I have finally done it. It’s taken *forever* but I have finally watched the movie Taxi Driver. I put a hold on this movie eons ago at my local library and it has finally come in!

(Note to self: give up trying to get movies from the library. Get a NetFlix account).

Directed in 1976 by Martin Scorsese, Taxi Driver is a dark, violent, and somewhat disturbing film… but in a good way. I was reminded a little of No Country for Old Men which we saw in the theater last week. The movies have dissimilar plots, distinctive settings, and different casts of characters. However each movie progressed at a deliberate tempo which underscored the sense of mounting desperation and irrationality on the part of the leading characters. I watched in helpless fascination as Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) and No Country’s Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) made one amazingly bad choice after another.

I couldn’t help but wonder what drove each man on such a self-destructive path. Given a different set of circumstances, would the violent outcomes of each film have been prevented? Perhaps Bickle and Moss were both hard-wired in such a way that destruction and violence was inevitable.

Taxi Driver is great movie - not in my top 10, mind you, but it would be in my top 25 or so. The film includes some unforgettable acting by Robert De Niro (who is terrifying as an increasingly psychotic cab driver) and Jodie Foster (in her breakout role as a tough-as-nails 12-year-old hooker). The movie also stars Harvey Keitel as a street-wise pimp, Cybill Shepherd as Bickle’s unattainable love interest, and Peter Boyle as an experienced fellow cabbie.

I think I’m going to have to watch this one again.