Taxi Driver (1976)

Taxi Driver follows Travis Bickle, an insomniac Vietnam veteran who haunts the night streets of 1970s New York driving a yellow cab. Alienated, bitter and increasingly unmoored, he fixates on Betsy, a campaign volunteer who briefly offers him a glimpse of connection, and on Iris, a twelve‑year‑old prostitute he sees as someone to be rescued from her pimp. As Travis drifts between seedy porn cinemas, lonely shifts and a growing appetite for weapons and vigilante action, his sense of right and wrong hardens into a dangerous mission. Watching the film is an intense, often uncomfortable experience: it’s a slow-burning, claustrophobic character study and social critique that immerses you in a grim, nocturnal cityscape and the unraveling mind of its protagonist. Expect mounting tension, moral ambiguity, stark urban realism, and moments of shocking violence — the movie provokes sympathy, revulsion and unease in equal measure, leaving you to wrestle with loneliness, obsession and the dark extremes someone might reach when pushed past the edge. Content warnings: sexual exploitation of a minor and graphic violence.

Actors: Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd

Director: Martin Scorsese

Runtime: 114 min

Genres: Crime, Drama

8.1 /10 94 /100 8.2 /10 8.6 /10