Well, it worked in Times Square, right? Let’s do it everywhere!
It’s only a matter of figuring out a way to turn it all into a buck.
Travis. Is he more haplessly naive or hopelessly whacko? My pick: up and down, some of both. And so pathetic at times it’s almost unbearable to watch.
Where the hell did he come from? Why the hell does he do these things? What a narrative that must be. Maybe he picked it up in the Marines.
But this aside all the stuff that disgusted him is no less still here, right? But always hidden now from the rest of us. You know, as the country drifts closer and closer to “friendly fascism”. We can still go there though. As entertainment, for example.
And all that controversy about the ending is just bullshit to me. The point is not whether he is a hero or a villian but a depiction of the complex manner in which human motivation is rooted in a point of view. And in intentions. The ending is bursting at the seams with irony. Just as it was [less explosively] in King Of Comedy.
Interesting note: Robert DeNiro was paid $35,000 to play the part of Travis Bickel.
IMDb
[b]The scene where Travis Bickle is talking to himself in the mirror was completely ad-libbed by Robert De Niro.
Director Martin Scorsese claims that the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy. The camera moves to the side slowly and pans down the long, empty hallway next to Bickle, as if to suggest that the phone conversation is too painful and pathetic to bear.
The girl with whom Martin Scorsese studied in order to prepare for the role of Iris (played by Jodie Foster, the actress who won the role) also appears in the film, as Iris’ friend on the street.
Martin Scorsese was reluctant to edit the climactic (and very bloody) shootout to avoid an X rating. However, he was amused by the changes ordered by the MPAA, because they made the final scene even more shocking than had originally been intended.
Many critics and fans have speculated that Travis Bickle actually dies during the climatic shootout, and the scenes where he recovers, is thanked by Iris’ parents via letter, and talks to Betsy when she happens to ride in his taxi by chance, are either his dying delusions or pure fantasy. Martin Scorsese and Paul Schrader both provided commentary on laserdisc/DVD releases of the film that deny this theory. Scorsese said that the cab ride with Travis and Betsy is a real event, with Travis’s ambiguous look after she leaves the cab indicating uncertainty over his own thoughts. Schrader’s comments were that Travis “is not cured” after surviving the shootout, and the writer added “next time, he’s not going to be a hero”.[/b]
Note: Some explicit dialog
TAXI DRIVER [1976]
Directed by Martin Scorsese
[b]Travis [voiceover]: All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take 'em to Harlem. I don’t care. Don’t make no difference to me. It does to some. Some won’t even take spooks. Don’t make no difference to me.
…
Travis [voiceover]: Each night when I return the cab to the garage, I have to clean the cum off the back seat. Some nights, I clean off the blood.
…
Palantine: What is the one thing about this country that bugs you the most?
Travis: I don’t know. I don’t follow political issues that closely.
Palantine: There must be something.
Travis: Well, whatever it is, he should clean up this city here…because this city is like an open sewer, it’s full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it. Whoever becomes the president should just…really clean it up, know what I mean? Sometimes I go out and I smell it. I get headaches, it’s so bad. It’s like–They never go away. It’s like the president should clean up this whole mess here. He should flush it down the fucking toilet.
…
Betsy: Travis, I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone quite like you.[/b]
On the other hand…
[b]Betsy: Taking me to a place like this is about as exciting as saying to me “Let’s fuck.”
…
Travis [to Besty at Palantine campaign headquarters]: You’re in a hell, and you’re gonna die in a hell like the rest of them!
…
Passenger [to Travis]: You see that window with the light? The one closet to the edge of the building? You know who lives there? Of course you don’t know who lives there, but I’m saying “Do you know who lives there?” A Nigger lives there, and that isn’t my apartment. My wife is in there and…I’m gonna kill her. I’m gonna kill her with a .44 Magnum. Have you ever seen what a .44 Magnum will do to a woman’s face? It’ll fucking destroy it. Just blow it right apart. That’s what it can do to her face. Did you ever see what it can do to a woman’s pussy? That you should see. You should see what a .44 Magnum’s gonna do to a woman’s pussy.
…
Travis [to Wizard]: I got some bad ideas in my head.
…
Travis: Loneliness has followed me my whole life. Everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There’s no escape. I’m God’s lonely man…June 8th. My life has taken another turn again. The days can go on with regularity over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly, there is a change.
…
Easy Andy [after selling Travis an arsenal]: How 'bout dope? Grass, hash, coke…mescaline, downers, Nembutal, toluol, chloral hydrates? How 'bout uppers, amphetamines? I can get you crystal meth. Nitrous oxide. How 'bout that? I can get you a brand-new Cadillac with the pink slip for two grand.
…
Travis: You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? You talkin’ to me? Then who the hell else are you talking… you talking to me? Well I’m the only one here.
…
Travis: Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is someone who stood up.
…
Sport: Well, take it or leave it. If you want to save yourself some money, don’t fuck her. Cause you’ll be back here every night for some more. Man, she’s twelve and a half years old. You never had no pussy like that. You can do anything you want with her. You can cum on her, fuck her in the mouth, fuck her in the ass, cum on her face, man. She get your cock so hard she’ll make it explode. But no rough stuff, all right?
…
Iris: God, you’re square.
Travis Bickle: Hey, I’m not square, you’re the one that’s square. You’re full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin’ creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for peanuts, man? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I’m square? You’re the one that’s square, man. I don’t go screwing fuck with a bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that bein’ hip? What world are you from?
Iris: Sport never killed nobody.
Travis: He killed somebody.
Iris: He’s a Libra. I’m a Libra, too. That’s why we get along so well. I think that Cancers make the best lovers…but, God, my whole family are earth signs.
…
Sport: Hey, go back to your fuckin’ tribe before you get hurt, huh man. Do me a favor, I don’t want no trouble, huh. Okay?
Travis: You got a gun?
Sport: Get the fuck outta here, man.
[Flicks his cigarette at him]
Sport: Get outta here
[Sport kicks him]
Travis: Suck on this.
[he shoots him]
…
Narrated [over newspaper article about Travis tacked to the wall]: “Dear Mr. Bickle, I can’t say how happy Mrs. Steensma and I were… to hear that you are well and recuperating. We tried to visit you at the hospital… when we were in New York to pick up Iris. But you were still in a coma. There is no way we can repay you for returning our Iris to us. We thought we had lost her… and now our lives are full again. Needless to say…you are something of a hero around this household. I’m sure you want to know about Iris. She’s back in school and working hard. The transition has been very hard for her, as you can well imagine. We have taken steps to see… she has never cause to run away again. In conclusion, Mrs. Steensma and l…would like to again thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to come to New York again…to thank you in person, or we surely would. But if you should ever come to Pittsburgh…you would find yourself a most welcome guest in our home. Our deepest thanks. Burt and Ivy Steensma.”
…
Betsy [in cab]: Hello, Travis.
Travis: Hello. I hear Palantine got the nomination.
Betsy: Yeah. Won’t be long now. Seventeen days.
Tavis: I hope he wins.
Betsy: I read about you in the papers. How are you?
Travis: It was nothing, really. I got over that. Papers always blow these things up. Just a little stiffness, that’s all.
Betsy: Travis…I’m-- How much was it?
Travis: So long.[/b]