Come on! A masterpiece? I think not.

Rating: 4/10 (24 April 2009)

Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) is a Vietnam war veteran who drives a cab in NYC. NYC is shown as an utter hellhole--full of unpleasant characters and events. He tries to romance classy rich Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) but shocks her instead. He meets 12 year old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) and decides to save her from her sadistic pimp (Harvey Keitel).
I've seen this multiple times over the years and it's always escaped me why people find this a masterpiece. It's slow, boring and pointless. I mean really--what was Scorsese trying to show or tell us with this movie? We just spend two hours watching a sick pathetic man and his final explosion of violence. And the point is...? There are credibility gaps galore--when he first takes out Betsy he takes her to see a porno movie! No way is he so dumb that he's take a classy woman like her to that. He shoots four (I believe) guys dead to "save" Iris yet is never punished for the crime. And just why was he trying to save her? She didn't ask him. Why not just report it to the police? This deserves just one star but the acting of Keitel and especially De Niro and Foster adds some points. Only for those who enjoy wallowing in sick unpleasant situations and characters for no good reason for two hours.