Manuel Solis is an independent journalist and CineFestival Programmer for the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center. His writing has appeared nationally in Remezcla and Wax Poetics, and his programming credits include Cine Mujer, Out at the Movies, and Campecine, in California’s Cochella Valley. This spring, Solis curates four films in which cars play central roles—often as characters.

Taxi Driver

Loner and Vietnam War veteran Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) works as a taxi driver at night and spends his days in seedy cinemas, until he meets campaign volunteer Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). Disgusted by the criminal dysfunction and adolescent prostitution he observes, notably of a teen named Iris (Jodi Foster), Bickle turns violent in this Martin Scorsese classic.

USA. 1976. English. 114 min. Color. R. Columbia Pictures.