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"Mature Content!" |
| “ | You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the f-ck do you think you're talking to? | „ |
| ~ Travis talking to himself, as well as his most famous quote, and one of the most famous quotes in film history. |
| “ | Listen you f-ckers, you screwheads! Here's a man who would not take it anymore. A man who would not let... [inhales] Listen you f-ckers, you screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. A man stood up against the scum, the c-nts, the dogs, the filth, the sh-t, here is someone who STOOD UP. | „ |
| ~ Travis vowing vengeance against his ostracizers. |
| “ | 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. | „ |
| ~ Travis Bickle on his loneliness in a journal entry. |
Travis Bickle is the titular protagonist of the 1976 psychological crime thriller film Taxi Driver. He is a mentally ill and emotionally distant taxi driver and Vietnam War veteran suffering from PTSD, who, after having enough with the crime and "filth" on the streets of New York City, decides to become a vigilante.
He was portrayed by Robert De Niro.
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
- Being a veteran, he had served in Vietnam War as a Marine Corps soldier and given an honorable discharge due to an injury.
- He is very irritated by the crime-filled society of New York City and decides to become a vigilante primarily to clean the "filth" of the streets.
- Upon making Betsy offended for taking her to see Language of Love, a Swedish sex education film, he tries to soften her by phoning and sending flowers, to no avail. To highlight it, Travis' initial action was not out of any perversely intention but for too much suffering from loneliness and other mental illnesses, not thinking clearly about whether she would be offended for that.
- Shoots a man who attempts to rob a grocery store, stopping him to do so.
- Upon meeting Iris, a twelve-year-old girl who works as a prostitute for Sport, he begins to constantly trying to persuade her to quit her job.
- Before his assassination attempt to Senator Palantine, he sends Iris several hundred dollars as one of his efforts to make her quit.
- When his efforts to persuade Iris to quit prostitution is to no avail, he assaults the brothel and shoots people who are into her -Sport, the bouncer and mafioso customer- to death, even getting shot few times and attempting to commit suicide when he is done, risking and sacrificing his own life to save the girl.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- Overall, Travis' personality is too complex and vague to be classified as either good or evil alone, ultimately getting into the grey zone status. He can be interpreted both as a tragic and broken individual who needs compassion and genuinely wants streets got clean, and/or a violent and dangerous sociopath who suffers from various mental illnesses that makes him a potentially vicious criminal. This complexity is even demonstrated in the movie itself by Betsy, describing him with a poem as "a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction, a walking contradiction".
- After Betsy dumps him and refuses to make contact with him, he goes to her office and starts shouting at her that she will "go to hell"
- Instead of killing Sport and his men, he initially intended to assassinate Senator Palantine, even preparing himself with body workouts and gun training in addition to some strategic gun mechanisms he built, deluding himself into believing that assassinating Palantine will win him over Betsy's heart. When his attempt is foiled and his primary target is no longer available, he goes off to kill the pimps, which results with him being seen as a local hero instead of a deranged murderer.
- All aside, he is obviously lethal with four body counts in addition to one more murder attempt. While his succeeded murders can be justified to a large extent for all the victims being petty criminals, Travis is still too lethal due to his lust for violence, and him still being potential to commit more actions even after the incident he had, as he is just recovered and got back his old state of being night time taxi driver.
External Links[]
- Travis Bickle on the Heroes Wiki
- Travis Bickle on the Villains Wiki
- Travis Bickle on the Martin Scorsese Wiki