The Cannes Film Festival 2007 starts this week, so this edition of Report From Cannes is dedicated to that fact.

The Festival Bar is situated in the middle of the Croisette, across from the Noga Hilton Hotel which, some years ago, replaced the old Palais du Festivals which was then, of course, the center of all Festival activities. In 1982, it was torn down, relocated in a much larger form a few blocks away and replaced by the Hilton Hotel that is, to me, the only real eyesore on the Croisette!

But back to the Festival Bar – a bar/restaurant that, in the old days, was the absolute center of attention because of its location directly beside the festival action. Once you secured a table on its spacious patio, you gave it up reluctantly – open from 9:30am to 11:00pm, you could (and still can) never leave there and still be au courant with the whole deal.

To mark its special relationship to the Film Festival, the director-style chairs at each table are marked by actor’s names – Gary Cooper, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Dirk Bogarde, Gerard Depardeu, etc.

Director’s chairs.

The Festival Bar serves a wide variety of excellent snacks, drinks, dinners and desserts so that a stay there at any time of the day is nourishingly productive! Thus I find myself consuming, at various times throughout the day such disparate fare as breakfast, a ham and cheese sandwich on a baguette, a huge ice-cream sundae (usually mid-afternoon), a steak and frites for dinner and, at one time, a pastis or campari & soda around 4:00 to 5:00pm.

Raspberry tart.

When in Cannes, this welcoming and comfortable establishment serves as my “local.”

But, one afternoon, in May 1976, I witnessed an extraordinary event. It was a time when the Europeans, particularly the French and the Italian, via the auteur work of Fellini, de Sica, Truffaut, Godard, etc., were defining what an “art film” was. Being a dyed-in-the-wool, North American movie fan, I was not only mortified by the disdain being heaped on the Hollywood "product” from film snobs of all nationalities, I just knew, in my heart, that the American movie-maker could make “art films” just as well and probably better than anyone else (and already had, for that matter — "Citizen Kane"?).

This particular day I had just seen the unveiling of “Taxi Driver” at the Palais du Festivals – and it had rocked the scene in a way I’ve never experienced before or since.

The power and strength and the pure artistry of that movie reached out, grabbed the audience by our throats and shook us!

At the end of the screening which was concluded with a wild, cheering, standing ovation, I moved over to the Festival Bar for some refreshment and exciting movie conversation.

Where the International Press recognized "Taxi Driver."

As I looked up, coming down the street straight at us from the rear of the Palais was Robert DeNiro, Martin Scorsese and producer Julia Phillips (who was later to disgrace herself with cocaine addiction and the publication of a tell-all book that put a “stop” to her career). But this day, these three artistic conquerors were surrounded by crazed and adoring members of the international film media who had just been informed that their view of the American movie would never be the same again.

“Taxi Driver” won the Palme d’Or that year, and many other accolades!

Movie Review:

Taxi Driver

Directed by Martin Scorsese — Written by Paul Schrader —Columbia Pictures, 1976
Starring: Robert DeNiro, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Sheperd

“Taxi Driver” won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1976 as well as the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or so this brilliant cinematic work was recognized internationally as the Best Film of the Year.

The story is simple – that of a nightshift taxi driver in New York City trapped in a deadly spiral of loneliness, isolation and ever-deepening madness leading finally to psychopathic violence of the sort not seen on the screen before. Scorsese refers to the movie as “New York Gothic,” an urban horror story without the supernatural, unless you see touches of overt evil in the dark and slick streets of Manhattan as Travis Bickle (DeNiro) prowls throughout the night commenting on the “human scum, cunts and dog shit” who cry out to be “cleaned up”.

Travis Bickle’s Manhattan "Hades."

Scorsese recruited Bernard Hermann to create the music, a veteran of the 40’s and the composer of “noir” music tracks. This was to be his last film score – as he died during the night after completing the “Taxi Driver” score that day – and probably his most famous and, arguably, his very best. The music, while integrated and clearly fused with the action, stands out as unique, powerful and contributes mightily to the startling impact of the movie.

Other standout characteristics of “Taxi Driver” include the casting of the 12 year old Jodie Foster as Iris, the child prostitute and Cybill Shepherd as Betsy, the volunteer, political worker who catches the eye of Travis, and in their short and bizarre relationship the breathtaking contrast between the “normal” aspect of the United States culture and its underbelly is seen so disturbingly.

Travis meets Betsy.

As Travis descends into his psychopathic madness, is foiled in his attempt to assassinate a senatorial canidate, rescues Iris from her beyond despicable pimp and, in so doing, kills 4 people, including the pimp Ghost (Keitel) – he is vaulted into a position of heroism. Why? Because he rescued a little girl from sex slavery, although against her will, and the media loves a hero!

The shooting of the pimp, Ghost.

Paul Schrader, the screenwriter, was inspired to this spooky ending by the instance of “Squeaky” Fromme, the attempted killer of President Ronald Reagan, being “rewarded” with the cover of Newsweek Magazine.

So Travis returns to driving his taxi, presumably just as destabilized or psychopathic as he was before the climatic bloodbath that was so violent that the Censorship Office demanded that the colors be de-saturated if these scenes were to remain intact.

“Taxi Driver” is truly a fantastic movie! A rare cinematic treat for the ages. Robert DeNiro is Travis Bickle – method acting to rival Brando!

A lean and mean production, Scorsese and Michael Chapman, his Director of Photography, took to the night streets of Manhattan, rented a taxi cab, got in it with DeNiro and drove through the urban hell of Schraeder’s script, recording it with such gusto and originality that these elements plus Hermann’s music come together to create an artistic document that speaks powerfully to virtually all who see it!

A true masterpiece of modern cinema and, I would say, unhesitatingly, a masterpiece of art – period!