Brenda Dickson | 80's Movie Guide

Taglines: On every street in every city, there's a nobody who dreams of being a somebody. Taxi Driver movie storyline. Travis Bickle is an ex-Marine and Vietnam War veteran living in New York City. As he suffers from insomnia, he spends his time working as a taxi driver at night, watching porn movies at seedy cinemas during the day, or thinking about how the world, New York in particular, has deteriorated into a cesspool. He's a loner who has strong opinions about what is right and wrong with mankind. For him, the one bright spot in New York humanity is Betsy, a worker on the presidential nomination campaign of Senator Charles Palantine. He becomes obsessed with her. After an incident with her, he believes he has to do whatever he needs to make the world a better place in his opinion. One of his priorities is to be the savior for Iris, a twelve-year-old runaway and prostitute who he believes wants out of the profession and under the thumb of her pimp and lover Matthew. Taxi Driver is a 1976 American vigilante with neo-noir and psychological thriller elements, directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. Set in New York City following the Vietnam War, the film stars Robert De Niro, and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks. The film is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences alike as one of the greatest films of all time. Nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Picture, it won the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The American Film Institute ranked Taxi Driver as the 52nd-greatest American film on its AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies (10th Anniversary Edition) list. The film also ranks #17 on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time. In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best film ever in its decennial critics' poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II, and the fifth-greatest film of all time on its directors' poll. The film was considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994. Taxi Driver (1976) Directed by: Martin Scorsese Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Diahnne Abbott, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle, Brenda Dickson, Victor Argo Screenplay by: Paul Schrader Cinematography by: Michael Chapman Film Editing by: Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro Costume Design by: Ruth Morley Set Decoration by: Herbert F. Mulligan Art Direction by: Charles Rosen Music by: Bernard Herrmann Distributed by: Columbia Pictures Release Date: February 8, 1976