FAQ for
Taxi Driver (1976) More at IMDbPro »

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Scorsese himself has commented that it was meant to signal to the audience that Travis could have a fit of rage again at any point in the future and that he is not the glorious hero the newspapers make him out to be. The sound itself was originally a cymbal clash. However, Scorsese felt that it sounded too cliché so Bernard Herrmann had the idea to play the sound backwards, making it sound unusual and threatening.

It is Robert De Niro. The newspaper clippings look like his driver's license picture, and in the picture, the newspaper is slightly faded and he looks as if he's clean shaven so he doesn't look quite the same as we are used to seeing him throughout the movie.

As for the rearview mirror, it was definitely De Niro again as seen by the mole on his cheek. Though admittedly he does look different than the alternate shot of his entire face. This could be explained that it was filmed at a different time so the makeup might have changed between filming.

No, in order to secure the film an R rating, Martin Scorsese had to desaturate the colour of the film for the shootout scene so the blood does not look as graphic. Scorsese has admitted he actually liked the desaturated result better than the original, but the film's cinematographer, Michael Chapman, did not. The original negatives for the scene no longer exist, as they deteriorated over the years.

Travis Bickle is often erroneously referred to as an "anti-hero", although every fact points out that Travis was certainly no hero. Screenwriter Paul Schrader has said "The irony of him becoming a hero is in the script". In relation to the sound heard at the end of the film, as previously pointed out, director Martin Scorsese said "I decided I'd put something on that shows that the timer in Travis starts to tick again, the bomb that's about to explode again". Bickle is a mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran. It is fair to say that his state of mind is the result of the effects of the horrors of war that turned him into a violent psychopath. However the point still remains that he is a violent psychopath, unstable and capable of extreme violence against others. It should be pointed out that just because Travis kills bad people in the film does not make him good. Before he goes off on a bloody killing spree that he later receives praise for, he attempts to assassinate a politician . Travis shows signs of a mental breakdown as the film goes on. After killing a robber in a convenient store, Travis is seen watching the television of young men and women dancing happily to Jackson Browne's "Late for the Sky". His reaction is that of general alienation as if seeing people together in a less than violent way is too much for him to take. Although his heart may have been in the right place (or at least he thinks it's in the right place) his frame of mind has been distorted by war, loneliness, and filth he witnesses everyday on the streets that lead him to commit unspeakable atrocities. He is not an inherently evil person, but has nevertheless became a deranged gunman and danger to society, ultimately becoming to very thing he sought to get rid of. Therefore, Travis Bickle is, and was intended to be a villain. AFI listed him as the 30th greatest film villain of all time.

Martin Scorsese had heard stories about how some soldiers in the Vietnam War would shave their heads into Mohawks before going into a battle they were sure they would not survive. Travis sees this as his last mission. To assassinate Palatine and rescue Iris from Sport and send her back to her family. He tells Iris during breakfast that he "might be going away for a awhile" meaning either to jail, or he is going to die. The Mohawk also symbolizes Travis' now complete transformation from a lonely citizen to a completely alienated and dangerous vigilante.

Kris Kristofferson's "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33".