You either love it or hate it. So it shouldn’t be that hard of a decision if you’re even remotely considering buying this 2-disc DVD set, a vast improvement from the previous version released in 1999. If you love Taxi Driver, then this is a must-have. If you hate it…you actually might want to give it another go around…

So, ya’ll know the plot. OSCAR WINNER Martin Scorsese directed this cult-classic film about “honorably discharged” Vietnam-vet Travis Bickle (a brooding Robert De Niro) who returns home to a disheveled New York City and finds himself working graveyard shift for a taxi service, living in a scabby apartment building, condemning society and plotting mayhem. It’s an experience that envelopes you more and more in its dark shroud every time you watch it. So many scenes remain permanently ingrained in people's memory (for me it’s not so much the ‘mirror scene’ as it is the slow-mo shot of De Niro, grinning and pointing his finger like a gun toward his head as a bright-red stream of blood trickles off the tip).

It’s as visually arresting as it is perfectly scripted (by Paul Schrader) and expertly acted (De Niro is obviously gold, but so is Cybill Shepherd, Albert Brooks, Peter Boyle, Harvey Keitel and Jodie Foster in her infamous child-hooker role). While I’m at it, the haunting jazz score by Hitchcock alumni Bernard Herrmann, his last, is possibly one of the most complimentary pieces of music ever composed for film.

It’s interesting to point out that for as much praise as Scorsese’s opus on loneliness received back in 1976, it received a seemingly equal amount of criticism - and still does today. Veteran movie critic Leonard Maltin, who is usually dead-on with his reviews, calls Taxi Driver the “gory, cold-blooded story of a sick man’s lurid descent into violence, ugly and un-redeeming.”

But so many disagree. Especially Oliver Stone, Roger Corman, Robert De Niro, and many others who pay their tribute to the film and its director in an extensive featurette entitled “Influence and Appreciation”.

Speaking of featurettes, I promised myself I would concentrate more on the special features than the actual film, but hey, I can’t help it. So, here’s the rundown:

- New Commentary by Writer Paul Schrader

- New Commentary by Professor Robert Kolker

- Martin Scorsese on Taxi Driver (17 min) – Pure one-on-one Scorsese, exactly what you’d expect.

- Producing Taxi Driver (10 min) – The financial and timing difficulties of piecing the film together.

- God’s Lonely Man (21 min) – A probing look into Schrader’s own personal background and motivation behind his lengendary anti-hero story.

- Influence and Appreciation (18 min) - See above.

- Taxi Driver Stories (22 min) – Descriptive first-hand accounts of real-life NYC taxi drivers. Too crazy not to be true.

- Making Of Documentary (70 min) – Full-length collection of interviews with all those involved with this iconic film, including the entire supporting cast of Keitel, Foster, Shepherd, Brooks and the late Peter Boyle.

- Travis’ New York (6 min) – A glimpse into the grimy NYC of past times, before its rawness was replaced by ‘Disneyfication’.

- Travis’ New York Locations (6 min) – Side-by-side comparison of 9 locations from the original 1976 film verses 2006 footage, which is like viewing two different worlds.

- Intro to Storyboards by Martin Scorsese (5 min) – A concise insight into how to visualize a story.

- Storyboard to Film Comparison (8 min) – A step-by-step look into how Scorsese storyboarded the script. It’s amazing to see how many memorable scenes were sketched on paper before they were even shot. A must for film students.

- Animated Photo Galleries

- Original Screenplay

The Sony-released DVD is stacked. The only thing it’s missing is a full commentary by the man himself, Scorsese. If you really need more convincing than this, go over to Amazon where it’s being sold right now for an incredibly modest $18.99.

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