"Taxi Driver" Robert De Niro, Martin Scorsese, Paul Schrader and the impact created in the 70's *Note! Contains spoilers.

A New York street film that influenced Spike Lee and others.

What was new about ``Taxi Driver'' as a movie was that it captured the city more than anything else. For example, the aforementioned `` Midnight Cowboy '' features the desolate scenery of New York, but the characters are at the center of the story, and the scenery is merely the background of the story. However, in ``Taxi Driver,'' the cityscape directly represented the protagonist's feelings.

At the beginning, a yellow taxi appears from the darkness, like a monster living in the city, and only the driver's eyes are shown in close-up. The ticking sound of the car's fare meter reminded me of the protagonist's heartbeat, and the night view reflected in the rearview mirror seemed like a scene in his mind. Scorsese's skills as a filmmaker are on full display, and by capturing the city entirely on location, the film conveys the vivid feeling of New York in the summer.

In the 1970s, New York was known as a city with poor public safety and violent crime. As Travis narrates, the streets are filled with drug addicts, prostitutes, and barbarians, and there seems to be a real tension in the air.

By the way, from 1976 to 1977, when ``Taxi Driver'' was released, the serial killer David Berkowitz, known as ``Son of Sam,'' haunted New York and shook the city. In 1999, director Spike Lee directed `` Summer of Sam,' ' which was based on him, and he decided to become a film director in 1977. In his autobiography, ``Spike Lee,'' written by Spike Lee and Kareem Aftab, published by Norton, he recalls, ``I loved movies like ``Taxi Driver'' that captured New York at the time. It was also during the CBGB era, and I was a fan of New York punk.”

“Summer of Sam” trailer

It is true that New York punk rock was attracting attention in the music scene around this time. CBGB is a live music venue that opened in 1973, and many New York punk musicians have performed there, including Patti Smith, the Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Television, Johnny Thunders, and Richard Hell. Precisely because the city was in ruins, new music with unprecedented power was born.

Travis was born out of the anarchic streets of New York at the time, and influenced future film directors like Spike Lee.

Spike Lee entered the same film department as Scorsese at New York University, and after becoming a director, he also directed Scorsese's ` `Clockers '' (1995) (Harvey Keitel of ``Taxi Driver'' also starred).

A New York director who had a great influence on Scorsese was John Cassavetes, known for ` `American Shadow '' (1958), and Scorsese, who was still unknown, worked as an editor on his film `` Minnie and Moskowitz '' (1971). are doing.

"Minnie and Moskowitz" trailer

In America, there is a trend of ``New York movies'', and commercial film directors include Elia Kazan with `` The Wharf '' (1954), Sidney Lumet with `` 12 Angry Men '' ( 1957), Bonnie and Clyde Arthur Penn, who starred in `` The Graduate '' (67), and they all come from the world of theater and television. Also, in the independent film industry there was the aforementioned Cassavetes.

From the 1970s onwards, Woody Allen and Scorsese, who starred in Annie Hall (1977), came into the limelight, and from the 80s onwards, Spike Lee and Jim Jarmusch appeared. New York, which was the cultural center of the East Coast, favored more radical tastes than Hollywood on the West Coast, and produced filmmakers and artists with a rebellious spirit.

``Taxi Driver,'' which was born out of this kind of soil, left a huge impact as a work that showed a new expression of the city.

Modern evaluation - Is it a story about a psycho driver...?