The latest
Taxi Driver has returned for its 50th-anniversary re-release as a disturbing but essential film, with The Times critic Kevin Maher arguing that Martin Scorsese’s neo-noir still explains its violent cultural afterlife.
Details
• De Niro’s role: Maher described the film as a showcase for Robert De Niro’s performance as isolated cab driver Travis Bickle.
• Cannes backlash: The review said the film was booed at Cannes in 1976 over its ultraviolence.
• Political shadow: Maher wrote that Bickle’s assassination plot drew on the 1972 attempted killing of George Wallace.
• Later influence: The critic said there is no Fight Club, Drive or Joker without Taxi Driver.
• New York mood: Maher said the daytime scenes capture 1975 New York, while the nights feel like a nightmare state.
Between the lines
Maher treats the film as a dangerous cultural reference point: great cinema that helped shape fantasies of lone-man violence and damaged heroism.
What to watch
The 50th-anniversary re-release will test whether Taxi Driver can still be read as essential cinema, not just as the source of a famous line or angry archetype
