Taxi Driver: Directed by Martin Scorsese. With Diahnne Abbott, Frank Adu, Victor Argo, Gino Ardito. A mentally unstable veteran works as a nighttime taxi driver in New York City, where the perceived decadence and sleaze fuels his urge for violent action. A still from 1976’s Taxi Driver (left) compared to a still from 1983’s King of Comedy (right), both featuring Playland, formally at 1485 Broadway. The drop-off location on W 72nd Street was in front of the clearly marked Olcott Hotel, which had been in operation for most of the 20th century. Entrance to the Olcott Hotel on W 72nd Street, 1976. An alienated, battle-scarred loner embarks on a mission of misguided revenge in the seedy underbelly of nighttime Manhattan. “Taxi Driver” shouldn’t be taken as a New York film; it’s not about a city but about the weathers of a man’s soul, and out of all New York he selects just those elements that feed and reinforce his obsessions. The man is Travis Bickle, ex-Marine, veteran of Vietnam, composer of dutiful anniversary notes to his parents, taxi driver, killer. The movie rarely strays very far from the personal, highly subjective way in which he sees the city and lets it wound him. It’s a place, first ...
