Taxi Driver - Matthew Williams

Taxi Driver is the seminal 1976 film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster and Cybil Shepherd. It is about a troubled Vietnam War veteran who takes up the job of a taxi driver and decides to do something about the disgusting city that he lives in. It is a drama/psychological thriller and is rather disturbing mainly due to its leading character: Travis Bickle.

The actor and studio titles appear in a deep red on a black background. The red is dark and stands out and seem like they could be the opening to a horror film immediately giving you a feeling of uneasiness and fear. The titles are almost the colour of blood which will be relevant in later parts of the film.

A black screen is shown between the credits and the opening shot for a second or two as the music starts. This emphasizes the effect that the music has. It makes you feel slight fear and paranoia. The score is by one of my favourite film composers Bernard Herrmann, who also did psycho and vertigo, and this score gives off a very dark and twisted feel. The first shot you see is a big ball of white mist and a taxi drives through it. The taxi is only partially seen giving it an element of mystery and darkness.

The title card then appears from behind the taxi as it drives away

almost as if it’s hiding behind the taxi. It looks like a neon sign in the city. This means that only in the first shot we already have a feeling of dread from the music added to the dark and griminess of the

smoke from the city along with the mystery behind a taxi driver. The names of the actors then appear in a similar fashion to the title card.

The next shot is of Travis’s eyes looking on the city. The expression from just his eyes is that of disgust. There are lots of red lights on his face indicating he’s in a red light district which is emphasized by a shift in the music to a more sleazy and saxophone driven piece. This may be the reason for the look on his face as what he thinks of that type of thing is later explained.

Next we see what Travis sees; an intoxicating, neon, hellish environment.

There are bright lights everywhere and beyond the lights is only darkness. The lights are all blurry and give an intoxicating and disturbing feel that Travis feels about the city. The people are lit with blue and red lights and shot in slow motion making them seem worse especially as the darker music has kicked in again. There is then another shot of Travis’s eyes looking down on what

he’s seeing.

The smoke from the city then turns into smoke from the cab stand as Travis enters for his interview. This smoke shows that you can’t escape the griminess of the city as the smoke follows Travis through

the door. Sounds of cars’ horns can also be heard loudly all throughout this scene further emphasising that you can’t escape the effects of the city.

In this first scene Travis is shown in full. The camera follows him through the door in a mid shot that then circles him and then does a medium close up on his face. This camera movement reveals Travis as a pale and thin disturbed man. The close up further emphasises this to the viewer.

A phone starts ringing and no one answers it until they’re told to. This shows that this isn’t a very respectable establishment. As the speech begins is it immediately obvious that Travis isn’t quite right in the head. His first line is “I can’t sleep nights” then he admits to watching porn. He also seems to have a permanent psychotic smile on his face indicating that he’s maybe plotting something and his mind is on something else. He says that his driving record is clean just like his conscience.

This again assures you that he’s not quite right in the head.

Behind the owner of the cab stand is a constant argument again showing that this isn’t the nicest place to be working. Travis reveals that he had an honourable discharge from the marines. Since he doesn’t have any visible illnesses you can presume that he’s mental. Although, the employer seems to look up at him due to his military record.

This desk is very messy and unorganised again showing that this isn’t a very nice place to work.

In conclusion, I think the opening to Taxi Driver is very effective as it portrays the character of Travis Bickle and the setting of New York thoroughly within the first few frames. It also effectively brings you into the eyes of Travis as he looks onto the grimy streets by manipulating the image to see the neon hellish environment. I think I could use Taxi Driver’s use of lighting to influence the audience and the dark character shown through his manner, speech, music and mise en scene. I would also like to utilise Taxi Driver’s intoxicating and psychedelic feel.