movie that was more about the "realistic" portrayal of the mob instead of the glamorous lifestyle that was portrayed in Coppola's "The Godfather".

2. Martin Scorsese set his signature early. Looking back now on the films he made when he was first beginning and looking at the films he makes now have a very similar style to them. They use moving shots extensively to convey a certain feeling for the characters. He also likes to use long shots. Shots that are up to a minute long without cutting away. The lighting in a lot of his films are quite similar as well. He enjoys using low light and red light a lot to convey certain emotions such as sexual tension or death/murder.

3. Martin Scorsese's vision has not really changed a lot over the films he has made. He has definitely evolved to a stronger director from his earlier work. He has mastered the camera moves, the edits, the lighting, the dialogue and the characters. He has kept his vision the same throughout. He has become more sophisticated in the production of a film then in his earlier works. I personally don't have a preference to his early works or his later works. I think any film that Scorsese does is an incredible story. I will see anything that Scorsese puts out.