Well, I suppose I have my answer. Either by virtue of having found the perfect proof for my theorem, or of having become bored with the question, I feel like putting the idea of "greatness" in a movie to bed.
Everything about this movie was great. The performances: iconic. Aesthetic elements, cinematography, score (Scorsese's real gift, if you ask me), set design, costumes, everything: flawless. And yet the movie itself was not great, in my mind. It was good, flawlessly executed, even a masterpiece, but I can't bring myself to say that it was great. What could possibly have been lacking?
I have come to the conclusion that the sine qua non of a great movie is the script. To be specific, the very idea of the movie must be great for the movie itself to achieve greatness. If I were in a more mathematical frame of mind, I would write a formula wherein the potential quality of the movie lies in its central idea, and it can never rise above that, but can sink below it based on the quality of other factors. But I am not in such a frame of mind. I will simply say that Taxi Driver had a good idea, a good reason for existing, but not a great one, and although no one involved with the movie could have done zir job better, it was never going to be great.
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