Superb

Rating: 8/10 (12 October 2019)

I just watched Taxi Driver (1976)
De Niro is Travis Brickle a lonely man with little social skills, who lives alone in New York. He works nights as he is struggling to sleep, possibly due to PSTD from the war to some other incident we do not know about, we never find out, we only know his military history. When he is amongst his fellow taxi drivers he has a child like shyness (He never speaks unless he is spoken to, and often zones out of conversation) that eventually begins to give way to anger.
We see everything from Travis's point of view, he hates the city and the scum in it, we get lots of tracking shots of the city, the vile people in the streets and of a lonely De Niro slowly walking through the streets alone and constantly writing in his journal.
After stalking/following a crush Betsy (Cybil Sheppard) he starts to have a relationship with the lady (these are the only times in the movie, where he seems remotely happy), only for him to react badly when he is rejected.
He becomes further upset with his failure to help a 12 year old prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) under attack from her pimp (Harvey Kietel) At some point he stops taking his medication and with guns he obtained through a co worker (He first uses a gun in self defence during an armed robbery in a convenience store) he starts planning something, but we are not sure what. All we know is he writes he will be dead by the time Iris reads his letter.
After having a radical make over and then becoming violent including murdering 3 men, he is perceived as a hero by the public, even though he did not do it to be a hero, and does not think of himself as such.
It's a slow burn and seriously depressing movie, it stays with you long after you have watched it. All the cast are great, it has an amazing score and you must watch this movie.