A stunningly effective anti-hero, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) at first appears to be a down-on-his-luck everyman working the same grind as anyone else, but soon enough a more disturbing truth emerges. Bickle is a shell-shocked former U.S. Marine suffering with intrusive, violent thoughts, which he channels into a general distaste for the moral decay he observes in New York City. This sees him perform a number of relatively heroic acts, such as gunning down a robber and trying to convince child prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster) to return to her parents. At the end of the movie, however, Travis fails to assassinate the Senator he had planned to kill and instead goes to kill Iris' pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel) along with anyone who gets in his way. Amusingly, when the police arrive, Travis isn't demonised for his acts but seemingly granted hero status, despite the audience of course knowing the far more disturbing nature of Travis' actions. As a commentary on the dangers of hero worship (because, if Travis had killed the Senator, he'd be deemed a villain by society and the media), it's devastatingly brilliant stuff. Travis may have done away with a number of undesirables, but the dissonance between the popular perception of his act and the internal truth is what makes him an iconic anti-hero.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
