Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster and Cybill Shepherd in the Martin Scorsese movie ‘Taxi Driver’

Martin Scorsese is a movie industry leader for well-crafted cinema from the perspectives of story, sound, composition and the delivery of a message that engages audiences emotionally, intellectually and through the senses. Taxi Driver (1976) hits the marks on each of these stages in being our focus here today.

(Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle in the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver).

Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickle, a military veteran working as an overnight taxi driver in mid-1970s New York City, New York following the Vietnam War. Bickle opens the film with chronic insomnia, lonely, and turns to driving folks around overnight in disreputable neighborhoods overrun by crime and depravity. Bickle frequents pornography theatres, becoming as friendly with other overnight cabbies as he can.

(From left, Norman Matlock as Charlie T., Peter Boyle as Wizard, Harry Northup as Doughboy and Harry Cohn as Cabbie in Bellmore in the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver).

The cabbie company’s Personnel Officer, as portrayed by Joe Spinell, reinforced the notion of visiting theatres to Bickle at the point Travis Bickle was hired. The group of cabbies that come closest to becoming friends to Bickle include Charlie T., Doughboy, Wizard and a character identified strictly as Cabbie in Bellmore, portrayed respectively by Norman Matlow, Harry Northup, Peter Boyle and Harry Cohn. Bickle finds that Wizard, as the oldest in this group, is the closest to confidante that he, Bickle, has. Bickle further takes to confiding what truths he experiences in a diary.

(From left, Albert Brooks as Tom and Cybill Shepherd as Betsy in the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver).

Through the course of the movie, Bickle takes specific interest in two people in particular. Bickle descends further into a personal crisis of sorts, and he first sets his sights on presidential campaign worker Betsy. Betsy, as portrayed by Cybill Shepherd, takes notice of Bickle sitting in a taxi outside the New York City headquarters of Senator Charles Palantine, as portrayed by Leonard Harris. Shepherd mentions having observed Bickle to fellow campaign worker Tom, as portrayed by Albert Brooks. It is after Bickle and Betsy meet for pie and a fruit plate that things turn sour between the two, as Bickle takes Betsy to a pornography theatre on a date.

(From left, Nicholas Shields as Palantine Aide and Leonard Harris as Senator Charles Palantine in the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver).

Travis Bickle admits to being out-of-tune with politics to Betsy prior to Betsy calling quits to the difficulty demonstrated by the errant date she had with Bickle. Bickle, meanwhile, becomes aware of underage prostitute Iris Steensma, as played by Jodie Foster. Bickle wants to help Iris get off the streets and back home to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Bickle confides this to Senator Palantine while driving him in his taxi. Palantine’s overall populist message resonates and confuses Bickle, which gains relevance in the situations of Iris, Betsy, Tom and Senator Palantine.

(From left, Harvey Keitel as Matthew ‘Sport’ Higgins and Jodie Foster as Iris Steensma in the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver).

The decision to become more physically focused on concerned with take direct physical action to confront the decadence and criminality that Bickle sees around him motivates the conclusion spelled out by Taxi Driver. People pay Matthew ‘Sport’ Higgins, as portrayed by Harvey Keitel, to facilitate illegal adult activity with Iris Steensma. A crime in a bodega follows. Things later come to a clear resolution for Higgins, Palantine, and others in a graphic and decisive conclusion that is emotionally and psychologically jarring. The impact is large, dramatic and decisive.

(From left, actor Robert De Niro and director Martin Scorsese in the Martin Scorsese movie Taxi Driver).

The aftermath of the decisive scene, which is worth the effort of watching the movie, ties a bow around the outcomes for the major characters in the movie. There are clear implications to the disposition of the major players in the story of Taxi Driver, which offers much to consider from the perspective of justice in the moment, justice in the period between Vietnam and the decisive moment for Bickle, the permissibility of criminal prostitution, and more. The questions aren’t easy, yet the fact that this movie offers the questions merits your consideration. I rate Taxi Driver as directed by Martin Scorsese at 4.5-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Saturday, October 9, 2021

Margot Kidder, Jennifer Salt and the Brian De Palma movie ‘Sisters’

My first introduction to Brian De Palma was the movie Scarface (1983), which Matt Lynn Digital holds as quality cinema in this review from October 2020. Moving backwards in time eleven years offers a trippy movie clearly inspired by the mystery thriller movie genre pioneered by Alfred Hitchcock with a clear and gleeful foray into the slasher film yet to come in Hollywood with the movie Sisters (1972).

(Margot Kidder as Danielle Blanchion and Dominique Blanchion and Lisle Wilson as Phillip Woode in the Brian De Palma movie Sisters).

Margot Kidder stars as conjoined twin sisters Danielle and Dominique Blanchion in the independently made, low-budget Sisters. The films opening credits offer shocking images that hint at part of the background of the Blanchion sisters would mean in the telling of the story inspired by facts that only later give the psychological punch that offers the film and reputation De Palma would establish for himself meaning. The disquiet, edgy qualities are central, effective and worth a viewing for this film.

(From left, Jennifer Salt as Grace Collier and Charles Durning as Joseph Larch in the Brian De Palma movie Sisters).

Before getting into the backstory of the Blanchion sisters portrayed by Kidder, we at first are introduced to Phillip Woode, who is portrayed by Lisle Wilson. Woode and Danielle Wilson cross paths through an odd circumstance wherein their backgrounds are unknown to one another with a mutual attraction that offers the opportunity for intimacy. To earn that outcome, however, the two need to act cunningly against the prying eyes that we only later learn belong to Grace Collier and Emil Breton. Jennifer Salt portrayed Collier as William Finley portrayed Breton in the movie.

(From left, William Finley as Emil Breton and Burt Richards as an uncredited Hospital Attendant in the Brian De Palma movie Sisters).

The character of Breton feels like a stalker from the beginning of the movie. While that feeling is relevant, the trippy role he plays in supporting that feeling in the larger narrative that the movie offers definitely holds hope over time. The shocking parts of the movie intersect strongly with the stories we get from Joseph Larch, Arthur McLennen and Detective Kelly.

(From left, Barnard Hughes as Arthur McLennen and Dolph Sweet as Detective Kelly in the Brian De Palma movie Sisters).

Charles Durning portrayed Joseph Larch in Sisters. Barnard Hughes portrays magazine writer Arthur McLennen. Dolph Sweet portrays police Detective Kelly. The mysteries, suspense and slasher thrills of the movie Sisters, with the slasher components being one place where De Palma separates himself from Hitchcock, are told in many ways through the changes in experience for many of the movies characters. This fact, combined with the psychological impact for much of the movie, gives the movie the punch that allows me to bring this movie to you.

(From left, director Brian De Palma and actress Margot Kidder on the set of the Brian De Palma movie Sisters).

The larger cinematic experience and narrative of the movie, along with the exposition for most of the characters, are strengths for the movie. Not everything in the film necessarily ages well, in looking back on the film with contemporary lenses. That the ending felt abrupt to me perhaps was a matter of budget in the making of the film more than a shortcoming of the larger vision of the film. All told, I rate Sisters at 3.75-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Saturday, January 16, 2021