Since nine-year-olds weren't part of its target audience, I didn't know much about Taxi Driver upon its initial release in 1976. Really, my first introduction to the film came through the parodies of it featured on SCTV. These cast different actors in the role of Travis Bickle and reenacted certain scenes from the film. As such, we saw Woody Allen or Gregory Peck doing the infamous "You talkin' to me?" sequence.

I never actually saw the movie itself until it ran on broadcast TV sometime in my teens. At the time, I couldn't see what all the fuss was about, but that may have had something to do with the rather radical editing required to run the movie on TV. In retrospect, it's amazing that there was anything left to show after they finished cutting. Heck, the "You talkin' to me?" scene was nowhere to be found!

I think I might have seen Taxi Driver once on video in the late 1980s, but I'm not terribly sure. Anyway, I regard my viewing of it through this Collector's Edition DVD to be my first real opportunity to watch it.

It's a hard movie to judge on its own simply because it has become so firmly entrenched in the general societal awareness; I had a hard time looking at it from any other point of view. For example, on its own, the "You talkin' to me?" bit's pretty scary, but I couldn't help but laugh when it happened. All those SCTV memories came rushing back at me.

Still, Taxi Driver manages to be a fairly frightening, harrowing experience. No matter how it has permeated the public consciousness, it remains a very well done kind of psychological look into the mind of a rather disturbed individual.

I think the picture works for a number of reasons. One stems from Robert De Niro's terrific performance. His acting never degenerates into any sort of caricature, something that must have been hard to avoid in such a role. De Niro plays Bickle as being scary mainly because he does seem so real. Travis isn't some raging nutbag ranting to himself on a street corner. Instead, he's a guy who's just so insulated and alone in his own world that his mind has become terribly warped and he's filled with palpable self-loathing.

At times, Bickle seems so frightening because he appears fairly sympathetic. Who could look at the world in which he lives - one that features all manner of filth and degradation open to view 24 hours a day - and not feel disgusted? Granted, Travis doesn't act out of any real concern for the state of society - he's clearly mistaken his own self-hatred for concern about the greater good - but his impressions of the nasty state in which he lives are not mistaken.

The irony of the film is that through Bickle's suicidal rage, he actually accomplishes something good: Iris, the twelve-year-old prostitute he "adopts," ends up back home and off the streets. Travis becomes something of a hero and even appears to get a shot at the girl he longed for earlier in the film. Of course, the film concludes with some scenes that make it evident that Bickle's still seething and he's a bomb that's likely to go off again at some point.

Again, De Niro nicely underplays Travis from start to finish. It's a very powerful performance because he doesn't hit you over the head with Bickle's sickness. The lasting impression is that this psychopath doesn't really look any different from the vast majority of folks out there.

Director Martin Scorsese does a nice job of getting the viewer inside Bickle's head. At times it seems to be a confused movie as it jumps through different topics and focuses on various aspects of Bickle's life, but that makes sense. Travis is a tremendously messed up guy, and the disjointedness of the film communicates his status well. Sometimes the tangents don't make too much sense, but in its way, they thus make perfect sense.

In addition to De Niro, the remainder of the cast works pretty well. I thought Jodie Foster was just a bit too peppy and sweet as Iris – this kid really should have more of the life beaten out of her - but her performance is acceptable. I never much cared for her otherwise, but Cybill Shepherd hits all the right notes as unrequited love interest Betsy. Albert Brooks, Harvey Keitel, and Peter Boyle are all just fine in their supporting roles. None really stand out, but they acquit themselves well.

The decades haven’t tamed Taxi Driver. Grim and unsettling 30 years ago, it remains that way in the 21st century. This is a strong examination of difficult subject matter.

Taxi Driver appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this single-sided, double-layered DVD; the image has been enhanced for 16X9 televisions. Despite its age, the movie looked very good.

Sharpness came across well. Virtually no softness ever materialized, even in wider shots. The movie appeared accurate and well-defined. Jagged edges and shimmering created no distractions, and I discerned no problems with edge enhancement. Source flaws also appeared absent. I noticed some natural grain but that was it, as the flick lacked specks, marks or other defects.

Driver went with a surprisingly lively palette, and the image made them look good. Even during challenging settings, the shots were pretty dynamic and full. Blacks seemed dense and deep, however, and shadows appeared reasonably clear and smooth. All in all, the movie presented a terrific transfer.

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack of Taxi Driver also did well for itself. Dialogue and effects were somewhat flat, but not horribly so, and not any more so than one would expect from a movie that's this old and this inexpensive. The score was surprisingly dynamic, as the music appeared pretty lively and tight.

As for the soundfield, it didn’t do much to expand its horizons. The music benefited the most, as the score showed nice stereo imaging throughout the flick. Effects broadened to the sides in a moderate way but didn’t do much. Nonetheless, this was a perfectly solid piece of audio for a movie from 1976, so it merited a “B+” given its age.

How do the picture and audio of this “Collector’s Edition” compare to the original 1999 DVD? Both offered improvements. The sound was a bit more dynamic and concise, while visuals seemed cleaner and more distinctive. The picture presented the most substantial growth; the old disc looked good, but this one looked great.

In terms of extras, this Collector’s Edition adds a lot of materials. I’ll note new components with an asterisk. If you fail to see a star, then that element already showed up on the 1999 DVD.

We start with two separate audio commentaries on Disc One. The first comes from *screenwriter Paul Schrader, who provides a running, screen-specific affair. He talks about the project’s roots and why it needed to be set in New York, character subjects, various personal influences, themes and story, cast and performances, script specifics and actor improvisation, and a few other tidbits.

Schrader provides an inconsistent commentary. On one hand, he offers quite a few good insights and allows us to learn some useful information. Unfortunately, he goes silent far too often, so the track comes with a lot of dead air. I like the content but the slow spots make this a moderately frustrating piece.

For the second commentary, we hear from *Professor Robert Kolker, who gives us a running, screen-specific piece. Though Kolker tells us a little about some of the cast and crew, he mostly concentrates on story, themes, and cinematic techniques.

That means the commentary digs into the film’s subtext pretty deeply. We get a good look at the characters and related issues as Kolker offers a literate and intelligent consideration of the movie. Even if you don’t always agree with his ideas, he remains thought provoking.

As an aside, I thought it was interesting that Schrader and Kolker interpret some scenes in different ways. For instance, during the scene when Travis calls Betsy and the camera eventually pans from him to an empty hall, the two interpret this differently.

Next comes the film’s original script. This presentation makes easy to reference the screenplay and compare the text to the final film. I like the presentation and think it’s a fun way to examine the script.

Some *Previews appear on DVD One. We get promos for Ghost Rider, Vacancy, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Revenge, Donnie Brasco, The Contractor, Perfect Stranger, Bobby Z, The Last Time and Yellow.

Over on DVD Two, most of the components come under the “Featurettes” banner. *Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver runs 16 minutes, 53 seconds and sticks exclusively with comments from the director. He talks about how he came onto the project as well as what he tried to do with it. Scorsese also gets into influences, the nature of Hollywood at the time, and some film interpretation.

While I feel disappointed that Scorsese didn’t record a full commentary for the flick, this featurette helps compensate. As always, Scorsese presents a thoughtful look at his work. He doesn’t dig into many nuts and bolts of creating the flick, but he adds good insight to the mix.

*Producing Taxi Driver goes for nine minutes, 53 seconds, and includes notes from Schrader and producer Michael Philips. We learn how Philips got involved with the film, problems getting it made, and other issues related to his work on it. Philips dominates and offers a tight little examination of the various subjects.

For the 21-minute and 42-second *God’s Lonely Man, we hear from Schrader and Kolker. Schrader starts with a little background about his early life and how it influenced Taxi Driver. From there we go through the script’s creation and an interpretation of various elements. Inevitably, some of the information repeats from the commentaries, but we still find plenty of new thoughts in this intriguing piece.

Expect praise in *Influence and Appreciation: Martin Scorsese Tribute. This 18-minute and 30-second piece features Schrader, Kolker, Philips, director of photography Michael Chapman, filmmakers Oliver Stone, and Roger Corman, and actor Robert De Niro. Although “Influence” includes some of the expected plaudits for Scorsese, it manages to become something more interesting than that. We get a good feel for the era and the relationships among Scorsese and the various participants. This makes “Influence” another useful little show.

*Taxi Driver Stories fills out 22 minutes, 21 seconds. It includes remarks from NYC resident Steve Baldwin, executive director Committee for Taxi Safety David Pollack, New York Taxi Workers Alliance’s Bhairavi Desai, former NYC mayor Ed Koch, and 70s cabbies “Frank”, Johnny Marks, and Erhan Tuncel. They discuss what it’s like to drive a taxi, various related topics and a mix of experiences. They also connect their work to what we see in Taxi Driver.

Of course, the program occasionally favors the tawdry tales, but it doesn’t stick only with those. It gives us a good perspective on the world of the New York cabbie and covers a lot of different aspects of the job. The show creates an interesting examination of its topic.

Next comes a 70-minute and 50-second documentary called Making Taxi Driver. We hear from Scorsese, Schrader, Chapman, de Niro, special makeup artist Dick Smith, editor Tom Rolf, composer Elmer Bernstein, and actors Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, Harvey Keitel and Peter Boyle.

“Making” starts with the origins of the project and moves to Scorsese’s involvement, casting and characters, performance issues and improvisation. We also find notes about storyboarding, Scorsese’s approach to the film, shooting in New York, story and themes, visual effects, editing, the score, a variety of scene specifics, and the film’s aftermath/notoriety.

From start to finish, “Making” provides an excellent view of the film. It touches on virtually all the important components of the various processes and does so well. The documentary offers a very thorough overview of the film's creation and impact and entertains as it goes.

In *Travis’ New York (6:15) and *Travis’ New York Locations (4:25), we take a look at the city spots featured in the film. In the first, we find notes from Chapmen and Koch as they discuss the past and present of Times Square. It gives us a minor glimpse of the changes but isn’t particularly thorough.

“Locations” breaks into nine smaller pieces. We check out nine different spots from the film via splitscreen. On the left, we see the locations as shot in 1975, and on the right we view them today. Some have barely changed, while others display radical differences. Except for the final one – “Belmore Cafeteria” - no narration comes with this to offer additional information. Nonetheless, it serves to present a neat little “then and now” bit.

We leave the “Featurettes” area and then find an *Intro to Storyboards by Martin Scorsese. In this four-minute and 32-second clip, the director discusses why he likes storyboards. He offers nice insights into how he uses them in this tight piece.

After Scorsese’s intro, we find eight minutes and 21 seconds of *Storyboard to Film Comparisons. These cover five scenes and use a split-screen format with the art on the left – and elsewhere as needed – and the movie on the right. The presentation works well to offer a dynamic look at the boards.

Finally, we head to Galleries. This area includes “Bernard Herrmann Score” (2:22), “On Location” (2:50), “Publicity Materials” (1:43) and “Scorsese At Work” (2:46). They come as filmed collections of stills. “Score” is odd since it just presents close-ups of sheet music. The others present more standard photos and include quite a few interesting shots from behind the scenes.

Does this two-disc set lose anything from the 1999 version? Yup, though not a lot. The most significant omission comes from the lack of a Taxi Driver trailer. This set also drops some minor cast and crew biographies, but I can’t say I really miss those.

Dark and haunting, Taxi Driver provides a rich examination of a deeply troubled character. The movie paints a full picture of its subject and remains effective after more than 30 years. The DVD presents excellent picture and extras as well as very good audio. This is a terrific release for a riveting film.

I definitely recommend this two-disc Collector’s Edition of Taxi Driver to anyone with an interest in the flick. That goes for fans who already own the old 1999 DVD. This one improves upon its picture and audio and adds a bunch of nice extras. It’s a very strong set.