The Dark Side Of New York..Spoilers Herein.

Rating: 8/10 (8 September 2005)

Having seen this film at a relatively young age i was not too keen on it, just seeming to build up to some sort of action but never quite getting there. However i saw it recently (having established faith in director Martin Scorsese) and was amazed by it.
The most amazing is the role of Travis Bickle played by Robert De Niro in the fairly early flushes of his up and down acting career. De Niro at this point in his life ever the perfectionist (method acting et al), becomes the character he is portraying, a confused, insomniac ex Vietnam soldier who works as a taxi driver.
All around him he sees a sleazy New York from his taxi and examines it through the eyes of someone who thinks that he can do something about it. The whole of the film is himself building up to doing something about cleaning the streets of the filth and scum that have enraged him. In between all this, Travis is shown as someone who fails to understand other people. He manages to get a date with the Cybill Shepherd character Betsy but takes her to a porn movie, yet he cant understand why she is offended. After that he is seen considering and toying with his mind what to do after Betsy doesn't want to know him, and the idea of killing a potential Senator (Charles Palantine, played conservatively by Leonard Harris) who Betsy supports. Almost goes through with this but doesn't.
The short scenes he has with Jodie Foster who plays underage prostitute Iris, are very interesting, a typical almost father to daughter chat of Travis to Iris. It is the conversations he has with her that leads him to try and rid her of her pimp Sport played by Harvey Keitel in a small but vital role.
The major shootout between Travis and the 'scum' he sees in an apartment where Iris is fairly tame by todays standards but at the end of the film when he has been shot a few times himself he mimics putting a gun at his head and pulling a trigger, to which then fades to newspaper cuttings about him being a local hero, which then fades to him being back in his taxi and driving Betsy somewhere.
A lot has been said about the ending, i don't know the official word on it but i believe after the shoot out near the end the rest of it is played out in Travis's own mind before he dies from his injuries.
A classic film, very dark in content, and worth viewing a few times before either dismissing it or loving it.