A brilliant and dark nightmare of the Urban Citylife.

Rating: 10/10 (26 December 2019)

"He is a Prophet and a Pusher. Partly true partly fiction, A walking contradiction"- These lines are the best to describe the character of Travis Bickle as played by Robert De Niro. Yes you guessed it right. Today we are going to review one of the masterpieces of 70's ( not THE MASTERPIECE of 70's ) directed by Martin Scorese - TAXI DRIVER. In one word , the blend of Schrader's script , Scorese's direction and De Niro's performance is both compelling and disconcerting.
STORY
Travis (played by Robert De Niro) is an ex-marine and Vietnam veteran , suffers from Insomnia and lives in isolation in New York City. His Insomnia makes him take a job as a night taxi driver , driving passengers around the city. He used to maintain a diary and often he used to watch pornographic films thinking that is the only type of films existing in this world. ( A note : This film should not be taken as a New York Film , it is not about a city but about the weathers of a man's soul ) Travis becomes infatuated with Betsy ( played by Cybill Shepherd ), a campaign volunteer for Senator and presidential candidate Charles Palantine. After watching her interact with fellow worker Tom through her window, Travis enters to volunteer as a pretext to talk to her, then takes her out for coffee. On a later date, he naively takes her to see a pornographic film, which offends her, and she goes home alone. His numerous attempts at reconciliation by sending flowers and apologizing over the phone are rebuffed, causing him to become embittered and convinced that she is exactly like the "cold" people he detests in the city. Rejected by beautiful political aide Betsy after a catastrophic date at one of the ubiquitous porn theatres, Travis becomes ambiguously obsessed with child prostitute Iris (played by Jodie Foster), abused by her pimp Sport (played by Harvey Keitel). The violent pressure inside his skull is made worse by listening to the psychotic fantasies of a creepy passenger, a cameo from Scorsese himself.
That evening, Travis drives to Sport's brothel. Travis shoots Sport in the stomach, causing a shootout to start. He shoots Iris' Time Keeper in the hand, but Sport gets up and shoots him in the neck before Travis guns him down again. Then Iris' customer comes through the door from her room and shoots him in the arm and Travis kills him with the sleeve concealed gun. He is attacked by the Time Keeper again who he stabs through the hand and finally shoots dead before the crying Iris. As the police arrive, Travis attempts to commit suicide, but runs out of ammo. Travis' shootout is seen by the police and press as an attempt to rescue Iris from armed gangsters. He is not prosecuted, and is hailed as a local hero in the press.
He receives a letter from Iris' father, thanking him for saving her and revealing that she has returned home to Pittsburgh, where she is going to school. After weeks of recovery and returning to work, Travis encounters Betsy as a fare. Travis drives her home, then refuses to let her pay the fare, driving away with a smile. As Travis drives off, he becomes suddenly agitated after noticing something in his rear-view mirror. Thus the film ends leaving us to a disturbing picture of social disarray.
CAST :
ROBERT DE NIRO was an excellent choice for the protagonist of the movie. He clearly proved that loneliness is the cancer that allows self destruction to reach its peak. His eyes clearly had an expression of disgust and an aim of removing from the streets of New York. Although he could have run his taxi throughout the cities he preferred to roam around in this nasty lanes of NewYork. His dialogues also had a special significance as his words perfectly fitted his character. There is a scene where he says "you talking to me?" Watch this scene and you will fall in love with the MAN. ( Comment down if you want a detailed character sketch of this character and how Todd Phillips got inspired from this movie to make JOKER-2019 ) here's Jodie Foster, chillingly cast as a twelve-year-old prostitute whom Travis wants to "save."
DO I RECOMMEND THIS MOVIE ?
YES. YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY WATCH THIS FILM IF YOU LOVE GOOD FILMS. THE FILM IS MUCH AHEAD OF ITS TIME AND IT PORTRAYS THE LIFE OF EVERY CITY. NO MATTER HOW CHARMING OR ATTRACTIVE YOUR CITY MIGHT LOOK LIKE BUT IT MOSTLY ENDS UP WITH THIS SHADY STREETS , DIRTY BUSINESS AND WHAT NOT. AS A COMMON MAN WE ALL THINK OF BURNING THE SYSTEM AND THAT IS WHAT HAS BEEN DONE BY TRAVIS. ALTHOUGH HE IS PORTRAYED AS A HERO AFTER THE END OF THE CLIMAX BUT THE FILM ENDS WHERE TRAVIS LOOKS AT THE CITY WITH HIS SIDE VIEW MIRROR WITH THE SAME EXPRESSION AS HE HAD BEFORE SHOWING THAT HIS ATTITUDE TOWARDS THIS CITY HAS REMAINED THE SAME. THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IS BRILLIANT. IT HAS CAPTURED THE 70s AMERICA LIKE NEVER BEFORE. YOU WILL NOT ONLY GET TO WATCH A BRILLIANT STORY BUT WILL ALSO WITNESS AN OLD STREETS OF AMERICA