De Niro is Travis Bicker a deranged, insomniac Vietnam veteran who drives his taxi at night hoping to get exhausted and sleep during the day. Somebody should have told him not to mess up with his biological clock and try to sleep at night instead.

Travis is aimless and purposeless until he takes a shine to beautiful Betsy and has the brazen face to ask her out, only to take her to an "adult movie theatre" (porn) on their first date. Betsy is not impressed and not only because she seems pretty sophisticated, but because Travis is unarticulated and oblivious to his blunder.

After the rejection Travis is more embittered than before and decides to find purpose by cleaning filthy NY by himself. Tip: if you hate the city so much, why don't you move Travis? Is not like you have family ties or anything...

Starting his crusade, riding his yellow taxi like a white shining horse Travis finds in underage Iris the right damsel in need of salvation and embarks in a violent campaign, whether Iris likes it or not. A word of praise to Harvey Keitel playing Iris' long-haired pimp.

The puzzling end scene features Betsy allegedly stricken by Travis doings and willing to go out with the guy who took her to a porn theatre on their first date, because women are fickle.

I get the alienation, loneliness, dirty city themes, the "You talkin' to me" and I occasionally liked Scorsese's direction, but the story seems to drag a lot to go almost nowhere very slowly, and it boils down to a mentally disturbed guy saving a damsel in distress.

PS someone wrote that they "enjoyed the movie" ... I don't know how anybody can "enjoy" a movie about loneliness, degradation, desperation, alienation, underage prostitution and violent murder, but then to each their own...