A tour de force by the brilliant Martin Scorsese

Rating: 10/10 (21 February 1999)

Martin Scorsese establishes himself as one of the greatest directors of all time with the movie Taxi Driver. He examines, urban loneliness and despair through the character of Travis Bickle, brilliantly portrayed by Robert Deniro. With direct homage to the classic John Ford western The Searchers, Scorsese traces the events that lead to the release of a young girl being prostituted by a pimp named Sport. Similarly,in The Searchers a character named Ethan, played by John Wayne, is in a desperate search for his niece abducted by an indian named Scar. The main characters in both films are both lonely wanderers and war veterans. Travis's destiny takes a turn after an unsuccessful attempt to establish a relationship with a girl played by Cybill Shepherd. He subsequently purchases several guns, which symbolically represent phallic symbols through which he will ultimately release his suppressed sexuality. In the final segment,when he ultimately confronts Sport, he points the gun at him and says "suck on this". Then he proceeds on a bloody rampage to release the young girl, which metaphorically represents a cathartic sexual release for Travis. This scene is absolutely rivetting. The direction and the pacing throughout is impeccable.The mood is greatly enhanced by a superb score by Bernard Hermann. A modern masterpiece.