Martin Scorsese's 1976 masterpiece written by Paul Schrader to me is the ultimate film about loneliness and insanity. Two things that Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) obviously is. The movies starts out with Travis going to a cab company for a job. The reason is he can't sleep at nights. At his job he meets a lot of odd people in his cab. But, he also meets his share when off work too. Like fellow cabbie Wizard (Peter Boyle) whom at one point Travis tries confiding in. He really is loney and has no one to be with. All he does is drive his cab, untill, one day he meets Betsy (Cybill Shepherd). She's working on political campaign for some politician. At first she thinks he's "creepy". Tom (Albert Brooks) has I would say a crush on her. At first he tries to "defend" her against him. After the two go out for a brief time. She becomes digusted with him after he tries to take her to go see an adult movie. At this point the insanity kicks in. He now starts to talk about how the streets of New York make him sick. Everyone is "scum". He can't breathe the air. In an effort to "free" himself, he decides to "save" a very young prositute Iris (Jodie Foster). The problem first of all is, she doesn't think she needs to be saved. She thinks things are going ok. Secondly, her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel) says he loves her. "Taxi Driver" hits so many right spots to keep our interest. It has so many powerful moments. The acting by De Niro is truly a standout. His Oscar nomination was rightfully deserved. We see this transformation in his character, and to me, it's spellbounding. His "our you looking at me" speech has to be one of the most OVER quoted lines in film history, it's right up there with "What am I a clown? Am I here to amuse you?". Scorsese is a director of considerable outstanding talents and this film allows him to showcase it very well. He also has a small cameo as a jealous husband who is spying on his wife, who is cheating on him. The movie was up for 4 Academy Awards; "Best Picture", "Best Actor", "Best Supporting Actress" (Jodie Foster), and "Best Musical Score".