Taxi Driver (1999, DVD)

Martin Scorsese has earned a reputation for volatile films that crawl under your skin and make you itch for days. "Mean Streets" gave us a glimpse of Scorsese's fierce talent in 1973, but it wasn't until three years later that he exploded onto the scene with "Taxi Driver," the story of Travis Bickle, the love-starved and love-obsessed titular character. Travis has become one of the most controversial characters in film history, particularly after would-be assassin John Hinckley modeled himself after the character and went gunning for Ronald Reagan.

(Irony Detour: only in our crazy society could a fictional movie character inspire a real human being to shoot another real human being who'd once played fictional movie characters himself)

Watching "Taxi Driver" more than a decade after the real-life assassination attempt, I couldn't help feeling unclean, as if I was watching the cinematic groundwork for tragic events to come. It's hard, if not impossible, to have lived through the Reagan era and not be affected by the events of "Taxi Driver."

But history aside, the movie is compelling because Scorsese has a vision. There is sin in the world, Scorsese says, and something must be done about it. He is so streamlined and energetic in his telling of this tale that you can't help getting caught up. You may cover your eyes at the horrible, nervous energy of Robert DeNiro's Bickle, but I'll bet you peek through your fingers every now and then.

(SPOILER WARNING)
Strangely, I found myself even starting to pity Travis Bickle. It comes near the end of the movie. DeNiro has just come into the flophouse where Jodie Foster does her business as the teenage prostitute. Hoping to eradicate the "scum of the streets," Travis guns down her pimp (Harvey Keitel), the motel owner and a mobster. Surrounded by the carnage, Travis puts his gun under his chin and pulls the trigger. Click. He pulls again. Click. He tosses the gun down and tries another. That one is also out of bullets. This is the moment I started to feel a twinge of sympathy for Travis. He wants so desperately to kill himself, but can t. I'm not sure if this is Scorsese's intent, but there's no denying the power of the moment.

"Taxi Driver" is not for the squeamish, but for those brave enough to sit through two hours of a descent into madness, Scorsese delivers an unforgettable portrait of America's underbelly.