Product Details

• Actors: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd
• Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Collector's Edition, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Limited Edition, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1)
• Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed: French
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click .
• Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: August 14, 2007
• Run Time: 113 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (486 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000R8YC18
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,207 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• Learn more about "Taxi Driver (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)" on IMDb

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Taxi Driver is the definitive cinematic portrait of loneliness and alienation manifested as violence. It is as if director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader had tapped into precisely the same source of psychological inspiration ("I just knew I had to make this film," Scorsese would later say), combined with a perfectly timed post-Watergate expression of personal, political, and societal anxiety. Robert De Niro, as the tortured, ex-Marine cab driver Travis Bickle, made movie history with his chilling performance as one of the most memorably intense and vividly realized characters ever committed to film. Bickle is a self-appointed vigilante who views his urban beat as an intolerable cesspool of blighted humanity. He plays guardian angel for a young prostitute (Jodie Foster), but not without violently devastating consequences. This masterpiece, which is not for all tastes, is sure to horrify some viewers, but few could deny the film's lasting power and importance. --Jeff Shannon

Product Description

At 26, Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is slipping slowly into isolation and violence on the streets of New York City. Trying to solve his insomnia by driving a yellow cab on the night shift, he grows increasingly disgusted by the people who hang out at night: "Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets." His touching attempts to woo Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a Senator's campaign worker, turn sour when he takes her to a porn movie on their first date. He even fails in his attempt to persuade child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) to desert her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel) and return to her parents and school. Driven to the edge by powerlessness, he buys four handguns and sets out to assassinate the Senator, heading for the infamy of a `lone crazed gunman'.

DVD BONUS FEATURES INCLUDE:

"Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver" Featurette

"Producing Taxi Driver" Featurette

"Influence and Appreciation" Documentary

Robert De Niro, Oliver Stone, Roger Corman and others pay tribute to Scorsese and the film

"God’s Lonely Man" Documentary

"Travis’ New York Locations" Featurette

Storyboard to Film Comparisons with Martin Scorsese Introduction

New Feature-length Commentary by Writer Paul Schrader

New Feature-length Commentary by Professor Robert Kolker

"Taxi Driver Stories" Featurette

"Making Taxi Driver" Documentary

Animated Photo Galleries

"Including Scorsese at Work" Photo Montage

Original Screenplay Read Along

See all Editorial Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 76 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Scorsese's 1976 New York City in 1080P never looked so good! April 5, 2011

By DEEP B FLAT

Format:Blu-ray|Amazon Verified Purchase

As we all know, a film's critical review is a subjective journey.
Many have universally praised Taxi Driver an American masterpiece.
In my humble opinion, it is Scorsese's crowning achievement.
I won't bother you a with a critical review of the narrative itself, the power of the performances, the lush cinematography not to mention the haunting soundtrack.

Lets get down to brass tacks with the Blu-ray experience:

The new 4K transfer and remastering ( under cinematographer Michael Chapmen and Scorsese's supervision ) looks fantastic. I can only hope for more studios to take their time when transferring vintage masterpieces. The clarity, color and detail even surpasses my last film-screening of this film at the Hollywood Cinerama Dome in the mid-90s. The soundtrack is presented in 5.1 DTS HD with wonderful results.

The special features are chock full of goodies, too numerous for me to list here fully:
I really enjoyed the "screen to script interactive", and also the "storyboard to film comparisons". Multiple documentaries are included in this single BR disc, including "Travis' New York " The changes of New York 1975 to Today" Multiple interviews and commentaries with both Scoreses and writer Paul Schrader + much more supplementary material.

The Picture Quality at 1080P was like peanut butter to jelly on my 52" LCD XBR, and switching the images to a 150" screen ( via Sony VPL-VW50 1080P projector ) was like adding a couple strips of crispy bacon to that peanut butter sandwich. If you are into HT and projection systems, this BR disc is made for you. Seeing New York City in the mid 70s presented in such detail and color was a visually arresting experience.... The vibrant night shots really stays with you, vivid colors pop during those long tracking POV shots from Travis's cab. A museum quality documentation on NYC street-life during that period.

The packaging is robust, with a 3 section pullout-type case that holds the bonus lobbycards.

This is the definitive copy. ( at least until The Criterion Collection decides to give it a BR go ).

Yes folks, for a small price, its time to get into Travis's Taxi for a cinematic ride like no other. Read more ›

42 of 47 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Master character study October 23, 2002

By Michael P. Beck

Format:DVD

The importance of Taxi Driver cannot be overstated. More than a well made film, the movie is a genuine character study of the highest achievement. The absurdity of the decade in which the film was made lends an incredible amount of reinforcement to the presentation. The "conspicuous consumption" lifestyle of the 1970's makes the cheapness of human life depicted in the film (prostitution, exploitation, violence) seem all the more engaging. A few of the more important, albeit subtle scenes that I feel make the character study so realized include the following (I would ask that any viewer of the film pay close attention to these scenes and try to interpret the subtle importance of them as they relate to the character):

- Travis is sitting in his apartment watching American Bandstand on TV. He is angered by the celebration of adolescent sexuality he sees and how "human" and accessible it is portrayed to be. In contrast, Travis is completely unable to conceptualize himself in this rite of passage, due to the self loathing image he has built up in his mind. Travis then sees an empty pair of shoes on the floor amidst the dancing couples, a stark metaphor for his inability to relate to the world he finds himself in.

- Travis, although seemingly articulate and confident about his emotional convictions in his journal entries, recognizes the impending disintegration of his mental state and decides to seek the advice of his colleague Wizard, in a last ditch effort to make sense of his feelings. Travis's somber desperation is evident in his discussion with Wizard and an attempt is made to address the situation.... However, Wizard, who shares none of Travis's chronic isolationism, is unable to offer any helpful words to Travis, who is ultimately frustrated one last time in his final effort to salvage his sanity. In the closing shot of the scene, Travis tries to articulate his inexpressible frustrations, to which Wizard casually replies "you know... you're all right, you're all right". With his last attempt to make a human connection an utter failure, Travis is now locked into his path of destruction, a path that cannot be positively influenced by outside individuals due to his inability to express his feelings. It is a particularly chilling scene, perhaps the definitive example in the film depicting Travis's final fate.

- Travis is seen in his apartment room preparing for his confrontation with Senator Palentine. He speaks about his apocalyptic mission through his journal entries. However, his words portray a man unable to articulate himself even in his hour of destiny - "listen you f***ers, you screw heads, here is a man who would not take it anymore, who would.. not....." (starts over) "listen you f***ers you screw heads.....". This scene is very effective in that it illustrates Travis's inability to express his emotions with certainty, even when they concern convictions which he feels strongly about.

- Immediately after his attempted assassination of Palentine fails, Travis is seen driving to the tenement house where Sport hustles. Dazed, Travis is utterly absorbed by his psychosis, his face a portrait of a concentrated, murderous obsession. A pedestrian attempts to flag down his cab, but Travis blows right by the would-be customer, occupied only with the slaughter he is about to engage in. I feel that this scene perfectly capsulizes Travis's complete descent into madness.

This film was cheated out of the best picture Oscar by Rocky, which (although a fine film in its own right) is a film that anybody can love. In contrast, Taxi Driver is a film that many people would prefer to avoid due to its cynical portrayal of human life. However, it is often the ugly things in life which are the more relevant, more engaging, more compelling, more real. Read more ›

282 of 346 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The case for delirium March 9, 2003

By Stanley Allen

Format:DVD

The ending of Taxi Driver has generated a lot of controversy and confusion because most people tend to assume that it's a simple continuation of the narrative of the film. In critical studies, however, the possibility is often raised that the end (after the the shoot-out scene to the end of the movie) is no less than Bickle's dying delirious imagination. I want to set forth the case that this is so.

First, at the end of the shoot-out scene, Bickle rolls his eyes backwards in the classic movie signature of death. Just before, of course, he put his blood-dripping finger up to his temple and mimed blowing his own brains out (after having failed with the empty real guns). Bickle is suicidal, dying, and will not recover.

Second, after this scene the camera pans across various news clippings on the wall of Bickle's room; these clippings describe him as a "hero" that saved a young girl. Also we hear the voice-over of Iris' parents saying that Bickle would always be welcome in their home for saving Iris. But think about real life crimes for a moment. When newspapers report about a man that goes on a shooting spree in a run-down part of town, do they really ever report them as "heroes"? Even if Bickle could explain to them why he did this (Iris' dad says he was in a coma after the shoot-out), would anyone really take a person like this at their word? And would Iris' parents really want to allow a murderous man a place at their table? What we have here is Bickle's fantasy about how he _wants_ the press and Iris' folks to interpret his actions, not a realistic view of how the world generally views such actions.

Third (along the same lines as #2), it's hard to imagine Bickle's buddies at the cabstand glossing over his rampage and treating him like old times.... Really, if a co-worker of mine were involved in so violent an incident, I would probably not hang out with him so blithely. This is Travis imaginging that things are "back to normal" after getting out of the hospital -- a fantasy of peace.

Fourth, Bickle happens to find Betsy in his cab soon after returning to work. How fortuitous in a city of millions! But their conversation shows that she now respects him, considers him a hero like the newspapers and Iris' parents. Again, extremely unlikely -- especially given their history. In real life if she heard about the rampage (or recognized him trying to kill Palentine), that would only tend to confirm her earlier opinion of him as a depraved person. But here she also interprets his actions in the way he wants them to be interpreted (that he saved Iris from the human scum that were selling her) rather than how she probably would in real life. (Also note that the photography of this scene always shows Betsy's face from his viewpoint, floating in a dreamlike way in his rear-view mirror.)

Fifth, when Bickle drops Betsy off she seems uncertain, embarrased, and demure, and is obviously just on the verge of offering some kind of intimate apology. Instead she asks how much is the fare. He drives off without accepting a dime. This is Bickle's triumph -- he wins their relationship battle by rejecting _her_, and by being confident, independent, and morally superior. Typical subconscious inversion tactic.

Sixth, as he drives off, Bickle sees himself in the car's rear-view mirror, then adjusts it to see if he can see Betsy. As he does so, a violent wrench is given to the accompanying musical score. Then we see no one in the mirror at all as the credits roll to Bernard Hermann's haunting love theme. There's nothing in the mirror (except the rolling, ubiquitous city) because Travis is not there. Its symbolic of his death -- like that of a vampire -- that the mirror doesn't show his reflection. Travis is dead and we have just witnessed his last thoughts.

Travis is only a hero in his own mind. There is no hero in this movie. It does not have a happy ending. Travis continues to justify his own behavior and viewpoint to the last, and grants himself a kind of sainthood -- beatified by the press, Iris' parents, and Betsy's acquiescence.

The tragedy of the movie is deepend by this reading of its end. To my mind, this also makes the movie more coherent, since it's main theme is the psychological isolation of Travis Bickle. The end consumates his separateness. Others will never connect to his vision of himself as a master (rather than a victim) of circumstance, a protector of innocence, a scourge of evildoers, an instrument of God's judgement. Read more ›