Disturbing & Compelling Film Making...All Contributors in Fine Form...Top Neo-Noir

Rating: 10/10 (29 September 2017)

It may be Difficult, after 40 Years of Accolades for this Film and Director Martin Scorsese's Rise to "God" like Status, that this Movie Struggled to be made.
Scorsese was virtually an Untested Director with Few Films to His Credit and the Studio System all but Buried, was Not about to Risk Big Bucks on this Nasty Piece of Neo-Noir.
Robert De Niro, Scorsese, and Script Writer Paul Schrader were in Tandem about the Power of the Proposed Picture and made it Their Business to get it done. It seems almost Laughable but none of the Trio, at the Time, expected a Huge Success at the Box Office or from Critics. But it was Their Troubled "Baby" and made Considerable Sacrifices to Give it Life.
This is one of those Productions where Everything Contributes on a Stellar Level. The Script, Direction, Acting, Cinematography (Mike Chapman), Music (Bernard Herrmann's "Swan Song"), and Overall Production Merged into a Cultural Phenom and the rest is Cinematic History.
One of the Best Neo-Noirs, it is a Sordid, Uncomfortable Ride through a Hazy New York City Bathed in Muted Colors Smeared to Resemble a Drug Induced Vision. Travis Bickle's Low IQ and Mental Instability Combines for some Awkward Dialog and Narration, that Contributes to the Tone and Unsettling Vision, as Travis Struggles against what He Sees as Total Corruption and Filth.
The Things Buzzing around in His Head are Creating a "Creature" Out of Control Packing an Unbridled Uneasiness that will Spawn a "New Age" Anti-Hero who 'Stands Up" against what He Prays will be Washed Away from a "Real Rain".
Bleak, Brutal, Uncompromising, and Not an Easy Watch. It's Social Criticism in the Form of Post Modern Seventies Gritty "Realism" that is Riveting and Indelible, making its way from the Naked Streets to the Screen.
Overall, Pulp Art at its most Profound and Disturbing. Ugly Truths about the Human Condition among the Squalor and a Savior for One Child Abuse Victim (Jodie Foster) from a Slime Street Pimp (Harvey Keitel).