Original artwork, not a still
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.
— Taxi Driver ‧ 1976
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
The speech is Travis writing himself into a hero's story: the man who would not take it anymore is how he sees the cab driver in the glass. Fans quote it for its raw self-mythology, and it sits beside the mirror scene as the film's most imitated rehearsal of violence. Nobody is listening, which is exactly the point.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Taxi DriverShow the scene
In Taxi Driver (1976), Travis Bickle is an insomniac Vietnam veteran driving a cab through New York's night streets. The line comes in the apartment sequence where his private journal turns to getting fit, "true force" and a plan that has grown in his mind for some time. He buys handguns, rigs a sliding holster up his sleeve and rehearses the famous "You talkin' to me?" routine at his mirror. This rant follows straight after, heard in the voice of his journal.
Sources (1)
- Wikiquote: Taxi DriverMirror sceneReference checked
Context reviewed
