Martin Scorsese filmed Taxi Driver in 1976. It became a cult movie. The question that comes to mind while watching this film is the purpose of life in a big city. We have to ask ourselves what does a person have to do in a civilize urban society in order to be fulfilled. In this movie there is a strong sense of loneliness which the main character, Travis, constantly feels. The audience wonders how the whole story is bound to end. There are two possible outcomes: a happy ending and a tragedy.
Travis rides around at night because he suffers from insomnia. He is 26 years old and has had an honorable discharge from the marines. In order to beat loneliness, he wants to work long hours, preferably as a taxi driver. He has a strong sense of morality. He keeps a diary and often drinks alcohol from his flask. Travis believes that "someday rain will come and wash away all this scum in the streets" (Taxi Driver).
There is a Latin proverb which says Similis simili gaudet. It means that like takes pleasure in like, or more colloquial - it takes one to know one. Driven by this feeling, Travis meets Betsy, a young woman who is working on a presidential campaign. They are attracted to each other because they are both lonely.
Travis remains lonely. One day the senator, who is the president candidate enters his taxi. He tells him that he hopes for him to win. His wish is for the city to be cleaner. Travis is obsessed with justice and morality, so he means clean, mostly in a moral way.
When Travis meets an underaged prostitute trying to escape, he wants to do something righteous immediately, but his hands are tied because her pimp takes her away and he is left with a 20-dollar-bill as a "compensation". While driving through the streets of New York, he thinks about garbage, immoral people, prostitutes and bums. That is all because he has a sense of emotional void in his heart and soul. He himself came to New York from another city, where he was probably raised to honor the moral values. Throughout the film, we see him wear cowboy boots, so he is proud to be from the countryside. He is a true cowboy and wants to defend America from what he calls "scum".
He starts going out with Betsy, but after offending her by taking her to see a provocative movie, she no more wants to communicate with him. He calls the people "cold and distant", especially women.
Travis's next customer is spying on his wife who is cheating on him and he plans to kill her. He mentions magnum 44. Travis is still very lonely and now even bitter. He only has several male acquaintances, who are his colleagues. One of his older colleagues says to him: " You don't have a chance anyway." (Taxi Driver). His point is that we are doomed and that the only way to feel better is to have fun.
Travis is constantly watching the senator on tv. Once again, he sees the underaged prostitute in the street. He thinks: "Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere" (Taxi Driver). The prostitute is also lonely and on the wrong life path according to him. It becomes his mission to save her.
Soon, Travis buys magnum 44 as well as a 38 caliber and several other guns. He completely changes his lifestyle. Now he seeks justice. All of his days have been the same, but something suddenly changes. Travis becomes a new man. He thinks that he is brave, but he is actually a sociopath trying to take the law into his own hands.
Travis begins to lead a healthy lifestyle and to work out. He practices shooting and carries his guns everywhere. Still having trouble sleeping, he visits porno cinemas. It seems that he is preparing himself for a personal war against everything that disturbs his system of values. He visits all the gatherings for the presidential campaign pretending to be socially active. He makes fun of secret service agents and they don't even notice that because of his subtlety.
He used to be polite and civilized, but now, there is something wind and primal about him and the way he presents himself. He is very cynical with everyone except with his colleagues and unprivileged people. We can clearly see that he is thinking about doing something illegal, but with a strong sense of justice. In his mind, it is about Shakespeare's "to be or not to be".
At this point of the movie we see the iconic scene "Are you talking to me?" (Taxi Driver). Robert De Niro said that it was his improvise sentence. However, it is a today's synonym for defending one's honor and standing up for oneself. It seems that his rage is focused towards the whole world. In his mind it is him against the world. That is actually the truth because he has already made up his mind about changing the world or at least his life, which is the same thing for him. He is trying to do something worth living or dying for.
Travis is a lonely hero. His aggression is triggered when he shoots an African-American who is robbing a store. We think that he is plotting to kill Palantine, because he keeps his posters on his walls. He is sitting at home with guns and cowboy boots making plans. He is full of rage and seems to be obsessed with the senator. We now find out that Travis made his parents believe that he is working for the secret service, so at this point we believe that he has gone mad. He breaks his tv set.
For the third time meets Iris, the prostitute and now he decides to hire her. He talks with her pimp and the pimp thinks that he is a police officer. Travis convinces him that he is not.
The two of them got to a room where Travis tries to talk her out of being a prostitute. He invites her for breakfast at a diner and they agree to meet the next day. He promises to give her money to go back to her parents, and lies to her that he works secretly for the government. He sends her the money in an envelope.
For the first time in his life, Travis feels that his life has a purpose. He feels that he never even had a choice.
Again, there is a political meeting organized by Palantine. Travis is wearing a Cherokee hairstyle. At one point he starts pulling his gun and it seems that he wants to shoot the senator, but the secret agents notice him and chase him. He escapes and goes home.
Travis is no longer lonely, he has a purpose in life. It is said that the one who has a goal has a life and Travis now has both.
He goes to the pimp demanding to see Iris. The pimp is very aggressive, so Travis shoots him and eventually kills him. He also ends up killing the man who rents rooms to men with prostitutes and Iris's customer. He himself is shot in the arm.
The police arrive. There is a crowd in front of the building, several police cars and an ambulance.
In the end, we don't know what happened because all we see is a room with articles from the newspapers glued on the walls along with the letter. It is a letter from Iris's parent who cannot thank Travis enough for bringing them their daughter back. The media call Travis a hero.
Having fully recovered, Travis settles down and continues to work as a taxi driver. It seems that he has fulfilled his purpose in life. He proved to himself and to the world that he is a brave individual with a soul. In the end he meets Betsy, who looks at him from the back of his taxi. She admires him once again. However, he is a new man, who is now stable and no more need the approval of others, so that does not affect him much.
Works Cited
Taxi Driver. Dir. Martin Scorsese. Columbia Pictures, 1976.
