Taxi Driver: Key Facts

Taxi Driver Key Facts

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Full Title: Taxi Driver

Director: Martin Scorsese

Lead Cast: Robert De Niro as Travis Bickle

Supporting Cast: Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Leonard Harris, Albert Brooks, Martin Scorsese

Screenplay Author: Paul Schrader

Producers: Michael Phillips, Julia Phillips

Genre: Drama

Language: English

Awards

1976 Cannes Film Festival:

Winner of Palm D'Or

1977 Academy Awards:

Nominations: Best Picture, Best Actor (Robert De Niro), Best Supporting Actress (Jodie Foster), and Best Original Score (Bernard Herrmann)

Date of Release: 1976

Setting (Time &Place): New York City (Times Square, Harlem, around Union Square) in the summer of 1975/1976

Major Conflict: Travis struggles to find his place in the world, first as a member of society and later as an outsider.

Rising Action: Travis's sociopathic feelings increase after Betsy rejects him, fueling his desire to lash out and kill Palantine as well as his desire to save Iris.

Climax: After failing to kill Palantine, Travis perpetrates a gory shootout in which he kills Sport, another pimp, and a john who is trying to see Iris.

Falling Action: Travis is proclaimed a hero by society and thanked by Iris's father. He has a reconciliation with Betsy that is probably imagined, suggesting that Travis is still mentally unstable.

Foreshadowing: The music gives the film a sense of foreboding, even before any hint that Travis will be violent appears. Travis's shooting of the young black man foreshadows his extreme and emotionless violence at the end of the film.