Taxi Driver At 50: New York, Then And Now

TAXI DRIVER AT 50: NEW YORK, THEN AND NOW (320kbs-m4a/130mb/57mins)
BBC Radio 4 broadcast: 31st January 2026

It's 50 years since the film Taxi Driver was released in 1976. The story of Travis Bickle, a loner and cab driver, who tries to save a 14-year-old sex worker from the mean streets of 1970s New York was controversial at the time for its violence and sexual theme but is considered a classic today.

Michael Goldfarb tells the story of the film's creation and how New York decayed into the condition which forms the backdrop for the story - and what the city is like today, half a century later.

Producer: Julia Hayball
A Certain Height production for BBC Radio 4