Memorable Feel Bad Film

Rating: 7/10 (18 October 2001)

25 years later this film still holds up as an outstanding work for Scorsese and De Niro. The accolades have already been laid out here in abundance and are very true. Artful, stylish direction by Scorsese and a totally convincing performance by De Niro. The soundtrack is effective and powerful and the supporting performance by Jodie Foster is remarkable.
It can be hard to praise a film that is so good at making us feel so bad. But this films is one of the best at doing just that. Made in 1976 this film has become somewhat prophetic in it's portrayal of the lonely, isolated, misfit in our society who sincerely wants to connect but can't and eventually turns violent. John Hinkley Jr. even mentioned this movie in his explanation of his attempt to impress Jodie Foster by trying to assassinate President Reagan.
In the movie, the character Betsy, played by Cybil Shepard, mentions a line from a Kris Kristofferson song that reminds her of the central character, Travis. After a recent viewing of this film these lines written by another well known songwriter came to mind:
"now they take him and they teach him and groom him for life, and they set him on a path where he's bound to get ill" "he's hell bent for destruction, he's afraid and confused and his brain has been mismanaged with great skill. all he believes are his eyes and his eyes just tell him lies." "now who's gonna take away his licence to kill?"
And then there's the ending.
The ending is definitely the weak point of this work. As stated by another commentator it should have ended with Travis and his mock suicide with his bloody finger pointed to his head. His becoming a hero seems odd and unrealistic. The appearance of him being all better at the end comes off naive. Sort of a wrap it up quick and tidy TV ending.
A poor ending to an otherwise outstanding and memorable film.