FILM REFERENCE
TITLE: TAXI DRIVER
RELEASE YEAR: 1976
RELEASE DATE: FEBRUARY 7, 1976
DIRECTOR: MARTIN SCORSESE
WRITER: PAUL SCHRADER
PRODUCERS: MICHAEL PHILLIPS · JULIA PHILLIPS
CINEMATOGRAPHY: MICHAEL CHAPMAN
EDITING: TOM ROLF · MELVIN SHAPIRO
PRODUCTION DESIGN: CHARLES ROSEN
MUSIC: BERNARD HERRMANN
PRODUCTION COMPANIES: BILL/PHILLIPS PRODUCTIONS · ITALO-JUDEO
DISTRIBUTION: COLUMBIA PICTURES
GENRE: DRAMA · CRIME
CAST
ROBERT DE NIRO — Travis Bickle
JODIE FOSTER — Iris
CYBILL SHEPHERD — Betsy
HARVEY KEITEL — Sport
PETER BOYLE — Wizard
ALBERT BROOKS — Tom
LEONARD HARRIS — Senator Charles Palantine
JOE SPINELL — Personnel Officer
MARTIN SCORSESE — Passenger
STEVEN PRINCE — Easy Andy
THE STORY
Taxi Driver follows Travis Bickle, a 26-year-old Vietnam veteran living alone in New York City.
Unable to sleep, Travis takes a job driving a taxi at night. He spends long hours moving through Manhattan, observing the people and streets around him while becoming increasingly disconnected from the society he sees.
His relationship with Betsy, a campaign worker for Senator Charles Palantine, initially offers a possible connection to ordinary life. After the relationship collapses, Travis becomes increasingly consumed by violent fantasies and his belief that he must take action against the city’s corruption.
His taxi becomes both his workplace and his vantage point on New York, placing him between the different worlds of the city while reinforcing his isolation from them.
TRIVIA & BEHIND THE SCENES
The Yellow Taxi
The yellow New York taxi is one of the film’s defining visual elements, placing Travis physically inside the city while allowing him to remain detached from it.
Robert De Niro Drove a Taxi
De Niro prepared for the role by working as a New York taxi driver. AFI records that writer Mark Carducci unknowingly rode in De Niro’s cab during the preparation period.
Filmed in New York
Taxi Driver was filmed extensively in New York City during the summer of 1975. The production used Manhattan locations to create the film’s distinctive nighttime environment.
Michael Chapman
Cinematographer Michael Chapman photographed New York with strong contrasts between darkness, artificial light, neon, reflections, and the interiors of Travis’s taxi.
The Mirror Scene
One of the film’s most famous sequences, in which Travis practices drawing weapons in front of a mirror, developed partly through improvisation by Robert De Niro.
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann composed the film’s final score, combining a distinctive saxophone-led main theme with increasingly ominous passages.
Herrmann completed the score shortly before his death on December 24, 1975. The film’s end credits include a dedication to the composer.
Production
Principal photography took place from mid-June to mid-August 1975.
AWARDS & LEGACY
Taxi Driver received the Palme d’Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival.
The film received four Academy Award nominations:
Best Picture
Best Actor — Robert De Niro
Best Supporting Actress — Jodie Foster
Best Original Score — Bernard Herrmann
Taxi Driver was later ranked No. 52 on the American Film Institute’s 2007 edition of 100 Years…100 Movies.
The film remains one of the defining American films of the 1970s and a major work in the careers of Martin Scorsese, Robert De Niro, and Paul Schrader.
CARE
• Machine wash cold, inside out.
• Do not bleach.
• Do not iron directly over the print.
• Wash with similar colors.
IMPORTANT
This is a contemporary H354 T-shirt featuring a graphic interpretation of the movie itself does not represented as an original promotional or production garment.
