Review of Taxi Driver (1976) by Skyler B — 22 Jan 2013

Travis Bickle is not crazy. One of the most notorious characters in Hollywood history is unleashed in this classic Martin Scorsese film. From the opening scene, Bickle (Robert DeNero) displays an edgy loner who, in the end, is more lonely than he is psychotic.

He needs to save someone in order to be saved himself. The striking element in this film is the amount of "watching" taking place. From Bickle himself, watching Cybill Shepherd through the window of Senator Palatine's campaign office, to one of the most captivating scenes of the movie, Scorsese himself, forcing Bickle to watch through the window at his cheating wife, as he describes how is going to murder her.

This movie brings about a sense of bitter hostility to the "regular" world around us. A world where everyone seems to fit in but you. Bickle becomes so embittered against this world, where average and cheap seems acceptable to everyone.

The streets of New York, a cesspool for pimps, lowlife's, junkies and prostitute's, capture the moral disintegration of society as a whole to Bickle, who becomes more and more plagued by the hostility of being misunderstood.

In the end, he finds his salvation through one of the best scenes of the entire movie, a thrilling gunfight that sees Bickle shoot his way to Iris (Jodie Foster) a young runaway prostitute, who is pimped out by Sport (Harvey Keitel).

The bloody mess that ensues gives Bickle the cleansing he desired while freeing Iris from the streets that have made him snap. Taxi Driver is still effective today and DeNero's performance as Bickle still deserves to be considered one of the greatest of all time.