Friday 13 February 2015

The 7th Hall Of Fame Inductee Representing Thriller Film - Taxi Driver (1976) - Martin Scorsese



This year’s inductee is the second in consecutive years in the Hall of Fame for Martin Scorsese, this for his unforgettable psychological thriller Taxi Driver. Fronted by Robert De Niro in one of the all-time great screen performances, Scorsese’s film is a dark and twisted exploration of Travis Bickle’s view of a world gone mad and his quest to do something about it. The dark tones of Michael Chapman’s photography and moodily appropriate jazz-inspired score of Bernard Herrmann are tinkered with in the editing suite, elevated beyond their status: Chapman’s work is shrouded in a veil of murk while Herrmann’s score becomes a sound of sonice dissonance. A violent film, transgressive and highly controversial upon release, not least because of some of the interpretations that could be made of the film’s ending, it is left open-ended because of Paul Schrader’s superlative script. Finally, although he had made great films beforehand, this is the picture that truly saw Martin Scorsese make his definitive stamp upon the world stage. 


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