THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605250034
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: 61 lines
TRAVIS BICKLE, a psychotic loner who is being driven insane by the sleaze of urban violence around him, looks into the mirror and asks himself, ``Are you talking to me? Are YOU talking to ME?''
Indeed, he is talking to us - all of us.
The shocking thing about the 20th anniversary re-release of Martin Scorsese's ``Taxi Driver'' is that all the horrors of American life predicted by this 1976 film have tragically come true. The horrors of bloody streets, drug warfare, child prostitution and moral decay that seemingly drove Travis to the film's final violent rampage have come closer to all of us in the two decades since this film first disturbed us.
In all fairness, it is an oversimplification to portray the taxi driver as a symbol of American society's burgeoning downfall. Travis, as so brilliantly played by Robert De Niro, was, rather, a loner who saw the world in his own subjective way. He was a Vietnam veteran who lived in a dungeonlike cellar and, in spite of himself, was drawn to the sleazier streets of New York City.
The women of the city, along with the other better things in life, were not to be his. A blond political worker (played by a well-cast Cybill Shepherd) shows initial interest in him but then is repulsed by his ``strangeness.''
His own personal crusade becomes an effort to ``save'' a 12-year-old prostitute, played with uncanny toughness by then-teen Jodie Foster. This leads to the bloodbath finale that, in its day, was condemned as many of the moviegoing public thought the movie industry rather than society itself was going to hell.
The film ``Taxi Driver'' has, since, lived its own unlikely history. It is the only film that was, fairly or not, blamed for the shooting of an American president. A real-life loner, John Hinckley, saw the film more than 15 times and identified with Travis' efforts to ``rescue'' society in general and specifically the child prostitute, Iris. Claiming an infatuation for Foster, Hinckley shot President Ronald Reagan in an effort to get her attention.
(We now know that Jodie's sexually explicit scenes were doubled by her 20-year-old sister Connie.)
The reissue features a restored print as well as the first digital sound mixing of Bernard Herrmann's moody score. It was the last of 65 film scores he composed. He completed it the day he died. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
MOVIE REVIEW
``Taxi Driver''
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill
Shepherd, Albert Brooks,
Director: Martin Scorsese
MPAA rating: R (famous violence, language)
Mal's rating: Four stars
Location: Naro Theater in Norfolk (through Tuesday)
MOVIE REVIEW ``Taxi Driver''
Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Cybill
Shepherd, Albert Brooks
Director: Martin Scorsese
MPAA rating: R (famous violence, language)
Mal's rating:
Location: Naro Theater in Norfolk (through Tuesday) by CNB