Taxi Driver - Blu-ray + DVD

TAXI DRIVER is an iconic film, considered by many to be a masterpiece and the crowning achievement of both Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro. Whatever your opinion this is a powerful film that starts strong and never lets up that has also stood the test of time. Everything in the movie is done so realistically that the story could still be told today. Robert Deniro plays Travis. We know little about him other than that he is an ex marine and a deep insomniac. He also sees the world as a dirty place that needs to be cleaned up. He becomes a taxi driver in the city of New York which takes on a realistic role of its own here. We see the two sides of everything and the same goes for New York. Nothing is held back on showing the realistic gritty underside of the city. But what of the transfer of this movie classic to blu ray. Seems like all the classics are being brought to blu ray, some more succesfully than others. The questions are always how does it look, is it an improvement over the dvd and does it bring the film to new life. TAXI DRIVER was the first film to receive an enhanced 4k restoration and what it does is perform magic on a decades old film. The video presentation is purely amazing. It is funny for when the film starts the Columbia logo is very fuzzy and then the movie starts. It is clear, crisp with colors strong. The film is very definitive in that scenes are either nighttime or daytime, dark or light. The blacks and dark colors are brilliant and all color ratios amazing. Whites contrast perfectly. No matter what the scene everything pops. The night scenes are very realistic and when colors are introduced they are vibrant and real. Nothing is overenhanced. Instead the film looks the way it must have when released originally in theaters. It is leaps and bounds over any dvd version. The climactic scene at the end is brought to new devastating life with this new restoration. Flesh tones are also perfect. Blu ray is put to amazing use here restoring this classic film to all its glory. The graininess here is meant to be here. It represents New York City in full detail. And the audio is just as perfect. The DTS 5.1 audio allows the amazing soundtrack to fully blossom and soar over the entire film. The score here tells the story as much as any character or visual. And dialogue is strong and present. Nothing is wrong here. The film itself is told in a way that it is open to many different interpretations but the blu ray itself needs no debate. It is spectacular. I will reiterate again. The film looks as pure and original as when in the theaters restored to its true glory. Do not hesitate to double dip if you own the dvd. This blu ray shows the movie as a whole new experience. I give this blu ray my highest recommendations.

One of my favorites, a powerful movie.

I'd heard Taxi Driver was a great movie, and with Scorcese at the helm and all kinds of famous actors in it to boot, I was expecting good things. Nor was I disappointed. Taxi Driver is a special movie. It's a character study on one hand, a philisophical treatise on the other. It simultaneously entertains with it's sultry shots of 1975 NYC, lots of good dialogue between the characters, and a story line that unfolds naturally - people who appreciate photography will especially like Taxi Driver - it's a joy to watch Scorcese tell this tale. The movie is accessible on many levels, the acting is fantastic and the story itself, subtle, violent, occasionally funny - and finally, something to think about for those that are paying attention. SPOILERS The thing to notice is when he's trying to decide if he should 'do a bad thing' and he's talking to one of the other taxi drivers asking for advice. One of the things the guy says as he tries to talk him down is that we are what we do.. like you do a job, and that becomes who you are. This movie is never very 'in your face' about it's message if it could be said to have one at all. But what does happen? Either way, Travis is kind of a sick puppy with the desire to kill. When that desire is aimed at the politician, he's a wacko (he wants to whack him because the girl he loves and who rejected him, is working on his campaign - this would be a kind of revenge, showing who 'has the power' - in his twisted mind). On the other hand, he meets the underage prostitute (Jodie Foster), devolops a protective streak towards her and ultimately ends up offing her pimp and other would-be enablers of her profession. This happens somewhat by accident. His first mission was to off the politicician. He takes up Jody Foster's mission as kind of a side inspiration and does the deed before he gets a chance to kill the politician. When the smoke clears he's a hero. An accidental hero. Again, the words of the older taxi driver are fulfilled: 'You are what you do'. The IRONY is that it could so easily have gone the other way. What would he have been if he'd managed to hit the politician? Had it gone as he'd originally planned, he'd certainly have been nothing less than the 'trash' he despised - from any rational person's point of view. How much of what we do is up to chance, luck, or as fate would have it? The movie seems to unconsciously ask this question. Travis is a 'walking contradiction'. He hates the scum, the sickos, the perverts, but finally, it's only a stroke of fate that distinguishes him from them. Taxi Driver is a great ride, and there are many reasons to see it. Loved the mohawk. This movie is hard as nails.

Essentially a treatise by writer Paul Schrader on pathological loneliness and PTSD, "Taxi Driver" goes deep into the numbingly boring yet emotionally painfilled and completely socially disconnected life of taxi driver Travis Bickle. We follow him down a rabbit hole of his own making leading to increasingly disturbed behavior and onto the final blood bath. So dark and violent in its day, Scorsese had to edit some shots and desaturate the blood color of the climatic shoot out scene just to avoid an "X" rating by the censors. Today, it would be a fairly standard "R" rated film for language and some violence, ha! It shows a coal black, seedy and amoral 70's New York City mostly at night. The images haunt the viewer, and we know that nothing good is coming down the line with this narrative. Part of this feeling of tension and foreboding is enhanced by the stunning score by the great Bernard Herrmann. It's a masterful mixture of smooth, jazzy themed elements with discordant, howling blocks of chords sounding almost like a horror film at times. The score becomes another full character of the movie. Sadly, Herrmann passed away literally hours after he finished it and never saw the released film. The film is dedicated in his honor. Another thing to note is the almost movie stealing work of a 12-year-old Jodie Foster as Iris, the like aged prostitute. Detailing in interviews years later how uncomfortable and awkward it was being on the set playing her role and interacting with the fellow male actors yet she still somehow managed to put on a stunning portrayal of hardened, street wise bluntness with an almost childlike humor and vulnerability. It is truly amazing to watch. Even Scorsese himself steps out of the director's chair and into a scene as one of Bickle's fares. It is an extremely chilling interaction and further contributes to Bickle's disintegrating mental state. Colombia does itself proud with the 4K Dolby Vision release of this film. Restored from the original camera negative the video quality just oozes with the grainy, grimy color saturated world of nighttime 70's New York City. Detail is abundant. Grain is wonderfully present and textural. Blacks are deep with no crush. Neon signs pop with the HDR giving a garish eye dazzling experience. The DTS-HD MA 5.1 audio track is quite atmospheric delivering a sense of "street" sounds as well as the unforgettable sonics of Herrmann's score and clear easy to understand dialog. There's lots of interviews, documentaries and behind the scenes extras on both the 4K disc as well as the included SD Blu-ray disc. This is a must own for all lovers of American neo-noir films and belongs in just about anyone's physical media collection. It will haunt you well after the credits roll.

This item arrived quickly Via Amazon prime. The picture quality of this Blu-ray is excellent. Though the age and nature of the film does not lend itself to enormous amounts of fine detail, the film still looks amazing for its age. Minute details (where present) are quite clear, and the color palette shifts seamlessly between the more natural and vivid aspects of Travis' daytime activities to the yellow/green tint of 70's New York nightlife. I found no issues with the audio presentation. The dialogue, music, and sound effects were all crystal clear. This particular release is loaded with special features. There are many documentaries and tributes, along with the standard trailers, commentaries, etc. A stack of collectibles snapshots was also included in the case, but I have no plans or need to open them. All in all, it's a very comprehensive release, and the quality of the transfer is top-notch. All releases of classic films should be handled with this level of care and thoroughness, because this was well worth the price. No software update was needed in order to play this Blu-ray on my 2017 model LG Blu-ray player.

Last saw this on cable about 15 years ago for about the 5th time, and liked it after every viewing, spaced about 3 or 4 years apart. Fast forward to day with a longer gap between views, coupled with higher quality blu-ray this time, and I now love it more than ever. This film has aged very, very well for me. I'm telling you a quality transfer to blu-ray from original film elements improves the color depth and contrast and audio so much so that it's like watching with a new perspective. Especially watching on a good quality big screen tv, in a dark room, sitting close to get a cinema theater type experience. Trivia that I learned in the extras: A big scene with blood late in the film looked oddly brownish to me, instead of dark crimson red. I was thinking a defect in the color from a damaged film element. Turns out the brownish blood was by design, via censorship from the powers that be. The scene was so graphic for the time that the only way the censors would let the scene remain was to alter the blood's color in post, to make a little less graphic. A deranged DeNiro is at his height as a young actor, and Cybil Shephard's sizzling good looks and decency create a dynamic contrast that bodes so well for the story line. This is pure cinema and story telling at its finest.

This is a very high quality transfer of the film, if you love classic cinema it's a must have

This was the first time I have ever watched TAXI DRIVER. Even though I've become a true movie buff / entrepreneur, I realize that sometimes it's better to never watch these "classic" films and simply imagine what they were like in its place and time, than watching them nowadays for the first time with expectations that won't deliver the goods. There are so many of my favorites that came from this time (the 60's) in film history. But the catch is I watched them back then, which makes me appreciate them more now, rather than watching them now, which appreciates me back then. Am I saying that TAXI DRIVER is a bad film? Not exactly. Did I really watch this movie? Indubitably! The best part about this flick was seeing younger versions of Rupert Da Nero, Harvey Guitar and Jody "Cannon" Fodder. It's been awhile since I've seen Cyborg Sheepherder too, apparently she's been packing on the chunks over the years, but I haven't seen her myself. It was also great to see Peter Boppins (may he nap peacefully) but I'm beginning to wonder if the man ever had a full skull of working hair follicles. I love Skadaisy's work and own nearly two of his films on HD-DVD. There's no question that what he and Da Nero created here was pure brilliance at the time and again, had I watched this film way back when I was born, I would've understood this stuff much more clearly, but in this day and age a lot about the film just isn't relevant anymore (At one point the guy pays a prostitute with just a twenty dollar bill! The movie about lost me here). A couple of positive things that really stood out in the movie were the relationship between "Slick" Travis and Ole' Bootsy and the conversation that took place between Travis and the secret service "dude" in Las Vegas. With Travis and Bootsy, well, most people would call Travis a clear-cut hopeless romantic and some of his more colourful ideas he shares with her certainly show this. But this brings me to my first issue, the dude's an underdog taxi driver and she's a successful geologist with options, I just don't see that combo ever cutting the slice. And who in their right mind takes a high society chick (or any chick) around town in a taxi on their first date? But I will say that taking her to a dirty movie was a classy move on his part, even thought she wasn't getting into it like he was. And as for the secret service guy, why did he wait so long to try and apprehend Travis? Red flags galore were going off during their poker game, more than enough to get a dude shot in the face these days, and considering how he gave the guy his real name (Henry Krinckle) and what I think was his real address (123 Fake Street), I don't understand why they weren't beating down his door with handcuffs and tasers. TAXI DRIVER is an interesting love story, although our main protagonist is clearly supposed to be a likeable character, I had a hard time rooting for him, let alone understanding how things managed to keep working out in his favor throughout the film (except the ending, he totally got what he deserved). I do think they captured the loneliness of working in a factory right on the money, but as far as Travis being a war veteran, well I wasn't completely sold on that. The Hurt Locker was the best journey into the unstable mind of Vietnam Vets for me and I just didn't think Travis came off as that type of person. I will say this though, that all out b/a/l/l/s-to-the-walls dance off at the end was totally awesome. Hip-yeah! *All fact checking and proof reading was done by Justin Palmure*

｢脇役が名演技だから主人公が映える｣、そんな映画のセオリーを超えるからロバート・デ・ニーロは凄い。これは凄い映画です。ただ、30を越えた男性にしかわからない内容かもしれません。ロバート・デ・ニーロが強烈なので周りの役者たちも輝く。ただ、率直にそう感じました。海兵隊復員兵、夜の大都会、イエローキャブ、女の見方、強力な銃器、甦る闘争本能、銃撃戦。ロバート・デ・ニーロが確立された作品と考えただけでも魂が凍りつく。当時11才のジョディ・フォスターを自分なりに救おうとするデ・ニーロは｢救世主｣以外あり得ない。デ・ニーロを非難したくとも、教〇委員会の方々では絶対ジョディは救われなかった。そのうちカイテルに捨てられるのがオチである。シビル・シェパードがラスト、よりを戻しにくるが｢グッド・ロング｣とデ・ニーロ。男だ。 ロバート・デ・ニーロは自分にとって｢神｣なので、造反意見は断固書きません。

Taxi Driver est un véritable chef-d’œuvre du cinéma, porté par une performance inoubliable de Robert De Niro. Le film nous plonge dans l’esprit troublé de Travis Bickle, avec une intensité rare et une atmosphère captivante du début à la fin.

parfait

Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) is a former Marine and a veteran of the Vietnam war. He frequently has trouble sleeping and is plagued by headaches. The pills he takes don't seem to help at all. Because he's likely to be awake all night anyway, Bickle takes a job driving a cab. He prefers the night shift. Scorsese's version of New York is gritty and realistic. Most of the film is shot at night and we see just how crazy some of the people are. It's a crime-ridden world populated by junkies and prostitutes. Bickle hates how much scum exists in the city, and he's referring to the people more than the dirty streets. Bickle is looking for something to brighten up his seedy existence and a woman catches his eye. Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) works in a local office for a senator who is hoping to become the next president. After pestering her for a while, she eventually agrees to go on a date with him. He talks to her in a very straightforward way. It's not clear whether he lacks intelligence, or if he doesn't see any point in hiding the truth about himself. His approach works and leads to one of the funniest scenes in the film when he takes her to see a movie. Other things attract Bickle's attention. He's particularly drawn to Iris (Jodie Foster), who is a 12-year-old prostitute. As his frustration mounts at the disgusting state of the city, he begins to devise a plan to clean up one small part. An incident on the street gives him the idea of saving Iris from her situation and giving her the opportunity to escape from her pimp (Harvey Keitel). It's interesting watching Bickle trying to escape his miserable existence. He figures out how to buy and use weapons and starts working out to strengthen his body. All the while, there's mounting tension, and we sense that Bickle is close to losing touch with reality completely. The supporting cast is strong, with Shepherd, Foster and Keitel all playing their parts well. You'll also see Peter Boyle and Albert Brooks. One of the most surprising scenes involves a cameo from Scorsese. His character might even be the catalyst for the change which eventually occurs in Bickle. I have to mention Scorsese's decision to shoot most of the scenes at night. It was an inspired choice and adds so much atmosphere to the film. Bernard Herrmann's saxophone-heavy score is also an important part of the mix and helps helps transport us into Bickle's troubled world. De Niro has produced some incredible performances over the past 40 years and Travis Bickle is probably my favorite De Niro character. There's so much going on beneath the surface and De Niro portrays much of it with his body language. The meaning of the conclusion is open to debate, but if you take it purely at face value, it's quite uplifting. The Blu-ray presentation adds a lot to the experience and is a must-own for fans of the film.

No hay mucho que decir de la película que no se haya dicho antes, simplemente es una joya. En cuanto al diseño del empaque es muy bueno, incluye algunas imágenes que cualquier coleccionista amaría y llego en buen tiempo, a pesar que lo solicite durante el tiempo de pandemia.