Scorsese - Taxi Driver: 50th Anniversary
March 4, 2026
Martin Scorsese: Maestro of Cinema
He’s (Robert De Niro) an alienated, lonely man in an urban snake pit, who sees himself as “an avenging angel” capable of heroic action, like saving a teen prostitute (Jodie Foster) from her sleazy pimp (Harvey Keitel). People with“bad ideas” in the city of night. 50th anniversary screening.
Tickets
Select showtime for pricing and tickets.
Wednesday, March 4, 2026
Music master Bernard Herrmann’s dark chords swell as a roiling steam cloud from the netherworld emits a taxi cab floating dream-slow, the driver’s close-up eyes huge, burning neon-red. Through his rainy windshield the world is blurry, a smear of primeval humanity, the infernal city. In a mesmerizing flash Scorsese has immersed us in the mind, the worldview of Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), insomniac war vet, the loneliest man in an urban snake pit of drugs, prostitution, human degradation. Scorsese felt Mean Streets' Charlie was “trying to be a saint in modern society,” and Travis sees himself as “an avenging angel,” believing “a real rain will wash all the scum off the streets.” Alienated and sexually repressed, he tries to make human contact, but his raw, unfiltered thoughts put people off. The radical avenger aspect of his psyche grows. He confronts himself in the mirror: “You lookin’ at me? Well, I’m the only one here.” Travis focuses his outrage on pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel), who employs teen prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster), and starts training for whatever form his mission will take. Travis’ actions are extreme and appalling, but Scorsese, screenwriter Paul Schrader and De Niro make them the culmination of an organic, understandable process. And there’s an ironic distance between the way we, and the socio-political climate around Travis, perceive them.
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- Principal Cast: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Harvery Keitel, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks, Cybill Shepherd
- Country: USA
- Year: 1976
- Running Time: 114 min.
- Producer: Julia Phillips, Michael Phillips
- Screenplay: Paul Schrader
- Cinematographers: Michael Chapman
- Editors: Tom Rolf, Melvin Shapiro
- Music: Bernard Herrmann
- US Distributor: Sony Columbia