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De Niro classic to be re-released; co-star spins must-hear tales

In 1974, Robert De Niro inherited a role from an acting legend in "The Godfather, Part II." Two years later, he ensured his own status as a legend.

It's been 40 years since Travis Bickle, a cabbie-turned-vigilante, looked into the mirror and said, "You talkin' to me?" Now you can see Martin Scorsese's "Taxi Driver" remastered in high definition, both at home and in theaters.

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced Monday that the 40th anniversary Blu-ray release of "Taxi Driver" will arrive in stores Nov. 8 with a new transfer supervised by Scorsese and cinematographer Michael Chapman. Accompanying the film will be a 40-minute Q&A session conducted earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival with Scorsese, De Niro, screenwriter Paul Schrader and co-stars Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel and Cybil Shepherd. All the previous home-release extras return: documentaries, commentary by Scorsese, the usual.

"Taxi Driver" also will play in cinemas on Oct. 16 and 19; tickets are available now at fathomevents.com.

Speaking of De Niro ...

Comedy legend Billy Crystal appears on a recent episode of Marc Maron's podcast and tells the kind of heartwarming stories we hope to hear about our Hollywood heroes. The breezy, uncensored, two-hour interview covers Crystal's friendship with Muhammad Ali, the encouragement he received from Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty as Oscars host, and his unlikely on-screen partnership with De Niro in "Analyze This," the 1999 comedy directed by Chicago's Harold Ramis that started De Niro's later-in-life comedy career.

That episode, along with Maron's subsequent sit-down with "Sons of Anarchy" and "Hellboy" star Ron Perlman, demonstrate why this podcast continues to be an essential source for long-form interviews as it approaches its 750th episode. You can listen online at iTunes, howl.fm and various podcast apps.

• Sean Stangland is a Daily Herald multiplatform editor. You can follow him on Twitter at @SeanStanglandDH.

Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal starred together in "Analyze This" and "Analyze That." Associated Press
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