Photo Courtesy: http://aworldoffilm.com/2013/12/16/taxi-driver-martin-scorsese-1976/

So a couple of weeks back, I saw a movie starring Robert de Niro, “Taxi Driver”. This Martin Scorsese-directed movie follows the story of a war veteran who works as a cab driver in New York City. Travis (Robert) is a depressed man who spends his time alone in his apartment and keeps his identity hidden from his family members. He is depicted as an anxious man in the movie.

Travis falls in love with a girl named Betsy, who is a volunteer for a New York election. He starts to stalk her. After continuous stalking, Betsy agrees on going on a date with him. But he chooses a wrong place for their date and Betsy refuses to ever see him again. One day, on his usual night shifts, he comes across a young prostitute who is trying to escape her pimp. After being rejected by Betsy, he gets depressed and, as a result, he becomes a violent person. While in his duty, he gets inspired by a man’s thought of killing his wife with a revolver and gets a gun for himself. He starts physical training and also learns to use his recently bought weapon. Travis becomes really disappointed about ongoing street crime and mismanagement, and he blames senator Palatine for it. He plans on assassinating the senator, but his attempt fails. After his failed attempt, he plans on rescuing the young prostitute. After a gun battle with the pimp, Travis ends up rescuing Iris and becomes a hero ultimately. In the prologue, Betsy enters on his car and they end up having a conversion in which Travis refuses to be a hero. He drops her without taking any charge and while looking at her through his rear window, one can see an irrational expression in his face.

The movie is excellently made and it keeps us hooked till the very end. Robert De Niro has given an intense acting performance. We feel that he would be a bad guy but he ends up being a hero at the end. The movie also tries to provide a good social message and the movie is full of great soundtracks and suspense. The director lets you decide whether to take the ending positively or negatively. In some sense, we can think that Travis has changed, but in the other sense he is still at war with the society and his next goal is probably another attempt at killing the senator. The movie is really awesome and the signature hairstyle (mohawk) of Robert De Niro is the one to look out for. It is really a great watch for the weekend.