8 screen taxi drivers who will not leave anyone indifferent

8. Daniel Morales, "Taxi"

Taxi

• France, 1998
• Action, comedy, crime.
• Duration: 86 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.0.

Daniel Morales, formerly a pizza delivery man, has now joined a cab driver and drives his Peugeot 406 through the streets of Marseille. One day he meets a young and not the smartest policeman Emilien. He unsuccessfully tries to strike up a relationship with a colleague and asks Daniel for help in capturing the auto gang in exchange for returning the license.

The success of the production project Luc Besson lies not only in the beautifully staged car chase scenes, but also in the charm of the actor Sami Naseri, who played Daniel Morales. His hero simply loves to drive around at breakneck speed in his favorite taxi and perform breathtaking stunts on it. In addition, the script combines humor with action and a light detective story.

The first film was later followed by numerous sequels. In total, five parts were released in the series, but, unfortunately, Morales and his friend, Detective Emilien, were no longer in the last one.

7. Ivan Shlykov, Taxi Blues

• USSR, France, 1990.
• Drama, comedy.
• Duration: 110 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.4.

Moscow, late 1980s. Once a taxi driver Ivan Shlykov, a man of Soviet hardening, takes a crowd of young people home. Among the guys is the musician Lyosha Seliverstov. He decides to trick the driver and runs away without paying. Later, Shlykov still finds a guy. He takes away the saxophone from the poor fellow and at the same time decides to re-educate him, after which a difficult friendship is established between them.

This is one of the most important "perestroika" paintings. The Soviet-French drama about the relationship between the intelligentsia and ordinary hard workers won over the jury at the Cannes Film Festival and brought Lungin the prize for best director.

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6. Max Durochet, "Accomplice"

Collateral

• USA, 2004
• Thriller, drama, crime.
• Duration: 120 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.5.

A simple taxi driver Max agrees to give a ride to a respectable handsome man with gray hair named Vincent. However, an unusual passenger turns out to be a killer. Max has to deliver him to five addresses where the people Vincent is going to kill live.

Timid and at the same time charismatic hero of Jamie Foxx, Tom Cruise in an unusual role as a villain, fascinating history - all this makes Michael Mann's thriller ("Fight", "The Insider", "Ali") a must-have viewing.

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5. Corky, "Night on Earth"

Night on Earth

• France, UK, Germany, USA, Japan, 1991.
• Drama, comedy.
• Duration: 129 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.7.

The film tells five stories that happened in a taxi in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helsinki. They are united only by the general mood - the city, the night, a conversation with a stranger in the car and an indescribable combination of humor and sadness.

The narrative in Jarmusch's movie revolves around various taxi drivers, but we'll stick with Corky, played by Winona Ryder, to dilute the cast of male characters with at least one girl. And what's more: Winona is absolutely charming here. She plays the role of a cartoon tomboy, smokes continuously and repeats the word f**k in a variety of combinations.

According to the plot of this novel, a casting agent - a middle-aged but luxurious woman - offers a young taxi driver to become a superstar. But she already has a dream, far from stereotypes about what girls want.

4. Korben Dallas, "The Fifth Element"

The Fifth Element

• France, UK, USA, 1997.
• Fantasy, thriller, comedy, melodrama.
• Duration: 126 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.7.

Early XXIII century, New York. Retired military man Korben Dallas, who works as a taxi driver, must help the beautiful girl Lila, who is being pursued by the police. She is the mysterious fifth element that will help save everyone from a certain Great Evil.

The script about a simple taxi driver from the future, on whom the ideal woman literally fell, Luc Besson began writing at the age of 16, having read old sci-fi comics. For the role of Dallas, the director first wanted to take his favorite Jean Reno. But then he was not yet considered a world-class star, and of the Hollywood actors, only Bruce Willis became interested in the idea.

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3. Sasha, "Three poplars on Plyushchikha"

• USSR, 1968.
• Melodrama.
• Duration: 79 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.8.

A simple village woman, Nyura, comes from the village to Moscow for three days to sell home-made ham. There she meets an intelligent taxi driver. They immediately feel mutual attraction, but the romance between the characters never happens.

The name of the hero Oleg Efremov does not sound in the film, but it is mentioned in the original story that formed the basis of the script - Sasha. His sincere dialogues with Nyura, a simple but vital story about two people who missed each other and the ballad "Tenderness" made the audience fall in love with them. And in terms of its depth and level of performance, Tatyana Lioznova's melodrama is not inferior to the best examples of European auteur cinema.

2. Kim Man Seob, "Taxi Driver"

taeksi unjeonsa

• South Korea, 2017.
• History, drama, biography.
• Duration: 137 minutes.
• IMDb: 7.9.

1980 German reporter Jürgen Hinzpeter hires a Seoul taxi driver to take him to the closed city of Gwangju, where protesters are rumored to be violently dispersed and even killed. Bombila chuckles at the foreigner until both find themselves in a war zone where they have to hide from military patrols.

The film is based on the memoirs of a journalist who visited the city of Gwangju, where one of the bloodiest uprisings in the history of South Korea took place. The real Jurgen Hinzpeter did not remember the name of the taxi driver, who saved his life more than once during the report, and until the end of his days he tried to find him. In 2016, he died without meeting his South Korean acquaintance.

So the hero played by the star "parasitesSong Kang-ho, had to be completely invented. But the character is still brilliant. At first, he is angered by the demonstrators, who, in his opinion, simply have nothing to do. But when the taxi driver sees how brutally the authorities suppress the uprising, he begins to look at the situation in a completely different way.

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1. Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver

Taxi driver

• USA, 1976
• Thriller, drama, crime.
• Duration: 114 minutes.
• IMDb: 8.2.

Travis Bickle, a Vietnam War veteran who suffers from insomnia, takes a job as a taxi driver on the night shift. But around him he sees only violence and injustice. Gradually, the hero turns more and more into an angry loner, buys a gun and decides to clean up all the "dirt" from the city.

Martin Scorsese, in his masterpiece film, managed to convey to the audience the true drama of the loneliness of a man thrown to the side of life. Of course, a great game helped him a lot in this. Robert De Niro and screenplay by Paul Schroeder.

The latter, by the way, wrote "Taxi Driver", being in a state of deepest depression. Schroeder was then alone for a long time, did not talk to anyone and went to pornographic cinemas. Then this experience of the playwright was reflected in the film.

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