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Taxi Driver Movie Analysis

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Taxi Driver (1976) follows Travis Bickle’s life in New York after being honorably discharged. The film is a psychological thriller that deals with Travis Bickle’s mental instability and desire to do something meaningful with his life. The narrative centers around Travis’ loneliness and disconnect from society. The inciting incident occurs when Travis notices Betsy for the first time. Travis becomes obsessed with Betsy, who works in a presidential campaign office for Charles Palantine. His pursuit for Betsy comes to a halt when he takes her out to a pornographic film, and Betsy understandably feels very uncomfortable. Betsy starts to ignore Travis’ calls after this mishap, leading him to march into the campaign office and have a public falling out with her. The falling out finishes off act one and spirals Travis into planning an assassination on Palantine. Before Travis attempts the assassination, he meets and underage prostitute, Iris, who is the twist/midpoint. Travis sees innocence in Iris, and tries to lead her away from her pimp, Sport. Travis’ assassination attempt on Palantine is foiled when he is caught reaching for his firearm. This act two crisis pushes him in a new direction, to go after Sport instead. Travis’ shout-out at Sport’s brothel is the climax of the film. The dénouement follows, with Travis being heralded as a hero in newspapers and Iris’ parents thanking Travis for saving Iris. Later, Betsy gets in Travis’ taxi, he drops her off and rides off looking

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