Taxi Driver

Taxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro.

Set in 1970s New York shortly after the end of the Vietnam War, it centers on the life of Travis Bickle, a reclusive and unstable veteran who, due to chronic insomnia, starts working as a cab driver, joins the city's murky nightlife. The cast stars Cybill Shepherd as the woman who works on presidential candidate Palantine's election campaign, and with whom Travis is in love, Jodie Foster as a twelve-year-old prostitute with whom Travis becomes fond and Harvey Keitel as his procurer. Scorsese makes a cameo.

The film garnered several awards, including the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and four Oscar nominations. It is considered both a cult film and one of the best of its time; it is also often evaluated by critics as one of the best of all time and a masterpiece of its director. In 1994, it was deemed "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Plot

A taxi from New York, similar to Travis Bickle driving in the movie.

Travis Bickle is a lonely and depressed ex-Marine who, after returning from the Vietnam War, lives in mid-1970s New York City. Suffering from chronic insomnia, he goes to work as a cab driver, drives passengers every night through the suburbs. He also spends time in seedy porn theaters and writes a diary. He falls in love with Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a volunteer for Senator Charles Palantine's presidential campaign. After seeing Betsy chatting with another volunteer, he volunteers for her in the senator's campaign, only under the guise of talking to her and manages to take her out for coffee. On a second date, he takes her to see a Swedish educational sex film, she is offended, leaves the cinema and rides home alone in a taxi. Travis tries to fix the situation by sending her flowers, which are rejected, and calling him on other occasions on the phone, also being rejected over and over again.

Travis discusses his thoughts with a colleague, fearing that they are going to push him into violence, but he assures him that everything will calm down and be better. Travis begins an intense physical training program. He buys guns and adapts a pistol to hide in his sleeve. One night, Travis walks into a store before a man tries to rob him, and shoots him. The store owner takes responsibility and Travis leaves. Another night, an underage prostitute, Iris (Jodie Foster), breaks into Travis' cab, escaping her pimp, Matthew "Sport"; Higgins (Harvey Keitel). Higgings pulls Iris out of the cab and tosses Travis a twenty dollar bill. Travis later hires Iris's services, but instead of having relations with her, he tries to talk her out of her prostitution, and manages to meet her for breakfast. Travis becomes obsessed with helping her return to her parents' house, sending money and a letter stating that he will soon be dead.

After shaving his head Mohawk-style, Travis attends an event where he attempts to assassinate Senator Palantine, but the security officers are suspicious of him and he is forced to flee without so much as a shot. He returns to his apartment and drives to the East Village, where he confronts "Sport" Higgins. Travis asks if he knows Iris but Sport refuses to answer, saying that he doesn't know anyone named Iris and tells him to get out. Travis asks if he carries a gun, to which Sport throws his cigarette at him, kicks him, and abruptly tells him to get out. Travis pulls the gun out of him and after telling him to "swallow this up"; he shoots her and then goes into the brothel looking for Iris.

There he meets the man he had paid for Iris's services, and shoots him in the right hand. The noise of the shot reaches the room where Iris is. Then "Sport" appears wounded and shoots Travis, the bullet grazed his neck without killing him. Travis shoots again and finishes off Higgings. He goes to the room where Iris is while the wounded man he had shot in the hand begins to chase him, insulting and threatening him. The room attendant comes out of the room where Iris was, with a gun drawn to shoot Travis in her arm, causing the gun to fall out of her reach. At that moment, Travis pulls out a spare pistol that he had hidden in his sleeve and shoots the manager several times, hitting him in the face, causing him to recoil and drop dead in front of Iris.

Travis heads into the bedroom, but as he enters the chasing pimp knocks him down and begins to beat him with his remaining hand, but Travis draws a hidden knife in his leg and plunges it into that hand. He takes the manager's gun and shoots him dead. Iris begins to cry in horror as Travis tries to commit suicide, but there is no gun with ammunition within her reach, so he sits faintly next to her on the armchair in the room, they are both silent. The scene ends with the police entering, to whom Travis makes the symbolic gesture of shooting himself in the head three times with his fingers in the shape of a pistol (alluding to the 3 murders he had just committed) while smiling, implying the guilt of he.

Travis is convalescing, while recovering he receives a letter from Iris's parents, thanking him for saving their daughter, who has returned to them. The media describe him as a hero and he is released, considering that he was defending his life and shot in self-defense, he returns to his work and finds that Betsy gets into her taxi. She talks about his newfound fame, but he denies being a hero. Arriving at her house, she gets out of the taxi and asks him how much the meter shows. Travis doesn't charge her, he smiles at her saying "goodbye", and starts the car to see her in the rearview mirror. He then walks away and gets lost again, while contemplating the city.

Cast

Grafiti de Travis Bickle, the protagonist of the film.

• Robert De Niro like Travis Bickle
• Cybill Shepherd like Betsy
• Jodie Foster like Iris "Easy" Steensma
• Albert Brooks like Tom
• Harvey Keitel as Matthew "Sport" Higgins
• Leonard Harris as Senator Charles Palantine
• Peter Boyle as "Wizard"
• Harry Northup like Doughboy
• Martin Scorsese as a passenger in Travis' taxi
• Victor Argo like Melio, owner of a shop
• Steven Prince as "Easy Andy"
• Joe Spinell as a Travis officer at the taxi company

Production

Martin Scorsese offered the role of Travis to Dustin Hoffman. According to Hoffman, he turned down the role because he thought "Scorsese was crazy"; after seeing the film, Hoffman regretted his decision. There are two interventions by Scorsese in the film: the first and best known is that of the taxi passenger deceived by her wife, who tells Travis of her intentions to kill her. The second is in Betsy's first appearance, where he is seen sitting on a bench looking from her to the girl.

Robert De Niro worked a month as a taxi driver to play the part. The scene in which Travis is standing in front of the mirror and feigning a confrontation was improvised, since the script only included the phrase: "Travis looks in the mirror." The phrase "are you talking to me?" It has become one of the most famous phrases in the history of cinema, appearing in a large number of films and series.

Paul Schrader finished the script in five days and kept a loaded gun on his desk as he wrote it, for motivation and inspiration.

Jodie Foster was thirteen when the film was shot, so she was unable to do scenes that included nudity. Her character was also almost that age. Connie Foster, Jodie's older sister (who was 19 when the film was made), was cast as her double for those scenes.

Reception

The film grossed over $28 million, far exceeding its $1.3 million budget.

Reviews upon its release were generally positive, and it was eventually hailed as one of the greatest films of all time. It has a 98% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes.

Awards and nominations

Oscars

Golden Globe Awards

BAFTA Awards

Cannes Film Festival

Lists

In popular culture

• In the video game Grand Theft AutoIn 1997, Travis Bickle had a "homenage", one of the eight protagonists being a parody.
• In the chapter The Simpsons entitled "The Heir of Burns", Moe Szyslak parody to Travis.
• The theme "The Badge", of the Pantera metal band, has as sound effects some dialogues of Taxi Driver.
• In the first season of the series American Horror Story they refer to the scene in the brothel, in which Travis draws by hand three shots in his head and it seems that he then dies, represented by one of the characters, Tate Langdon (Evan Peters).
• In the graphic novel Before Watchmen, the character of Rorschach, trying to get away from some slugs, takes Travis' taxi, and this tries to start a conversation with Rorschach about his point of view over the city.
• The theme "My name is Travis", by the Argentine band Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, begins with a fragment of the film and deals with it.
• In the "Hunting" chapter That 70's ShowEric Forman uses Travis as a reference.
• The theme "Red Angel Dragnet", by the British punk band The Clash, alludes to the film and mentions Travis's name.
• In the movie Back to the Future Part IIIIn 1990, the character of Marty McFly recreates the part where Travis looks in the mirror with the gun in his hand and repeats "Are you talking to me?"
• In the Dutch film "Little gangster" (2015), directed by Arne Toonen, the little protagonist recreates the iconic scene of Travis in front of the mirror.
• In Nach's album "Ars Magna/Miradas" we found a song called "Taxi Driver".
• In Mitsuruggy's "Warp mind" song, a mention appears to Travis Bickle.