
Taxi Driver (1976)
Quotes
Travis Bickle: Listen, you fuckers, you screwheads. Here is a man who would not take it anymore. A man who stood up against the scum, the cunts, the dogs, the filth, the shit. Here is a man who stood up! Here is...
Travis Bickle: I realize now how much she's just like the others, cold and distant, and many people are like that, women for sure, they're like a union.
Travis Bickle: You're only as healthy as you feel.
Travis Bickle: [Travis is trying his guns on the mirror] Huh? Huh?
[Draws]
Travis Bickle: Faster than you, fucking son of a... Saw you coming you fucking... shitheel.
[Reholsters]
Travis Bickle: I'm standing here; you make the move. You make the move. It's your move...
[Draws]
Travis Bickle: Don't try it you fuck.
[Reholsters]
Travis Bickle: You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talking... you talking to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? OK.
[Draws]
Travis Bickle: I first saw her at Palantine Campaign headquarters at 63rd and Broadway. She was wearing a white dress. She appeared like an angel. Out of this filthy mess, she is alone. They... cannot... touch... her.
Travis Bickle: June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape. Too much sitting has ruined my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on there will be 50 pushups each morning, 50 pullups. There will be no more pills, no more bad food, no more destroyers of my body. From now on will be total organization. Every muscle must be tight.
Travis Bickle: I got some bad ideas in my head.
Travis Bickle: 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: Now I see this clearly. My whole life is pointed in one direction. There never has been a choice for me.
Travis Bickle: 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.
Travis Bickle: I'll tell you why. I think you're a lonely person. I drive by this place a lot and I see you here. I see a lot of people around you. And I see all these phones and all this stuff on your desk. It means nothing. Then when I came inside and I met you, I saw in your eyes and I saw the way you carried yourself that you're not a happy person. And I think you need something. And if you want to call it a friend, you can call it a friend.
Betsy: Are you gonna be my friend?
Travis Bickle: Yeah.
Betsy: You know what you remind me of?
Travis Bickle: What?
Betsy: That song by Kris Kristofferson.
Travis Bickle: Who's that?
Betsy: A songwriter. 'He's a prophet... he's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction. A walking contradiction.'
Travis Bickle: [uneasily] You sayin' that about me?
Betsy: Who else would I be talkin' about?
Travis Bickle: I'm no pusher. I never have pushed.
Betsy: No, no. Just the part about the contradictions. You are that.
Wizard: All right, look. Look at it this way. You know, a man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - you know, that becomes what he is. You know, like - you do a thing and that's what you are. I mean like I've been a cabbie for 17 years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. You know, to be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - you get a job, you become the job. I mean, one guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton Place. You got a lawyer. Another guy's a doctor. Another guy dies. Another guy gets well. And, you know, people are born. I envy you, your youth. Go on, get laid, get drunk, you know. Do anything. But, you got no choice, anyway. I mean, we're all fucked. More or less, you know.
Travis Bickle: I don't know. That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard.
Wizard: It's not Bertrand Russell. But what do you want? I'm a cabbie, you know. What do I know? I mean, I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.
Travis Bickle: I don't know. Maybe I don't know either.
Wizard: Don't worry so much! Relax, kid, you're gonna be all right.
Travis Bickle: The days go on and on... they don't end. 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 one should become a person like other people.
Travis Bickle: This city here is like an open sewer, you know, it's full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it. Whatever ever becomes the President should just - really clean it up, know what I mean? Sometimes I go out and I smell it. I get headaches, it's so bad, you know. It's like - they just never go away, you know. It's like I think that the President should clean up this whole mess here. He should flush it down the fuckin' toilet.
Travis Bickle: The idea had been growing in my brain for some time: TRUE force. All the king's men cannot put it back together again.
Travis Bickle: I would say he has quite a few problems. His energy seems to go in the wrong places. When I walked in and I saw you two sitting there, I could just tell by the way you were both relating that there was no connection whatsoever. And I felt when I walked in that there was something between us. There was an impulse that we were both following. So that gave me the right to come in and talk to you. Otherwise I never would have felt that I had the right to talk to you or say anything to you. I never would have had the courage to talk to you. And with him I felt there was nothing and I could sense it. When I walked in, I knew I was right. Did you feel that way?
Betsy: I wouldn't be here if I didn't.
Personnel Officer: How's your driving record? Clean?
Travis Bickle: It's clean, real clean. Like my conscience.
Personnel Officer: Wanna work uptown at nights? South Bronx? Harlem?
Travis Bickle: I'll work anytime, anywhere.
Personnel Officer: Will you work on Jewish holidays?
Travis Bickle: Anytime, anywhere.
Iris: God, you're square.
Travis Bickle: Hey, I'm not square, you're the one that's square. You're full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for peanuts? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screwing fuck with a bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that bein' hip? What world are you from?
Travis Bickle: Let me tell you something. You're in a hell, and you're gonna die in a hell, just like the rest of 'em!
Travis Bickle: Hello Betsy. Hi, it's Travis. How ya doin'? Listen, uh, I'm, I'm sorry about the, the other night. I didn't know that was the way you felt about it. Well, I-I didn't know that was the way you felt. I-I-I would have taken ya somewhere else. Uh, are you feeling better or oh you maybe had a virus or somethin', a 24-hour virus you know. It happens. Yeah, umm, you uh, you're workin' hard. Yeah. Uh, would you like to have, uh, some dinner, uh with me in the next, you know, few days or somethin'? Well, how about just a cup of coffee? I'll come by the, uh, headquarters or somethin', we could, uh... Oh, OK, OK. Did you get my flowers in the...? You didn't get them. I sent some flowers, uh... Yeah, well, OK, OK. Can I call you again? Uh, tomorrow or the next day? OK. No, I'm gonna... OK. Yeah, sure, OK. So long.
Betsy: Taking me to a place like this is about as exciting as saying to me "Let's fuck."
Travis Bickle: Shit... I'm waiting for the sun to shine.
Travis Bickle: May 10th. Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the garbage and trash off the sidewalks. I'm workin' long hours now, six in the afternoon to six in the morning. Sometimes even eight in the morning, six days a week. Sometimes seven days a week. It's a long hustle but it keeps me real busy. I can take in three, three fifty a week. Sometimes even more when I do it off the meter. All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take 'em to Harlem. I don't care. Don't make no difference to me. It does to some. Some won't even take spooks. Don't make no difference to me.
Travis Bickle: [walks up to Sport] Hey Sport. How ya doin'?
Sport: Okay, okay my man, how... Where do I know you from, man?
Travis Bickle: I don't know. How's everything in the pimp business, huh?
Sport: Do I know you?
Travis Bickle: No. Do I know you?
Sport: Get outta here. Come on, get lost, huh.
Travis Bickle: Do I know you? How's Iris? You know Iris.
Sport: No, I don't know nobody name Iris. Iris? Come on, get outta here, man.
Travis Bickle: You don't know anybody by the name of Iris?
Sport: I don't know nobody name Iris!
Travis Bickle: No?
Sport: Hey, go back to your fuckin' tribe before you get hurt, huh man. Do me a favor, I don't want no trouble, huh. Okay?
Travis Bickle: You got a gun?
Sport: Get the fuck outta here, man.
[flicks his cigarette at him]
Sport: Get outta here.
[kicks him]
Travis Bickle: Suck on this.
[Travis shoots him with a revolver in the stomach and walks away]
Travis Bickle: Twelve hours of work and I still can't sleep. Damn. Days go on and on. They don't end.
Sport: Go ahead, have yourself a good time. Go ahead. You're a funny guy. But looks aren't everything. Go ahead, have a good time. You're a funny guy.
Sport: Well, take it or leave it. If you want to save yourself some money, don't fuck her. Cause you'll be back here every night for some more. Man, she's twelve and a half years old. You never had no pussy like that. You can do anything you want with her. You can cum on her, fuck her in the mouth, fuck her in the ass, cum on her face, man. She get your cock so hard she'll make it explode. But no rough stuff, all right?
Travis Bickle: I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized".
Betsy: You mean organized?
Travis Bickle: Organezized. Organezized. It's a joke. O-R-G-A-N-E-Z-I-Z-E-D...
Betsy: Oh, you mean organezized. Like those little signs they have in offices that says, "Thimk"?
Sport: I once had a horse, on Coney Island. She got hit by a car.
Iris: I think that... that Cancers make the best lovers.
Travis Bickle: Now I see it clearly. My whole life is pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me.
[first lines]
[a telephone rings loudly]
Personnel Officer: [to the dispatcher] Harry, answer that.
[to Travis]
Personnel Officer: So whaddya want to hack for, Bickle?
Travis Bickle: I can't sleep nights.
Personnel Officer: There's porno theaters for that.
Travis Bickle: Yeah, I know. I tried that.
Personnel Officer: So what do you do now?
Travis Bickle: Well, I ride around nights mostly... subways, buses... I figure, you know, if I'm gonna do that I might as well get paid for it.
Personnel Officer: So what is it? Why do you want to be a taxi driver? Do you need a second job? Are you moonlighting?
Travis Bickle: I... I just want to work long hours. What's moonlighting?
Passenger: Did you ever see what it can do to a woman's pussy? Now, that you should see! That you should see what a .44 Magnum's gonna do to a woman's pussy. You should see.
Travis Bickle: You got a .44 magnum?
Andy, Gun Salesman: It's an expensive weapon.
Travis Bickle: That's all right. I got money.
Andy, Gun Salesman: It's a real monster. It'll stop a car at a hundred yards. Put a round right through the engine block.
Wizard: Get this. In the middle of the Triborough Bridge, and tthis woman is beautiful, she changes her pantyhose.
Doughboy: No.
Wizard: Oh, yeah!
Doughboy: What did you do?
Wizard: I throw the meter, you know, and I jump in the backseat and I whip it out and I said, "You know what this is?" She says, "It's love!" You know, I fuck her brains out. She goes wild, you know. She said, "It's the greatest single experience of my life." And she gave me a $200 tip and her phone number in Acapulco.
Travis Bickle: Twelve hours of work and I still can't sleep. Damn. Days go on and on. They don't end.
Travis Bickle: 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.
Travis Bickle: I first saw her at Palantine Campaign headquarters at 63rd and Broadway. She was wearing a white dress. She appeared like an angel. Out of this filthy mess, she is alone. They... cannot... touch... her.
Travis Bickle: I tried several times to call her, but after the first call, she wouldn't come to the phone any longer. I also sent flowers but with no luck. The smell of the flowers only made me sicker. The headaches got worse. I think I got stomach cancer. I shouldn't complain though. You're only as healthy, you're only as healthy as you feel. You're only as... healthy... as... you... feel.
Travis Bickle: June 29th. I gotta get in shape now. Too much sittin' is ruinin' my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on, it will be fifty push-ups each morning, fifty pull-ups. There'll be no more pills, there'll be no more bad food, no more destroyers of my body. From now on, it will be total organization. Every muscle must be tight.
Travis Bickle: Dear Iris: This money should be used for your trip. By the time you read this, I will be dead. Travis.
Senator Charles Palantine: We meet at a crossroads in history. No longer will the wrong roads be taken.
Travis Bickle: How's everything in the pimp business?
Street drummer: Now back to Gene Krupa's syncopated style
Passenger: Yo, cabbie, you see that light up there? The window? The light, the window up there on the second floor. The one that's closest - that's closest to the edge of the building. The light, up in the window, the second story. What, are you blind? Do you - do you see the light?
Travis Bickle: Yeah.
Passenger: Yeah, you see it. Good. You see the woman in the window? Do you - do you see the woman in the window?
Travis Bickle: Yeah.
Passenger: You see the woman. Good. I want you to see that woman 'cause that's my wife. But that's not my apartment. It's not my apartment. You know who lives there? Huh? Nah, I mean, you wouldn't know who lives there. I'm just saying, "But you know who lives there?" Huh? A nigger lives there. How do you like that? And I'm gonna - I'm gonna kill her. There's nothing else. I'm just gonna kill her. Now, what do you think of that? Huh? I said, what do you think about it? Don't answer. You don't have to answer everything. I'm gonna kill her. I'm gonna kill her with a .44 Magnum pistol. I have a .44 Magnum pistol. I'm gonna kill her with that gun.
Concession Girl: Can I help you?
Travis Bickle: Hi, what's your name. My name's Travis.
Concession Girl: That's nice. What can I do for you?
Travis Bickle: Well, I'd like to know your name.
Concession Girl: [sighs] Give me a break.
Senator Charles Palantine: I think I know what you mean, Travis.
Travis Bickle: 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.
Travis Bickle: May 26th. Four o'clock p.m. I took Betsy to Charles Coffee Shop on Columbus Circle. I had black coffee and apple pie with a slice of melted yellow cheese. I think that was a good selection. Betsy had coffee and a fruit salad dish. She could have had anything she wanted.
Travis Bickle: I realize now how much she's just like the others - cold and distant, and many people are like that. Women for sure. They're like a union.
Travis Bickle: 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: The idea had been growing in my brain for some time. True force. All the king's men cannot put it back together again.
Travis Bickle: Dear Father and Mother: July is the month I remember which brings not only your wedding anniversary but also Father's Day and Mother's birthday. I'm sorry I can't remember the exact dates, but I hope this card will take care of them all. I'm sorry again I cannot send you my address like I promised to last year. But the sensitive nature of my work for the government demands utmost secrecy. I know you will understand. I am healthy and well and making lots of money. I have been going with a girl for several months and I know you would be proud if you could see her. Her name is Betsy but I can tell you no more than that... I hope this card finds you all well as it does me. I hope no one has died. Don't worry about me. One day, they'll be a knock on the door and it'll be me. Love Travis.
Senator Charles Palantine: When we came up with our slogan, 'We are the People,' when I said let the people rule, I felt that I was being somewhat overly optimistic. I must tell you that I am more optimistic now than ever before. The people are rising to the demands that I have made on them. The people are beginning to rule. I feel it is a groundswell. I know it will continue through the primary. I know it will continue in Miami. And I know it will rise to an unprecedented swell in November.
Senator Charles Palantine: We meet at a crossroads in history. No longer will the wrong roads be taken.
Iris: I don't like what I'm doing, Sport.
Sport: Baby, I never wanted you to like what you're doing. If you ever liked what you were doing, you wouldn't be my woman.
Iris: You never spend any time with me anymore.
Sport: I've got to attend to business, baby. You miss your man, don't you? I don't like to be away from you, either. You know how I feel about you. I depend on you. I'd be lost without you. Don't you ever forget that. How much I need you. Come to me, baby. Let me hold you. When you're close to me like this, I feel so good. I only wish every man could know what it's like to be loved by you. That every woman everywhere... had a man that loves her like I love you. God, it's good so close. You know, at times like this... I know I'm a lucky man. Touching a woman who wants me and needs me. Yeah, it's only you that keeps me together.
Travis Bickle: You're a young girl, you should be at home. You should be dressed up, going out with boys, going to school, you know, that kind of stuff.
Charlie T: My man is loaded.
Travis Bickle: I called Betsy again at her office and she said maybe we'd go to a movie together after she gets off work tomorrow. That's my day off. At first she hesitated but I called her again and then she agreed. Betsy, Betsy. Oh no, Betsy what? I forgot to ask her last name again. Damn. I got to remember stuff like that.
Iris: Listen, mister, it's your time. Fifteen minutes ain't long. When that cigarette burns out, your time is up.
Charles Palantine: Nothing that is right and good has ever been easy. We the people know that.
Sport: See ya later, copper!
Travis Bickle: I'm no cop, man.
Sport: Well, if you are, then it's entrapment already.
Wizard: Then I pick up these two fags. You know, they're going downtown. They're wearin' these rhinestone T-shirts. They start arguing. They start yelling. The other says, "You bitch!" - starts beating him on the head. I say, "Look, l don't care what you do in the privacy of your own home, behind closed doors. This is an American free country. We've got a pursuit of happiness thing. You're consenting. You're adult. *But* in, you know, when you're in my fucking cab, don't go busting heads. You know what I mean? God loves you. Do what you want.
Doughboy: Tell them to go to California. 'Cause out in California, when two fags split up, one's gotta pay the other alimony.
Wizard: Not bad. They're way ahead out there. You know what I mean? California.
Betsy: You gotta be kidding.
Travis Bickle: What?
Betsy: This is a dirty movie.
Travis Bickle: No, no. This is a movie that a lot of couples come to.
Tom: Does he bother you?
Betsy: No.
Tom: You really mean yes and you're being sarcastic.
Betsy: Oh, you're quick. You're really quick.
Tom: Well, I try to be real quick. I'll tell you what, I'll play the male in this relationship and I'll go out and...
Betsy: Good luck.
Tom: And tell him to move. And I don't need good luck. Thank you.
Betsy: Oh, yes, you do. You just think you don't.
Betsy: That taxi driver's been staring at us.
Travis Bickle: Okay. Can I have a Chuckles there? And do you have any Jujus? They last longer. I'd like to get some jujus.
Concession Girl: What you see is what we got.
Tom: [on the phone] You delivered two boxes. I think it's a total of 5,000 campaign buttons. Now, all the ones we had before had - our slogan is "We are the people," and "are" is underlined. These new buttons have "we" underlined? That reads "*We* are the people." Well, I think there's a difference. "We *are* the people" is not the same as "*We* are the people." Let's not fight. Look, we'll make it real simple. *We* don't pay for the buttons. *We* throw the buttons away, all right?
Tom: We *have* to emphasize the mandatory welfare program. That's the issue that should be pushed.
Betsy: First, push the man, then the issue. Senator Palantine is a dynamic man. An intelligent, interesting, fresh, fascinating...
Tom: You forgot sexy.
Betsy: Man. I did not forget sexy.
Tom: Listen to what you're saying. You sound like you're selling mouthwash.
Betsy: We are selling mouthwash.
Tom: Are we authorized to do that?
Doughboy: So, how's it hangin'?
Travis Bickle: [pause] What's that?
Doughboy: You handle some pretty rough customers, huh?
Travis Bickle: Yeah, I have.
Doughboy: You carry a piece?
Travis Bickle: No.
Doughboy: You need one?
Travis Bickle: No.
Doughboy: If you ever need one, I know a fellow that can get you a real nice deal. Lots of shit around.
Wizard: I never use mine. I'm conservative, you know. But it's a good thing to have just as a threat.
Passenger: You must think I'm pretty sick or something. You know, you must think I'm pretty sick? Right? You must think I'm pretty sick? Huh? Right? I bet - I bet you really think I'm sick, right? You think I'm sick? You think I'm sick? You don't have to answer that. I'm paying for the ride. You don't have to answer that.
Street drummer: Now going back to 40 years of Chick Webb!
Betsy: I don't know why I came in here. I don't like these movies.
Travis Bickle: Well, I mean, I - you know - I didn't know that you'd feel that way about this movie. I don't know much about movies, but, if I had known...
Betsy: This the only kind of movies you go to?
Passenger: Yo, cab! Okay, pull over to the curb over there. Right over to the curb. Right over there. No, no, no, don't, don't move. No, the fucking meter! What are you doing? What are you doing with the meter? Did I tell you to put - did I tell you - did I tell you to do that with the meter? Put the meter back, let the numbers go on. I don't care what I have to pay. I'm not getting out. Put the meter back on. Put it down. Put it - that's right. Put it - put it down! That's right. Why are you writing? Don't write! Put the thing down. Just sit. I didn't tell you to write. I didn't tell you to do anything. I just said, "Pull over to the curb." We'll pull over to the curb and we'll just sit here. We're gonna sit.
Iris: What do you want me to do? Call the cops?
Travis Bickle: What? Cops don't do nothin'. You know that.
Travis Bickle: I never seen a commune before, but I don't know, you know? I saw - some pictures once in a magazine, it didn't look very clean.
Sport: Hey, man! Take out no money over here. You wanna fuck me? You ain't gonna fuck me. You're gonna fuck her. You give her the money.
Travis Bickle: I'm hip.
Sport: Buddy, you don't look hip.
Senator Charles Palantine: Today, I say to you, we *are* the people, you and I, and it is time to let the people rule.
Wizard: This guy Eddie, the owner-operator, comes up and says, "l wanna swap tires." I said, "Hey, these are new tires. Why don't you throw in something else, like your wife?" His wife was Miss New Jersey of 1957.
Andy, Gun Salesman: Here you go. It's a premium, high-resale weapon. Look at that. Look at that. That's a beauty. I could sell this gun to some jungle bunny in Harlem for 500 bucks. But I just deal high quality goods to the right people. How 'bout that?