4. Taxi Driver (1976)
In director Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver, Robert De Niro portrays Travis Bickle, a Vietnam vet who returns home to New York and takes a job as a cabbie. There's a certain desperation in taking on the job as he mainly does so to quell sleepless nights. After a few nightly runs Travis finds that he's unhappy with his surroundings. In fact, he's flat out disgusted by the nightly activities that are bubbling beneath the surface. After all of the exposure to the dregs of society and a failed attempt at a relationship, Travis decides to take matters into his own hands and wipe the streets clean of all the filth while saving a young prostitute. Though the violence that occurs in the film takes up less than twenty minutes of the film's near two hour run time, it is easily one of the most violent scenes in film history. Given that Taxi Driver is a character study, we're able to delve deep into the psyche of Travis and truly understand him as a character. This works well because we also witness the gradual degradation of an otherwise sound mind. It should be noted that the violence in the film is against a pimp and a few mafioso types, but the question is posed as to whether or not an every day citizen taking the law into his own hands and coming out a hero is worthy of such praise. After the fact, Travis is touted through news outlets as being a hero for taking these types off the streets and saving a life. The play on morality comes not only from the outcome of a shoot out, but in Travis' vulnerability. There's a fantastic scene that takes place earlier in the film in which Travis stops Wizard (a fellow cabbie) outside the diner they're eating at and confesses to having trivial thoughts after his first few weeks of work. He admits to having uneasy thoughts in his mind and isn't quite sure how to act on them. Wizard takes notice to the weight on Travis' shoulders and does his best to ease his tension and provide some comfort. It's a hard scene to watch, but it establishes that our main character is morally conscious. He knows something's not right and openly addresses it with a trusted confidant despite the uneasiness. It's a short but crucial scene in that it allows the viewing audience to sympathize with Travis and understand his inner struggle.