Martin Scorsese: Taxi Driver

Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader

Cast

Diahnne Abbot   .... Concession Girl
Frank Adu      ... Angry Black Policeman
Victor Argo    ...  Melio
Gino Ardito   ...   Policeman at Rally
Garth Avery  ... Iris' Friend
Peter Boyle  ...  Wizard
Albert Brooks ... Tom
Harry Cohn  ...  Cabbie in Bellmore
Copper Cunningham  ...  Hooker in Cab
Robert De Niro   ...  Travis Bickle
Brenda Dickson  ...  Soap Opera Woman
Harry Fischler   ... Dispatcher
Cybill Shepherd   ... Betsy
Jodie Foster  ... Iris
Nat Grant   ... Stick-Up Man
Leonard Harris .... Charles Palantine
Harvey Keitel   ... Sport

Plot

A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process.  - IMDB 

"Travis really has the best of intentions; he believes he's doing right, just like St. Paul. He wants to clean up life, clean up the mind, clean up the soul. He is very spiritual, but in a sense Charles Manson was spiritual which doesn't mean it's good. It's the power of the spirit on the wrong road. The key to the picture is the idea of being brave enough to admit having these feelings, and then act them out. I instinctively showed that the acting out was not the way to go, and this created even more ironic twists to what was going on." - Martin Scorsese (Scorsese on Scorsese page 62)

The film Taxi Driver starts with a closeup of Travis Bickle's eyes showing a blur of pedestrians as life is that a blur - going by him day by day. Bickle gets a job as a taxi driver. He was an ex-marine. He is 26 years old. Bickle keeps a diary of his job and the following shots of New York City has a cinema verite style. He says, "All the animals come out at night. Some day a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets." Being a taxi driver he sees everything especially the worst of society. Bickle says he has to clean the cum off the back seat each time he returns the cab to the garage. Travis goes to a porn theater to kill the boredom since he cannot sleep. Travis writes in his diary about a girl he notices he likes at Charles Palantine headquarters. Her name is Betsy.

His friends at the diner ask if he carries a piece. He says no. He asks Travis if he needs one. Travis says no. Tom and Betsy talk about trivial things like could you light a match without two fingers. Travis walks into the Palantine headquarters and it is a handheld shot perhaps symbolizing Travis's chaotic state of mind and behavior. He says that he wants to volunteer to Betsy but when quizzed about Palantines policies he knows nothing. He asks Betsy on a date to some pie and coffee. Bickle uses some charm to coax Betsy into a date saying he's there to protect her.This is probably the only time in the movie he has any social skills which is sad. They are completely different. Betsy talks of the campaign and Travis talks that he needs to organize the things in his apartment. Travis asks about the guy at the headquarters, Tom. He says he thinks Tom and Betsy have no connection but she and him do. It is too forward and sad that Travis is trying so hard and saying something that really isn't true. She says he reminds her of that song by Kris Kristofferson - he's a prophet and a pusher. Travis says he's never pushed. Betsy clarifies that she means he has contradictions which is very true of Travis. 

What is funny about the film is that after Travis has a date with Betsy he gets Charles Palantine in his cab and tells him he's one of his biggest supporters which is only because Palantine reminds him of Betsy. He tells Palantine he should flush the scum down the toilet - meaning the people and corruption of New York City. Travis first encounters Iris as she is trying to get away from her pimp, Sport. He gives $20 to Travis. "Bickle chooses to drive his taxi anywhere in the city, even the worst places because it feeds his hate." (Scorsese on Scorsese). Travis takes Betsy to an adult movie theater on their second date to see Sometime Sweet Susan. He is so socially inept he doesn't see a problem with this.

The next scene shows Travis on the phone apologizing to Betsy.It is painful to watch as it shows him being rejected. The camera dollies to the right to an empty hallway as the conversation is too unbearable to take. Travis says she is just like the rest of them, "cold and distant" but really that is what he himself is like. Travis picks up a passenger played by Martin Scorsese who is agitated and irritable. He tells Travis his wife is in the room with the light on and she is with a "nigger" and he is going to kill her with a .44 Magnum pistol. Travis can't answer the guy because he is so creeped out by him. But this is how people must feel about Travis. Travis talks to the Wizard and tells him he is down. He tells the Wizard he gets some bad ideas in his head.

Travis has a poor diet as seen by the snacks in the porno theater he eats and the syrupy meal he makes while watching Palantine get interviewed on TV.This is a contradiction as he works out vigorously later in the film. Travis is a walking contradiction. As Travis drives through the night he almost runs into Iris. Watching people from the cab makes Travis lament his loneliness. He says, "Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, store, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man. "

Travis meets Easy Andy - who offers him weapons to buy. Travis asks him if he has a .44 Magnum. He looks at all the guns. He buys 4 guns - a Magnum, a .38, a .25 and a .380. Travis starts exercising and target shooting. Travis makes a contraption to spring load a gun from his arm. At a campaign rally Travis arrives and talks to a secret service guy who is waiting for Senator Palantine. He scouts the area, In his room Travis asks the mirror, "You talkin to me?" He practices pulling out his weapons while talking to the mirror showing he is quickly losing his mind if not already. Travis is welcomed by a clerk at the supermarket and Travis later sees the clerk is getting robbed. Travis shoots and kills the robber and tells the clerk he has to go since he doesn't have a permit for the gun. Delusional he writes his parents and tells them he works for the government and is going out with a girl named Betsy. 

Travis watches a romantic movie on television and points the gun at the couple. He starts rocking the TV on the stand back further and further until it falls and breaks. Travis is heartbroken over Betsy and wants to destroy something so he chooses to go after Palantine as revenge. Travis talks to Matthew/Sport to be with Iris. He asks her if she wants to get out of here.

He gives the $20 from the cab from Sport to a guy guarding the stairs. Travis criticizes Sport but Iris asks him if he's ever looked with his eyeballs in the mirror. Travis can't answer that because he indeed is a walking contradiction. In an uncomfortable scene Sport hugs and dances with Iris and whispers sweet things to her. She is only 12. Palantine gives a speech and Travis is there. Travis wants to kill Palantine but is nearly caught so he flees. Travis returns to Sport and asks him, "How is everything in the pimp business?" After an argument Travis shoots him and shoots the guy guarding  the stairs. Iris panics. Cops come into the room. The overhead shot shows the violence and carnage that took place. Travis is mentioned in the newspapers for battling gangsters, Her parents write him and tell him she's back in school and working hard. Travis gets a fare and smiles when he sees it is Betsy. They chit chat. He drops her off. There is a double take he does in the mirror that is frightening because his paranoia and psychosis still reside.

Works Cited

Scorsese on Scorsese (book)