Chicago Cab

Released 1999
Stars Paul Dillon, Gillian Anderson, John Cusack and Julianne Moore. Directed by Mary Cybulski and John Tintori
Directed by Mary Cybulski and John Tintori

"Chicago Cab" has received reviews complaining that every single one of the taxi driver's passengers is a colorful character with a story. True, the movie seems to be mixing the paint a bit thick - but would the film improve with the substitution of boring passengers who just want to go to the Wrigley Building, and leave a nice tip? Drama is always made of the emotional high points.

The film, based on Will Kern's play "Hellcab," stars Paul Dillon of TV's "Pretender" as a taxi driver whose job makes him confessor to some, target of others, witness to the misery of the city. I was reminded of the Fritz Leiber story about the man who could read minds, and went crazy because of all the unhappiness he picked up. The driver works from early in the morning until late at night, North Side, Loop, South Side, O'Hare, his direction and ultimately his destiny determined by who happens to get into his cab. There are more than 30 different fares (played by actors such as John Cusack, Laurie Metcalf, Gillian Anderson and Michael Ironside).

The driver, whose name is not established, is a weird-looking duck, with a bald head but sideburns. He smokes, drinks coffee, is made obscurely miserable because an arm rest in the back seat has fallen off. Dillon plays the role properly by giving us very little of this driver: No name, no background, just a few insights when he talks to himself in the empty cab. Essentially he is a witness. I have had friends who drove cabs part-time. "You wouldn't believe some of the stories," they say. When you do it full-time, for years and years, I suppose you have two choices: Become a saint, or tune out. Here is a cab driver who doesn't know which way to turn.

Summary by Roger Ebert