Travis is hailed as a hero, and deservedly so, for what he did for Jodi Foster's character. But tell me this: wasn't his shooting of the pimp, played by Harvey Keitel, straight up murder? I figure the cops probably just winked at it for the greater good or they figured a jury would acquit him no matter how unjustified it was because the pimp was such scumbag. The other possibilities include that the writers just didn't think it through. It worries me.
To their credit, the scriptwriters had already shown Travis to be a psycho, as he'd tried to get close to a politician to kill him just to spite the politicians female worker who'd rejected Travis's advances. Killing pimp Keitel was technically murder, but when he then went inside the building and put his life on the line to rescue Jodie amid a bloodbath of shooting, no wonder the police and jury regarded him as a heroic knight in shining armour.. PS- anyway it was just a fictional film and heroes usually don't get seen as heroes in the real world. for example I personally know an english guy who went up against a black drug gang to stop them selling drugs to the kids at the school across the road, no shooting was involved, just a bit of shouting, but the pol-correct Brit coppers took the gangs side against him and he got 3 months jail and the drug dealing continued, you couldn't make it up..
Why do you care that I care? If you want to participate in the thread, please do. Otherwise, troll elsewhere, por favor. "It worries me" is a joke. Don't be so literal-minded John, my point is that it's hailed as a great movie yet no one to my knowledge has detected that the uncharged murder of the pimp is arguably a flaw in the story line. It is still shown regularly on TV and still hailed as a great movie, and it is in many ways. It's also odd that Travis goes from wanting to kill the senator to telling Betsy that he's glad the senator got the nomination. If an incoherent story about the old Testament came out tomorrow, it would be subject to critical analysis too, especially if it were hailed as a masterpiece.
