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In 1976, a film examining the redemptive power of violence won Oscars for Best Film and Director, albeit not for its committed star.

Shame the winner was Rocky, not Scorsese’s masterpiece of urban alienation, which turns 35 this month.

Though its iconic elements – De Niro’s unstable cabbie, Jodie Foster’s child prostitute, “You talkin’ to me?” – earned immortality, it’s screenwriter Paul Schrader’s palpable disgust that resonated (and still does) with disaffected viewers, notably John Hinckley Jr, a fan of Foster’s who shot at Reagan in 1981.

He missed his target. Scorsese and co do not.

Matt Glasby is a freelance film and TV journalist. You can find his work on Total Film - in print and online - as well as at publications like the Radio Times, Channel 4, DVD REview, Flicks, GQ, Hotdog, Little White Lies, and SFX, among others. He is also the author of several novels, including The Book of Horror: The Anatomy of Fear in Film and Britpop Cinema: From Trainspotting To This Is England.