Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver remains a defining achievement of 1970s cinema and a cornerstone in American film history. As a psychological neo-noir drama set in a decaying urban landscape, the film commands lasting attention from cinephiles worldwide, standing alongside other auteurs’ masterpieces like The Godfather, The French Connection, and Chinatown. This retrospective delves into the behind-the-scenes circumstances, creative choices, and challenges that shaped Taxi Driver’s lasting legacy.
Paul Schrader’s Personal Journey Inspiring the Screenplay
Paul Schrader’s path to becoming the screenwriter of Taxi Driver was marked by hardship and introspection. Before embarking on the script, Schrader earned a Master’s degree in film studies from UCLA and briefly worked as a film critic. His early screenwriting career gained notice in 1974 with the script for The Yakuza, which, despite its commercial failure, brought him visibility among notable directors such as Brian De Palma and Steven Spielberg. During this period, Schrader endured personal turmoil including a painful breakup and divorce, which added to his stress and contributed to his hospitalization with a stomach ulcer.
Channeling his emotional unrest and insomnia, Schrader wrote a screenplay that was deeply autobiographical. Initially a 60-page draft written within two weeks, the screenplay evolved through multiple revisions, carefully developing its characters and narrative complexity. Schrader’s lived experiences and intense emotions forged the foundation for Taxi Driver’s dark and compelling story.
Crafting Travis Bickle: The War Veteran Antihero
Schrader’s decision to make Travis Bickle a Vietnam War veteran was deliberate, providing a psychological underpinning for the character’s paranoia and rage. Drawing inspiration from real-life sources such as Arthur Brenner’s diary and the French film The Pickpocket, Schrader sculpted a troubled protagonist grappling with post-traumatic stress and urban alienation. During this process, a mutual friend introduced Paul Schrader to Martin Scorsese, who quickly bonded with the material. Scorsese’s familiarity with characters like Alain Delon’s Jef Costello in Le Samourai helped him see a kinship with Bickle’s plight, fueling their collaboration.
Casting Choices: Envisioning Travis Bickle Beyond De Niro
While Robert De Niro’s portrayal of Travis Bickle is now iconic, several other actors were considered for the role. Dustin Hoffman was initially a strong candidate but declined, reportedly doubting Scorsese’s mental soundness. Hoffman later expressed regret about turning down the role despite enjoying success that year with hits like All the President’s Men and Marathon Man. Other actors such as Al Pacino, Jeff Bridges, and Jason Miller were also contenders in the casting deliberations, reflecting the filmmakers’ search for the right actor to embody the complex lead.
Robert De Niro’s Immersive Method Acting
Robert De Niro’s approach to developing Travis Bickle exemplified method acting at its most intense. To inhabit the role authentically, De Niro worked as a nighttime cab driver, sometimes enduring fifteen-hour shifts for an entire month, balancing this effort alongside filming Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1900 in Italy. He deliberately lost 35 pounds to reflect Bickle’s lean, sleepless demeanor. De Niro also engaged deeply with the character’s psychological state by listening to tape-recorded readings of Arthur Brenner’s diary and studying mental illness. His dedication extended to visiting a US Army base in Northern Italy to interact with Midwestern soldiers, enhancing his grasp of a regional accent necessary for the role.
Financial Risks and Pay Cuts to Save the Project
Despite De Niro’s growing acclaim following his Oscar win for The Godfather Part II, Paramount Pictures nearly abandoned Taxi Driver, concerned that De Niro would request a salary increase. Demonstrating professionalism, De Niro accepted his original $35,000 fee to keep the budget intact. Other cast and crew members, including Cybill Shepherd and Martin Scorsese himself, also took pay cuts. These measures allowed the film to be completed within its $1.9 million budget, ensuring production continued without financial disruption.
Jodie Foster’s Early Role and Preparing for a Difficult Character
Jodie Foster was only 12 years old during filming, a noteworthy fact given her role as a teenage prostitute in the movie. Due to her age, Foster underwent counseling sessions to prepare emotionally for the challenging character portrayal. Because she was a minor, Foster’s older sister, Connie Foster, served as a body double for more explicit scenes. To deepen her performance, Jodie Foster shadowed an actual prostitute as research. This experience influenced subtle details in her role, such as the habit of adding sugar to jelly-covered toast, mimicking the coping mechanism of a heroin-addicted woman she observed.
Robert De Niro’s Unscripted Mirror Scene
One of Taxi Driver’s most enduring moments, the mirror scene where Travis Bickle talks to himself, was largely improvised by De Niro. Schrader’s original script described the scene simply as “Travis looks in the mirror,” but De Niro expanded it into a layered portrayal of the character’s unraveling psyche. This spontaneous performance became a landmark in cinema history, encapsulating Bickle’s disturbing inner turmoil and has since embedded itself in popular culture.
Bernard Herrmann Composes His Final, Groundbreaking Score
Renowned composer Bernard Herrmann, known for collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Brian De Palma, created his last film score for Taxi Driver. Originally reluctant to work on what he referred to dismissively as a “car movie,” Herrmann accepted after reading Schrader’s script. His composition for Taxi Driver blended jazz-heavy motifs with dissonant, atmospheric sounds that perfectly echoed the protagonist’s conflicted mental state. Herrmann’s music added a crucial emotional layer, enhancing Scorsese’s vision and the film’s haunting impact.
Controversies Surrounding Taxi Driver’s Violence and Themes
Taxi Driver’s graphic violence and exploration of dark topics sparked considerable controversy. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) initially threatened an X rating due to the film’s climactic shootout, forcing Scorsese to desaturate the blood color to tone down its intensity and secure an R rating. The film later became infamously linked to John Hinckley Jr., who cited it as an influence in his failed assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan. When Taxi Driver premiered at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, it faced boos and walkouts from audiences offended by its content, yet it still won the prestigious Palme d’Or award from the jury.
Critical Acclaim, Awards, and Lasting Cultural Standing
Despite a modest $1.9 million budget, Taxi Driver earned $28.6 million at the box office, a significant return for a hard-R film. The movie garnered widespread critical praise upon release, achieving an enduring 89% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 9.1/10 from 162 reviews. Renowned critic Roger Ebert hailed the film as one of the greatest he had ever witnessed, noting it as
“a hell, from the opening shot of a cab emerging from stygian clouds of steam to the climactic killing scene… Scorsese wanted to look away from Travis’s rejection; we almost want to look away from his life. But he’s there, all right, and he’s suffering.”
Pauline Kael of The New Yorker described it as a
“fevered story of an outsider in New York, a man who can’t find any point of entry into human society.”
The film received numerous nominations during awards season, including the Oscars, BAFTAs, and Golden Globes, and secured the Palme d’Or at Cannes. Over time, Taxi Driver has been recognized repeatedly in various “Best of” lists by the American Film Institute, Empire, and Time Out. The screenplay’s complex themes—alienation, existential disquiet, hyper-masculinity, and urban decay—have won deep appreciation from film historians and audiences alike. The partnership between Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro remains foundational to the film’s profound impact, highlighting their synergy in creating a work that endures as a landmark in American cinema 50 years on.
