Taxi Driver is a favorite of movie lovers, casual movie fans, and crazy people.

The story of a guy who wants to eliminate all the "scum" from the city, and embarks on a scheme of violent self-development, naturally is going to appeal to a fair amount of troubled people—like John Hinckley Jr., who became obsessed with Jodi Foster from Taxi Driver, and attempted to assassinate President Reagan in order to impress her. People like Hinckley miss the irony of the ending—it looks like Travis Bickle basically got away with a massacre, and was hailed as a hero because he happened to kill the "right" people. Of course, this is really a social critique, not the exaltation of vigilante justice.

It would be wrong to think that this is a movie that caters mainly to crazy people, though. After all, it placed at #5 on Sight and Sound's directors poll of the greatest movies of all time. It has distinguished fans like Quentin Tarantino (like Scorsese, a fan of artful cinematic violence) who called it the greatest "first person" study of a character in the history of movies.

Instead of trying to identify with Travis Bickle, plenty of Taxi Driver fans simply appreciate the way his character is portrayed and sympathize with the plight of similarly troubled people—while still strongly disapproving of murder.