All the so called 'hype' this movie has generated is warranted and then some:nothing quite compares to it.  Something, to put it mildly, just went right.  The claustraphobic atmosphere of meaninglessness, alienation and pure depravity that Scorsese creates is nothing less than perfect. The all consuming glow of streetlamps, traffic signals and headlights allow us to see New York City as Travis sees it, a crowded hell where human being is separated from human being and 'survival of the fittest' is the brutal norm. De Niro's performance is beyond exceptional, it is transcendent.  He absolutely becomes Travis Bickle, a very lost and lonely young war veteran in a city full of people who seem to be asleep. For all intents and purposes, Robert De Niro no longer exists within the running time of this movie:indeed, he so good as Travis that he is sometimes much more frightening than the 'scum', like Harvey Keitel, that his character despises so much. If you've ever felt alone or marginalized in your life, this movie will immediately strike a deep chord with you.  I disagree, however, with interpreters who think that we are supposed to hate and revile Travis and see him as a sick, 'crazed loner' looking for any excuse to satiate his bloodthirsty rage. I would say that, on the contrary, Scorsese's timeless masterpiece is a work of the deepest empathy and compassion.  Travis Bickle is every man and woman who has felt abandoned and lost in a dark and seemingly insane world.  His self perceived 'moral superiority' is indeed a narcissistic delusion and a defense mechanism, but his feelings of rage and hatred toward a blind and sick society are very real and well founded indeed. I was hard pressed to find much optimism or hope in this movie, and our hero (or anti hero) is as sick and irretrievably lost at the end as he is at the beginning. It is basically a work of alarming pessimism and desperation, similar in many ways to George Orwell's "1984". Any lover or student of film should buy this movie without hesitation.