Taxi Driver

From BillionQuotes

Taxi Driver is a 1976 film about a Vietnam vet Travis Bickle (De Niro) who takes a graveyard shift as a taxi driver to cope with his insomnia. From his night shifts, Travis's awareness of the 'scums' of society becomes ever more frequent, his disgusts leads him to an uncontrollable situation.

Directed by Martin Scorsese. Written by Paul Schrader.

Starring: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd and Peter Boyle.

On every street in every city, there's a nobody who dreams of being a somebody. taglines

1 Travis Bickle
2 Conversations
3 Others
4 Taglines
5 Cast
6 External links

[edit]

Travis Bickle

[voiceover]
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.

...

[speaking to Betsy]
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.

...

[Iris told Travis he's square]
Hey, I'm not square, you're the one who's square. You're full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and lowlifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for nothing, man? For some lowlife pimp who stands in a hole? And I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screw and fuck with bunch of killers and junkies the way you do. You call that being hip? What world you from?

...

[voiceover]
Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. Here's a man who would not take it anymore. Who would not let...Listen you fuckers, you screwheads. Here's 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 someone who stood up. HERE IS

...

Let me tell you something. You're in a hell, and you're gonna die in a hell, just like the rest of 'em!

...

[looking in a mirror]
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 do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? Huh? Ok.

...

[talking on the phone to Betsy]
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.

...

Thank God for the rain to wash the trash off the sidewalk.

...

[voiceover]
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.

...

The idea had been growing in my brain for some time: TRUE force. All the king's men cannot put it back together again.

...

You're only as healthy as you feel.

...

[voiceover]
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.

...

[voiceover]
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.

...

[voiceover]
June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape now. Too much sitting has ruined my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on it'll be fifty pushups each morning. Fifty pull-ups. There will be no more pills, no more bad food... no more destroyers of my body. From now on it'll be total organization. Every muscle must be tight.

...

[voiceover]
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.

[edit]

Conversations

Cab Dispatcher: Can you drive to the Bronx? Manhattan?

Travis Bickle: I work anytime, anywhere.

Cab Dispatcher: Will you work Jewish holidays?

Travis Bickle: Anytime. Anywhere.

Travis: One of these days I gotta get myself organizized.

Betsy: Organizized? Dont you mean organized?

Travis: No, organizized. It's a joke.

Betsy: Oh, like that sign that says "Thimk."

Senator Charles Palantine: Can I ask you something, Travis?

Travis: Sure.

Palantine: What is the one thing about this country that bugs you the most?

Travis: Well, I don't know. I don't follow political issues that closely, sir. I don't know.

Palantine: Well, there must be something.

Travis: Well, whatever it is, he should clean up this city here because this city is like an open sewer, ya know, it's full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it. Whoever becomes the president should just really clean it up, ya know what I mean? Sometimes I go out and I smell it. I get headaches it's so bad. It's like -- they never go away. It's like I think that the president should just clean up this whole mess here. He should just flush it right down the fucking toilet.

Palantine: Well, uh, I think I know what you mean, Travis. But it's not gonna be easy. We have to make some radical changes.

Travis: Damn straight.

Sport: Catch you later, copper.

Travis: What'd you say?

Sport: See you later, copper.

Travis: I'm no cop, man.

Sport: Well if you are, it's entrapment already.

Travis: I'm hip.

Sport: [laughs] Buddy, you don't look hip.

Travis: [stares]

Sport: Go ahead, have yourself a good time.

Travis: [continues to stare].

Sport: You're a funny guy. But looks aren't everything. Go ahead man, have a good time.

[edit]

Others

Wizard: [speaking to Travis] Look, look at it this way, you know uh, a man, a man takes a job, you know, and that job, I mean like that, and that it becomes what he is. You know like uh, you do a thing and that's what you are. Like I've been a, I've been a cabbie for seventeen years, ten years at night and I still don't own my own cab. You know why? 'Cause I don't want to. I must be what I, what I want. You know, to be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. Understand? You, you, you become, you get a job, you you become the job. One guy lives in Brooklyn, one guy lives in Sutton Place, you get 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 out and get laid. Get drunk, you know, do anything. 'Cause you got no choice anyway. I mean we're all fucked, more or less you know.

...

Senator Charles Palantine: [giving speech] We meet at a crossroads in history. No longer will the wrong roads be taken.

...

Passenger: [speaking to Travis] You see the woman in the window? Do you see the woman in the window?...I want you to see that woman, because that's my wife. But that's not my apartment. That's not my apartment. You know who lives there? Huh? 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 ya like that? And I'm gonna, I'm gonna kill her. There's nothing else. I'm gonna kill her. What do you think of that? Hmm? I said 'What do you think of that?' 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. Did you ever see what a .44 Magnum pistol can do to a woman's face? I mean it'll fuckin' destroy it. Just blow her right apart. That's what it can do to her face. Now, did you ever see what it can do to a woman's pussy? That you should see. You should see what a .44 Magnum's gonna do to a woman's pussy you should see. I know, I know you must think that I'm, you know... You must think I'm pretty sick or somethin', you know, you must think I'm pretty sick. Right? You must think I'm pretty sick? Hmm? Right? I'll betcha, I'll betcha 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 payin' for the ride. You don't have to answer that.

...

Sport: [speaking to Travis] 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?

...

Iris: [speaking to Travis] That's it, you're a Scorpion. I can tell every time.

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