Corleone316

I just finished watching Taxi Driver and I have to say it's my favorite of all time. The acting by De Niro is so perfect that it's frightening. The cast did a all-around good job. After reading some reviews online, I asked myself why is Travis Bickle called a psycho? He killed people because they did stuff that was terrible.

Anyone care to explain?

RyoHazuki

Well just because there are bad people doesnt mean people should just go around shooting them. His lonliness made him insane. After Betsy rejected him he thought saving Iris was a way to redeem himself. He was a psycho. He had issues.

Matt925

One of my favorites too. But...

1) Travis Bickle is a sociopath.

2) Is it acceptable for one man (not to mention a psychotic and unstable man) to be judge, jury, and executioner?

3) Did all of these people really deserve death? A guy runs a motel that prostitutes frequent. He should be killed?

4) He didn't have some objective noble goal of fixing things. He did mention early on how upset he was with everything, but part of that is due to his own anti-social tendencies. The New York we see in Taxi Driver is NOT the New York you would see if you got on a plane and went there tomorrow. Everything is very distorted. There is no happiness or positives in his life. He is on a downward spiral from the beginning, and it culminates in his lashing out at the easiest targets. He went after the presidential candidate, but that wasn't as easy. So he turned to the supposed lowlifes.

As much as you think you can relate to him (and believe me, I've been there as well) if you actually met Travis, you would be very uncomfortable. He is most definately psychotic and dangerous.

inri222

But it was the New York if you got on a plane and went there 27 years ago.

Hiro11

The big question I have:

LBPound

I think that's pretty much open to interpretation, Hiro.

Inverse

In the world of movies, vigilantes who start violent shootouts whenever their own personal sense of right and wrong is crossed are called heroes.

In the *real* world, those sorts of people are called dangerous, pathetic nutjobs.

TAXI DRIVER shows why the movie definition of hero is extremely dangerous.

Also, don't forget this: the only reason Travis got into the "hero" business is that he washed out as an assassin of presidential candidates.

Jepthah

Taxi Driver is more than anything else a character study. It's the kind of layered, delicately shaded story about a very troubling and ambiguous character that Hollywood doesn't make anymore. This thread is proof (again) about how interesting a character Travis Bickle is. He can't be easily 'explained,' 'liked' or 'disliked.'

Damn, now I want to watch the film again.

KillaBeez

I think he killed the pimp because he was pimping a 14 year old girl and that girl was also being beaton and stuff and thats why Travis killed the pimp, well, atleast what I think.

Mowork

He also intended to kill the presidential candidate; what reason did he have for that ?

Corleone316

After Betsy rejected him, he wanted to hurt her. Since he didn't want to kill her, he wanted to kill Palantine because then all the work Betsy did for the campaign would've been worthless.

mookiemeister

You can't just go around becoming judge, jury, and executionor and killing people just because you think they are 'bad'. There is a justice system in this country that works relatively well. If you want to get a 'bad' guy, need to let the justice system take care of the 'bad' guy.