Chilling and dark classic from Scorsese

Rating: Null/10 (6 February 2003)

(POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD)
Despite some disturbing elements, Taxi Driver, one of many acclaimed films from the legendary Martin Scorsese, is a real winner. Scorsese does an incredible job illustrating the bad side of New York, a place full of dopes, pimps, and hookers. It is a place where war veteran Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) works everyday, always observing the rough activity that goes on as he escorts several people, some of which are mentally ill and crazy. Travis longs deeply for someone to come and eliminate the foul events that occur in the street. He is a shaky person who is hardly in touch with anything that goes on in the world, and he spends his time attending porn movies and writing in his diary, always describing life as it goes on and sometimes changes. Despite his image and his slight mental problems, Bickle is actually a very truthful person who often knows what is right and what's wrong. Bickle spends most of his time watching campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) and convinces her to go out with him. His liking for her causes him to take interest in the same things that she likes, and things go well for him. But Travis angers Betsy after he takes her to an XXX movie, and she falls out of touch. This and a few encounters with teenage prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) make Bickle want to take action. He purchases a set of guns and makes up many interesting ways of drawing them out, such as a track on his arm that will make the gun slide into firing position when his arm is cocked. His first step towards redemption is the murder of a man who holds a convenience store clerk at gunpoint. Bit by bit, he gets darker in personality. He attempts to murder presidential candidate Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris), whom he told he supported only because he wanted to become friends with Betsy. But he realizes that Palantine is not a worthy candidate, and is only stopped by a bodyguard whom he had spent time shooting the breeze with beforehand. He later meets pimp `Sport' Matthew (Harvey Keitel), who uses Iris and her friend as hookers. Travis arranges to have sex with Iris, but only to convince her that she is leading the wrong kind of life. After much persuasion, Iris and her friend begin to follow his lead. Bickle later shoots Matthew and the other people who control Iris, and she returns to her parents. He is seriously hurt, but he recovers and continues his job. Travis is hailed and praised by many newspapers and people, but he takes it in stride and returns to the regular life of hanging out with his taxi driving pals and cruising the streets, just like always.
Taxi Driver, put shortly, is one of the greatest films of our time. I loved the dark aspects of the film that Martin Scorsese put in, and the story is inspiring. Robert De Niro delivers a remarkable portrayal of the classic Travis Bickle, a truly one-of-a-kind character. This movie will make you cringe a lot, but that doesn't derail the film's greatness. It has the ever-famous dialogue (`You talkin' to me? You, talkin' to me?') that millions upon millions of people have repeated, ridiculed, and adored. The whole film is brilliantly put together, and I recommend it. However, there are some rather disturbing scenes, and the violence was a little over the top and gross. Anyone who is sensitive to violence or strong sexual scenes probably shouldn't check this out. But truthfully, those two elements are the only things that kept this film from getting a perfect score from me.

**** out of *****