Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American crime drama thriller movie directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. It stars Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris and Albert Brooks. Set in a decaying and morally bankrupt New York City following the Vietnam War, the film tells the story of Travis Bickle, a lonely taxi driver who descends into insanity as he plots to assassinate both the presidential candidate for whom the woman he is infatuated with works, and the pimp of an underage prostitute he befriends.

A critical and commercial success upon release and nominated for four Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (for De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (for Foster), Taxi Driver won the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The movie generated controversy at the time of its release for its depiction of violence and casting of a 12-year-old Foster in the role of a child prostitute.

In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best movie ever in its decennial critics' poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II, and the fifth-greatest movie of all time on its directors' poll. The film was considered significant by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994.

John Hinckley saw the movie many times. He wanted to impress Foster. He tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan by shooting him. Reagan survived the 1981 attack.