The film follows Travis Bickle (Robert de Niro), a lonely veteran who has been forgotten and abandoned by society. He takes up a job as a taxi driver to avoid his own loneliness, only to be exposed to the corruption and hypocrisy of the outside world.

Taxi Driver (1976) is a seminal neo-noir film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. It follows Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), a lonely, insomniac Vietnam War veteran working as a night-shift taxi driver in a decaying, "filthy" New York City. The film is a psychological study of alienation and radicalization. Travis's failed attempts at human connection—first with a campaign worker named Betsy and then with a 12-year-old child prostitute named Iris (Jodie Foster)—drive him toward a violent savior complex. He eventually plots to assassinate a presidential candidate but instead pivots to a bloody "rescue" mission at a brothel. The film's ambiguous ending, where Travis is hailed as a hero despite his clear mental instability, serves as a haunting critique of how society perceives and rewards "vigilante justice." It remains a touchstone of American cinema for its themes of toxic masculinity, PTSD, and urban decay.