Travis Bickle is an ex-Marine and Vietnam War veteran living in New York City. As he suffers from insomnia, he spends his time working as a taxi driver at night, watching porn movies at suspicious cinemas during the day, or thinking about how the world, New York in particular, has deteriorated into a cesspool. He’s a loner who has strong opinions about what is right and wrong with mankind. For him, the one bright spot in New York humanity is Betsy, a worker on the presidential nomination campaign of Senator Charles Palantine. He becomes obsessed with her. After an incident with her, he believes he has to do whatever he needs to make the world a better place in his opinion. One of his priorities is to be the saviour for Iris, a twelve-year-old runaway and prostitute who he believes wants out of the profession and under the thumb of her pimp and lover Matthew.
There was a lot of controversy surrounding the movie back in the 1970’s for its violence. Just the plot alone disturbed me. Content-wise, it didn’t as much, I’m used to a lot of things. I don’t think this movie would have got made today, I honestly don’t. Pushing all of that aside, let’s jump right into the positives, and there is nothing but positives that could be said about this movie.
This is a must-see movie for movie lovers. It is a masterpiece that hits you hard in the face with it’s disturbing story and the violence that is depicted on screen. Travis Bickle is also a very compelling character, he’s been through a lot in life, he’s a loner and his opinions about what’s wrong with the world make sense. Robert De Niro is at his best in this movie. Why doesn’t he do good movies anymore? Why does he have to ruin his reputation with these disposable R-rated comedies that you immediately forget about after watching? Why doesn’t he do a good a movie once every 3 or 4 years? Or just retire? The main score for this movie is great too. Some nice smooth jazz 
I don’t see any flaws with this movie. Sure, if violence and the plot I just described easily disturb you, don’t watch this movie. For me, though, as I said, I’m used to violence and gore in movies and disturbing plots. What really makes this movie great for me is Robert De Niro and his compelling character. I can see myself easily watching this again. This is a flawless movie, so, this grade should come as no surprise… 10/10*!
Director: Martin Scorsese
Written by: Paul Schrader
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Peter Boyle, Harvey Keitel
Runtime: 114 minutes
