Influence and Appreciation: Taxi Driver (2007)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Another very good featurette from the 2-disc SE of Martin Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER (now on Blu-ray). This documentary features Oliver Stone, Roger Corman, Paul Schrader and Robert DeNiro as they not only discuss the film at hand but also its director. There are some interesting stories here as every discusses how they first met Martin and how they felt once he finally broke through with this film. Stone tells a couple very good stories about Scorsese teaching a class at NYU and how he would stay up until four in the morning to catch a certain film and then he'd come into class without sleeping and go into these fast rants and raves about said film. DeNiro talks about the two knowing one another as kids but not being too close and he also tells the story of how they were reconnected years later. DeNiro also goes into detail about him and Keitel switching roles in MEAN STREETS and the various preparations that went into TAXI DRIVER. If you're a fan of the film then you're certainly going to watch this as we get to hear quite a bit about the influence Scorsese has had on newer filmmakers as well as what impact people like Godard had on him.
