Taxi Driver was a movie that was released in 1976, and this was apparent from the way it was filmed. A lot of the language was outdated and the camera was frequently unsteady. The movie itself was confusing and hard for me to follow. The actors were good for the most part but the characters they had to play were all strange and difficult to read. The main character Travis, played by Robert De Niro, had insomnia so he took up driving a taxi cab in New York City at night. He didn’t limit himself to where he would go so he would constantly end up in bad neighborhoods and cross paths with drug dealers, hookers, etc. He talks in a voiceover about how he wants the city streets cleaned up, and shortly after he meets a campaign worker named Betsy who he really likes. Somehow her presence makes him become obsessed with the idea of saving the world and decides he wants to kill a presidential candidate. He then decides he wants to help a young girl who is being used by a man as a prostitute.

    The movie was very impressive for being made in the 70s. I liked a lot of the camerawork and angles because they were unique and entertaining. One shot I remember vividly was toward the end of the movie and it was the camera panning through the prostitutes’ apartment building facing down towards the ground over all of the people. Although much of the camera work was cool and different, some of it was clearly outdated. Some of the pans were shaky and choppy and oftentimes one take would cut to the next about a second too late. What I mean by this is the actors would be done delivering their line and the pause between what one person said and what the next person said would be a long one.

    Another thing that struck me was how odd the music choice was. There was one jazz piece that I feel like was played over and over again, but when that wasn’t the background music then it was a wide array of songs. In one scene where Travis is tapping a gun to his head while watching a movie and thinking, there is fairly cheerful music playing. It felt ironic because the scene is pretty dark and dismal, yet we hear happy music. Some of the songs just felt randomly placed.

    I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this movie, because it isn’t my taste. I can see what others like about it and I understand the appeal it might’ve had in the 70s and 80s, but I don’t find it super relevant to nowadays. For the most part I found it boring, but there were some violent parts toward the end. By the end of the movie I was disturbed and unsettled. Most of the characters were on drugs and I probably would have enjoyed another movie more. One good thing that came from watching it was now I understand some of the references people make. I.e. “You talking to me??”