Summary
and Film Viewing Notes on Viewing Taxi Driver
TRAVIS
GETS A JOB*
(*titles
based on those used by Paul Schrader in his screenplay.)
1. A taxicab appears through billowing
smoke as we hear heavy bass accents in the music. Then we see extreme close-ups
of Travis Bickle's eyes. Point of view shots from inside the cab. We see the
images of the city through a rain soaked windshield.
2. Bickle at an interview for a job as cab
driver. Bickle answers the questions in a straightforward, automatic way. He
appears to want the job whatever the terms. Note the two men arguing behind the
window in the background. The use of a bird's eye angle shot in this scene is
the first of many . Note the other uses of bird's eye shots in the film.
WE MEET
TRAVIS
3. His first runs. Great extreme close-ups
of details of the Checker cab set the mood along with the music. We hear his
version of life through his voiceovers. "All the animals come out at
night," he says. In the scene with a man and a prostitute in the cab, note
how at the end of the scene the cab runs through an open fire hydrant, as if to
clean off the filth accumulated on the cab. He takes pills when he returns to
the cab garage.
4. At the porno theatre. Note the
tentative attempt to strike up a conversation with the young clerk. He asks,
inappropriately, "What's your name?" She puts him off, and he seems
frustrated that he hasn't been able to connect with another person.
5. Back in his apartment. Note how the
camera shows us the apartment in a continuous moving shot. We "see"
where and how he lives. Note the high angle (bird's eye) of him in bed.
"All my life needed was a sense of some place to go." He refers to
himself as "someone who should become a person, like other people."
WE MEET
BETSY
6. Suddenly he starts talking about a
woman he saw recently. We see her walking in slow motion. She wears a white
dress, like a vision. "They can not touch her," he says slowly. Then
a bird's eye shot of the words on the page of his diary.
7. Inside Palantine campaign headquarters.
The man is running for President. We see two campaign workers, the woman Travis
saw (Betsy) and another aide. The two are flirting harmlessly. Suddenly she
refers to a taxi driver who has been staring at her for some time. Finally, the
male aide goes out to yell at the taxi driver--Travis. Travis drives off in a
rush.
8. A night scene. A montage shows Travis
working through the night.
SMALL TALK IN A GREASY SPOON
9. Travis drives up to a cafe that cabbies
frequent. Inside, the wizard, the cabbie who is the "leader" of the
group, refers to him as "the ladies man." Travis' nickname is
"killer." Travis seems remote from him. Note the camera moves in on
him to suggest his disorientation. Then we see from his point of view two pimps
sitting across from him. Camera back to Travis, who seems oblivious to the
conversations around him. Then he drops some powder in a glass. He looks at the
glass, and the camera moves in to frame the glass in an extreme close-up. No
other sounds. Complete absorption by Travis. Finally he comes back to reality.
BETSY
MEETS TRAVIS BICKLE
10. The two campaign aides again. They are
kidding each other. In comes Travis to announce to Betsy that he wants to
volunteer for her. His line: "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever
seen." She is flattered, a little suspicious, a little vain. Finally, he
asks her to go to a restaurant and have dessert with him. "I think you are
a lonely person," he says. "I saw in your eyes that you're not a
happy person, and I think you need something--call it a friend. I'm there to
protect you." She agrees to see him later.
COFFEE
SHOP RENDEZVOUS
11. We see them at the cafe. His voiceover:
"I had black coffee and apple pie with a slice of cheese. I think that was
a good selection." They make small talk for a while. He criticizes her
campaign aide friend. "I would say he has quite a few problems." He
comments on her relationship to that fellow: "I could tell there was no
connection." He justifies talking to her the way he did because "I
knew I was right. Did you feel that way?" She says, "I wouldn't be
here if I didn't." He says he doesn't think her friend respects her.
"She says, "I don't think I've ever met anyone quite like you."
She compares him to a character in a Kris Kristoferson song--"He's a
prophet and a pusher--partly true, partly fiction, a walking
contradiction." Travis has never heard of Kris Kristoferson. Later he buys
the record album--a gift for her on the date they agree to go on.
A NIGHT
BEHIND THE WHEEL
12. Charles Palantine, the Presidential
candidate, gets in Travis' cab with two of his aides. Travis recognizes and
makes friendly chit chat. Then the candidate asks Travis to share something
that bugs him about the country. At first Travis hesitates. Then he says,
"You should clean up the city. It's like an open sewer, full of scum.
Someone should flush it right down the fucking toilet.". Palantine
composes himself and gives a typical Presidential response.
13. Travis picks up a hooker--but her pimp
pulls her out of the cab and throws a $20 bill at Travis. Note the two extreme
close-ups of Travis' eyes in this scene. Travis continues
cruising. Several
children run out onto the street and throw eggs at the cab. They throw a rock
that breaks one of the tail lights.
THE DATE
14. Slow motion scene showing Travis walking
to his big date. She is dressed in white. They go to an x-rated theatre. She
doesn't want to go in at first. But he says, "I've seen lots of couples go
to these movies." Inside the theatre, before long an orgy scene pops up on
the screen. Angry at this tasteless display, Betsy storms out. He stops her in
the lobby. Standing next to her: a prostitute in hot pants. She tells him,
"This is about as exciting as saying, 'Let's fuck.' " She takes a cab
and leaves.
PHONE
CALLS AND FLOWERS
15. Travis calls her from a pay phone. As
they talk, the camera moves to the right to show an empty hallway in a big
building. Travis walks down the hallway alone. We hear his voiceover. Scenes of
his apartment--flowers that have been sent back by Betsy. He is depressed.
"I think I've got stomach cancer."
16. Travis bursts into the campaign
headquarters to confront Betsy. Her aide blocks his path. Travis threaten to
fight the man. He yells at her, "You're in a hell and you're going to die
in hell like the rest of them." He walks away. His voiceover: "I
realized how much she was just like the others, cold and distant."
THE PUSSY
AND THE .44
17. Back in the cab. He stops the cab to let
out his passenger. But the passenger (played by the director, Scorsese), orders
him to keep the meter running even though they are sitting still. He orders
Travis to just sit in the seat and not do anything. Then he orders Travis to
look up at a certain window. We see from Travis' point of view a naked woman
standing behind the lit window. The passenger informs Travis that the woman is
his wife. But she doesn't live there. He refers to the "nigger" who
lives there. Then he tells Travis that he is going to shoot his woman with a 44
magnum revolver, and he delights in describing what the bullets will do to her
body.
THE WIZARD
SPEAKS
18. Travis joins the other cabbies at the
restaurant. After a lot of chatter (as a buffer against the last scene), Travis
gives a $5 loan back to an African American cabbie. Then he asks the wizard if
they can talk. On the way out, the cabbie points his finger at Travis as if it
were a gun and makes the sound of a gun going off. Travis looks back at him
with a look of intensity. Outside, several African American youths walk by
brandishing chains. Travis looks at them as if they were monsters. Then he asks
the wizard for some advice. He says, "I got me real down. I want to go out
and really do something. I've go some bad ideas in my head." The wizard
tries to tell him a story about how cabbies shouldn't become their job. He says
he has driven for 17 years, ten years at night. He tells Travis to get drunk
and have sex. Travis laughs at the non-advice, and then admits that maybe he is
making too much out of this.
19. Travis eating his breakfast while he
watches Charles Palantine, the Presidential candidate, being interviewed on his
black and white television. He pours some brandy into his dish of milk and
breakfast cereal and loads it down with sugar.
THE $20
RIDE
20. Cruising in his cab, Travis drives by
Palantine headquarters. He almost runs into a prostitute crossing the street.
It's the same young woman he saw earlier (when she got into his cab and said
"Get me out of here" and then was pulled out of the cab by her pimp).
He follows her friend and her as they walk down the street. Finally, at the
corner, he pulls away.
21. More cruising. We hear his voiceover:
"Loneliness has followed me everywhere." Back to his journal. June 8.
"My life has taken another turn again. The days move along . . . over and
over . . one day indistinguishable from the next. . . a long chain . . and
suddenly there is change."
THE
TRAVELLING SALESMAN
22. Travis drinking on the street. He meets a
gun salesman. Up in a hotel room the gun salesman shows him an arsenal of guns
in two suitcases. Travis buys a large long-barreled revolver, a palm gun, and
an automatic with a clip in the handle.
TRAVIS
GETS ORGANIZED
23. Bird's eye point of view of Travis doing
pushups in his apartment. "From now on . . ." he says, as he begins
to exercise and at one point holds his arm over an open flame on the stove.
"No more destroyers of my body." At the gun range he practices
shooting his arsenal.
FOREPLAY
TO GUNPLAY
24 At a porno movie, he sits in his seat
and holds his hand up as if it were a gun. "The idea had been growing in
my brain for some time." Cut to Palantine poster. Back to his room, where
he keeps practicing his technique--he practices pulling his guns from holsters.
He even makes a special arm grip for one of his guns (the palm gun) so that
it can be concealed up his sleeve.
He wraps a knife with tape to his boot so that he pull the knife in an
emergency.
A NEW FACE IN THE CROWD
25. A political crowd. Palantine is speaking
to his supporters. Travis walks up to a secret service agent. He tells the man
he knows he is a secret service agent. Of course, the agent plays dumb. But the
more Travis talks to him, the more suspicious the agent becomes. He tries to
trick Travis into giving him his name and address (so they can arrest him).
Travis gives him a fake name, but then he gives him a seven digit zip code. So
the agent knows the guy is trouble.
26. Travis practices more in his room. He
keeps repeating "You talking to me?" as he looks at himself in a
mirror. Voiceover: "Here is a man who would not take it anymore."
Another high angle of him in bed. An extreme close-up of his journal.
INCIDENT
IN A DELI
27. Travis in a grocery store. He realizes a
robbery is in progress. Travis sneaks up behind the man and shoots him with one
of his guns. The burglar falls dead. Travis runs, and the grocery store owner
comes out from behind the counter and beats the dead man with a stick.
28. Travis watches television. He holds his
long-barreled revolver as he watches couples dancing on the screen.
CAMPAIGN
PROMISES
29. Palantine speaking at a rally. We see
Betsy and her co-worker in the crowd. Travis watches them from his cab. As he
sits in the cab we hear his voiceover reading from a letter he has just written
his parents on their anniversary. "I'm sorry I can't remember the exact
date." He lies to them about not being able to send them his address. He
says his girl friend's name is Betsy. Finally, a policeman asks Travis to drive
away.
Travis
in his apartment. He is sitting at his desk and holding up the card he has just
read from: "to a couple of good scouts." He says, "One day there
will be a knock on the door and it will be me."
MID-AFTERNOON
MELODRAMA
31. Travis watching more television. As he
watches a soap opera, he slowly pushes the television on its stand until it
begins to lean backward. As the woman on the screen refers to a love affair,
Travis pushes the television farther back until it falls off of its stand and
explodes. Then Travis grabs his head as if he is intense pain.
A
REMEMBERED FACE
32. Cruising in the cab. He spots the young
prostitute he has seen two other times. He stops and gets out. He catches up with
her and asks to see her. She tells him to see her pimp, Matthew. Travis goes to
him. Matthew describes the sexual acts Travis can engage in with her. He speaks
bluntly and obscenely. Travis seems one step away from attacking him. He does
nothing.
SWEET IRIS
33. Travis goes to the prostitute, whose name
is Easy. Note the interiors of the building they enter. You will see it again.
Inside her room, he asks, "What's your real name?" She tells him her
name is Iris. He tries to remind her of the time she was pulled out of the cab
by her pimp. She doesn't remember. She recollects only that she was probably
high on drugs at the time. "I'm going to get you out of here," he
says. Later he says, "I want to help you." Then, "Don't you want
to get out of here?" But she tells him that she has no place to go. She
isn't interested in seeing her parents again. "I don't know. I
tried," he says. "This is nothing for a person to do." They make
a 1:00 p.m. breakfast date.
LATE
BREAKFAST
34. At breakfast, Iris says her parents and
she don't get along. He wants her to return home. He preaches at her:
"You're the one who's square." She doesn't like the sermon. He says
her pimp is a dope pusher and killer. "He's the lowest kind of person in
the world. He's the scum of the earth. Iris asks him to come to a commune with
her. He isn't interested. "I don't know who's weirder--you or me,"
she says.
35. Travis, in his cab, waiting. Inside her
apartment is Iris. Her pimp, Matthew, is with her. He speaks softly and
tenderly to her. He puts on some music. They dance. She clings to him. She
kisses him.
GOD’S
LONELY MAN
36. Travis at a firing range. He tries out
all of his guns. Back at his apartment, he burns the flowers returned from
Betsy, polishes his boots, and writes a note to Iris. He encloses money. He
explains, "Now I see clearly. My whole life is pointed in one direction.
There never has been any choice for me."
THERE IS
AN ASSASSIN
37. A Palantine rally. The crowd applauds his
every word. Suddenly we have a moving camera shot of the crowd. The camera ends
where Travis is standing. We see the lower part of his body. Then the camera
raises to show his upper part. He has a Mohawk haircut. He is dressed in his
marine fatigues. As Palantine walks into the crowd, Travis comes at him from the
opposite direction. Travis is smiling. Suddenly a secret service agent
recognizes Travis and chases Travis off. Back at his apartment, Travis takes
some more drugs and tries to gather his wits about him.
TOWARDS
THE KILL
38. He drives through the night and ends up
at Iris's building. Matthew is standing guard as before. Travis goes up to him
and starts to abuse him. Matthew chooses the tough guy approach. He tells
Travis to get lost. Travis pulls out a gun and says, "Suck on this,"
and shoots Matthew in the stomach. Then he walks around for a moment, sits down
on a stoop, and then goes inside after Iris.
THE
SLAUGHTER
39. Inside he encounters the man he saw
earlier in the hallway of the building. Travis shoots off the fingers of the
man's hand with one shot of the long barreled gun. Suddenly Travis grabs his
neck as the blood spurts out from a bullet wound. Travis turns and sees Matthew
shooting at him again. Travis dispatches him with a shot from the .44 Magnum.
He drops the big gun to the floor. Then Travis advances upon Matthew and shoots
him twice with the small pistol. He walks up to the first man and shoots him
again. Then he slaps at the man with his gun hand.
Travis walks backwards up the
stairs. He holds his neck wound with one hand an points the gun at the man who
yells, "You crazy son of a bitch. I'll kill you! I'll kill you!"
Reaction shot of Iris again. Suddenly a man comes out of a door on the landing
and approaches Travis from the rear. He shoots Travis in the arm. Travis drops
the pistol and drops to the floor. Then he pulls out his sleeve gun (his third
and last gun) and shoots him several times. The man staggers back as the
bullets strike him. He drops to the floor in Iris' room right at her feet. She
screams. The second man clings to Travis yelling, "I'll kill you, I'll
kill you." Travis drags the man into Iris's room after him. They fall to
the floor next to the other man. Iris is on the sofa behind them. Travis stabs
his knife through the man's injured hand, and then grabs the third man's gun.
"Don't shoot him!" Iris cries. Travis puts the gun to the man's cheek
and pulls the trigger. The blood splatters against the wall behind the couch.
Iris falls back screaming into the corner of the room.
Then Travis holds the gun up under
his neck and pulls the trigger five times. No more bullets in the gun. He takes
his gun off of the special arm apparatus, but that gun is empty, too. He
lurches onto the couch and lays his head back. Iris crouches at the other end
of the couch. Her hands are over her ears.
Suddenly two police, their guns
drawn, enter the room. One of the police points his gun at Travis. In a
close-up Travis looks up at them, a smile on his face, and raises a
blood-stained finger, points it at his temple, and mimics the sound of a gun
going off -- "poom, poom, poom." He lays his head on the back of the
sofa.
40. High angle (bird's eye view again) of the
room, showing the bodies disposed every which way, the tops of the policemen,
the lamps hanging from the ceiling. Heavy bass accents of music. The camera
moves back, and spins around to reorient us to the police standing at the
doorway. Then the shot dissolves to another moving shot, this time of the
blood-stained hallway walls, the other dead people, and finally out the door of
the building to the crowded street scene outside, two police cars, their red
and blue lights circling, bystanders, ambulance attendants running up--all
action in slow motion.
LETTER
FROM PITTSBURGH
41. Moving shot of the wall of Travis'
apartment. On the wall are newspaper accounts of the taxi driver hero who
rescued a former prostitute from her pimp and other assorted bad guys. Then a
voiceover of another man, Iris' father, who reads from a letter sent to Travis.
"There is no way to repay you for returning Iris to us. You are a hero
around this household. Iris is back in school." We see the letter taped to
the wall of Travis' apartment.
OLD
FRIENDS
42. At the cafe where all the cabbies hang
out. We see the same guys as before. Now it is October 3. Palantine has been
nominated for his party and will face the November election for the Presidency.
One of the cabbies says Travis has a ride. Travis goes to his cab. Inside is
Betsy, from the Palantine campaign. Both are civil to each other. She asks him
how he is. He makes light of his physical problems. At her stop, he does not
show any interest in pursuing this relationship. She seems to wish he would
show some interest. He won't take her fare. He drives off.
43. As he drives through the night, suddenly
there is a disorienting shot of his eyes in the rearview mirror, as if he
suddenly sees something that frightens him, and then we continue to see
reflections from the window and the scene outside the cab as it cruises on.
44. The credits begin. A jazz score plays as
we see scenes of the city from the cab windows. Most images are reflections.
Before the credits end, the music changes from the jazz score to a darker mood
piece. Last external sound accents last visual, showing a cab stopping to pick
up a passenger.
Summary
written by Robert E. Yahnke
Copyright, Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota
Reprinted by permission of the author
for educational use only