Taxi Driver

Climactic scene is a blood-drenched apartment gun battle -- characters shot in the chest, hand, arm. Suicide by a gun to the head prevented only because the gun no longer has any bullets. Lead character shoots and kills a would-be robber of a liquor store; the clerk then starts to beat the dead body of the assailant with a wooden club. Lead character buys a collection of guns from an illegal arms salesman; when the lead character sees how a gun feels in his hand, he aims it out the window as the camera shows his point of view and the gun pointed at two pedestrians talking on the sidewalk a few stories below. Assassination of a politician narrowly averted.

Lead character frequents the pornographic movie theaters of 1970s Times Square in New York City. The sexual acts of the movies are briefly seen and heard in these scenes. Lead character talks of how he has to clean up the semen from the backseat of his cab at the end of every shift. He befriends a 12-year-old prostitute who tries to perform oral sex on him. The prostitute's pimp says that the lead character can have anal sex with her if he desires. One of the cabbies regales other cabbies in an all-night cafeteria with exaggerated tales of his sexual experiences. Prostitutes constantly shown walking the streets of Times Square and getting picked up.

Constant profanity. "F--k" and "N" word. Various racial and homophobic slurs. "C--ts," "p---y," "c--k," "bitch," "ass," "hell." Bickle mentions having to clean off semen (he uses a slang term) from the backseat of his taxi at the end of every shift. A pimp tells the lead character of the sexual acts he can perform on a 12-year-old prostitute for the money he spends. A cabbie regales fellow cabbies in an all-night cafeteria with over-the-top tales of his sexual experiences.

Lead character often shown taking pills presumed to be amphetamines. He often keeps a bagged bottle of booze in his pocket and takes sips while walking down the street. Beer drinking. Smoking.

Parents need to know that Taxi Driver is a classic 1976 Martin Scorsese film about the mental breakdown of a lonely and alienated young man driving a cab through the vice-laden streets of '70s NYC. It's one of the best films of all time -- iconic and unforgettable -- and a must-see for movie lovers, but unquestionably not for kids. Robert De Niro's performance as the antihero of antiheroes Travis Bickle conveys a slow slide into derangement with a gradual build-up of menace culminating in a blood-filled apartment shoot-out. The sleazy sex of Times Square and the violence of a declining city losing a war on crime weave through the movie with as much omnipresence as the sadly beautiful and dreamlike neon lights and long-gone bars, restaurants, and businesses of '70s New York streets where Bickle picks up and drops off his fares. Bickle frequents pornographic movie houses -- some brief scenes from the movies are shown and heard. He befriends a 12-year-old prostitute (played by Jodie Foster) and attempts to rescue her from her depraved surroundings. Bickle shoots and kills a would-be corner store robber, and after getting hustled out the front door by the grateful store owner, the owner begins to beat the dead man repeatedly with a wooden club. Profanity is constant, including "f--k," "c--t," "p---y," and various racial slurs for African-Americans. To reiterate: This is a great film, but most definitely not for kids.

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