Trivia about Taxi Driver:

The scene where Travis Bickle is talking to himself in the mirror was completely ad-libbed by Robert De Niro.
Bernard Herrmann wasn't going to write the score for this film, but agreed to do it (his last) when he saw the scene where Bickle pours Schnapps on his bread.
The scene where Keitel's character and Iris dance is improvised, and is one of only two scenes in the film that doesn't focus on Bickle.
Scorsese states the most important shot in the movie is when Bickle is on the phone trying to get another date with Betsy. The camera moves to the side slowly and pans down the long, empty hallway next to Bickle, as if to suggest that the phone conversation is too painful and pathetic to bear.
De Niro worked as a taxi driver and worked twelve-hour days for a month driving cabs as preparation for this role. He also studied mental illness.
Scorsese stated that Hitchcock's The Wrong Man, starring Henry Fonda, was the basis for his POV shots concerning Travis Bickle.

Quotes from Taxi Driver:

Cab Dispatcher: So what d'you wanna hack for, Bickle.

Travis Bickle: I can't sleep nights.

Dispatcher: There's porno theaters for that.

Travis: I-I know, I tried that.

Dispatcher: So what d'you do now.

Travis: Um, ride around nights mostly. Subways, buses, I figure you know, I'm gonna do that I might as well get paid for it.

Dispatcher: You wanna work uptown nights, South Bronx, Harlem?

Travis: I'll work anytime, anywhere.

Dispatcher: Will you work Jewish holidays?

Travis: Anytime, anywhere.

Dispatcher: Alright, let me see your cheuffeur's license. How's your driving record?

Travis: It's clean. It's real clean, like my conscience.

Dispatcher: Are you gonna break my chops? You know trouble with guys like you coming in break my chops all the time. If you're gonna break my chops you can take it on the arches right now, you understand?

Travis: Sorry, I didn't mean that.

Dispatcher: Physical.

Travis: Clean.

Dispatcher: Age.

Travis: Twenty-six.

Dispatcher: Education.

Travis: Well, some...here, there, y'know.

Dispatcher: Military record.

Travis: Honorable discharge May 1973.

Dispatcher: What were you in the Army?

Travis: Marines.

Dispatcher: I was in the Marines too. So what is it. Do you need an extra job? Are you moonlighting?

Travis: C'mon, I just want to work long hours. What's moonlighting.

Travis Bickle: Anytime. Anywhere.

Cab Dispatcher: Do you work on Jewish holidays?

Travis Bickle: Anytime. Anywhere.

Iris: God, you are so square.

Travis Bickle: Hey, I'm not square; you're the one square. You're full of shit, man. What are you talkin' about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussies for nothing, man? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I'm square? You're the one square, man. I don't go screw 'n' fuck with bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that hip? What world are you from?

Travis Bickle:You're a young girl; you should be at home now. You should be going with boys; you should be going to school, you know, that kind of stuff.

Travis Bickle: Loneliness has been following me my whole life.

Travis Bickle: An idea has been growing in my head for some time now: TRUE force. All the king's men cannot put it back together again.

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:I realize now how much she's just like the others, cold and distant. Many people're like that. Women for sure. They're like the Union.

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

Betsy: Organizized? Don't you mean organized?

Travis Bickle: No, organizized.

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

Sport: See ya later, copper!

Travis Bickle: I'm no cop, man.

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

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: June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape now. Too much sitting is ruing my body. Too much abuse is going on for too long. From now on there will be 50 pushups each morning, 50 pull-ups. 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: 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.

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: You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then you the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? Huh? Ok.

Cast overview, first billed only:

Robert De Niro .... Travis Bickle

Jodie Foster .... Iris

Albert Brooks .... Tom

Harvey Keitel .... Sport

Leonard Harris .... Charles Palantine

Peter Boyle .... Wizard

Cybill Shepherd .... Betsy

Norman Matlock .... Charlie T

Diahnne Abbott .... Concession Girl

Frank Adu .... Angry Black Man

Victor Argo .... Deli Owner Melio

Gino Ardito .... Policeman at Rally

Garth Avery .... Iris's Friend

Harry Cohn .... Cabbie in Bellmore

Copper Cunningham .... Hooker in Cab

jnyby83@yahoo.com