To create the desired atmosphere of dreamlike fury and paranoia, Scorsese turned to veteran composer Bernard Herrmann, most famous for his high-tension scores for Hitchcock’s Psycho and Vertigo.

“It wasn’t easy getting Bernard Herrmann,” says Scorsese. “He was a marvellous, but very crotchety old man. I remember the first time I called him to do the picture. He said it was impossible, he said he was very busy, and then asked what it was called…”

The final woozy sax score is by turns soothing, searching and menacing, accompanying Travis on his journey through the underworld of New York and to the black spaces inside his own mind.

“Working with [Bernard] was so satisfying that when he died, the night he had finished the score, on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, I said there was no-one who could come near him,” Scorsese remembers. “I thought his music would create the perfect atmosphere for Taxi Driver.”