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DILLON ON FILM
Taxi Driver: 50 Years On
Robert De Niro remains hauntingly powerful in Martin Scorsese’s searing masterpiece
Warning: Contains spoilers
When an assassination attempt was made on US President Ronald Reagan by John Hinkley in early 1981, the assailant claimed to have been inspired by Robert De Niro’s character Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver (1976). He was also said to be obsessed with De Niro’s co-star, Jodie Foster, just as Travis is obsessed with the child prostitute character she plays in the film. Given that the film also features an (aborted) assassination attempt on the fictional politician, Senator Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris), inevitable questions were asked of director Martin Scorsese and screenwriter Paul Schrader. Had they irresponsibly created a film with the power to unbalance the mentally ill? Hinckley’s lawyers apparently thought so, as they submitted the film as evidence.
Debates around whether films such as Taxi Driver cause violence or merely reflect the violence of a troubled world are ongoing. My admittedly unscientific opinion has always been that a film, in and of itself, is extremely unlikely to provoke a violent act in a well-adjusted person. But can films act as triggers for the unbalanced?
