Taxi Driver 10 Most Iconic Moments Ranked

Taxi Driver: 10 Most Iconic Moments, Ranked

Taxi Driver is Martin Scorsese’s grittiest, most intense film. We share the most famous scenes of the film starring Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle.

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As an intimate character study of an insomniac war veteran who is driven to vigilantism by rampant crime in the city he once loved, Taxi Driver is one of Martin Scorsese’s most haunting and intense movies. Anchored by a chilling performance by Robert De Niro at the height of his powers and filled with the bleakest, grittiest violence in Scorsese’s filmography, Taxi Driver is one of the greatest psychological thrillers ever made.

Paul Schrader’s personal, powerful screenplay doesn’t waste a single scene, developing its characters, themes, and plot at every turn. Here are Taxi Driver’s 10 Most Iconic Moments, Ranked.

10 Betsy’s First Appearance

The first appearance of Betsy sets her up as an unattainable goal. She’s dressed in white, she’s walking in slow-motion, she’s got beautiful music playing over her ⁠— this is an idealized vision of Travis’ dream girl. (Plus, eagle-eyed viewers will spot a cameoing Martin Scorsese on the left-hand side of the frame.)

In voiceover narration, Travis explains, “She was wearing a white dress. She appeared like an angel, out of this filthy mess. She was alone.” Betsy was the best thing that ever happened to Travis ⁠— but he was the worst thing that ever happened to her.

9 Travis’ Taxi Emerges From A Cloud Of Smoke

The opening shot of Taxi Driver sets the tone for the movie perfectly. When the film gets into full swing, Travis declares himself to be the rain that will wash the scum off the streets of New York, and takes up arms to do so. This shot symbolizes that beautifully, as Travis’ cab tears through smoke billowing out of a sewer grate.

One of Martin Scorsese’s primary inspirations when he was making Taxi Driver was John Ford’s seminal western The Searchers, but this shot is closer to something out of a film noir.

8 Easy Andy Sells Travis A Gun

Any time someone buys a gun from an illegitimate arms dealer in a movie, the director will take inspiration from this scene in Taxi Driver. Travis meets up with Easy Andy, who upsells him a bunch of gun models that are spread out on the bed. After trying a few out for size, Travis makes his picks.

It’s a pretty run-of-the-mill arms deal, and doesn’t erupt into a shootout or anything too far-fetched, but it still has plenty of shocking moments, like Travis pointing a gun out the window at an unsuspecting man on the street.

7 The Job Interview

Handled wrong, this scene could’ve been a shameless exposition dump that lost the audience’s attention before the movie even got going. But in the hands of screenwriter Paul Schrader, a lot of Travis Bickle’s character is revealed in not only what he says, but also in how he says it.

We learn that Travis has just gotten back from Vietnam where he fought with the Marines, and he’s having trouble sleeping, so he wants to get a job as a cabbie. If he’s going to have insomnia, he might as well profit from it.

6 A Passenger Watches His Wife Having An Affair

Martin Scorsese often cameos in his own movies, but in Taxi Driver, he appears in an entire scene, complete with a lengthy monologue. He’s a passenger in Travis’ cab who tells him to park up outside an apartment building and leave the meter running. He explains that in the apartment with a light on, his wife is having an affair, and he’s planning to kill her.

Travis remains silent as usual as the passenger explains that he’s going to murder his wife with a .44 Magnum, and details the damage it could do. It’s pretty disturbing stuff.

5 Travis Calls Betsy For Another Date

Travis taking Betsy for a date at an adult movie theater stands as one of the worst first dates in film history. But when he tries to call her for a second date, things get even more awkward. The camera even pans down the hallway, like it can’t bear to watch.

This sets the stage for Travis to storm into Betsy’s office and rant about her being just like everybody else in the city that he loathes, furthering his path of self-destruction.

4 Assassination Attempt

When Travis decides to assassinate Senator Palantine, he shaves his head into a mohawk. The pan up to Travis’ face revealing the mohawk is one of the best shots in the movie. It was a reference to soldiers in Vietnam who would shave their heads into mohawks if they were fully prepared to kill.

Travis’ assassination attempt on Palantine is unsuccessful, but it’s still an exhilarating scene. As he reaches into his jacket to pull out his gun, Travis is spotted by Secret Service agents and has to flee the scene.

3 Vigilante Justice At A Convenience Store Stick-Up

Travis gets his first taste of vigilante justice when he’s browsing the shelves of a convenience store and an armed robber sticks up the place. While the cashier tries to calm the robber down, Travis sneaks up behind him and says, “Hey.”

When the robber turns around, Travis shoots him dead. As he bleeds out all over the floor, Travis talks to the cashier, who tells him to take off before the cops arrive. The violence is depicted very bluntly ⁠— this isn’t a celebration.

2 The Final Shootout

Martin Scorsese was forced to desaturate the colors in the final gunfight in Taxi Driver to appease the ratings board. (As it turns out, you can show all the blood you want as long as it’s not bright red.) The director was annoyed by this, but ultimately, the desaturation works well with the themes: the palette is bleak and washed-out, just like Travis’ mind.

We’ve watched this New York cabbie become so disillusioned with the crime in his city that he’s come to a brothel with a couple of guns to deal with it himself. And this isn’t a sanitized Hollywood shootout: there’s blood everywhere, and Travis takes as many shots as he doles out.

1 “You Talkin’ To Me?”

In the original script for Taxi Driver, there was one line of scene direction that called for Travis Bickle to talk to himself in the mirror. It was up to Robert De Niro to improvise what he would say. Acting coach Stella Adler teaches a technique for improvisation ⁠— repeat the same phrase over and over again, delivering it differently each time ⁠— and De Niro had this in mind when he started saying, “You talkin’ to me?”

Travis’ loneliness is exemplified in this monologue. He’s so isolated from the rest of the world that he resorts to finding company with himself.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/taxi-driver-most-iconic-moments-ranked-martin-scorsese-robert-de-niro-movie/

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