A timeless masterpiece...

Rating: 10/10 (14 May 2008)

We follow Travis Bickle as he wanders (or drives his cab) through the dirty and often quite disturbing streets of New York. Travis seems to be in a hazy state, he appears to be slightly doped on some anti-anxiety medication, we can also see him having occasional drinks of booze as he wanders or drives, restlessly, through the sometimes crowded and sometimes nearly empty streets of the city.
Travis is a lonely man, kind of locked in himself and looking for a way out, portrayed with amazing skill by De Niro as he shows us the sad, scary life of a lonely man's journey and slow descending into darkness, it all feels completely real. The actors around him also adds to the feeling that what we watch could be a documentary. It's a blunt, honest wiew of a big city; some live, some try to live and some have no life left.
Harvey Keitel does some great work in this, the first times I saw the movie I had no idea it was him, he portrays his character with no problems as he always does.
The ladies that enters the life of Travis are also nicely portrayed and especially Jodie Foster, (like Keitel she is starring in an early role), does some outstanding acting against De Niro in this film.
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Scorsese himself does a cameo, he does a guy with serious issues... I didn't know that it was him either until later but still it doesn't matter as he does the role so well, a man with such intense paranoia and aggression it makes me scared and thinking about how the claustrophobia, drugs and roughness in the city turns humans into wild animals.
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I think Taxi Driver easily deserves its place among the top flicks, there are so many emotions and kinds of people in it that you can watch it several times and get different thoughts about what happens to Travis and the ones around him.
It feels real but is filmed with great camera work that makes it smooth and enjoyable as a movie, too. I believe it's based on a true story as well, haven't really looked into that but thinking about that adds to the feeling that De Niro's interpretation is a real person, the former marine that becomes the taxi driver and has problems with the social life, trying to cope with the depravity and the lost souls that dwells in the living hell that a big city becomes for an alarming amount of its residents.
This movie is a piece of history that doesn't feel old...
True force...all the kings men couldn't put it back together again...