Plot

In Martin Scorsese's gritty and influential film "Taxi Driver," Robert De Niro stars as Travis Bickle, a troubled war veteran who has returned to civilian life but struggles to find purpose or belonging in 1970s New York City. As he navigates the city's dark underbelly as a night-time taxi driver, Travis becomes increasingly disillusioned with the world around him, viewing it as a cesspool of moral decay and corruption. As he spends long hours alone in his cab, Travis's isolation fuels his own paranoia and sense of injustice, leading him to develop a fantasy life where he is a heroic figure, capable of cleaning up the city's filth and saving its innocent victims. This fragile grip on reality is further eroded by his fixation on Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a campaign volunteer for Senator Palantine (Leon James), which serves as a catalyst for Travis's growing sense of frustration and desperation. As Travis becomes more and more entrenched in his own delusions, he begins to see the city through a distorted lens, viewing every person as either a victim or a perpetrator. His perception of the world is further warped by his encounters with various characters, including Sport (Harvey Keitel), a pimp who represents everything that Travis despises about the city; Iris (Jodie Foster), a young prostitute who becomes an object of Travis's obsession and fixation; and Wizard (Peter Boyle), a fellow cab driver who shares Travis's disdain for the city's moral decay. As the tension builds, Travis's inner turmoil culminates in a violent confrontation with Sport, which sets off a chain reaction that ultimately leads to a dramatic showdown between Travis and the pimp. In this climactic moment, Travis's fantasy life collides with reality, leaving him to confront the consequences of his actions and the true nature of his own morality. Throughout "Taxi Driver," Scorsese employs a distinctive visual style, incorporating vivid color schemes, stark lighting, and a pulsating score by Bernard Herrmann to create a sense of unease and tension. De Niro's performance as Travis Bickle is equally striking, capturing the character's complexity and depth in a way that has become iconic in American cinema.

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