You talkin to me? Well I'm the only one here! Taxi Driver

So, may I just start out by saying that I loved this movie. The ending totally surprised me. I was waiting at the end for Travis to be dead and for it to be sad, but then, as the camera pans across the newspaper articles taped to the wall of his run down apartment, the news slaps me in the face that he is in fact not dead. He survived being shot multiple times, including once in the neck. Outrageous.

So... the plot. Let's see, we first meet Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) applying for a job with a taxi company. He is a Vietnam war vet that can't sleep so he gets a job driving people around at night. Travis narrates for us in a voice over as he writes in a journal. We see him frequenting X-rated movie theaters, but the look on his face seems strictly (and oddly) innocent and inquisitive, as if he were just watching a movie with a very complicated plot. After a few weeks of driving the taxi, Travis sees Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) for the first time, walking into he job at a political campaign headquarters. He thinks she is beautiful, and seems to be alone, just like he feels. He sits outside her building watching her for a few days, freaking out Betsy's co-worker, who seems to have a bit of a thing for her too. One day, Travis gets up the nerve to walk straight up to Betsy at work and ask her out. He accepts, and they go for coffee. They have a strange chemistry, and she seems as taken with him as he is with her. They go out for a second date, and Travis takes her to a dirty movie. She is appalled by this and leave him promptly. She refuses to take his calls, and he gets kicked out of the campaign headquarters when he tries to come see her. Travis decides that Betsy is cold, just like everyone else in the world, and he goes on a downward spiral into mental instability. On another night, a very young girl (Jodie Foster) gets into Travis' cab, looking very distressed. She tells him to drive, but he gets caught up in writing in his ledger, and a burly man (Harvey Keitel) drags her out of the cab telling her to "Be cool" and throwing a twenty at Travis. That night sticks with Travis, and he holds on to the twenty the man gave him, never spending it. Travis sees the young girl a couple of weeks later, and he follows her, freaking her out. Travis has also begun to stalk Senator Palantine, the representative that Betsy is trying to get elected president. He also buys multiple guns, and learns how to shoot them. We quickly learn, through his shifty behavior, that he is plotting to assassinate Senator Palantine. In the meantime, Travis tracks down the young girl, buying some time with her with the twenty that her pimp had thrown at him, whose name is Iris, and befriends her, trying to convince her to go back to her parents (She's a prostitute at 12 years old!). She says she'll leave if he will, and he says he can't because he has "government things to do." The day finally arrives where Travis is going to carry out his plot on the Senator. he shows up at a rally with a mowhawk and sunglasses. He has his guns tucked away in his jacket. Just as he gets close enough to shoot the Senator, he is spotted by the secret service and is chased away. It is then that he decides that he wants to kill someone else, Iris' pimp. He walks right up to the pimp, called Sport, and shoots him. He then goes on to shoot another man that is a part of the prostitution ring and a man that has paid to have sex with Iris. Iris is there and she begins to cry as Travis is shot in the neck and shoulder by the bleeding, dying Sport. Travis unloads his entire gun before passing out from blood loss. We think he's dead, but as I stated earlier, he survives. He is the hero. Iris is returned to her parents and Travis goes back to work with a new found fame, which he is actually pretty humble about. Travis has one more run in with Betsy in his cab where she tries to ask him about the stories she reads about him in the paper. He is very short with her, but doesn't let her pay for her cab fare.

I've never seen Robert De Niro look so sweet before. He is supposed to be this rough vet that has come back from fighting in a war, but he is so gentile which is extremely surprising. Every time he meets someone new, he sticks out his hand and says "My name's Travis, what's yours?" He doesn't even give up when people are mean to him, he's still just trying to be nice and rational. That's why it is hard to watch as his plot against the Senator begins to unfold. It is obvious that he is unstable, and I wanted to scream at the screen for someone to help him. That's why the ending is so good. I wanted so bad for him to survive and be the hero, because he honestly was one, and he did. The movie ended exactly how I wanted it to, but it wasn't how I expected.

I was so annoyed with Betsy. Why did she have to be so stuck up about everything. I get that times were different then, but she allowed herself go into the dirty movie, and then gets mad at Travis when the content of the movie is offensive. Its female characters like that that make me so angry at all female characters. They think they're too good. However, at least this time, it moved the plot forward. Travis wanted Betsy to notice him in a big way, even if it ruined his life. Pretty intense.

Iris' character is probably the most entertaining. She brings the whole movie back to a more believable level. She is this true to life twelve year old (although she does look a older than twelve...) rebelling against her parents who got herself caught up with the wrong people. She's attracted to Sport who takes advantage of her. She calls Travis a square because he wants her to go home and wear dresses and stuff. Its all just so true and real. She also brings out the sensitive side of Travis just as he's getting out of control. She is the reason that he becomes the hero. And she's a female character that I didn't hate. Awesome.

How about the sound track of this movie. That was pretty ballin' as well. Jazzy, feel good, yet a little somber and sad as well, seems like something Travis would actually listen to.

Travis' friends are weird. They are very much like Travis, except a lot more shady. They play a good contrast to Travis' character. However, Peter Boyle plays a man named Wizard. There is a pretty touching moment between the two of them where Wizard tells Travis that you become your job. It is pretty sweet because Wizard is trying real hard not to get too emotional even though he wants to. He seems almost like a father figure to Travis who, through his narrative, tells us that he hasn't seem his parents in years, and shows us just how alone he really is.

I do have to say, that while Robert De Niro's body wasn't too bad at the time, he cannot pull off a mowhawk. It added to the character development, but it totally threw me off visually. He should have just stuck with the shorter haircut he had.

This movie was excellent. I would totally give it 5 out of 5 on whatever scale I was using. I'm going to have to watch more of Scorsese's stuff. The Departed is already on my top 5, and now this. Better hope next time for all of those people out there that want me to hate one of these movies. I'll come across one sooner or later, I know it.