Original artwork, not a still
You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who do you think you're talking to? Oh yeah? Huh? Ok.
— Taxi Driver ‧ 1976
Behind the line
What it means
Our interpretation.
Travis talks to nobody because nobody is talking to him, and Ebert called the 'only one here' line the truest in the film. It is both menace and loneliness: a man performing toughness for an audience that does not exist. It became one of the most imitated bits of film acting ever, usually done as comedy by people holding a toothbrush or a fist, which is the exact opposite of the mood of the scene.
Context reviewed
In context
Spoilers for Taxi DriverShow the scene
In Taxi Driver (1976), New York night-cab driver Travis Bickle, a lonely Vietnam veteran, is alone in his room, watching himself in the mirror. He rehearses a confrontation, drawing a gun and talking to his own reflection as if it were a stranger, until he winds up saying that he is the only one there. Screenwriter Paul Schrader has said Robert De Niro improvised the speech. The dialogue was not in the script, and Schrader suggested De Niro may have borrowed the phrasing from a New York comedian he had seen.
Sources (2)
- Wikipedia: Taxi Driverarticle textReference checked
- Wikiquote: Taxi Driverarticle textReference checked
Context reviewed
