Martin Scorsese's haunting masterpiece Taxi Driver makes New York City appear as one of the most terrifying monsters ever seen in the history of film. The protagonist of his 1976 feature Travis Bickle may appear as the one who is mentally unstable, but it is the city that he lives in that is the real evil. Layered in a thick cloud of filth and lacking any kind of moral value or redemption, Scorsese's NYC is visibly sick, and it is not long before it infects Bickle - a Vietnam vet who returns to America without any kind of purpose and quickly begins to feel alienated in his own country. The disease of the city wriggles its way under Bickle's skin, latching on to his vulnerable persona and manifesting itself to the point where he abandons his taxi cab, shaves his head into mohawk, and plans to murder a government official. Scorsese thrives on turning his old stomping ground into a murderous creature, and despite repeating the feat in the likes of After Hours and Bringing Out The Dead, the sickly monster of New York City is never more apparent and present than in Taxi Driver. Any other movies you can think of that made NYC look like the worst place in the world? Mention them in the comments below!
