Michael Chapman, D.P.

Michael Chapman was born November 21, 1935 in NYC. His first film, as a cinematographer was 1973's "The Last Detail" starring Jack Nicholson. When he tackled "Taxi Driver" in 1976, he had three films under his belt. Chapman would work with Scorsese on four more projects.

Chapman used warm lighting on Taxi Driver. The film is visually dark, but the lights of NYC shine brightly. The lighting feels very natural and unobtrusive, but it is also very drab, which fits with the film. The actors often come from the darkness to the light as if they don't truly exist until they are visible on screen.

Chapman has been very successful, working with directors, such as Ivan Reitman, Joel
Schumacher, Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Richard Donner, Andrew Davis, and many others. Chapman moved to directing in the 1983 Tom Cruise vehicle, All the Right Moves. He directed three more movies into the 1990s. He has also acted in sixteen films, including The Abyss, Kindergarten Cop, and Rising Sun.

What is Taxi Driver?

Taxi Driver was directed by Martin Scorsese in 1976. It stars Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, and Albert Brooks. The film's social relevance is still evident today. Lines uttered by an improvising De Niro have been lampooned and imatated to death, but that is true for one simple reason: The film is brilliant.

The protagonist, Travis Bickle (De Niro), is a Vietnam War veteran who served with the Marines. He is now home and looking for work, so he takes a job driving nights for a New York City taxi company. He sounds like an upstanding citizen ready to contribute to society, right? The latter is correct in a sense, but what he wants to contribute is as much a mystery to the audience as it is to Travis.

Travis is "God's lonely man" as he puts it. Awareness of taboos and mores being smothered by a social boa constrictor, he just can't seem to get what he wants, and that is a normal life. Travis wants a girlfriend, a steady job, and a purpose. He has the job, and with a childlike confidence, he woos a young woman, Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), into having pie with him. Travis is on his way toward the American dream! Until...

He takes Betsy to a porno theater for their second date. She rushes from the moviehouse, horrified, leaving Travis befuddled and alone. He has the job, he has no girl. This is where he focuses on his purpose. He wants to clean the streets up, but his conflict is internal. The true antagonist is Travis, himself, his demons.

Everybody has pretended to be interviewed on a late night talk show or accepting the Oscar. We all want our fifteen minutes; we want to matter. This is where "Taxi Driver" touches so many. We need something to fill our empty lives, but how far would we go to fill the void? I want to win an Oscar; Travis wants to kill pimps and presidental candidates.

Travis represents a segment of the population far more common than one would want to think. The freaks, outcasts, and the eternally lost, but, except for the tragedies, the public doesn't hear about all of the lonely people. Paul McCartney once asked, "all of the lonely people, where do they all come from?" We are everywhere.