Martin Scorsese is widely con­sid­ered the most influ­en­tial American film­maker of the last thirty years, and this is due in large part to his abil­ity to cap­ture the hec­tic energy of the city in which he grew up. In many ways, Taxi Driver (1976) is his most effec­tive movie: an unre­lent­ing por­trait of angst, nihilism, and the debil­i­tat­ing effects of urban life on the psyche.