Looking for thriller signifiers in Taxi Driver (1976)

Like Roman Polanksi’s Chinatown (1974), Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976) has been dubbed a ‘neo-noir’ by critics. Straight away, the opening shot opens to a rising cloud of smoke in a dark New York City Street at night time, and this is immediately reminiscent of the noir period. These images in the scene are accompanied with powerful and building music. This then changes to a soft jazz (also common in noirs), as the shot changes to that of an extreme close-up of the protagonists eyes, with coloured lights from the street shining on him. There is then an in-car point-of-view shot of the street, which has been edited to make it blurred and distorted, it is also raining and water is running down the front windscreen. These are early examples of the noir theme: the fatalistic nightmare. Soon after, the protagonist, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), is in a conversation applying for the job of a night-shift taxi driver, and the viewer learns that he is an ex-marine and was in the Vietnam War and that he ‘can’t sleep nights’ (presumably due to bad memories of the war), which, therefore, is a hint at two more noir themes. The first of these themes is regarding the haunted past, whilst the latter, regarding characterisation, is a hint that Travis is similar to the archetypal hunted character which is commonly present in noirs and other neo-noirs (e.g. Gene Hackman’s Harry Caul in The Conversation (1974)). This is presented differently to the conventional method though; in a non-literal way, as the fact that he’s taking the job because he can’t sleep at night suggests that he’s, in a way, distracting himself or ‘running’ away from his own cognitions. There are also examples of slow, moving tracking and panning shots, which were common techniques of the noir period, especially in the works of Fritz Lang and Max Ophüls. We can see, then, that there are several key elements of noir present in just the first five minutes of the film.

They don't stop there though. In fact, regarding the themes, they just increase. The themes of claustrophobia and isolation, for example, are introduced very effectively, and demonstrated perfectly in a fantastic sequence of moving camera shots first outside and then within the taxi. First there are four shots from outside the taxi (just above the front wheel, just above the rear wheel, a close up of the bonnet of the car and a close up of the right rear view mirror), then there are another five from the inside (looking out of the rear view window, looking out of the passenger’s right window, from behind Travis driving, facing towards the left from the passenger’s seat watching Travis drive, and a backward-facing shot of Travis driving). This sequence represents the taxi as something of a capsule which Travis is isolated in, and throughout the film the taxi becomes a metaphor for Travis’ loneliness, and this in turn makes the viewer feel claustrophobic, as he or she begins to feel stuck inside with him. Claustrophobia is, of course, a well-known common theme within noirs.

Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver

Regarding the characterisation, conventions of noirs also become more apparent. Apart from the obvious, such as the first person male protagonist and his occasional narration of his diary entries (whose effects I have discussed in previous essays), it becomes obvious to the viewer that Travis is indeed disturbed, and, similarly to the conventional hunted character, ultimately resorts to an act of violent vigilante crime.

Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) after his violent vigilante crime

Regarding the mise-en-scene, noir conventions also become more and more obvious. Almost the whole film occurs during the night and there are continued examples of rising clouds of smoke in alley ways, wet and shiny pavements, blurred and distorted flashing lights, and degrading, sleazy settings – all of which represent the fatalistic nightmare. Also, obviously, being set in New York, there is the urban setting.

In conclusion, then, it is clear that Taxi Driver includes several aspects that were no doubt inspired by the noir period, which just goes to show, again, quite how influential the period was.