source:IMDb

The quintessential American classic that everyone must watch! Robert De Niro is no doubt the greatest, and surprisingly, Jodie Foster is also mesmerizing! And it was almost 40 year-old. I believe a lot of movies have its DNA: Drive(2011), The Machinist (2004)…I am glad that I watched it finally. I didn’t before because I heard it was very violent, but in today’s standards, it wasn’t as harsh as I had imagined.

From start to end, I just couldn’t take my eyes off Travis(Robert De Niro), an ex-marine cab driver in New York City, uneducated, but has the earnest work ethics: working long hours. An insomniac loner that lacks social skills, and most likely also has obsessive-compulsive disorder. He sees the malaise of a dirty city, the hypocrisy of a dirty politician, and the sliminess of a dirty pimp, and he wants to cleanse all those evilness, even if it means taking his own life after freeing the people he cares. So is he a hero or a psychopath? Do you get him or do you despise him? Only a great actor as DeNiro can transcend such character flawlessly.

Cybill Shepherd‘s Betsy was just as fitting as white vanilla ice cream. The uppereast-sider, working for a presidetial campaign. Interestingly, she takes an interest in Travis, a cab driver, then the smart looking Tom(Albert Brooks). I bet it had to do with their cultural backgrounds.

Jodie Foster‘s Iris is particularly memorable in the scene when she has breakfast with Travis, spreading her toast with jam and finishing it off with white sugar, it shows that she is still a kid down deep, but her tone with Travis is all adult. Maybe I have had watched many crappy movies with both Foster and DeNiro lately that watching their performances here bet the question “What happened?”, yet at the same time admired their greatness: movie stars, nonetheless.

WATCH…no CGI effects, just awesome acting.