Taxi Driver [Blu-ray]

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.

Nice set!

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.