Taxi Driver (1976)

Robert De Niro: Travis Bickle

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Quotes 

• 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! Here is...

• Travis Bickle : You're only as healthy as you feel.

• Travis Bickle : 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.

• Travis Bickle : June twenty-ninth. I gotta get in shape. Too much sitting has ruined my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on there will be 50 pushups each morning, 50 pullups. 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 : [Travis is trying his guns on the mirror]  Huh? Huh?

  [Draws] 

  Travis Bickle : Faster than you, fucking son of a... Saw you coming you fucking... shitheel.

  [Reholsters] 

  Travis Bickle : I'm standing here; you make the move. You make the move. It's your move...

  [Draws] 

  Travis Bickle : Don't try it you fuck.

  [Reholsters] 

  Travis Bickle : You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' 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? OK.

  [Draws] 

• Travis Bickle : 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.

• Travis Bickle : I got some bad ideas in my head.

• Travis Bickle : 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... June 8th. My life has taken another turn again. The days can go on with regularity over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly, there is a change.

• [last lines] 

  Betsy : Travis, I'm... how much was it?

  [Travis clears meter] 

  Travis Bickle : So long.

• Travis Bickle : Each night when I return the cab to the garage, I have to clean the cum off the back seat. Some nights, I clean off the blood.

• Travis Bickle : Now I see this clearly. My whole life is pointed in one direction. There never has been a choice for me.

• Wizard : All right, look. Look at it this way. You know, a man takes a job, you know? And that job - I mean, like that - you know, that becomes what he is. You know, like - you do a thing and that's what you are. I mean like I've been a cabbie for 17 years. Ten years at night. I still don't own my own cab. You know why? Because I don't want to. That must be what I want. You know, to be on the night shift drivin' somebody else's cab. You understand? I mean, you become - you get a job, you become the job. I mean, one guy lives in Brooklyn. One guy lives in Sutton Place. You got 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 on, get laid, get drunk, you know. Do anything. But, you got no choice, anyway. I mean, we're all fucked. More or less, you know.

  Travis Bickle : I don't know. That's about the dumbest thing I ever heard.

  Wizard : It's not Bertrand Russell. But what do you want? I'm a cabbie, you know. What do I know? I mean, I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about.

  Travis Bickle : I don't know. Maybe I don't know either.

  Wizard : Don't worry so much! Relax, kid, you're gonna be all right.

• Betsy : You know what you remind me of?

  Travis Bickle : What?

  Betsy : That song by Kris Kristofferson.

  Travis Bickle : Who's that?

  Betsy : A songwriter. 'He's a prophet... he's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction. A walking contradiction.'

  Travis Bickle : [uneasily]  You sayin' that about me?

  Betsy : Who else would I be talkin' about?

  Travis Bickle : I'm no pusher. I never have pushed.

  Betsy : No, no. Just the part about the contradictions. You are that.

• Travis Bickle : 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.

  Betsy : Are you gonna be my friend?

  Travis Bickle : Yeah.

• 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 : This city here is like an open sewer, you know, it's full of filth and scum. Sometimes I can hardly take it. Whatever ever becomes the President should just - really clean it up, know what I mean? Sometimes I go out and I smell it. I get headaches, it's so bad, you know. It's like - they just never go away, you know. It's like I think that the President should clean up this whole mess here. He should flush it down the fuckin' toilet.

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

• Personnel Officer : How's your driving record? Clean?

  Travis Bickle : It's clean, real clean. Like my conscience.

• Travis Bickle : I would say he has quite a few problems. His energy seems to go in the wrong places. When I walked in and I saw you two sitting there, I could just tell by the way you were both relating that there was no connection whatsoever. And I felt when I walked in that there was something between us. There was an impulse that we were both following. So that gave me the right to come in and talk to you. Otherwise I never would have felt that I had the right to talk to you or say anything to you. I never would have had the courage to talk to you. And with him I felt there was nothing and I could sense it. When I walked in, I knew I was right. Did you feel that way?

  Betsy : I wouldn't be here if I didn't.

• Iris : God, you're square.

  Travis Bickle : Hey, I'm not square, you're the one that's square. You're full of shit, man. What are you talking about? You walk out with those fuckin' creeps and low-lifes and degenerates out on the streets and you sell your little pussy for peanuts? For some low-life pimp who stands in the hall? And I'm square? You're the one that's square, man. I don't go screwing fuck with a bunch of killers and junkies like you do. You call that bein' hip? What world are you from?

• Personnel Officer : Wanna work uptown at nights? South Bronx? Harlem?

  Travis Bickle : I'll work anytime, anywhere.

  Personnel Officer : Will you work on Jewish holidays?

  Travis Bickle : Anytime, anywhere.

• Travis Bickle : May 10th. Thank God for the rain which has helped wash away the garbage and trash off the sidewalks. I'm workin' long hours now, six in the afternoon to six in the morning. Sometimes even eight in the morning, six days a week. Sometimes seven days a week. It's a long hustle but it keeps me real busy. I can take in three, three fifty a week. Sometimes even more when I do it off the meter. 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. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take 'em to Harlem. I don't care. Don't make no difference to me. It does to some. Some won't even take spooks. Don't make no difference to me.

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

• Travis Bickle : 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.

• Travis Bickle : Shit... I'm waiting for the sun to shine.

• Travis Bickle : Twelve hours of work and I still can't sleep. Damn. Days go on and on. They don't end.

• Travis Bickle : [walks up to Sport]  Hey Sport. How ya doin'?

  Sport : Okay, okay my man, how... Where do I know you from, man?

  Travis Bickle : I don't know. How's everything in the pimp business, huh?

  Sport : Do I know you?

  Travis Bickle : No. Do I know you?

  Sport : Get outta here. Come on, get lost, huh.

  Travis Bickle : Do I know you? How's Iris? You know Iris.

  Sport : No, I don't know nobody name Iris. Iris? Come on, get outta here, man.

  Travis Bickle : You don't know anybody by the name of Iris?

  Sport : I don't know nobody name Iris!

  Travis Bickle : No?

  Sport : Hey, go back to your fuckin' tribe before you get hurt, huh man. Do me a favor, I don't want no trouble, huh. Okay?

  Travis Bickle : You got a gun?

  Sport : Get the fuck outta here, man.

  [flicks his cigarette at him] 

  Sport : Get outta here.

  [kicks him] 

  Travis Bickle : Suck on this.

  [Travis shoots him with a revolver in the stomach and walks away] 

• Travis Bickle : I should get one of those signs that says "One of these days I'm gonna get organezized".

  Betsy : You mean organized?

  Travis Bickle : Organezized. Organezized. It's a joke. O-R-G-A-N-E-Z-I-Z-E-D...

  Betsy : Oh, you mean organezized. Like those little signs they have in offices that says, "Thimk"?

• Travis Bickle : Now I see it clearly. My whole life is pointed in one direction. I see that now. There never has been any choice for me.

• [first lines] 

  [a telephone rings loudly] 

  Personnel Officer : [to the dispatcher]  Harry, answer that.

  [to Travis] 

  Personnel Officer : So whaddya want to hack for, Bickle?

  Travis Bickle : I can't sleep nights.

  Personnel Officer : There's porno theaters for that.

  Travis Bickle : Yeah, I know. I tried that.

  Personnel Officer : So what do you do now?

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

• Personnel Officer : So what is it? Why do you want to be a taxi driver? Do you need a second job? Are you moonlighting?

  Travis Bickle : I... I just want to work long hours. What's moonlighting?

• Travis Bickle : You got a .44 magnum?

  Andy, Gun Salesman : It's an expensive weapon.

  Travis Bickle : That's all right. I got money.

  Andy, Gun Salesman : It's a real monster. It'll stop a car at a hundred yards. Put a round right through the engine block.

• Travis Bickle : Twelve hours of work and I still can't sleep. Damn. Days go on and on. They don't end.

• Travis Bickle : 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.

• Passenger : Yo, cabbie, you see that light up there? The window? The light, the window up there on the second floor. The one that's closest - that's closest to the edge of the building. The light, up in the window, the second story. What, are you blind? Do you - do you see the light?

  Travis Bickle : Yeah.

  Passenger : Yeah, you see it. Good. You see the woman in the window? Do you - do you see the woman in the window?

  Travis Bickle : Yeah.

  Passenger : You see the woman. Good. I want you to see that woman 'cause that's my wife. But that's not my apartment. It's not my apartment. You know who lives there? Huh? Nah, 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 you like that? And I'm gonna - I'm gonna kill her. There's nothing else. I'm just gonna kill her. Now, what do you think of that? Huh? I said, what do you think about it? 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.

• 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 : June 29th. I gotta get in shape now. Too much sittin' is ruinin' my body. Too much abuse has gone on for too long. From now on, it will be fifty push-ups each morning, fifty pull-ups. There'll be no more pills, there'll be no more bad food, no more destroyers of my body. From now on, it will be total organization. Every muscle must be tight.

• Travis Bickle : Dear Father and Mother: July is the month I remember which brings not only your wedding anniversary but also Father's Day and Mother's birthday. I'm sorry I can't remember the exact dates, but I hope this card will take care of them all. I'm sorry again I cannot send you my address like I promised to last year. But the sensitive nature of my work for the government demands utmost secrecy. I know you will understand. I am healthy and well and making lots of money. I have been going with a girl for several months and I know you would be proud if you could see her. Her name is Betsy but I can tell you no more than that... I hope this card finds you all well as it does me. I hope no one has died. Don't worry about me. One day, they'll be a knock on the door and it'll be me. Love Travis.

• Travis Bickle : Dear Iris: This money should be used for your trip. By the time you read this, I will be dead. Travis.

• Travis Bickle : How's everything in the pimp business?

• Travis Bickle : May 26th. Four o'clock p.m. I took Betsy to Charles Coffee Shop on Columbus Circle. I had black coffee and apple pie with a slice of melted yellow cheese. I think that was a good selection. Betsy had coffee and a fruit salad dish. She could have had anything she wanted.

• Travis Bickle : 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. June 8th. My life has taken another turn again. The days can go on with regularity over and over, one day indistinguishable from the next. A long continuous chain. Then suddenly, there is a change.

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

• Concession Girl : Can I help you?

  Travis Bickle : Hi, what's your name. My name's Travis.

  Concession Girl : That's nice. What can I do for you?

  Travis Bickle : Well, I'd like to know your name.

  Concession Girl : [sighs]  Give me a break.

• Travis Bickle : Each night when I return the cab to the garage, I have to clean the cum off the back seat. Some nights, I clean off the blood.

• Travis Bickle : 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 someone should become a person like other people.

• Travis Bickle : I called Betsy again at her office and she said maybe we'd go to a movie together after she gets off work tomorrow. That's my day off. At first she hesitated but I called her again and then she agreed. Betsy, Betsy. Oh no, Betsy what? I forgot to ask her last name again. Damn. I got to remember stuff like that.

• Travis Bickle : 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.

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

• Betsy : You gotta be kidding.

  Travis Bickle : What?

  Betsy : This is a dirty movie.

  Travis Bickle : No, no. This is a movie that a lot of couples come to.

• Sport : See ya later, copper!

  Travis Bickle : I'm no cop, man.

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

• Betsy : I don't know why I came in here. I don't like these movies.

  Travis Bickle : Well, I mean, I - you know - I didn't know that you'd feel that way about this movie. I don't know much about movies, but, if I had known...

  Betsy : This the only kind of movies you go to?

• Iris : What do you want me to do? Call the cops?

  Travis Bickle : What? Cops don't do nothin'. You know that.

• Travis Bickle : I never seen a commune before, but I don't know, you know? I saw - some pictures once in a magazine, it didn't look very clean.

• Travis Bickle : I'm hip.

  Sport : Buddy, you don't look hip.

• Travis Bickle : Okay. Can I have a Chuckles there? And do you have any Jujus? They last longer. I'd like to get some jujus.

  Concession Girl : What you see is what we got.

• Doughboy : So, how's it hangin'?

  Travis Bickle : [pause]  What's that?

• Doughboy : You handle some pretty rough customers, huh?

  Travis Bickle : Yeah, I have.

  Doughboy : You carry a piece?

  Travis Bickle : No.

  Doughboy : You need one?

  Travis Bickle : No.

  Doughboy : If you ever need one, I know a fellow that can get you a real nice deal. Lots of shit around.

  Wizard : I never use mine. I'm conservative, you know. But it's a good thing to have just as a threat.