Many have argued what they feel is Martin Scorcese's best film. Every last one of his works has been carefully dissected and evaluated based on Scorcese's way of storytelling. For me, the vote might have to go "Goodfellas" or "Raging Bull", but Scorcese's "Taxi Driver" might deserve a slot right up there. Who can choose when you have that chameleonic actor Robert DeNiro at the forefront? "Taxi Driver" is an odyssey of spiritual deterioration in New York that is like nothing I have ever seen before. Just the idea of Scorcese's vision-- the plight of a man who mentally breaks down due to the onslaught of the scum and the lonliness of New York--is unforgettable and heartbreaking.
The film's most honest and timeless scene, endlessly quoted and referenced, comes about halfway through the film, shows Robert DeNiro, as Travis Bickle, without shirt and trying to impress his self-image, by looking into a mirror: "You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here." Travis Bickle is an ex Vietnam veteran who moves to New York and becomes a cabbie, which is a lonely job into itself. He is a lonely and confused man, which is so clearly shown in scenes where he drives his cab (there are such powerful moments when we watch the fare meter tick), thinks to himself, and visits the porn houses and the cabbie coffee shop in his spare time.

Travis does have people come into his life, such as Iris (Jodie Foster in one of the best child performances ever), a 12 year old prostitute who ran away from home and doesn't want to go back, Betsy (Cybill Shephard) who helps a election commitee for an up-and-coming Senator, Sport (Harvey Keitel) as Iris' pimp, and Palantine, who gets into Travis' cab one night and they have a brief yet powerful exchange of words.

We always mostly within Travis' point of view in the movie, only breaking from him slightly (and even so, he's mostly hovering nearby) and that is the reason we see the movie so shattering and emotionally wrecking. "Taxi Driver" is basically a one character film, with all of these minor supporting characters who he goes to. No one comes to him. He has to approach any of these people, or they all of a sudden pop up and are surprised to see him.

Everyone seems to hate Travis, since he seems almost obsessed with saving Iris and sending her back home, seeing Betsy, even Sport the pimp. The only person who seems to give him any sort of attention (and then instantly forgets him) is Senator Palantine. ("You know, I have learned more from Taxi Drivers than anyone else," Palantine says, possibly just to get Travis to solicit votes). I'm sure we have all felt this level of lonliness, no matter where we are.

Travis begins to slowly go mad, by burning his hand with a gas flame, buying guns, even shaving his head to look like a Nazi. The world of New York is destroying him, but he must save Iris the hooker, even though she may not want to be saved. I would defy anyone who thinks of these scenes as violent; they are a shattering look into Travis' mind, and we are so kept up in his thoughts and progression into madness that we don't really care that the movie has blood in it at all.

I would be wrong to say that this movie is one of the most realistic pieces of filmmaking ever. It isn't. "Taxi Driver" has passages in the film that seem dreamy or not even real, such as the sequence where a cab fare (the fast-talking Scorcese in an uncredited cameo) wants to watch a woman in a window, or even the aftermath of the shootout, where newspaper clippings are shown and Betsy pops up in a cab out of nowhere. Yet we still connect with these scenes, because we care so much about Travis' downward spiral.

I have used, in this review, the following adjectives to describe the film: heartbreaking, shattering, unforgettable, honest, timeless, powerful, emotionally wrecking, dreamy. All of these elemnts are so true about "Taxi Driver" that the movie will change your outlook on film and the way they are made.