 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Taxi Driver
- Review Date: November 29, 2005
- R
- Genre: Drama
- 1976
Common Sense Media says
Portrait of a very disturbed man; NOT for kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this movie is a disturbing chronicle of psychopath. It has graphic violence and unnerving suspense. The voiceover narration of the main character is filled with obscenities and racial slurs. A young teen prostitute is a central character, and she has affection for her pimp, which is made clear. The final shootout scene is bloody and shocking, and it's followed by a somewhat confounding epilogue where the police praise main character's violent actions.
What's the story?
TAXI DRIVER centers on Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), an unhinged young man who has moved to New York following service in the military. In the city, he finds himself disgusted by the crime and "filth" on the streets. Unable to sleep at night, he takes a job as a night-time taxi driver - a job that brings him into close contact with many of the city's undesirable elements. Although he tries to connect with the people he meets (including a pretty campaign worker played by Cybill Shepard and a teen prostitute played by Jodie Foster), his awkwardness keeps him from succeeding. Rapidly, his mental state deteriorates, and he begins to fantasize about cleaning up corruption on his own. Ultimately, he enacts his warped idea of vigilante justice with some rather graphic and surprising consequences.
Is it any good?
Teenagers curious about extremely violent films are likely to learn of this film's reputation, especially the tour-de-force performance of Robert De Niro. Taxi Driver was the first major collaboration between De Niro and director Martin Scorsese. Working from Paul Schrader's script, the resulting film is deeply affecting in its ability to bring the viewer into the frame of mind of a violent and volatile social misfit. Feeding off a general sense of unrest that many young people will experience in life, the film does an amazing job of depicting Bickle as a real human being with problems, rather than a cartoonish villain. In Travis' mind, his morals are well tuned, obligating him to turn crusader for his own version of decency. It is hard to wholly cast him as the "bad guy," and so much moral ambiguity exists.
The imagery of New York City at night almost functions as a second main character, with striking visuals and all sorts of unsavory characters. A truly stunning masterpiece that helped to solidify an actor/director relationship that went on to produce many other great films.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the main character's motivations. Are there any clues given to the roots of his violent tendencies? Were his final very violent actions justified given his motive to "save" Iris? What do you think the filmmakers were trying to say about the media's influence on people's behavior? Do you think the media have an affect on yours?
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AGE
Disturbing but Brilliant!
This movie is excellent, and consists of a very talented cast! Robert Dinero is the PERFECT Taxi Driver! There is quite a bit of sexual content, references, etc... Also, a main character takes his girlfriend to a pornographic movie. There is a 12 year old prostitute, as well as many others. Other than that this movie is great! There is however some pretty graphically violent content. The violence itself isn't that bad, there is in fact only ONE shootout in the entire film, but the sheer abruptness holds a lot of shock factor. A man's hand is blown to pieces, a man is shot in the stomach, face, then finally stabbed to death, another man has his brains splattered all over the walls. And a few other graphic deaths, lots of blood and gore to be seen here. Most teens won't appreciate the complex storyline, as it is a rather slow movie and spends a lot of time on character development. However if your OLDER teens are interested, and you feel they are mature enough to handle this somewhat disturbing film. Then I think you should let them watch it, all in all it should be OK for most teens 15+.
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AGE
Brilliant
This film is brilliant and is one of my favourite films. The script is excellent and the acting is even better. As for suitability, I definetely wouldn't let pre-teens watch it due to violence and the subject matter, and I don't think they would be mature enough to fully appreciate the film. As to whether to let your teenagers watch it you should think about whether your teenager is mature enough to appreciate the film and not be disturbed by it. But an amazing film
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AGE
Too disturbing for kids
While Taxi Driver is a very excellent movie, it is simply far too disturbing for kids and most teenagers. It's best to see this when you're an adult and you have more complex understandings of things.
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AGE
good for ages 20 and not for tweens!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
horrible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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AGE
One of the greatest movies ever made
This movie, which was once a movie that didn't make much sense for its time, is now a shocking reality. Robert Deniro plays one of the greatest roles ever as Travis, only fitting for one of the greatest actors of all time. And how can this pathetic site even give this movie 4 stars!!! It deserves 10 stars. They should start grading movies right. Top 5 greatest movies of all time, enough said.
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AGE
I saw it when I was 11 and thought it was pretty good. It's not that violent until the end of the movie, one character is a 12 year old prostitute, not too bad.
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AGE
Mid-teens and up only
Robert De Niro is GREAT in this movie. He is taxi driver who slowly turns insane. Kids wouldn't understand it
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AGE
really good movie
this movie is great not to violent there is only ne graphic shootout the script is great the preformances are awsome i reccomend it
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AGE
A Martin Scorsese Classic
Robert De Niro is Terrific as the Taxi Driver, Martin Scorses Classic! but does involve a 12-year old prostitute and a man taking his girlfriend to a porn theater! we see man's buttcheek's during that scene, but other than that its great, but it does contain graphic violence at the very end of the film, we a man's hand get blown off with a gun and we see blood spurt from the missing part of the hand, we also see a man get shot in the face several times, we see blood spurt from his face, and then we see a man get his hand stabbed, we see blood spurt from the wound, and then he is shot in the head, we see blood and brains spray from the head onto the wall, we also see a man shot in the neck, we see blood spurt from the wound, this ending contains lots of blood and brutality
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| Studio: | Sony Pictures |
| Director: | Martin Scorsese |
| Cast: | Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, Robert De Niro |
| Genre: | Drama |
| Run time: | 112 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | January 1, 1976 |
| DVD release date: | May 4, 1999 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | language and violence. |
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