ABOUT THE FILM

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring 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 follows Travis Bickle (De Niro), a taxi driver and veteran, and his deteriorating mental state as he works nights in the city.

The film was theatrically released by Columbia Pictures on February 7, 1976, where it was a critical and commercial success, despite generating controversy for its graphic violence at the climactic ending, and casting of then 12-year-old Foster in the role of a child prostitute. The film received numerous accolades including the 1976 Cannes Film Festival's Palme d'Or, and four nominations at the 49th Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (for De Niro), and Best Supporting Actress (for Foster).Taxi Driver is now widely recognized as one of the greatest films ever made.

Taxi Driver is now widely recognized as one of the greatest films ever made. Although it generated further controversy for its role in John Hinckley Jr.'s motive to attempt to assassinate then-President Ronald Reagan, the film has remained popular, culturally significant and inspirational of its time. In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best film ever in its decennial critics' poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II, and the fifth-greatest film of all time on its directors' poll. In 1994, the film was considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the US Library of Congress, and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

ABOUT THE ACTOR:

Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. Is an American actor, producer, and director. He is particularly known for his nine collaborations with filmmaker Martin Scorsese, and is the recipient of various accolades, including two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 2009, De Niro received the Kennedy Center Honor, and received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from U.S. President Barack Obama in 2016.

Born in Manhattan in New York City, De Niro studied acting at HB Studio, Stella Adler Conservatory, and Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio. His first major role was in Greetings (1968), and gained recognition with his role as a baseball player in the sports drama Bang the Drum Slowly (1973). His first collaboration with Scorsese was Mean Streets (1973), where he played small-time criminal "Johnny Boy". Stardom followed with his role as young Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's crime epic The Godfather Part II (1974), which won De Niro the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. For his portrayal of Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976) and a soldier in the Vietnam War drama The Deer Hunter (1978), he earned two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

De Niro portrayed Jake LaMotta in Scorsese's biographical drama Raging Bull (1980), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, his first in this category. He diversified to other roles, playing a stand-up comic in The King of Comedy (1982), and gained further recognition for his performances in Bernardo Bertolucci's epic 1900 (1976), Sergio Leone's crime epic Once Upon a Time in America(1984), Terry Gilliam's dystopian satire Brazil (1985), the religious epic The Mission (1986), and the comedy Midnight Run (1988). De Niro portrayed gangster Jimmy Conway in Goodfellas (1990), a catatonic patient in the drama Awakenings (1990), and a criminal in the psychological thriller Cape Fear (1991). All three films received praise for De Niro's performances. He then starred in This Boy's Life (1993), and directed his first feature film with 1993's A Bronx Tale. His other critical successes include the crime films Heat (1995) and Casino (1995).

He is also known for his comic roles in Wag the Dog (1997), Analyze This (1999), and Meet the Parents (2000). After appearing in several critically panned and commercially unsuccessful films, he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in David O. Russell's 2012 romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook. In 2017, De Niro portrayed Bernie Madoff in The Wizard of Lies, earning a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. He then starred in the psychological thriller Joker (2019) and Scorsese's crime epic The Irishman (2019).