I found the end of
Taxi Driver to be the best part of the film by far. Travis barges into Iris' brothel on a mad killing spree, guns blazing. While he goes through the brothel, killing all different sorts of players in the "pimp game," he doesn't stop to think what he's doing throughout. This scene acts as sort of a boiling point for Travis, who seems to have lost his faith and confidence in humanity, as evidenced by a later part in the scene. In addition to his assassination attempt of Charles Palantine, this killing spree shows that Travis is done with the daily life of a New York taxi driver. This is proven when Travis attempts suicide. After killing the final man in the brothel, next to a desperate, sobbing Iris, Travis puts a gun to his own head, and pulls the trigger several times, only to realize he is out of ammunition. Once he realizes this, he rests on the couch, where he lies until police arrive. When the police arrive and point their guns at Travis, a high angle shot portrays Travis as a weak, powerless figure, contrary to his image throughout the film. Finally, Travis holds up a finger pistol to his own head, and pulls that imaginary trigger several times (as shown below). Travis' weakness is revealed in this scene, which is different from the strong, fearless persona Travis is shown to have throughout the movie. Also, in the taxi at the end of the film, the woman portrays Travis as a hero, while his rampage originally seemed like nothing more than cold-blooded killing. Since his actions are perceived positively, it's possible that Travis was actually able to achieve the "cleaning" of the dirty streets of New York that he felt was necessary. This is some food for thought, I guess.
On a side note, I believe the "You talkin' to me?" scene is one of the greatest movie quotes of all time, especially considering that it was improvised. De Niro's performance in
Godfather II made a name for himself, and his performance in
Taxi Driver solidified De Niro as a movie superstar, much due to the "You talkin' to me?" scene, and the final scene.
I think you're observation that Travis may have actually somewhat achieved his goal of cleaning up the streets is really interesting. Most of us are taught that violence never really solves a problem, but only creates new ones. However, the fact that Travis' killing spree actually got Iris to go back to school shows that good can be accomplished through violence. Still not sure how Travis was not convicted for his actions, but he really did give Iris another chance at living a fulfilling life.
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