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 26-year-old Travis Bickle, a Vietnam veteran who applies for a job as a New York City taxicab driver because he suffers from insomnia.
Working long hours through the city’s streets at night, Travis observes the people and places around him while becoming increasingly detached from ordinary society.
His interest in Betsy, a campaign worker for presidential candidate Senator Charles Palantine, briefly gives him a sense of connection. After their relationship breaks down, Travis becomes increasingly obsessed with violence and with his own idea of cleansing the city.
His isolation eventually develops into a series of increasingly violent actions, culminating in an attempted political assassination and a confrontation involving Iris, a young prostitute whom Travis believes he must rescue.
TRIVIA & BEHIND THE SCENES
Robert De Niro Drove a Taxi
Robert De Niro prepared for the role by actually driving a New York City taxi. AFI records that production writer Mark Carducci unknowingly rode in De Niro’s cab during the preparation period.
The Mirror Scene
The famous sequence in which Travis practices drawing his weapons in front of a mirror was partly improvised by De Niro. Martin Scorsese later recalled that De Niro developed the scene and improvised the line “Are you talking to me?”
Filmed in New York
Taxi Driver was filmed extensively on location in New York City during the summer of 1975. The production used locations throughout Manhattan and other parts of the city to create the film’s distinctive nighttime environment.
Bernard Herrmann
Bernard Herrmann composed the film’s score, combining a romantic main theme with increasingly dark and unsettling passages.
Herrmann died on December 24, 1975, one day after completing the score. The film’s end credits contain a statement expressing gratitude and respect to the composer.
Jodie Foster
Jodie Foster was thirteen years old when she played Iris. AFI records that psychological testing was conducted before she was cast because of the film’s adult subject matter.
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 has become one of the defining American films of the 1970s and one of the most influential collaborations between 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.
