Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American crime drama thriller movie directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. It stars Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying and morally bankrupt New York City following the Vietnam War, the film tells the story of Travis Bickle, a lonely taxi driver who descends into insanity as he plots to assassinate both the presidential candidate for whom the woman he is infatuated with works, and the pimp of an underage prostitute he befriends.

Taxi Driver
Directed byMartin Scorsese
Produced byJulia Phillips
Michael Phillips
Written byPaul Schrader
StarringRobert De Niro
Jodie Foster
Albert Brooks
Harvey Keitel
Leonard Harris
Peter Boyle
Cybill Shepherd
Music byBernard Herrmann
CinematographyMichael Chapman
Edited byMarcia Lucas
Tom Rolf
Melvin Shapiro
Production
company
Bill/Phillips Productions
Italo/Judeo Productions
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
February 8, 1976
Running time
114 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.9 million
Box office$28.4 million

A critical and commercial success upon release and nominated for four Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (for De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (for Foster), Taxi Driver won the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The movie generated controversy at the time of its release for its depiction of violence and casting of a 12-year-old Foster in the role of a child prostitute.

In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best movie ever in its decennial critics' poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II, and the fifth-greatest movie of all time on its directors' poll. The film was considered significant by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994.

John Hinckley saw the movie many times. He wanted to impress Foster. He tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan by shooting him. Reagan survived the 1981 attack.

Release dates

Country Premiere
  Mexico 8 February 1976
  United States 9 February 1976
  Canada 19 March 1976
  Brazil 22 March 1976
  France 2 June 1976
  Netherlands 1 July 1976
  Australia 5 August 1976
  Denmark 16 August 1976
  United Kingdom 19 August 1976
  Ireland 10 September 1976
  Uruguay 16 September 1976
  Japan 18 September 1976
  Italy 24 September 1976
  Austria 7 October 1976
  West Germany 7 October 1976
  Finland 12 November 1976
  Norway 26 December 1976
  Spain 10 March 1977
  Greece 12 March 1977
  Sweden 12 March 1977
  Argentina 24 March 1977
  Portugal 15 April 1977
  12 May 1977
  Poland 3 March 1978
  India 13 March 1978
  Turkey 14 October 1978
  Hungary 8 May 1988
  South Korea 17 February 1989

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