Taxi Driver

“You talking to me? You talking to me? You talking 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? Okay.” Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle utters the most threatening words ever said to a mirror.

Former Marine and Vietnam vet Travis Bickle lives in New York City, where he suffers from insomnia and works as a taxi driver at night. During the day, he watches porn movies in seedy cinemas and gets riled up about the state of the world, especially about New York: that world’s cesspool. Travis is a loner with strong opinions about what’s right and wrong about humanity. When he meets campaign manager Betsy, she becomes a light in the darkness for him. After an incident, Travis becomes convinced that he has to take action to make the world a better place.

TAXI DRIVER captures in a cinematographic masterpiece what ignorance, loneliness and isolation can do to a person. Robert De Niro is untouchable as Travis Bickle and Jodie Foster acted on America’s conscience as the 12-year-old child prostitute Iris. With an original screenplay by Paul Schrader, and in the hands of Martin Scorsese the film was classified as a modern classic from its release. Albeit a classic guaranteeing an uncomfortable watch. Film critic Roger Ebert summed it up perfectly: “TAXI DRIVER is a hell, from the opening shot of a cab emerging from stygian clouds of steam to the climactic killing scene in which the camera finally looks straight down. Scorsese wanted to look away from Travis’s rejection; we almost want to look away from his life. But he’s there, all right, and he’s suffering.”

It’s hard to believe, because the film remains as relevant as it did when it was released, but TAXI DRIVER celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2026.

Trigger warning: violence, frightening scenes