The Top Three Films About Taxi Drivers

Taxis and taxi drivers have been a staple of our cinema screens for decades and decades, representing an excellent narrative vehicle (if you pardon the pun) for action, excitement, comedy, and even protest. For example, New York’s archetypal “yellow cab” is a consistent feature of almost every film set in the big apple (becoming a character in its own right), and London’s iconic “black cab” is a common part of any UK-set Hollywood film. Read on to discover the top three films about taxis and taxi drivers, what to learn from them, and some other tips to consider when hiring a taxi service yourself.



Taxi (1998, dir. Gérard Pirès)

This high-octane French action comedy graced cinema screens in 1998 and became a hit both domestically and internationally, spawning three sequels, an American remake, and even inspired a TV show. It tells the story of Daniel, a fast-driving taxi driver in a revved-up Peugeot 406, who rather than working for a taxi service, is forced to work with a bumbling police officer in order to clear his name, both on the trail of a gang of German bank robbers.

Taxi is rather outlandish and silly, but effortlessly and undeniably entertaining. Foregrounding slick style and grand spectacle over narrative substance and plot, Luc Besson’s involvement as writer and producer makes for a distinctive blend of French humour and Hollywood spectacle.

Taxi (2015, dir. Jafar Panahi)

Iranian documentarian Jafar Panahi was banned by the Iranian government from making films, so he covertly disguised himself as a taxi driver driving for a taxi service to construct a portrait of Iran’s capital, Tehran and its people.

In what would most accurately be described as a work of docufiction, Panahi the “taxi driver” drives around Tehran in his taxi and picks up a series of “passengers” (played anonymously by non-professional actors) who range in age, class, and ideological belief. They talk, and sometimes clash, with the “taxi driver” over various political/ethical issues in what is a creative, engaging, yet at times devastating work of protest that will be remembered in years to come.

Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese)

Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver follows the life of Travis Bickle, a Vietnam veteran who works for a New York taxi service and suffers from a deteriorating mental state. Beyond being a psychological examination of a deeply scarred mind, Taxi Driver explores a broken, post-Vietnam America, and more specifically a decaying, morally-bankrupt New York.

Taxi Driver self-consciously constructs audience sympathy for its central character, which the film then challenges by depicting this character descending into a damaging and dangerous mental state. The result is a gritty, visceral, and morally ambiguous film which exemplified the “New Hollywood” approach to film narrative and style.

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