Taxi Driver
[DVD Info]

An ex-marine named Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) decides to become a taxi driver because he's an insomniac. After working on the street for a while he sees New York as a dirty, disgusting place the needs to be cleaned up. One day he sees this girl named Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) who he thinks is the most beautiful girl in the world. He approaches her at her work and tries to date her but after taking her to a porno movie at the theater she won't return his calls...and he decides she's like the rest of the girls...cold and distant. One night on the job a young girl jumps into his cab and tell him to get going but a man pulls her out and throws him a twenty to "forget what he saw." He pockets the twenty remembering her face. He sees this girl multiple times and decides he wants to save her from her lousy life. Tracking her down he finds out this young girl, Iris (Jodi Foster), is a prostitute. He finds out that she thinks it's not a bad life and that she could leave whenever she wants. Travis, knowing how pimps REALLY are, tells himself there is only one way to save her. Murder.

"You're not like anyone I've ever met." -Betsy to Travis on their first date.

This was a pretty good movie. Okay, the ending doesn't make sense to me! First of all!!! How did he survive being shot in the neck? Usually getting shot in the neck would stop you right? Maybe it's cause he's an ex-marine... the ending really shouldn't have been a happy ending. Second! How come he becomes a hero for going crazy and shooting people? I suppose it makes sense because they were pimps and stuff...but if this happened in 2000 that guy would be in jail so fast! The man in the cab that was going to shoot his wife and her black lover…he repeated himself 6 times before moving on! Bickle needed to either answer him or tell him to shut up. Also, there were just too many prolonged moments. They were just long awkward pauses that seemed over done. It's a dark movie that just gets darker and bleaker until he finally goes off the deep end. It was funny to see all these actors young...like Albert Brooks, Jodi Foster, Robert DeNiro, Cybill Shepherd... The movie was well acted and had an uplifting ending (which kind of reminded me of the movie " Pi" where you just go so far into darkness but have a turning point and become normal and happy again). Because of this, the jury gives this flick:

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