Taxi Driver - Collector's Edition

In the late 60s, the Old Hollywood studio system was collapsing under decades of romantic comedies and war epics. Studio heads were old and out of touch with young filmgoers, now more likely to be out protesting Vietnam than watching yet another Rock Hudson/Doris Day potboiler.

Younger, more vibrant filmmakers like Martin Scorsese were changing the landscape of cinema. Inspired by the character driven films of the European cinema, they also drew upon the vastly different visual style of directors such as Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless, Alphaville). No longer was the camera locked on the main actor like an over-attentive lover, instead it was free to roam at will, pausing on objects that had particular significance or taking in a view while the characters continued their lives offscreen.

This new technique allows us into the mind of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), an emotionally scarred Vietnam vet who drives taxis to pass the time because he can't sleep at night. He hates the crime of New York City, wishes the rain could come and 'wash all this scum off the streets', but the real reason for his bitterness is that he is desperately lonely and unable to interact with society in a meaningful way.

The film documents his failures to make contact with people, and his final desperate attempt to become a somebody by saving a 12-year-old prostitute (Jodie Foster) from her pimp, in one of cinema's most shocking and violent endpieces ever. This is not a film for the kiddies, folks. It's also one of the earliest films I can think of that has a central character whom the audience never actually like.

Although this film was made for a low budget in 1976, it was re-released to theatres in 1996 with a stereo version of the Bernard Herrmann score.

The disc is presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen, and picture quality reflects the age of the film (in fact, the original negatives are far past restoring, and this transfer must be from the interpositive used for the re-release).

Colours appear somewhat dirty and oversaturated in parts and detail is often hidden in murky darkness. However, this intentionally documentary-style look really works for the film. It wouldn't seem right to me without it. There are few film artifacts and sharpness is acceptable. At the end of the film, you will notice the colour saturation reduces sharply. This is because the MPAA threatened to give the film an X rating for the violence and Scorsese appeased them by reducing the severity of the reds in post production. He had the last laugh though, as the scene appears even more nightmarish and shocking with bleached colours!

The sound is quite dated, with obvious use of ADR in many scenes. Dialogue is often unbalanced and De Niro's narration is gritty and low in fidelity. Herrmann's score, however, is terrific and is quite well recorded. The jazz basslines will show up any problems your room has with lumpy bass response, as certain notes will sound much louder than others. Apart from the score, the soundtrack is essentially mono (as the film was presented in 1976).

While not containing the apparently superb Scorsese commentary provided on the Criterion SE laserdisc, this DVD does have a respectable amount of extras:

• Theatrical Trailer - presented in approximately 1.66:1 with mono sound, the trailer has poor contrast and is tinged green, but is quite free of grain and artifacts considering its age.
• Making Taxi Driver - produced in 1999, this 70 minute documentary is great, and has interviews with virtually everybody involved in the picture, and they gave me some great insights into the production.
• Photo Montage - this is nearly nine minutes worth of photos, commentated by the SE producer, who gives more anecdotes about the movie.
• Storyboard Sequence - a mere four minutes long, here we basically see the rough storyboard, followed by a frame from the finished film. I feel it would have been more effective if the screen were split horizontally, with the storyboards on one side and the film on the other.
• Original Screenplay - this is the original shooting script, and contains scenes not included in the movie. At any point, you can press the Title button and go to the corresponding chapter of the film. A nice touch, but even nicer would have been the option to print a PDF copy on DVD-ROMs.
• Advertising Materials - one and a half minutes of video with posters, lobby cards and the like.
• Talent Profiles - or the infamous Filmographies for the director and four main characters under a more exciting name.

I like the look of the menus. While static, the design is quite appropriate.

This is a fantastic film, and every collector should try and snatch it up. The only suggestion I would make for improvement would be for a director's commentary to be included, as I believe we should have one for all landmark films when the director is still alive. The transfer is not reference quality, but we're never going to get a better one, so go out and grab this disc now!