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Taxi Driver
1970s New York, and young Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle takes to driving a taxi in search of an escape from his insomnia, his barren apartment and his gnawing sense of self-disgust, which threatens to erupt in revenge against the sordid, unlovely world through which he travels. When his tentative efforts at a relationship with elegant political campaign worker Betsy come to naught, Travis conceives of an assassination attempt upon her boss, Senator Charles Palantine. But as he cruises the streets at night, Travis encounters a hapless child prostitute, Iris, and her sinister pimp, sport. Travis's mounting psychosis acquires a new focus, and violence erupts . . .
One of the key films of the 1970s and winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, Taxi Driver was the first of several potent collaborations between Paul Schrader and director Martin Scorsese. Inspired by Ford's The Searchers, Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, the diaries of real-life gunman Arthur Bremer, and an especially tormented period in Schrader's own life, Taxi Driver remains a devastating portrait of a man in urban purgatory.
One of the key films of the 1970s and winner of the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, Taxi Driver was the first of several potent collaborations between Paul Schrader and director Martin Scorsese. Inspired by Ford's The Searchers, Bresson's Diary of a Country Priest, the diaries of real-life gunman Arthur Bremer, and an especially tormented period in Schrader's own life, Taxi Driver remains a devastating portrait of a man in urban purgatory.
116 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1975
12 people are currently reading
1250 people want to read
About the author
Paul Schrader
38 books122 followersAlthough his name is often linked to that of the 'movie brat' generation (Spielberg, Scorsese, Coppola, Lucas, De Palma, etc.) Paul Schrader's background couldn't have been more different. Schrader's strict Calvinist parents refused to allow him to see a film until he was eighteen. Although he more than made up for lost time when studying at Calvin College, Columbia University and UCLA's graduate film program, his influences were far removed from those of his contemporaries - Bresson, Ozu and Dreyer (about whom he wrote a book, Transcendental Style in Film: Ozu Bresson Dreyer Da Capo Paperback) rather than Saturday morning serials. After a period as a film critic (and protégé of Pauline Kael), he began writing screenplays, hitting the jackpot when he and his brother, Leonard Schrader (a Japanese expert), were paid the then-record sum of $325,000, for The Yakuza, thus establishing his reputation as one of Hollywood's top screenwriters - which was consolidated when Martin Scorsese filmed Schrader's script [Book:Taxi Driver] (1976), written in the early 1970s during a bout of drinking and depression. The success of the film allowed Schrader to start directing his own films, which have been notable for their willingness to take stylistic and thematic risks while still working squarely within the Hollywood system. The most original of his films (which he and many others regard as his best) was the Japanese co-production Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985).
Biography Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001707/bio
Biography Source: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001707/bio
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews
July 24, 2023
Travis Bickle (played by Robert De Niro), is looking for inner salvation and the salvation of New York and the wider world. The army and likely war veteran (although it's never confirmed), works as a taxi-driver at night, because he can't sleep. This is his story one hot, sticky summer on the mean streets of the failing New York city of the 1970s.
The screenplay easily captures the darkness and the spiral towards doom (or salvation?) of the film, mainly because there is as much, if not more stage direction than dialogue. Being a screenplay it also does not have some of the genius ad-lib touches that De Niro added (see GIF below!). All-in-all after reading this, I felt the same after watching the movie, I felt shaken AND stirred. Paul Schrader's screenplay is the movie!
When meeting Travis for coffee and pie, Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) says he reminded her of a line in Kris Kristofferson song "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33": "He's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction—a walking contradiction." Travis Bickle is like no movie lead, before or after, a must-see movie of a great screenplay. Also my edition has an amazing interview of Martin Scorsese by ...Paul Schrader! 8 out of 12
2020 read
The screenplay easily captures the darkness and the spiral towards doom (or salvation?) of the film, mainly because there is as much, if not more stage direction than dialogue. Being a screenplay it also does not have some of the genius ad-lib touches that De Niro added (see GIF below!). All-in-all after reading this, I felt the same after watching the movie, I felt shaken AND stirred. Paul Schrader's screenplay is the movie!
When meeting Travis for coffee and pie, Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) says he reminded her of a line in Kris Kristofferson song "The Pilgrim, Chapter 33": "He's a prophet and a pusher, partly truth, partly fiction—a walking contradiction." Travis Bickle is like no movie lead, before or after, a must-see movie of a great screenplay. Also my edition has an amazing interview of Martin Scorsese by ...Paul Schrader! 8 out of 12
2020 read
May 18, 2011
Remember TAXI DRIVER? The 1976 movie directed by the poet of New York, Martin Scorsese, about the gun-loving loner, Travis Bickle? It won a bunch of awards. Less remembered is Taxi Driver, the novelization of Paul Schrader’s screenplay, written by New York poet, Richard Elman. Not only did it exist, it went through six printings.
Elman was best known at the time for three novels he wrote in the late 60′s – The 28th Day of Elul, Lilo’s Diary and The Reckoning – each one telling the story of a Hungarian family, the Yagodah’s, in post-WW II Europe, each novel relating the same series of events from different points of view. So, obviously, this is the guy you want to write your novelization about a crazed Vietnam Vet gunning down pimps in Manhattan.
Read the rest here:
http://www.gradyhendrix.com/taxi-driv...
Elman was best known at the time for three novels he wrote in the late 60′s – The 28th Day of Elul, Lilo’s Diary and The Reckoning – each one telling the story of a Hungarian family, the Yagodah’s, in post-WW II Europe, each novel relating the same series of events from different points of view. So, obviously, this is the guy you want to write your novelization about a crazed Vietnam Vet gunning down pimps in Manhattan.
Read the rest here:
http://www.gradyhendrix.com/taxi-driv...
May 15, 2018
تراویس برای من نماد انسانی هست که از سمت جامعه طرد و به انزوا کشیده شده، با روانی آسیبدیده و متزلزل. تنهاست، ارتباطش با خانوده قطع شده و هیچ دوست و آشنایی نداره. از لباس نظامی و سابقهی خدمتش توی نیروی دریایی میشه فهمید که حداقل مدتی رو در ویتنام جنگیده. بیخوابیهای تمام نشدنیش و آرامبخشها و الکلی که مصرف میکنه نشون میده جامعه چه بلایی به سرش آورده. برخورد بتسی با صداقت و شاید نابلدی تراویس در رابطه، تیر آخری بود برای به جنون کشوندنش. از اواسط فیلمنامه من انتظار رفتار جامعهستیزانهتری رو از تراویس داشتم، اما در آخرین لحظه نوک پیکان خشم و انزجارش به سویی دیگه چرخید و به رستگاری رسید، چیزی که برای من قابل پیشبینی نبود(فیلمش رو ندیده بودم هنوز). در مورد جنبهی اخلاقی واکنش پایانی تروایس فارغ از هر انگیزهخوانیای میشه مفصل به گفتگو نشست. این سکانس رو به عنوان محرک حلقه کند و کاو از کل فیلم جدا کردم
Travis struggles up and collapses on the red velvet sofa, his blood-soaked body blending with the velvet. He looks helplessly up at the officer. He forms his bloody hand into a pistol, raises it to his forehead and, his voice croaking in pain, makes the sound of a pistol discharging: Pgghew! Pgghew!
May 27, 2015
Wow this wasn't what I was expecting at all - certainly not from a movie novelization.Everything about this novelization is different - especially for this genre. It's an impressive little read. More of a novella than a full length novel. A trip into the mind of Travis Bickle.A first person narrative from a mental patient. It's disjointed and fractured - just like you would expect from a man like Travis.
At times it verges on being almost incomprehensible, but that's okay. Travis is a fringe dweller and his actions make sense to him - not to those of us who live on the plane that we smugly call reality.Travis's world isn't ours. The rules are different and Travis takes no time explaining them to us. So you (the reader) are simply going along for the ride. For Travis is the Taxi Driver.
As I said earlier not what I was expecting from a movie script novelization. Not at all.
The writer,Richard Elman, was a critically acclaimed New York City novelist and poet. The writing has some real depth and quality to it and the book can stand on it's own. If the movie had never been made this would have been just fine as a stand alone work. I suspect that somebody involved with the production might have known Richard Elman and asked him to write the novel. Possibly Martin Scorsese or Robert DeNiro - both are New Yorkers and active in the NYC arts and literary scene.
In conclusion Taxi Driver is a jarring, disjointed, and disturbing read, but also engrossing and intelligently written.Very interesting and unexpected.
At times it verges on being almost incomprehensible, but that's okay. Travis is a fringe dweller and his actions make sense to him - not to those of us who live on the plane that we smugly call reality.Travis's world isn't ours. The rules are different and Travis takes no time explaining them to us. So you (the reader) are simply going along for the ride. For Travis is the Taxi Driver.
As I said earlier not what I was expecting from a movie script novelization. Not at all.
The writer,Richard Elman, was a critically acclaimed New York City novelist and poet. The writing has some real depth and quality to it and the book can stand on it's own. If the movie had never been made this would have been just fine as a stand alone work. I suspect that somebody involved with the production might have known Richard Elman and asked him to write the novel. Possibly Martin Scorsese or Robert DeNiro - both are New Yorkers and active in the NYC arts and literary scene.
In conclusion Taxi Driver is a jarring, disjointed, and disturbing read, but also engrossing and intelligently written.Very interesting and unexpected.
October 29, 2017
I don't care what people say Paul Schrader's Taxi Driver is a comedy. ok maybe not a comedy but a tragi-comedy. OK alright it's just a tragedy. i don't think schrader had any intention to be funny but i laughed out loud at some of the scenes in this. and i found travis's maniacal metamorphosis f-ing hilarious.
June 13, 2017
This Screenplay throws at me, the darker side of my own Life .
It tells me I am not alone, It tells me I am alive .
It tells me I am not alone, It tells me I am alive .
December 14, 2013
During the 1970’s, a whole series of brilliant films was produced --- with one of its absolute highlights being “Taxi Driver”, by a young film maker called Martin Scorsese. It showed Hollywood and the rest of the world that a new generation was taking over the movie industry; with new ideas, new stars and more directness and frankness than previously imaginable in Tinseltown. Feelings of lose and depression are addressed as experiences from Americans themselves. After Vietnam, Watergate and the fall of Nixon, themes like alienation and confusion keep appearing again and again in these films. But none translated those themes to a more personal experience as “Taxi Driver”.
The story focuses on Travis Bickle, a young war veteran struggling with insomnia and extreme self-loathing. Trying to battle the thoughts swirling in his head, he takes on a job as a NY cabbie, prowling the streets at night when he’s unable to catch any sleep. Watching the world of junkies, thieves and whores glide past his window night after night only feed his desire to explode in this sordid, unloving world Travis lives in.
Desperately, but forcefully, trying to reach out to Betsy, a local political campaign worker, only results in failure and pushes Travis to revenge. Between work shifts, his focus shifts to violence and he tentively fantasizes of an assassination attempt on Betsy’s boss. But when on a particular night he encounters a hapless child prostitute called Iris, Travis’ mounting psychosis pushes him over the edge.
Despite Scorsese´s excellent directing, Robert de Niro´s powerful acting, the mesmerizing use of camera, colour, sound and music, “Taxi Driver”’s brilliance can be traced all the way back to Paul Schrader’s screenplay. Published by Faber and Faber, and accompanied by two interviews with Schrader and Scorsese as well as being illustrated with a series of black-and-white movie stills, this publication returns to the source of the acclaimed film.
Schrader’s work is a thing of beauty, and can be read very well in its presented form. It doesn’t feel like a script at all. Apart from being split up into chapters, there are descriptive passages in his work which one wouldn’t expect to find in here. Travis is being introduced as “raw male force. [It’s] inevitable. The clock spring cannot be wound continually tighter. […] Travis Bickle moves toward violence.” Further on, Travis’ first impressions of a particular gun are described as “a monster. […] It is built on Michelangelo’s scale. The Magnum belongs in the hand of a marble god, not a slight taxi-driver.”
It must’ve been these powerful passages, the raw power and pain described in Schader’s work which captured Scorsese’s attention to turn it into film. It’s the perfect distilled image of a struggling young man; no introduction or dissection, but a crystal clear and heartfelt look at a man in tremendous pain. Paul Schrader’s work goes straight to the heart and the mind.
This publication is far more than a simple gimmick to cash in on the movie’s success. It offers a whole new way of looking at the brilliance of “Taxi Driver”.
The story focuses on Travis Bickle, a young war veteran struggling with insomnia and extreme self-loathing. Trying to battle the thoughts swirling in his head, he takes on a job as a NY cabbie, prowling the streets at night when he’s unable to catch any sleep. Watching the world of junkies, thieves and whores glide past his window night after night only feed his desire to explode in this sordid, unloving world Travis lives in.
Desperately, but forcefully, trying to reach out to Betsy, a local political campaign worker, only results in failure and pushes Travis to revenge. Between work shifts, his focus shifts to violence and he tentively fantasizes of an assassination attempt on Betsy’s boss. But when on a particular night he encounters a hapless child prostitute called Iris, Travis’ mounting psychosis pushes him over the edge.
Despite Scorsese´s excellent directing, Robert de Niro´s powerful acting, the mesmerizing use of camera, colour, sound and music, “Taxi Driver”’s brilliance can be traced all the way back to Paul Schrader’s screenplay. Published by Faber and Faber, and accompanied by two interviews with Schrader and Scorsese as well as being illustrated with a series of black-and-white movie stills, this publication returns to the source of the acclaimed film.
Schrader’s work is a thing of beauty, and can be read very well in its presented form. It doesn’t feel like a script at all. Apart from being split up into chapters, there are descriptive passages in his work which one wouldn’t expect to find in here. Travis is being introduced as “raw male force. [It’s] inevitable. The clock spring cannot be wound continually tighter. […] Travis Bickle moves toward violence.” Further on, Travis’ first impressions of a particular gun are described as “a monster. […] It is built on Michelangelo’s scale. The Magnum belongs in the hand of a marble god, not a slight taxi-driver.”
It must’ve been these powerful passages, the raw power and pain described in Schader’s work which captured Scorsese’s attention to turn it into film. It’s the perfect distilled image of a struggling young man; no introduction or dissection, but a crystal clear and heartfelt look at a man in tremendous pain. Paul Schrader’s work goes straight to the heart and the mind.
This publication is far more than a simple gimmick to cash in on the movie’s success. It offers a whole new way of looking at the brilliance of “Taxi Driver”.
September 8, 2010
This is a very interesting book; its written in a slangy, stream of consciousness style that effectively captures the fractured mind of Travis Bickle. The whole book has a hypnotic, flowing rhythm not unlike the visuals for the film. Most "novelizations" are crude and obvious and written with as much grace and style as the phone book but Richard Elman's adaptation of Paul Schrader's screenplay for TAXI DRIVER genuinely qualifies as post-modern literature. Read this book and see for yourself. It has an expressionistic street-level sense of foreboding and doom that reminds me of some of the short stories of Andrew Vachss.
December 25, 2021
Christmas lit :)
I have a lot to say about this movie/screenplay but what's the point. Read it or watch it. it rocks:).
Listen, you fuckers, you screw-heads. Here is a man who would not take if anymore. A man who stood up against the scum... the dogs, the filth, the shit. is someone who stood up. Here is--You're dead.
You're only as healthy as you feel
A long continuous chain, every day, then, suddenly, There's a change.
Days go on and on and don't end. Sometimes I wish a real storm would wash away all the scum and trash off the sidewalk.
Suddenly there's a change, Cowboy
I have a lot to say about this movie/screenplay but what's the point. Read it or watch it. it rocks:).
Listen, you fuckers, you screw-heads. Here is a man who would not take if anymore. A man who stood up against the scum... the dogs, the filth, the shit. is someone who stood up. Here is--You're dead.
You're only as healthy as you feel
A long continuous chain, every day, then, suddenly, There's a change.
Days go on and on and don't end. Sometimes I wish a real storm would wash away all the scum and trash off the sidewalk.
Suddenly there's a change, Cowboy
January 24, 2013
Reading the script was interesting for me because as a teenager i had seen the film numerous times, so reading it i could hear the film in the back of my head. The best part about reading this, for me, was the fact that I got to see just how much of the film dialogue was improvised on the spot. Actors either added or subtracted to the dialogue on some scenes, adding so much more to the film than what was already there in the script. I added this in notes, sometimes word for word the changes. It made it more fun to read, for sure.
To be honest, I've never really read a full screenplay before. Bits and pieces, sure, but never something entirely. This one doesn't seem to be covered in much jargon, which made it easier to read without having to be bothered by all the instructions. i've always wanted to write a screenplay...I attempted it years ago but I found writing it the way that i was writing it was extremely tedious and boring. Now, with this script's formation as an example, I can see how it might be far more exciting and yet to the point.
Anyway, the film is still interesting and still modern. Travis speaks to all those who are isolated by modern society, the loners and outcasts who don't understand themselves or the world around them. Not saying all of them are going to be or will be assassins, but I think there's some humane quality, in a very bizarre and dark light, about Travis, and that's the most interesting part of his character is to me.
To be honest, I've never really read a full screenplay before. Bits and pieces, sure, but never something entirely. This one doesn't seem to be covered in much jargon, which made it easier to read without having to be bothered by all the instructions. i've always wanted to write a screenplay...I attempted it years ago but I found writing it the way that i was writing it was extremely tedious and boring. Now, with this script's formation as an example, I can see how it might be far more exciting and yet to the point.
Anyway, the film is still interesting and still modern. Travis speaks to all those who are isolated by modern society, the loners and outcasts who don't understand themselves or the world around them. Not saying all of them are going to be or will be assassins, but I think there's some humane quality, in a very bizarre and dark light, about Travis, and that's the most interesting part of his character is to me.
September 21, 2008
This is the first novelization of a film I've read since I was 9 years old and read William Kotzwinkle's novelization of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. I was expecting Taxi Driver to be a real train wreck (it is, after all, a novelization--a genre barely one step above fotonovelas), but it was actually pretty good. Richard Elman captures the rhythm and cadences of Travis Bickle's speech really well, and there are a lot of creative misspellings and weird punctuation that work to get you inside the character's head in ways that a film can't. Worth reading, at least for curiosity value.
Read
April 22, 2008فیلمی امریکایی به کارگردانی مارتین اسکورسیزی و محصول سال ۱۹۷۶ استودیو کلمبیا است.
این فیلم به عنوان یکی از مهمترین و جنجالبرانگیزترین فیلمهای تاریخ سینما شناخته میشود. این فیلم بعدها جایزه نخل طلا فستیوال فیلم کن را نیز برد
December 26, 2015
سائق التاكسي هي قصة حول ترافيس الذي يعاني من أضطرابات عقلية بعد مشاركته في الحرب الفيتنامية ويعمل سائقا للتاكسي في الليل ليتورط في قضية فكيف سينجو منها ~
November 5, 2022
Travis is literally me.
January 4, 2018
It is an amazing script. I have never read such an instructive screenplay before; Schrader is in control of everything. Of course he had listened to the director and they cooperated together. I cannot really say the story is good; but Schrader creates a character, who might be considered a cliche for today. Nevertheless, this might be the movie which turned this character into a cliche, so that means the roots of stoic pscyho, anti-hero were initiated in this script. Indeed, knights, cowboys and other archaic heroes have similar codes. Even today we can see the similar characteristics; Goslings mostly acts this type of characters. The Driver and Blade Runner 2049 have the same hero. Especially in the Driver, the interesting and ironic thing is these heroes have distorted notion of "moral." They are both black and white, and do not know what is really "right." In this sense the characters have a similarity with Fleming from The Red Badge of Courage; Fleming is a coward, but as a result of a coincidence he becomes a hero just like Travis, who plans to assassin the politician but fails. Creating an existentialist character, who does not talk a lot and does not sleep enough is good; but questioning the nature of morality and the circumstances is a better dilemma created in the script.
April 4, 2013
Reading this - the screenplay of Scorcese's film 'Taxi Driver' - confirmed for me what a great movie it it.
The screenplay is a story - dialogue, a plot, a character.
The movie is more than that.
When I watched the film I experienced it - the kind of movement where time gets shorter and you're anticipating what's coming next without realizing that you're holding your breath.
I didn't know until after when I'd read reviews about the famous movie that I was experiencing the descent into psychosis, the buildup towards violence.
The screenplay doesn't have that same kind of momentum, which is I guess what makes it such a great screenplay - it's written specifically for the screen.
The screenplay is a story - dialogue, a plot, a character.
The movie is more than that.
When I watched the film I experienced it - the kind of movement where time gets shorter and you're anticipating what's coming next without realizing that you're holding your breath.
I didn't know until after when I'd read reviews about the famous movie that I was experiencing the descent into psychosis, the buildup towards violence.
The screenplay doesn't have that same kind of momentum, which is I guess what makes it such a great screenplay - it's written specifically for the screen.
February 23, 2024
Our protagonist, Travis, is someone we might all wish we won't meet on the street but will look back when he walk past.
He is dangerous, because he does not play with the rules and will keep his plan silent until he strikes. He might also appear to be charming, because his detached brusque manners appear to be self-assured but without any cockiness. He totters in the city full of vice and unconcern. We see how he tried to take on a relationship and how far he has actually achieved with his audacity, but failed embarrasly. We see how he tried to become someone he always dreams to be, but hideous affairs in the city dull him.
We however, might not understand very well why he wanted to kill. For the justification of the first target, It can be true that his background might leave him a radical and violent way of confronting evil. It can also be deemed as a veangeance of the rejection he received. The second target seems to be a pure obstacle to unchain an innocent soul. The final very awaited kill, even it is a improvised Plan B, plays with the fuzzy boundary of good and bad, also making a joke on Travis's expectation, ending a heart-broken story with a good ending.
He is dangerous, because he does not play with the rules and will keep his plan silent until he strikes. He might also appear to be charming, because his detached brusque manners appear to be self-assured but without any cockiness. He totters in the city full of vice and unconcern. We see how he tried to take on a relationship and how far he has actually achieved with his audacity, but failed embarrasly. We see how he tried to become someone he always dreams to be, but hideous affairs in the city dull him.
We however, might not understand very well why he wanted to kill. For the justification of the first target, It can be true that his background might leave him a radical and violent way of confronting evil. It can also be deemed as a veangeance of the rejection he received. The second target seems to be a pure obstacle to unchain an innocent soul. The final very awaited kill, even it is a improvised Plan B, plays with the fuzzy boundary of good and bad, also making a joke on Travis's expectation, ending a heart-broken story with a good ending.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2023
INCENDIARY!
September 17, 2025
“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”
March 3, 2022
כל סרט צריך תסריט טוב
ולסרט הזה היה תסריט פשוט מעולה
ולסרט הזה היה תסריט פשוט מעולה
February 28, 2023
اثری اقتباس شده از فیلم اسکورسیزی که استیون پورتر نامی نوشته،هرچند توی گودریدز هیچ نسخهای ازش نبود.
بهرروی همون قدر که فیلم جذاب بود این اقتباس روانکاوانه هم شنیدنی بود.
بهرروی همون قدر که فیلم جذاب بود این اقتباس روانکاوانه هم شنیدنی بود.
April 7, 2023
The most literary and elegant of screenplays...
September 28, 2016
Schrader once said,"[S]creenplays are not works of art. They are invitations to others to collaborate on a work of art, but they are not in themselves works of art." I'd be tempted to disagree on the basis of a number of his works, but especially Taxi Driver, which in its stage directions and characterizations of Travis Bickle gives him a novelistic depth, which makes sense as Schrader said he intentionally produced a screenplay hewing closer to a chapter-segmented novel than typical screenwriting standards would prescribe, in order to make the script look less like typical Hollywood product. Paradoxically, Schrader's words come closest to reflecting the truth in the way that the screenplay is necessarily overshadowed by the finished film in a way that it wouldn't have a chance to be were it an unfilmed screenplay, or an unfilmable one, like Nabokov's Lolita script. Much like the film, the script is laser-focused on being an in-depth character study of Bickle, so the script wouldn't quite be able to stand alone, reading more like a character bible than any recognizable story of any kind; this makes sense, as Schrader strictly compartmentalizes what he brings to a filmmaking project (theme, character, and structure), so this is less complete a screenplay than some, though there are some specific indications of camera movements and their purposes. Novelistic as Schrader may have aimed to be, the Taxi Driver screenplay is best appreciated as such a character bible, expanding on motivations and background just a little bit more, in very satisfactory ways that suggest how De Niro transformed Schrader's creation into a performance. Virtually all of what appears here that ended up eliminated from the final cut (mostly fatty, chattier bits with less apparent purpose, mostly involving peripheral characters) deserved that fate, in order to hone an even more exact and spare portrait of the film's unforgettable central character.
June 25, 2025
Taxi Driver screenplay by Paul Schrader – one of the TIME 100 Best Films, Martin Scorsese has another two on that list, Goodfellas and Raging Bull – most of those best 100 movies, others and hundreds of books are reviewed on my blog, where the best piece might be https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
9 out of 10
This is perhaps the epitome of ‘iconic, legendary’, nec plus ultra, although, I remember seeing art of it on the Bucharest airport, of all places, and I was not thrilled, indeed, even now, it is quite dark for this cinephile, nevertheless, I can see this is a magnum opera and watch parts of it when they have re-runs, like last night
Paul Schrader is not just a marvelous writer, he has an excellent sense of humor and fine sense of defining, making an accurate analysis in just a few words, his take on Killers of The Flower Moon was fabulous https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and he said:
‘Leonardo DiCaprio has chosen the wrong role, that of an idiot, and three hours in the company of an idiot is too long’ words to that effect, this was exactly how I felt for what was a less than spectacular Martin Scorsese motion picture, nothing to compare with Casino https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Robert De Niro is fantastic as Travis Bickle, a war veteran that has some serious mental problems, that will get more serious, as we plunge into the plot, which has some memorable lines, including the one that has been used in hundreds of movies ‘are you talking to me? I’m the only one here, so who are you talking to?’
There is one excellent book that gives us the background for this and so many other motion pictures of the period, and the title is Easy Riders, Raging Bulls https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Peter Biskind, covering the time between the two movies and useful for Taxi Driver
We find exotic details about Martin Scorsese, who was using a lot of drugs, just like the big majority of people in the business, and is famously very tense, neurotic, and I remember something about the casting of Cybill Shepherd, who had been discovered by Peter Bogdanovich, the latter is one of those tainted in the book
Bogdanovich was married, his wife was instrumental in making the films, but he just falls for Cybill Shepherd, misbehaving is a euphemism, then he would be so pompous that he talks about himself as if he was on a level with the crème de la crème, anyway, they thought Cybill Shepherd could be a bad choice
It turns out she is excellent in the supporting role of Betsy, a young woman that Travis is trying to seduce, then he is stalking, ludicrous and eventually, dangerous – another thespian that I admire is Albert Brooks – let me just mention The hilarious The Muse – and he has a very a small role in Taxi Driver, where he defends Betsy
However, the career of Jodi Foster has been launched here, she was just a teenager and she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, that of a much too young prostitute, Iris, who has a chance encounter with the antihero Travis, well, he is a complex figure, the dark side could have him assassinate a politician’
On the other hand, he gets interested in the adolescent Iris, he feels compassion for her, maybe, he is so crazy that I find it hard to separate, how much was consideration for the girl, and what was the importance of the hatred he felt for her pimp, Sport aka Harvey Keitel, the latter will be in trouble, and I will stop here
Notwithstanding that, let me say that I had a chance meeting with Harvey Keitel, in New York, where I had the chance to spend just a few days, so that was interesting, maybe magical, I asked for an autograph and he gave it to me
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
9 out of 10
This is perhaps the epitome of ‘iconic, legendary’, nec plus ultra, although, I remember seeing art of it on the Bucharest airport, of all places, and I was not thrilled, indeed, even now, it is quite dark for this cinephile, nevertheless, I can see this is a magnum opera and watch parts of it when they have re-runs, like last night
Paul Schrader is not just a marvelous writer, he has an excellent sense of humor and fine sense of defining, making an accurate analysis in just a few words, his take on Killers of The Flower Moon was fabulous https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... and he said:
‘Leonardo DiCaprio has chosen the wrong role, that of an idiot, and three hours in the company of an idiot is too long’ words to that effect, this was exactly how I felt for what was a less than spectacular Martin Scorsese motion picture, nothing to compare with Casino https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20...
Robert De Niro is fantastic as Travis Bickle, a war veteran that has some serious mental problems, that will get more serious, as we plunge into the plot, which has some memorable lines, including the one that has been used in hundreds of movies ‘are you talking to me? I’m the only one here, so who are you talking to?’
There is one excellent book that gives us the background for this and so many other motion pictures of the period, and the title is Easy Riders, Raging Bulls https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... by Peter Biskind, covering the time between the two movies and useful for Taxi Driver
We find exotic details about Martin Scorsese, who was using a lot of drugs, just like the big majority of people in the business, and is famously very tense, neurotic, and I remember something about the casting of Cybill Shepherd, who had been discovered by Peter Bogdanovich, the latter is one of those tainted in the book
Bogdanovich was married, his wife was instrumental in making the films, but he just falls for Cybill Shepherd, misbehaving is a euphemism, then he would be so pompous that he talks about himself as if he was on a level with the crème de la crème, anyway, they thought Cybill Shepherd could be a bad choice
It turns out she is excellent in the supporting role of Betsy, a young woman that Travis is trying to seduce, then he is stalking, ludicrous and eventually, dangerous – another thespian that I admire is Albert Brooks – let me just mention The hilarious The Muse – and he has a very a small role in Taxi Driver, where he defends Betsy
However, the career of Jodi Foster has been launched here, she was just a teenager and she was nominated for Best Actress in a Supporting Role, that of a much too young prostitute, Iris, who has a chance encounter with the antihero Travis, well, he is a complex figure, the dark side could have him assassinate a politician’
On the other hand, he gets interested in the adolescent Iris, he feels compassion for her, maybe, he is so crazy that I find it hard to separate, how much was consideration for the girl, and what was the importance of the hatred he felt for her pimp, Sport aka Harvey Keitel, the latter will be in trouble, and I will stop here
Notwithstanding that, let me say that I had a chance meeting with Harvey Keitel, in New York, where I had the chance to spend just a few days, so that was interesting, maybe magical, I asked for an autograph and he gave it to me
Now for my standard closing of the note with a question, and invitation – maybe you have a good idea on how we could make more than a million dollars with this https://realinibarzoi.blogspot.com/20... – as it is, this is a unique technique, which we could promote, sell, open the Oscars show with or something and then make lots of money together, if you have the how, I have the product, I just do not know how to get the befits from it, other than the exercise per se
There is also the small matter of working for AT&T – this huge company asked me to be its Representative for Romania and Bulgaria, on the Calling Card side, which meant sailing into the Black Sea wo meet the US Navy ships, travelling to Sofia, a lot of activity, using my mother’s two bedrooms flat as office and warehouse, all for the grand total of $250, raised after a lot of persuasion to the staggering $400…with retirement ahead, there are no benefits, nothing…it is a longer story, but if you can help get the mastodont to pay some dues, or have an idea how it can happen, let me know
As for my role in the Revolution that killed Ceausescu, a smaller Mao, there it is http://realini.blogspot.com/2022/03/r...
Some favorite quotes from To The Hermitage and other works
‘Fiction is infinitely preferable to real life...As long as you avoid the books of Kafka or Beckett, the everlasting plot of fiction has fewer futile experiences than the careless plot of reality...Fiction's people are fuller, deeper, cleverer, more moving than those in real life…Its actions are more intricate, illuminating, noble, profound…There are many more dramas, climaxes, romantic fulfillment, twists, turns, gratified resolutions…Unlike reality, all of this you can experience without leaving the house or even getting out of bed…What's more, books are a form of intelligent human greatness, as stories are a higher order of sense…As random life is to destiny, so stories are to great authors, who provided us with some of the highest pleasures and the most wonderful mystifications we can find…Few stories are greater than Anna Karenina, that wise epic by an often foolish author…’
March 15, 2015
Το μικρό αυτό βιβλιαράκι, όπως καταλαβαίνετε από τον τίτλο του, βασίζεται στο σενάριο της ομότιτλης αριστουργηματικής ταινίας του Μάρτιν Σκορτσέζε.
Αφηγητής της ιστορίας είναι ο Τράβις Μπικλ, που κάποια στιγμή καταφέρνει να πιάσει δουλειά σαν ταξιτζής, κάνοντας όλες τις δύσκολες και επικίνδυνες κούρσες στην Νέα Υόρκη. Είναι ένας μοναχικός τύπος, βετεράνος του πολέμου στο Βιετνάμ, με μπόλικο θυμό μέσα του για όλα αυτά που βλέπει γύρω του, και κάποια στιγμή θα προχωρήσει στην πράξη, όσον αφορά το καθάρισμα της πόλης. Ένας άντρας όμως δεν είναι ικανός ν'αλλάξει τον κόσμο, ειδικά όταν πρόκειται για έναν προβληματικό νέο άνθρωπο σαν αυτόν.
Το βιβλίο ακολουθεί πιστά την πλοκή της ταινίας, αλλά αυτό που το κάνει να ξεχωρίζει, είναι η πολύ καλή γραφή και η ευκαιρία που μας δίνει ο συγγραφέας να δούμε τις σκέψεις του ήρωά μας. Στην ταινία απολαύσαμε μόνο τις κινήσεις του και τις εκφράσεις του προσώπου του, εδώ όμως μπαίνουμε μέσα στο μυαλό του. Επίσης ο Έλμαν κατάφερε να μεταφέρει με επιτυχία στο χαρτί τον ρυθμό και την ατμόσφαιρα της ταινίας.
Αφηγητής της ιστορίας είναι ο Τράβις Μπικλ, που κάποια στιγμή καταφέρνει να πιάσει δουλειά σαν ταξιτζής, κάνοντας όλες τις δύσκολες και επικίνδυνες κούρσες στην Νέα Υόρκη. Είναι ένας μοναχικός τύπος, βετεράνος του πολέμου στο Βιετνάμ, με μπόλικο θυμό μέσα του για όλα αυτά που βλέπει γύρω του, και κάποια στιγμή θα προχωρήσει στην πράξη, όσον αφορά το καθάρισμα της πόλης. Ένας άντρας όμως δεν είναι ικανός ν'αλλάξει τον κόσμο, ειδικά όταν πρόκειται για έναν προβληματικό νέο άνθρωπο σαν αυτόν.
Το βιβλίο ακολουθεί πιστά την πλοκή της ταινίας, αλλά αυτό που το κάνει να ξεχωρίζει, είναι η πολύ καλή γραφή και η ευκαιρία που μας δίνει ο συγγραφέας να δούμε τις σκέψεις του ήρωά μας. Στην ταινία απολαύσαμε μόνο τις κινήσεις του και τις εκφράσεις του προσώπου του, εδώ όμως μπαίνουμε μέσα στο μυαλό του. Επίσης ο Έλμαν κατάφερε να μεταφέρει με επιτυχία στο χαρτί τον ρυθμό και την ατμόσφαιρα της ταινίας.
April 19, 2021
Paul Schrader's masterpiece reads well. His voice comes clearly through the natural dialogue and the insightful screen direction. There is a subtle wit that lies spread over his concise descriptions and they bear a kind of empathy for the characters; no judgements here, simply the passage of events through the battling hands of will and desire.
July 2, 2010
Entranced with the movie when it first came out I hunted down
the book, which is just a light treating of the script into
readable form, printed
after the movie obviously just to cash in on its popularity
(and suckers like me).
March 2, 2015
Only three stars because Schrader's script is good but it's really just a backup for DeNiro's masterfully brooding performance.
And since so much of the film is improvised anyway, the script is really just a template more than anything else.
April 25, 2018
It's been so long since I've read a script but Schrader's work here is on another level. He lures you in on the first page and by then end you want a long bath to clean yourself of the filth and scum that have burrowed under your skin.
November 13, 2007
nice story from a class of society and the problems to earn money, thanks Mahta, kisses
Displaying 1 - 30 of 82 reviews