As any Lakewood Ranch real estate owner who appreciates quality filmmaking already knows, Martin Scorsese has delivered one creative masterpiece per decade since the 1970s. He uses sensual cinematography to paint New York City as a modern Underworld. The director’s work is comparable to Dante’s epic Inferno poem about the same place. Every shot is tight. Before Scorsese delivered The Departed in 2006, 1990’s Goodfellas, or 1980’s Raging Bull, the world of cinema was blessed with Taxi Driver in 1976.
Written by Paul Schrader, Taxi Driver is the study of one’s psychosis. While Jeff Bridges was once considered for the legendary role, Robert De Niro was cast as Travis Bickle. He is an uneducated Vietnam vet. The honorably discharged Marine morphs into a mentally unstable, pill-popping insomniac. He lacks social skills and cannot relate to a single person he meets. Travis is lonely. Not even his coworkers can see Travis’s points-of-view. Bickle eventually becomes infatuated with Betsy, a Presidential campaign worker played by Cybil Shepherd.
Travis was a man who would not take it anymore. Determined to clean up his diluted town, the contemporary day cowboy becomes a ruthless vigilante. He wants to save Betsy from prostituting herself to a campaigning politician. He considers himself the savior who stands up against the filth in the city to improve its conditions.
Scorsese appears and hires the driver to stalk his cheating wife. The enraged husband gives vivid detail of what he’ll do to her body with a 44-Magnum. The character is responsible for prompting aggressive violence into Travis’s head. Bickle grows overly concerned for Iris, a 12-year-old prostitute played by Jodi Foster from the mean streets of the Big Apple.
As viewers in homes for sale in Lakewood Ranch see, Travis is successful in saving Iris. He’s an avenging angel, making a positive difference in the youngster’s life, as well as her family’s. This fact makes Taxi Driver stand out among all of Scorsese’s classics as the only script with a happy ending. The uncivil servant goes on an escapade that turns him into a media poster-boy. Whether the infamous taxi driver lives or the happy ending is merely a hallucination at the time of his death, the memorable finale is open to each spectator’s interpretation.
The 1976 movie almost received an X-rating when it was released, thanks to its graphic content. Eventually, some of the bloody red images were faded in the final scene to earn an R-rating. There are numerous jump cuts, expressive lens movements and freaky color dissolves. Scorsese always uses unbelievable soundtracks. In much of the flick, there is no background music used. Rather, we hear the continuous car horns and screams of the urban jungle. The scenes settings are then topped with Bernard Herrmann’s uncanny score. To the director’s surprise, Taxi Driver was a box-office success. The underage Foster even received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. If it’s been a while, you may want to check out Taxi Driver again in your Lakewood Ranch luxury home this weekend.
About Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty:
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty serves 19 counties throughout Florida with over 40 locations and approximately 1,800 Sales Professionals. The full-service brokerage company, founded in 1999, is a subsidiary of Lennar Corporation, a Fortune 500 company and is a franchise member of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices’ network, one of the few organizations entrusted to use the world-renowned Berkshire Hathaway name. The company offers residential and commercial services as well as seasonal rentals, property management, REO & Foreclosures, corporate relocations, referral services, title, home service plans, and personal concierge services. Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Florida Realty ranks in the Top 10 in the network among 42,000 Sales Professionals, 1,200 offices throughout 47 states. The company is the overall No. 1 fundraiser for The Sunshine Kids Foundation, having generated more than $3.37 million since 2001. Visit www.BHHSFloridaRealty.com.
