A Powerful, Psychological, Must-see Classic.

Rating: 9/10 (30 March 2015)

I find it important to go back and watch movies that came out before the present day. It's very interesting to compare parts of the movie to the events during that film's time period. Additionally, some of the best movies came out well before the birth of the modern generation. This is a masterpiece by director Martin Scorsese. I believe that Taxi Driver is one of those movies that you have to see. It features one of the best actors of all-time in his prime; Robert De Niro makes a stunning performance as the character "Travis Bickle". You can look deep into his role from a psychological perspective. Travis Bickle is a Vietnam-War veteran who seems to suffer from serious depression and insomnia. To cope with this, Bickle becomes a taxi driver who drives night and day. He doesn't carry much of a social life and even separates himself from his passengers. When he's not picking up fares, he is watching XXX movies. When Bickle falls for Cybill Shepherd's character "Betsy" he watches her from outside until deciding to go into the poll office and ask her out. He later takes her out on a date in which they go to a XXX movie. Betsy is disturbed and never talks to him again. This is a perfect example of how the war negatively affected him and has made him incapable of proper social interaction. Another thing is how deeply affected he is by seeing Jodie Foster's character "Iris" be thrown around like a piece of property. He isn't just disgusted by it, he is sickened with her pimp "Sport" and holds a grudge against him. Later in the movie Bickle leaves Iris money before he attempts to assassinate the Senator. After the assassination plan fails, Bickle storms in the brothel on a vendetta and eventually kills Sport, among other gangster characters. All of these events occur because Bickle has a rather special hatred for people he doesn't agree with. Beside the psychological terms, it is just overall an interesting movie with Robert De Niro at his best. Some parts of the movie are iconic as well; like when Bickle is standing in the mirror at his apartment and coins the phrase "You talking' to me?". That scene in itself is excellent because Martin Scorsese told De Niro to improvise and that was the result.