FAQ

Lonely ex-Marine Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), recently returned from the Vietnam War, takes a job as a taxi driver and tries to meet the woman of his dreams Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), a campaign worker for presidential hopeful Senator Charles Palantine (Leonard Harris). Travis and Betsy strike up a friendship but, when Travis attempts to take her to a Swedish sex movie, Betsy walks out of the threater and refuses to see him again. Travis then turns his attention to cleaning up the decadence of New York City. He befriends 12-year-old child prostitute Iris "Easy" Steamsma (Jodie Foster) and declares war on her pimp Sport (Harvey Keitel).

Taxi Driver was filmed from a screenplay written by American screenwriter Paul Schrader. Schrader claims to have been inspired by his own experiences living in a car following a divorce and break-up with his girlfriend. He also says that he was inspired by the diaries of Arthur Bremer (the man who attempted to assassinate U.S. democratic presidential candidate George Wallace on 15 May, 1972) as well as Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground (1864), both of which depict the loneliness and isolation of feeling alienated amidst a bustling society.

"Break/bust my chops" literally means to "punch my face", but it generally means to give someone a hard time. "Take it on the arches" is slang for "you can leave" (likely referring to walking away on the arches of your feet).

Kris Kristofferson's "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33".

1. They are filthy.