Auto Article Submitter

Taxi Driver: A Prodigious Study Into One Man's Descent Into Lunacy

Taxi Driver: A Prodigious Study Into One Man's Descent Into
Lunacy

By Jessica J. Janeson

This article is a review of the widely acclaimed movie "Taxi Driver." If you have never seen this movie, or even if you've seen it a long ago, it warrants a rental from your local video shop. Even by today's standards, it is a bold study of human drama and insanity.

The story begins with a taxi driver on the night shift in New York City. The character is completely disgusted with the filth and depravity he sees on a regular basis, night in and night out. We get to meet a few of the characters that he picks up, and begin to understand how he forms such a dim view of humanity.

He seems to have a brief period where we think he actually may turn toward a normal life when he meets a young woman working on a political campaign. They even go out on a date, but he takes her to an adult movie theater, completely ruining his chances of every seeing her again. After his disaster at this attempt at a normal relationship, he plunges headlong into irreversible insanity.

He somehow meets with a dealer in illegal weapons, and buys several handguns. He practices concealing a small firearm up his sleep, and stands in front of the mirror in an imaginary conflict with a would be assaulter. This is likely the best known scene from this movie. His plan is to assassinate a political candidate.

He shaves his head, wears odd clothing, and sets out to kill the politician. Things don't go as he planned, and in a bizarre twist of fate, he gets into a gun battle with a pimp, and inadvertently saves a young girl from life on the streets of New York as a prostitute. He later receives a letter from her parents, thanking him as if he is a hero.

Taxi driver is a well written, well acted study in the depth of human emotions and the human capacity to confuse reality with fantasy. If you haven't seen this movie, it is must see for the serious movie buff. If you have, then perhaps it's time to watch this classic one more time.