More plot holes than a pound of Swiss cheese, covered up by Bernard Hermann's moody score. (For one example, contrast the scene when a glib, De Niro, sounding like a singles bar superstar, manages to get a first date with Shepherd with Richard Harris getting a first date with Rachel Roberts in "This Sporting Life" (1963). Both De Niro and Harris are presented as crude, brutal , estranged loners. De Niro's date is too inappropriate to be believed while Harris just behaves inappropriately. The latter is a scene that is plausible and consistent with the characters as presented.) Are we really supposed to believe that on an island with a weekday population of three million, Travis just happens to run into Iris three separate times? Are we really supposed to believe that the politician that Travis plans to assassinate just happens to get into his cab as a passenger? Are we really supposed to believe that Travis kills three people and is hailed as a "hero?" (Bernard Goetz killed no one, but did eight months on a gun charge.) Are we really supposed to believe that Iris's Dad thanks him for sending Iris back to Pittsburgh? (about 85% of teenaged prostitutes ran away because they were sexually abused at home.) Are we really supposed to believe that the Secret Service spots him twice, but very recognizable Travis gets away twice in a crowd? Are we really supposed to believe that virtually every woman in midtown Manhattan is a streetwalker? Are we really supposed to believe that he rejects the girl of his dreams when SHE comes after HIM? Are we really supposed to believe that a 12 year old girl, who spends most of her life turning tricks on her knees looks as healthy as a horse? At least, "Taxi Driver" records Times Square for posterity before it was ruined by urban renewal. Inspired by Arthur Bremer who had been inspired by "A Clockwork Orange," it provided inspiration for John Hinckley Jr. That's show biz! Clearly, Harvey Weinstein was not the only man in Hollywood who hoped that every actress is a hooker. I suppose the following it has acquired is due, in part, to the bourgeois disdain for the proletariat, as when Travis drives around, muttering about the scum in the streets. And we are the scum in the theatres.