Taxi Driver (1976)

In Martin Scorsese's gritty, disturbing, nightmarish modern film classic - it provided an examination of alienation in urban society. The visceral and feverish masterpiece, with a screenplay by Paul Schrader, presented unforgettable images of the decadent and squalid side of New York City with its hard-core porn houses and Times Square pushers, pimps, and prostitutes. This was Scorsese's fourth major feature film, and De Niro's second film for Scorsese following Mean Streets (1973), in which both De Niro and Harvey Keitel gained fame as young New York hoods.

The main character was an obsessed, twisted, inarticulate, lonely, alienated anti-hero cab driver and war vet (memorably portrayed by Robert De Niro) who misdirectedly lashed out with frustrated anger and power, fueled by his corrupted urban environment. He made two failed attempts to connect with the world around him - first with a blonde goddess political campaign worker (Cybill Shepherd), and then with young 12-year old tawdry, underaged prostitute Iris (Jodie Foster), in an attempt to rescue her from her predatory pimp "Sport" (Harvey Keitel). As an unlikely, mentally-deteriorating knight, the fearful and self-loathing taxi driver redemptively prepared to "wash all this scum off the streets" after a failed and misguided date with the blonde political worker by stalking political Presidential candidate Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris).

Scorsese's brilliant film of vengeful anger received four Academy Awards nominations (Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster), and Best Original Score (Bernard Herrmann, nominated posthumously)) that went unrewarded. Notoriously, the film was linked to and may have triggered the political assassination (copy-cat) attempt by inconspicuous John Hinckley on President Ronald Reagan in 1981, illuminating the killer's dangerous fixation on actress Jodie Foster, and resulting in the assassin's infamous media-hero status. The poster's tagline described the 'taxi driver' character:

"On every street there's a nobody who dreams of being a somebody. He's a lonely forgotten man desperate to prove that he's alive."

• the title credits played out over an expressionistic night view of the streets of Manhattan seen from the rain-slick windshield of a NY cabbie - an underworld scene of urban jungle warfare (open sewers with steam, and flashing red neon lights)
• in a cab company's personnel office, the neurotic, insomniac, troubled loner and 26 year-old Vietnam vet/taxi driver Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) spoke to an employment officer (Joe Spinell), and offered to work more hours, including the night-shift: ("Any time, anywhere"); in his background, he had received an honorable discharge from the Marines in May 1973
• Bickle lived by himself in a squalid, welfare-style, studio apartment near 42nd Street, where he had consumed a Coke and Quarter-Pounder for lunch, and often wrote diary entries into his tattered school composition book-journal: ("Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the garbage and the trash off the sidewalks")

Writing in His Journal

A Tracking Shot of the Front of Travis' Checker Cab

Cruising the City's Streets

• in a memorable tracking shot, he cruised in his Checker cab through the seedy, slick, wet, night streets of the city's five boroughs, past movie marquees, delis, arcades, and streets filled with drifters, pimps, drug dealers and prostitutes; he hypnotically passed by as he transported lost souls from place to place during lengthy 12-14 hour shifts; in voice-over, he spoke about urban decay: "All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies. Sick, venal. Someday a real rain'll come and wash all this scum off the streets"; after a night shift, he was noticeably agitated: "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"

A Typical Day For Travis - In an XXX-Theatre, In His Apartment Watching Soap Operas, Writing in His Journal, Stalking Political Campaign Headquarters

• although hateful of his sleazy environment, in the early morning hours, he walked through the porno district where he spent his free time in a triple-X rated porno film house, revealing his hypocritical and schizoid view of the world; as he stared at the porno film being screened, Travis slumped in his chair: (voice-over: "Twelve hours of work and I still can't sleep. Damn. Days go on and on. They don't end"); during a typical day, he laid awake on his bed watching daytime soap operas on TV in his littered hovel; he was tormented about how isolated he had become: ("All my life needed was a sense of someplace to go. I don't believe that one should devote his life to morbid self-attention. I believe that someone should become a person like other people")
• in crowded Manhattan one day, Travis was attracted to a pretty blonde political campaign worker Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) viewed from the street; the angelic sight was wearing an angelic white dress, and working as an aide and political volunteer in the posh campaign headquarters of NY Senator Charles Palantine, a Presidential candidate; she became his crush 'dream-girl' ideal whom he observed from afar; Travis watched while parked out on the curb as she conversed with co-worker Tom (future director Albert Brooks) about campaign strategies
• the next sequence was another of Bickle's typical night drives - red and green stoplights, garish neon lights and porno houses, pedestrians walking the streets, the clicking of the numbers on the taxi farebox, etc.; in an all-night restaurant (the Belmore Cafeteria) where cabbies often swapped stories and small talk about their unusual fares, Travis listened as another cabbie - self-appointed philosophic Wizard (Peter Boyle) spoke about one seductive passenger; shortly later, Travis described his violent work environment that he heard about on the radio - an incident when a knife-wielding crazy madman cut up another cabbie
• after bolstering his courage, Travis walked into the political campaign headquarters and flattered Betsy with words about how beautiful she was; he was asked if he wanted to volunteer to canvass for Palantine; although she regarded him as eccentric and unusual, she accepted an invitation to meet him later, and they rendezvoused in a coffee shop at 4 pm for coffee and pie; during their conversation, he mentioned how he needed to be more "Organeziezd," and that he compared himself favorably to her co-worker Tom: ("I don't like him. Not that I don't like him, I just think he's silly. I don't think he respects you"); she called him a "walking contradiction" - a reference to songwriter Kris Kristofferson's Pilgrim Chapter 33; afterwards, he purchased the album for her in a record shop to later give to her as a gift

Late Afternoon Date Between Travis and Betsy

• coincidentally, Travis found himself transporting US Presidential candidate Charles Palantine in his cab, and sucked up to him in small-talk about his support for his candidacy; Palantine told Travis how he had learned more about America "from riding in taxi cabs than in all the limos in the country"; when asked what should be done if Palantine was elected, Travis advised cleaning up the city: "You should clean up this city here, because this city here is like an open sewer you know. It's full of filth and scum"
• Travis' next cab passenger was a young, blonde, street-smart (hippie prostitute) girl (a young Jodie Foster), but she was forcibly dragged from the rear seat by an unidentified male (presumably her pimp, named Sport), who bought off Travis with a $20 dollar bill
• in the scene of Travis' second date with Betsy, he presented her with his gift of the Kristofferson album; and then, he made an ill-advised decision to take her to a cheap, 42nd Street porno theatre with a garish marquee advertising two XXX-rated films; she was aghast: "This is a dirty movie"; after a few minutes in the theatre watching "Swedish Marriage Manual," Betsy stormed out of the movie theater, and Travis' attempts to apologize were ineffective as she hailed a taxi and permanently dumped him

Disastrous Movie Date with Betsy to an XXX-rated Film

• in the next sequence, Travis stood in a bare hallway (from the lobby of The Ed Sullivan Theater (at 1697 Broadway)), talking on a wall pay-phone to Betsy, and apologizing for bringing her to a pornographic film; his attempt at a normal relationship had failed miserably - she repeatedly rebuffed him and refused to date him further or answer his phone calls; she returned flowers he had sent to her; shortly later, Travis stormed into the political headquarters where he confronted her for not returning his phone calls, and terrorized the other workers; he chastized Betsy: ("You're in a hell, and you're gonna die in hell like the rest of 'em") before leaving
• during Travis' next surrealistic taxi-cab ride, his paying passenger was a psychotic, middle-aged man (director Martin Scorsese); the agonized, mentally-unstable husband of a cheating wife planned to kill his adulterous wife and her black partner with a .44 Magnum; the cab was parked outside the other man's apartment where he watched a scantily-clad silhouette in the lit second-story window; the passenger also kept asking Travis: "I'll betcha you really think I'm sick, right?"
• outside the Belmore Cafeteria, the Wizard spoke privately to a despairing Travis, who inarticulately explained his deteriorating mental condition and sinister tendencies - he told how he was starting to get "bad ideas" in his head after being rejected; the Wizard offered his own point of view - that everyone was "more or less" f--ked and stuck in an absurd world; Travis responded to the Wizard's words: "That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard"
• during his cab rounds, Travis again came across the young girl (and her blonde female companion (Garth Avery)) - they both briefly gestured to a figure on a porch stoop, calling him Sport; after following them down the street in his cab, Travis realized that they were both hippie child-prostitutes when they picked up two johns at a nearby street corner

A Blonde Companion (Garth Avery) with Young Girl (Jodie Foster)
	Travis: "Loneliness has followed me my whole life"

• in a memorable voice-over, Travis explained his destiny - existential loneliness: "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"; Travis was seen writing in his journal: 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"
• the "change" Travis referred to was weapons armaments; in an economy hotel, Travis met up with "Easy" Andy (Steven Prince), a traveling salesman who offered to illegally sell him guns; ultimately Travis purchased an assortment of four semi-automatic guns (including an oversized Magnum .44 for $875 from the underground dealer)
• to find his new identity, Travis also began an intense, action-oriented regimen of rigid, physical training (and rejection of junk foods) - performing push-ups, pull-ups and weight exercises in his apartment; he visited an indoor firing range for practice shots with his arsenal of illegal guns; in a porno theater while watching a sex scene, he pointed his finger like a gun at the screen, linking sex (foreplay) and violence (gunplay)

Travis Adopting a Physical Training Regimen, Practicing Firing, Trying Out a Quick-Draw Mechanism in Front of a Mirror, and Taping a Knife to His Boot

• in his apartment, a bare-chested Travis manufactured a custom-made, fast-draw, gliding mechanism that he attached to his right forearm, and another concealed knife-holder for a horrible-looking combat knife on his ankle; he also practiced his quick draw in front of a mirror
• wearing a green Army jacket, Travis attended an outdoor Palantine rally, where the platform was decorated with red, white and blue bunting; Travis had targeted the Presidential candidate as someone to blame for his failed relationship with Betsy; a serious, sun-glasses wearing Secret Service agent (Richard Higgs) quickly identified Travis as a possible lone, crazy gunman, but Travis disappeared and was lost in the crowd
• in the most terrifying but classic sequence in the film, Travis delivered a target-practice "You talkin' to me?" monologue before a mirror; the indelible scene was menacingly and belligerently delivered (to the camera and an invisible enemy) as Travis practiced quick-drawing with his guns (as part of his crazed assassination plan), and made various poses in his squalid walkup apartment (ending with the conclusion: "You're dead")
• at a second Palantine rally in the city, Travis stalked the candidate again as he sat coldly staring in his "Off-Duty" cab in the driver's seat and listened to the candidate's speech on a booming, distant loudspeaker system; while sitting in his cab, Travis recited (in voice-over) a greeting card message (with false facts about himself) which he was preparing to send to his parents; later while watching a daytime soap opera drama on TV, he tipped over his cheap B/W TV and it shattered on the floor
• on the tenement streets, Travis again met up with the young 12 1/2 year old prostitute named Iris - who asked him: "You lookin' for some action?"; Iris identified her small-time pimp "boyfriend" as Matthew or "Sport" (Harvey Keitel), and Travis negotiated with "Sport" to have 15 minutes of sex with the young girl in a walk-up apartment (basically a brothel with individual hotel rooms, run by a manager (Murray Mosten)); however, Travis just wanted to strike up a friendship with Iris instead of having sex with her - and to possibly help her escape from a life of whoring: ("I don't want to make it. I want to help you"); Travis was revolted and disgusted by Iris' life as a runaway prostitute with "no place else to go" and content to work for a macho pimp; she agreed to meet with him the next day

Iris to Travis: "You lookin' for some action?"	Iris' Pimp Matthew/"Sport" (Harvey Keitel)	Iris Helping to Unbuckle Travis' Pants
Iris: "You don't have to make it..."	Travis: "Don't you want to get outta here?"	Making Plans to Meet Up the Next Morning

• over breakfast the next day in a coffee shop, the naive young child-woman dined on toast topped with jelly and sugar; he again wished to save the fresh-faced girl from her circumstances and restore her to her family and school by giving her money; she was willing to consider moving to a commune in Vermont, although he declined to join her
• afterwards, Iris met up with Sport who coaxed her into remaining and resuming her life as a young street hooker with him, by dancing with her cradled in his arms while he soothed her
• meanwhile, Travis made further preparations to cleanse, save and redeem society (and to demonstrate his love for Iris), by bringing 'rain' upon the city and doing "somethin' very important"; he again visited the shooting range for target practice, prepared as 'western'-styled shirt (for a shootout!), and taped his knife to his boot; he counted out $500 (in $100 bills) for Iris, accompanied by a poorly-scrawled, hand-written letter (put in an envelope addressed to Iris Steensman): "Dear Iris: This money should be used for your trip. By the time you read this, I will be dead. Travis"; his objective was to pursue Presidential candidate Palantine and commit a grandiose life-ending act - an assassination: ("My whole life is pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me")
• at Columbus Circle where Palantine spoke to an assembled public crowd, Travis appeared with a severe Mohawk Indian haircut; he was popping pills and wearing a "We are the people" button; as he attempted to get closer to Palantine, Travis was spotted by the suspicious Secret Service bodyguard he had spoken to earlier, forcing Travis to flee and escape back to his apartment where he drank a beer; frustrated, he went looking for Sport with his weapons
• in a shocking, cold-blooded act, the vigilante Travis wreaked vengeance on Iris' abductors and pimps in NY's Lower East Side - he stuck a gun point-blank into Sport's gut ("Suck on this") and shot him, wounding him in the stomach; inside the apartment building (earlier used as a brothel), he approached the manager and shot and blew off part of his right hand; the mortally-wounded Sport came up behind Travis and shot him on the left side of his neck; as he bled profusely, Travis was also shot from behind in the right shoulder/arm by a Mafioso (Bob Maroff) - one of Sport's gangster associates and Iris' current customer; Travis fired back and killed the gangster by filling his face and body full of bullets; Travis was also forced to wrestle with the wounded manager-bouncer-pimp, and eventually impaled the man's left hand with his combat knife; he then picked up the revolver from the now-dead Mafioso on the floor (at Iris' feet) and shot the manager-pimp point-blank in the cheek, splattering his brains onto the wall

The Shooting of Sport and the Ensuing Bloodbath in the Dark Hallway of a Hotel-Brothel
Travis Shooting "Sport" Point-Blank in the Stomach on Porch-Front	Shooting Off Brothel Manager's Right Hand	Blood Splattering Onto Travis' Face
Travis Shot in the Neck From Behind by Sport	Sport Firing on Travis Before Being Killed	Travis Defending Himself and Killing Iris' Customer - a Mafioso

• in the gunfight's aftermath in the brothel, with two different guns, Travis attempted to shoot himself in the neck, but the guns clicked empty; when the police arrived with guns drawn on him as he sat on the sofa in Iris' room, Travis put his blood-soaked finger to his temple to mime killing himself; he made the sounds "Pgghew! Pgghew! Pgghew!" as a mock-suicide before losing consciousness - followed by an incredible crane shot from above viewing the carnage that extended from the room into the stairwell and hallway
• ironically, to Travis' surprise in the film's short epiloque, society and the newspapers called him a hero, absolved him of his sins, and praised him for his bloody sacrifice and vigilante bravery; he had cleansed the world and returned Iris to her parents - various clippings of newspaper headlines described: Taxi Driver Battles Gangsters, Reputed New York Mafioso Killed in Bizarre Shooting, Parents Express Shock, Gratitude, Taxi Driver Hero to Recover, Cabbie Released From Hospital; in voice-over (the voice of an uneducated man), an emotional hand-written letter of thanks was read by Iris' grateful father Burt Steensma about how he had saved Iris (who was now back in Pittsburgh with her parents)

Newspaper Clipping: "Taxi Driver Battles Gangsters"

Voice-Over of Handwritten Letter to Travis From Iris' Father

• in the final sequence, Travis had recovered and was back in his mundane job as a cabbie; Betsy entered his cab outside the St. Regis Hotel, and expressed her awe for him due to his celebrity and notoriety for cleansing the city of its scum; after an inconsequential ride, he declined taking her fare at the end of her trip; the camera tracked backward from Betsy on the sidewalk as his cab pulled away; Travis (with a strange look on his face) adjusted the rear-view mirror to look back

		Travis Refusing to Have Betsy Pay Her Cab Fare
Epilogue: Travis Smiling at Betsy - In Rear-View Mirror of His Cab