Robert De Niro answers questions at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1976.
Although the Martin Scorsese film won the festival’s Palme d’Or award (and is hailed by many as a cinematic masterpiece), ‘Taxi Driver’ was panned by audiences and booed when it was announced as bagging the accolade. The movie’s violent scenes seemed to be at the heart of most’s displeasure, with the Jury President, Tennessee Williams, claiming: “Films should not take a voluptuous pleasure in spilling blood and in lingering on terrible cruelties as though one were at a Roman circus.”
Recommended Reading: Paul Schrader clarified the screenwriting development process in an interview with Richard Thompson from 1976 when ‘Taxi Driver’ had just opened, Film Comment magazine, March-April 1976 [pdf].
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