Sony Pictures Home Entertainment releases Martin Scorsese’s 1976 masterpiece, “Taxi Driver,” winner of the top prize at Cannes Film Fest and Best Picture Oscar nominee in a Limited Collector’s DVD Edition in August 2007.
In this urban angst-ridden, nightmarish drama, written by Paul Schrader, Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a traumatized Vietnam War veteran who takes a job as a night-time taxi driver in New York City. When he encounters a 12-year-old prostitute named Iris (Jodie Foster), controlled by a pimp named Sport (Harvey Keitel), Travis is determined to “rescue” Iris, and does so, in a bloodbath that is unsurpassed even in the films of Scorsese. (see detailed plot below).
Taxi Driver Limited Collector’s Edition is full of bonus features including a newly recorded feature-length commentary by director Scorsese, an Appreciation and Influence documentary including interviews with directors, producers, actors and film critics on the cinematic importance of Taxi Driver and its director, a Taxi Cab Confessions documentary where De Niro and Schrader meet with NYC taxi drivers as well as a Taxi Driver Locations Interactive Map.
This Limited Collector’s Edition will be available in a two-disc DVD set for an SRP of $TBD.
At 26, Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle (De Niro) is slipping slowly into isolation and violence on the streets of New York City. Trying to solve his insomnia by driving a yellow cab on the night shift, he grows increasingly disgusted by the people who hang out at night: “Someday a real rain will come and wash all the scum off the streets.”
Travis’ touching attempts to woo Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a Senator’s campaign worker, turn sour when he takes her to a porn movie on their first date.
He then further fails in his attempt to persuade child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) to desert her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel) and return to her parents and school. Driven to the edge by powerlessness, he buys four handguns and sets out to assassinate the Senator, heading for the infamy of a `lone crazed gunman’.
DVD Bonus Features Include:
Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver Featurette
Producing Taxi Driver Featurette
Influence and Appreciation Documentary
Robert De Niro, Oliver Stone, Roger Corman and others pay tribute to Scorsese and the film
God’s Lonely Man’s Documentary
Writer Paul Schrader and Professor Robert Kolker discuss the loneliness themes as seen in the film. Schrader also talks about what circumstances lead to writing the screenplay
*Travis’ New York Locations Featurette
An interactive map with visits to the famous New York City locations in 2006, while comparing them to the same locations in 1975.
Storyboard to Film Comparisons with Martin Scorsese Introduction
* New Feature-length Commentary by Writer Paul Schrader
* New Feature-length Commentary by Professor Robert Kolker
* Taxi Driver Stories Featurette
* Making Taxi Driver Documentary
* Animated Photo Galleries, including Scorsese at Work Photo Montage
* Original Screenplay Read Along
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Rating: R.