Best portrayal of loneliness ever. If you're unfamiliar to the feeling, this scene tells it all: you're living on the side line of life, and you're very very very bitter about it.
De Niro knew it, Shrader knew it, and a ton of other people know it as well. Except for those empty souls who dare to call this movie 'funny'.
I suppose this scenes so called meaning is open for interpretation but having seen other masterpieces of scorsese, I'd say this is suppose to show just how lonely travis actually is and how he feels about it especially with the mid shot of him looking really depressed at 0:47
...ah, how i remember the drone of white males exulting in their own ineptitude and imagining themselves to be somehow more sensitive and holy for it...i feel like i'm 15 again, watching this - that glorious time before i got people skills, got laid a few times, got laid enough not to care any more...don't you remember that perverse longing for a martyr's death that would crack the heart of the longed for girl, but - no - too late...yes, it was sweet, the over-sweet tang of teenage narcissism...
@fatschlamp1 i agree that many take the stance you mentioned as some justification that they simply can't get laid for extended periods of time. But it's different for people like Travis. They can't socialize at all. They're socially inept and people look down their noses at them (men and women alike), disregarding the fact that people like Travis simply don't have the distinct advantages that charismatic and attractive people possess.
lmao Yes every mental and emotional problem EVER has been solved by getting laid. Think of the lives that could've been saved had your wisdom been available to those less fortunate and so vastly ignorant in comparison to yourself.
brilliant scene, specifically that part where his gun is resting on the side of his head the look in his eyes like he's seeing every moment of his life in that particular moment and the song says it all merely reflecting what's on his mind "how long have i been sitting here.." it's almost as if everything becomes all to real, all to clear like you got nothing else to go on
I don't thing Travis' biggest problem was being affected by the war. He looks more like a man who is suffering with social phobia, it's the reason why he can't socialize normally, and why he seems lost when he is out in the world. Back in his time no one took such a thing seriously, and people were left to struggle with it on there own.
@osvie01 The thing is HE NEVER WAS IN VIETNAM! Its a lie he tells himself to justify his ¨Condition¨. Notice how when Andy is selling him the guns, it seems like it`s the first time he´s ever seen/touch a gun in his life. He has an alcohol problem and cant sleep and they dont say why but I assure you Vietnam wasnt the reason.. Maybe he was abused as a child or something.
@DonRMB if thought that may be the case but then i wonder where he got his king kong company jacket or his marine shirt he works out with plus while he is doing pushups u can see a very large and gruesome scar on his back idk they dont say much about him bein in vietnam in the movie i guess its for the viewer to decide
I love the really long shot of Travis from 00:46-01:14
The expression on De Niro's face and him holding that gun is so chilling. You can imagine these psychotic and hateful thoughts against the world running through his head. Especially when he moves the gun slightly, like he's just itching to shoot someone.
@aglassofsampayne I imagine he's mostly just feeling complete loneliness and despair. The flickering eyes just staring empty at the Tv, really captures that feeling of loneliness. I feel very sympathetic towards him, it's like he can still be saved if someone just tried to reach out to him. I don't know man, maybe you will find yourself in a similar situation sometime.
@NearDark87 i think that was what the scene was meant to depict. It shows how Travis wants to fit in and be accepted, but the world at large is indifferent and apathetic to him. In this sense that was what Betsy represented. What Travis wants and can't have because of his personality flaws. This arrogant condescension just adds fuel to the fire of Travis's disgust and disdain with society.
@NearDark87 i think that was what the scene was meant to depict. It shows how Travis wants to fit in and be accepted, but the world at large is indifferent and apathetic to him. In this sense that was what Betsy represented. What Travis wants and can't have because of his personality flaws. This adds to Travis's disgust with people.
No, I can relate, and it did click the first time, and every time after. I just think its pathetic and useless to go fishing for sympathy on the internet.
A lot of fuckin sad sacks in here. I can relate, but either kill yourself, go crazy, or try to live your life. Don't wallow in your misery on the internet.
Forget it kid. i don't know you so I won't make judgments or threats and you shouldn't either cuz likewise. What's real and what ain't is all subjective. Nobody knows anyone but themself, if that. That's the whole point of this movie. Life is what you make it. There's no such thing as "real life"; every man's perspective is different from the next's. It's simple shit man, take a philosophy class once you get to high school or something.
@zombiekill551 Yikes! If you're older than me you're way too old too be threatening people on the internet and unless you are a bubbly blond girl than your overuse of exclamation marks is downright frightening. Anyway, I made a childish comment which I already apologized for and we both followed it up with more childishness, so we're both jerks. Now let's stop clogging up eachother's inboxes.
i watched this last night.love this movie.and this scene i was in a trance like he was,deep in thought.this is a real movie,almost like a documentary.cause i can relate to travis,probably better than any other character in films.really captures what it feels like to be alone in the world.
Woow, thank you very much! I enjoyed this music first time I watched this film. And, believe me, I was looking for it for a long time. Thanks once again! Taxi driver the best movie in the world!
fuck...i just can relate so much to this scene...so strong feeling of loneliness inside of me, i don't give a shit if anybody cares, i just want to say it..to see if i can feel a little more better.
@dumaramutsi People care dude. Noone wants to see anyone like this. This scene represents his emptiness and disconnect from society with nothing left to live for. He had nothing to bring happiness in his life. Most people dont sink this deep, or when they do they find something to put a smile on their face, and in the end he did.
@TheAxis456 American Bandstand. If you remember he killed a man right before this scene, so the empty shoes he see's signifies 3 things, the life that he took, his own lonilness and what he thought would soon be his own death, and also the contrast of a man living in poverty trying to steal from a convenient store just to survive, and TV just showing people dancing and having a great time. His connection to society disintegrated at this point in the film.
(Part 8 of 8)This scene is the ultimate use of empowering the audience in finally attaching them to Travis fully, thus making them the main character in this rising tide of a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. Before this scene we have mainly seen the insane boiling of madness. During this scene, we see what causes that madness by coming face to face with the loneliness and the madness. And after this scene, we just want to release and kill that madness/loneliness by any means necessary.
(Part 7 of 8) It is here at this point in the film where we begin to not only empathize with Travis but also sympathize with him. It is the massive awakening among audience members where they finally realize that the character of Travis Bickle is me. He is you. He is all of us.
(Part 6 of 8) But when this scene arrives in the film, we begin to attach ourselves to Travis because generally the “violent psychopath villain” in movies is a character one cannot relate to, mainly because the villain’s actions define what makes him or her a villain. But in this scene, we finally see that the actions of others (the urban society using Travis and rejecting Travis, thus alienating him) make up the “villain persona” that Travis is.
(Part 5 of 8) Throughout the entire film our sense of detachment from this character, Travis being a growing mentally unstable psychopath, is justified because as the film progresses he is a growing ticking time bomb, leaving us worried for him and others, and wanting him not to act violently. However, we only worry for him, thus leaving us still detached from him like a mentally healthy doctor worrying about a mentally unhealthy patient.
(Part 4 of 8) The scene also depicts not only Travis’ present state of loneliness but what Travis wants for his future but as of yet cannot attain: relation, connection, and, most of all, being loved. This is why many, MANY people can relate to Travis in this scene.
(Part 3 of 8) Instead of just having the “God’s Lonely Man” scene via narration and showing people walking on the sidewalks in slow-motion shown earlier in the film right before the scene where Travis meets with the illegal firearms salesman, Scorsese and Schrader knew that by just telling the audience he’s lonely in the voice-over wasn’t going to cut it. They needed to build on that and actually SHOW his loneliness. This scene of Travis just watching the television set does just that.
(Part 2 of 8) But why is this scene the most crucial? Because showing Travis’ sense of alienation and loneliness in this scene perfectly shows the audience what drives Travis Bickle’s madness, combined with his hate and bitterness towards a soul-depleted and cold-hearted urban society.
(Part 1 of 8) Even though all of the scenes in this film are extremely important and valuable, I personally feel in my own opinion that this scene, although very short and without any dialogue (both rightfully so), is the most crucial and most powerful scene in the film (for me, at least) because this scene depicts to the tee Travis’ loneliness/sadness instead of his pure rising and boiling hate and urge to kill someone.
...if you substitute a remote control for the 44 magnum and a cup of tea, perhaps, for the whiskey over my cornflakes, then i have felt this way myself, too...well, maybe less psycho...
actually, a lot less psycho, come to think of it; cybil shepherd isnt bad - though i preferred agnes dipesto myself
first time i saw this years ago, i thought he was hallucinating because the empty shoes on the dancefloor looked like a human heart (couldn't tell what it was since it was vhs) but yeah i remember my jaw dropping because i thought it was so avante-garde
Any man from any city in the western world can sympathize with many of Travis' views. This movie is timeless, all the issues remain the same. All that has changed is fashion....
this reminds so much of my teenage years never fitting in alone on saturday nights feeling rage and despair . every guy has felt like this if not you are lying to yourself
Have you ever tried describing this scene to someone who has no idea what this is like? They just don't know. They don't understand. It's like the entire world is a movie and you're regulated to only being its audience. You don't get to experience life like others do.
@PurePlombon Correct. I truly believe De Niro and Scorsese did something remarkable and unique; they created the real thing and put it on the screen. So seldom do you see a dark character who can speak to so many presented on the silverscene. This scene haunted me when I was an adolescent, but it spoke to me in such a powerful way. It captures a certain human emotion caused by loneliness and the desire to be someone who matters.
When you've spent every Valentine's Day alone in your bedroom, rejection from every girl you've asked out, no person bothering to get to know you (even after trying to know them), and realizing that no one understand you, then you can empathize. When you crawl into bed one night and realize that you've been talking all day. Problem is, you've been alone in your apatment all day so the only person you've been talking to is yourself. That is what I've experienced. That is loneliness.
Paul Schrader, the writer, said that he wanted to explore alienation and the paradox of being lonely in a city of 6 million people. And ultimately, that's what this film is about, not the violence, but the feeling of being out of place and the despair of not knowing one's role in society. That's why, especially for many young men, this film is so universal.
i love in the script where it gets to this part and it says "travis is pondering all these things in his heart, why do they get to be happy?" love this scene
@backpain100 I'm the same way only for me it's watching "the beautiful people" in public or in TV or movies. They are like the elite or something. They're above you and you're all the way below them and you couldn't ever hope to know any one of them intimately or personally. It's sickening how people like them don't know word fuckin' one of what it is to be lonely and alone all at the same time. That's the human species for you. Darwin was right.
Loneliness sometimes can feel like dying after a certain point. Few people can truly understand this. You're miles away from people. You want to understand others but you can't, or you just see how pointless it may be. How one dimensional people can be.
I relate so strongly to this scene. I'm watching everyone around me socializing and having the time of their lives, going to parties and fucking each other... while here I am alone in my room like I am every night, filled with angst and despair as I sink deeper and deeper into depression and loneliness. If only I could reach out and touch someone in that other world, it would ease my pain and dread of living.
@rockyshott Damn... So perfectly said... Im speechless. .. As I started reading your comment, an eerie feeling grew in me as I felt I was reading my own words.
@rockyshott lol it's artistic loneliness it's betther then everything cant you see thay made a movie about it?did they made a movie about going clubing?ou ye they did like 100000 but there all crap compared to the Taxi Driver!
@rockyshott I, like many people feel the exact same way which is shown by the 106 likes. true loneliness is when your alone even though theres millions of people around you just like NYC or London. Maybe you should get a petat least they won't fuck you over like "friends" and the rest of this cesspit of a society.
@Talentz92 You're right, the only one who has never fucked me over is my dog. I don't even trust some of my family. My dog, heroin, and pills have been my only true friends. "I'm Gods lonely man" . And just like Scott Weiland in the song Creep..."Friends don't mean a thing"
One of the greatest films ever! Certainly one of my faves.
A mans film. And not because of the violence.
Im sure every man has felt like Travis at some point in their life - uncertain about their own future, loneliness and thinking that their life was meant for more then what they are. And that they can make a difference.
All people react differently. And Travis acted in the only way he knew how- unfortunatley.
@cookedit what's even more disturbing about his reaction is that it goes unnoticed, and everything goes back to the way it was. He is heralded as a hero, yes, but ultimately his actions make no difference to anything.
@cookedit "A mans film." somewhat true i guess... but im a female and i can relate 100 percent to travis bickle. and with most male anti hero characters for that matter.
jim crowe laws we need them back bannister mall is gone 1862 slaves 1992 free jim crowe 1965 civil rights you cant have slavery set them free and think things will be allright i feel defeated by my own people sold out world war 2 generation sold us out to scum just watch the news america awake
My heart aches for Travis in this scene; it really gets to the core of his loneliness and alienation and his desire for human contact. Amazing how DeNiro can elicit sympathy for such a gun crazy sociopath.
listen you fuckers. travis bickle is supposed to be a racist character alright... lets just settle this once and for all. watch the special edition of this dvd with martin scorese comentary. his is a racist character, and i am not being politically incorrect.
Listen you fucker, you screwhead - this scene just tries to show that not all BLACK people are criminals, and robbers or whatever like the previous scene showed the stick up with the hispanic store owner. It shows they also have a lavish lifestyle - so you tell me how it's racist?!!!
WHY DO YOU TRY AND SUGAR COAT EVERYTHING!!! watch the fucking special edition!!! They made him a racist protagonist!!!!!!!!!! IM NOT BEING RACIST, ITS JUST HOW IT IS!!!!!!!
@iJustWannaWatchPORN True, Travis is racist, but it's really a symptom of a deeper problem that he has. And his racism is incidental to his feelings of disaffection and alienation, which are the central theme's Schrader's script.
Yes, I know what you mean. I feel like the world is surrounded by a screen, I can see the world, hear it, smell it, analyze it. I can interact with people yet I cannot connect with anyone. Always on the outside looking in.
I agree, but I have not just felt like this "one time or another", it's all the time. For me it is not just a "tragic part of life", my life itself has been a tragedy.
Thanks for trying to cheer me up though, and this is an excellent film indeed.
In my opinion, this scene epitomizes everything that the film represents. And Robert De Niro proves that, even when not speaking, is a great actor.
brcunha92 4 weeks ago 9
Best portrayal of loneliness ever. If you're unfamiliar to the feeling, this scene tells it all: you're living on the side line of life, and you're very very very bitter about it.
De Niro knew it, Shrader knew it, and a ton of other people know it as well. Except for those empty souls who dare to call this movie 'funny'.
ValAktaion 1 month ago
I love the song
VelvetRope1992 1 month ago in playlist Taxi Driver
So sad and beautiful at the same time.
fabriciossousa 3 months ago in playlist Favorite videos
TRAVIS IS THE TRUTH
TestDrive231 4 months ago
this movie is so damn straightup real, it makes all the other flicks look pathetic
TestDrive231 4 months ago
I suppose this scenes so called meaning is open for interpretation but having seen other masterpieces of scorsese, I'd say this is suppose to show just how lonely travis actually is and how he feels about it especially with the mid shot of him looking really depressed at 0:47
Audiocurrent 4 months ago
@Audiocurrent you are correct! you can also say that this is the moment where Travis' Lonely side and violent side merge.
jdmifsud14 2 months ago
i feeling like travis watching travis
talesofhorror1 5 months ago
Man, I never noticed the shoes on the dance floor before. What a great image.
niverent 6 months ago
...ah, how i remember the drone of white males exulting in their own ineptitude and imagining themselves to be somehow more sensitive and holy for it...i feel like i'm 15 again, watching this - that glorious time before i got people skills, got laid a few times, got laid enough not to care any more...don't you remember that perverse longing for a martyr's death that would crack the heart of the longed for girl, but - no - too late...yes, it was sweet, the over-sweet tang of teenage narcissism...
fatschlamp1 6 months ago
@fatschlamp1 i agree that many take the stance you mentioned as some justification that they simply can't get laid for extended periods of time. But it's different for people like Travis. They can't socialize at all. They're socially inept and people look down their noses at them (men and women alike), disregarding the fact that people like Travis simply don't have the distinct advantages that charismatic and attractive people possess.
theQuestion626 5 months ago 2
@fatschlamp1
lmao Yes every mental and emotional problem EVER has been solved by getting laid. Think of the lives that could've been saved had your wisdom been available to those less fortunate and so vastly ignorant in comparison to yourself.
wepmajoe 3 months ago
brilliant scene, specifically that part where his gun is resting on the side of his head the look in his eyes like he's seeing every moment of his life in that particular moment and the song says it all merely reflecting what's on his mind "how long have i been sitting here.." it's almost as if everything becomes all to real, all to clear like you got nothing else to go on
redeem72 6 months ago
I love reading all the comments about Lonliness here.. Because ironically they make me feel like I´m not alone. : /
DonRMB 6 months ago
I don't thing Travis' biggest problem was being affected by the war. He looks more like a man who is suffering with social phobia, it's the reason why he can't socialize normally, and why he seems lost when he is out in the world. Back in his time no one took such a thing seriously, and people were left to struggle with it on there own.
osvie01 6 months ago
@osvie01 The thing is HE NEVER WAS IN VIETNAM! Its a lie he tells himself to justify his ¨Condition¨. Notice how when Andy is selling him the guns, it seems like it`s the first time he´s ever seen/touch a gun in his life. He has an alcohol problem and cant sleep and they dont say why but I assure you Vietnam wasnt the reason.. Maybe he was abused as a child or something.
DonRMB 6 months ago
@DonRMB if thought that may be the case but then i wonder where he got his king kong company jacket or his marine shirt he works out with plus while he is doing pushups u can see a very large and gruesome scar on his back idk they dont say much about him bein in vietnam in the movie i guess its for the viewer to decide
chronicas420 6 months ago
The shoes on the dance floor on t.v. represents Travis.
1980SALT 6 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
or you could mute this, play Limp Bizkits My Way to this n background..good emotional harmony
christovercame 7 months ago
or you could mute this, play Limp Bizkits My Way to this n background..good emotional unity
christovercame 7 months ago
Great, great scene!
AFMatthews321 7 months ago
I love the really long shot of Travis from 00:46-01:14
The expression on De Niro's face and him holding that gun is so chilling. You can imagine these psychotic and hateful thoughts against the world running through his head. Especially when he moves the gun slightly, like he's just itching to shoot someone.
aglassofsampayne 7 months ago
@aglassofsampayne I imagine he's mostly just feeling complete loneliness and despair. The flickering eyes just staring empty at the Tv, really captures that feeling of loneliness. I feel very sympathetic towards him, it's like he can still be saved if someone just tried to reach out to him. I don't know man, maybe you will find yourself in a similar situation sometime.
NearDark87 7 months ago
@NearDark87 Yeah definately agree that he's feeling like tha as wellt, but I can imagine that this is one of the turning points into his madness.
aglassofsampayne 7 months ago
@aglassofsampayne Yea that seems about right, I always felt this scene was very central to the movie. A turning poinnt indeed.
NearDark87 7 months ago
@NearDark87 i think that was what the scene was meant to depict. It shows how Travis wants to fit in and be accepted, but the world at large is indifferent and apathetic to him. In this sense that was what Betsy represented. What Travis wants and can't have because of his personality flaws. This arrogant condescension just adds fuel to the fire of Travis's disgust and disdain with society.
theQuestion626 5 months ago
@NearDark87 i think that was what the scene was meant to depict. It shows how Travis wants to fit in and be accepted, but the world at large is indifferent and apathetic to him. In this sense that was what Betsy represented. What Travis wants and can't have because of his personality flaws. This adds to Travis's disgust with people.
theQuestion626 5 months ago
such a genius scene, the lack of words in here actually speaks very loudly
AtomicGT55 8 months ago
My favorite scene of the movie, its brilliand... and in raging bull my favorite its the jail scene when he hits the wall...just brilliant
Carlos9s9 8 months ago
@ParanoiddAnddroidd
Although in retrospect that first comment was unnecessarily harsh, so I apologize for that.
parcheesily 9 months ago
@ParanoiddAnddroidd
No, I can relate, and it did click the first time, and every time after. I just think its pathetic and useless to go fishing for sympathy on the internet.
parcheesily 9 months ago
A lot of fuckin sad sacks in here. I can relate, but either kill yourself, go crazy, or try to live your life. Don't wallow in your misery on the internet.
parcheesily 9 months ago
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zombiekill551 9 months ago
@parcheesily You dont understand shit!! Sounds like you're the one "wallowing in your misery". For the rest of us this is real life!
zombiekill551 9 months ago
@zombiekill551
Forget it kid. i don't know you so I won't make judgments or threats and you shouldn't either cuz likewise. What's real and what ain't is all subjective. Nobody knows anyone but themself, if that. That's the whole point of this movie. Life is what you make it. There's no such thing as "real life"; every man's perspective is different from the next's. It's simple shit man, take a philosophy class once you get to high school or something.
parcheesily 9 months ago
Comment removed
zombiekill551 9 months ago
Comment removed
zombiekill551 9 months ago
@zombiekill551 Yikes! If you're older than me you're way too old too be threatening people on the internet and unless you are a bubbly blond girl than your overuse of exclamation marks is downright frightening. Anyway, I made a childish comment which I already apologized for and we both followed it up with more childishness, so we're both jerks. Now let's stop clogging up eachother's inboxes.
parcheesily 9 months ago
Comment removed
zombiekill551 9 months ago
i watched this last night.love this movie.and this scene i was in a trance like he was,deep in thought.this is a real movie,almost like a documentary.cause i can relate to travis,probably better than any other character in films.really captures what it feels like to be alone in the world.
gunsnglory4zday 9 months ago
Woow, thank you very much! I enjoyed this music first time I watched this film. And, believe me, I was looking for it for a long time. Thanks once again! Taxi driver the best movie in the world!
Nordbard 10 months ago
fuck...i just can relate so much to this scene...so strong feeling of loneliness inside of me, i don't give a shit if anybody cares, i just want to say it..to see if i can feel a little more better.
dumaramutsi 10 months ago
@dumaramutsi People care dude. Noone wants to see anyone like this. This scene represents his emptiness and disconnect from society with nothing left to live for. He had nothing to bring happiness in his life. Most people dont sink this deep, or when they do they find something to put a smile on their face, and in the end he did.
trenken 10 months ago
@trenken thank you :)
dumaramutsi 10 months ago
is he watching soul train?
TheAxis456 11 months ago
@TheAxis456 American Bandstand. If you remember he killed a man right before this scene, so the empty shoes he see's signifies 3 things, the life that he took, his own lonilness and what he thought would soon be his own death, and also the contrast of a man living in poverty trying to steal from a convenient store just to survive, and TV just showing people dancing and having a great time. His connection to society disintegrated at this point in the film.
trenken 10 months ago
Comment removed
kyleronson1 11 months ago
(Part 8 of 8)This scene is the ultimate use of empowering the audience in finally attaching them to Travis fully, thus making them the main character in this rising tide of a ticking time bomb just waiting to go off. Before this scene we have mainly seen the insane boiling of madness. During this scene, we see what causes that madness by coming face to face with the loneliness and the madness. And after this scene, we just want to release and kill that madness/loneliness by any means necessary.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
@SeymourGandhi , you put it brilliantly. I hope to hear more from you on the taxi driver videos.
TeamOfThe80s 11 months ago
(Part 7 of 8) It is here at this point in the film where we begin to not only empathize with Travis but also sympathize with him. It is the massive awakening among audience members where they finally realize that the character of Travis Bickle is me. He is you. He is all of us.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
(Part 6 of 8) But when this scene arrives in the film, we begin to attach ourselves to Travis because generally the “violent psychopath villain” in movies is a character one cannot relate to, mainly because the villain’s actions define what makes him or her a villain. But in this scene, we finally see that the actions of others (the urban society using Travis and rejecting Travis, thus alienating him) make up the “villain persona” that Travis is.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
(Part 5 of 8) Throughout the entire film our sense of detachment from this character, Travis being a growing mentally unstable psychopath, is justified because as the film progresses he is a growing ticking time bomb, leaving us worried for him and others, and wanting him not to act violently. However, we only worry for him, thus leaving us still detached from him like a mentally healthy doctor worrying about a mentally unhealthy patient.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
(Part 4 of 8) The scene also depicts not only Travis’ present state of loneliness but what Travis wants for his future but as of yet cannot attain: relation, connection, and, most of all, being loved. This is why many, MANY people can relate to Travis in this scene.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
(Part 3 of 8) Instead of just having the “God’s Lonely Man” scene via narration and showing people walking on the sidewalks in slow-motion shown earlier in the film right before the scene where Travis meets with the illegal firearms salesman, Scorsese and Schrader knew that by just telling the audience he’s lonely in the voice-over wasn’t going to cut it. They needed to build on that and actually SHOW his loneliness. This scene of Travis just watching the television set does just that.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
(Part 2 of 8) But why is this scene the most crucial? Because showing Travis’ sense of alienation and loneliness in this scene perfectly shows the audience what drives Travis Bickle’s madness, combined with his hate and bitterness towards a soul-depleted and cold-hearted urban society.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
(Part 1 of 8) Even though all of the scenes in this film are extremely important and valuable, I personally feel in my own opinion that this scene, although very short and without any dialogue (both rightfully so), is the most crucial and most powerful scene in the film (for me, at least) because this scene depicts to the tee Travis’ loneliness/sadness instead of his pure rising and boiling hate and urge to kill someone.
SeymourGandhi 11 months ago
And I thought I was the only one out there who watched this with complete and total understanding.
migraine516 11 months ago
...if you substitute a remote control for the 44 magnum and a cup of tea, perhaps, for the whiskey over my cornflakes, then i have felt this way myself, too...well, maybe less psycho...
actually, a lot less psycho, come to think of it; cybil shepherd isnt bad - though i preferred agnes dipesto myself
fatschlamp1 11 months ago
first time i saw this years ago, i thought he was hallucinating because the empty shoes on the dancefloor looked like a human heart (couldn't tell what it was since it was vhs) but yeah i remember my jaw dropping because i thought it was so avante-garde
DAVIDVINCENTDURING 11 months ago
Brilliant scene!
gohabsgo27 11 months ago
never has a song fitted a scene so well.
xogumbl 11 months ago
Any man from any city in the western world can sympathize with many of Travis' views. This movie is timeless, all the issues remain the same. All that has changed is fashion....
TeamOfThe80s 11 months ago 3
fantastic movie. this great scene is also how i discovered jackson browne
PlanetNamedDesire 11 months ago
thats crazy, i do the same shit except with a glock, and im only semi sad.
jaredleospirit 1 year ago
Best song ever. Period.
RTWLRz 1 year ago
This part always makes me feel sad...hes so lonely
Moon27 1 year ago
Who is the one asshole that dis-liked this?? Why??
canustillhavefun 1 year ago 3
@canustillhavefun That person has never felt lonely apparently.
Moon27 1 year ago
This is the saddest, most sincerely heartbreaking scene I've ever seen in a film.
fitzykid1990 1 year ago 3
as he aims his gun at the tv he gets caught up in the song and the couples slowly dancing as the empty shoes remind him of his lonliness and despiar
FOAMER103061 1 year ago
what a beautiful scene!!!
Soga87 1 year ago
At least he has a loaded gun. Many don't.
ralfsu 1 year ago
I'll always be a Travis Bickle
Theargoytimecompany 1 year ago
God, what a sad scene. Hits me like a slap in the face. It fits into the film perfectly.
zippertube 1 year ago
this reminds so much of my teenage years never fitting in alone on saturday nights feeling rage and despair . every guy has felt like this if not you are lying to yourself
manhands77 1 year ago
This is me on this Saturday night...
rapideye97 1 year ago
I got my avatar from this scene. Taxi Driver will always be my favorite film of all time.
thepoolhustlerman 1 year ago
Have you ever tried describing this scene to someone who has no idea what this is like? They just don't know. They don't understand. It's like the entire world is a movie and you're regulated to only being its audience. You don't get to experience life like others do.
PurePlombon 1 year ago 41
@PurePlombon Correct. I truly believe De Niro and Scorsese did something remarkable and unique; they created the real thing and put it on the screen. So seldom do you see a dark character who can speak to so many presented on the silverscene. This scene haunted me when I was an adolescent, but it spoke to me in such a powerful way. It captures a certain human emotion caused by loneliness and the desire to be someone who matters.
bpatrice49 7 months ago
this scene sums up my life at the moment when he stared blankly at the tv it touches me deep... such a inspirational film
paulmayonnaise88 1 year ago 3
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When you've spent every Valentine's Day alone in your bedroom, rejection from every girl you've asked out, no person bothering to get to know you (even after trying to know them), and realizing that no one understand you, then you can empathize. When you crawl into bed one night and realize that you've been talking all day. Problem is, you've been alone in your apatment all day so the only person you've been talking to is yourself. That is what I've experienced. That is loneliness.
Tusc9969 1 year ago
i realize now how much she just like the others cold and distant
able506 1 year ago
Such an amazing scene!
hailadrian 1 year ago
touching scene.
awesome.
xogumbl 1 year ago
Paul Schrader, the writer, said that he wanted to explore alienation and the paradox of being lonely in a city of 6 million people. And ultimately, that's what this film is about, not the violence, but the feeling of being out of place and the despair of not knowing one's role in society. That's why, especially for many young men, this film is so universal.
ddamaged 1 year ago
@ddamaged
Spot on man...only someone who knows loneliness themselves could be that accurate.
REBELMEDIAVIDEOS 1 year ago
i wanna play the guitar this song real bad....
tommyhicks2 1 year ago
the scene just b4 this is hillarious!
"maricone!!...wana buy that dope??...you fucking maricone!!" LMAO!!
irishcatholicladdie 1 year ago
This scene is my favorite in the movie, and the mark of a true master director...and actor.
deanknight333 1 year ago
i love in the script where it gets to this part and it says "travis is pondering all these things in his heart, why do they get to be happy?" love this scene
choloOnEaster10 1 year ago
A brilliant scene. My favorite in the film.
DrShrinker 1 year ago
@backpain100 I'm the same way only for me it's watching "the beautiful people" in public or in TV or movies. They are like the elite or something. They're above you and you're all the way below them and you couldn't ever hope to know any one of them intimately or personally. It's sickening how people like them don't know word fuckin' one of what it is to be lonely and alone all at the same time. That's the human species for you. Darwin was right.
theQuestion626 1 year ago
Sometimes I hate watching happy people doing their thing. They got the kind of smile that you know you can't imitate.
I used to like holidays atmosphere when I was a kid. But now I hate them, I hate Christmas, thanks giving, new year...
Travis sit and watch this. I would've switched channel. I do feel the loneliness. The movie speaks the truth.
backpain100 1 year ago 3
Loneliness sometimes can feel like dying after a certain point. Few people can truly understand this. You're miles away from people. You want to understand others but you can't, or you just see how pointless it may be. How one dimensional people can be.
Just a thought.
MrLoganSwanson 1 year ago 4
Terrifying. McVeigh, Columbine, Killeen TX, Virginia Tech, Arthur Bremer... what's next?
willerror 1 year ago
id have to say one of the best scenes in movie history, this is the pinacle of what taxi driver was about.
balls86ful 2 years ago 4
Best scene in the movie and best movie EVAR!!
BloatedSquirle 2 years ago
BEST scene is the movie. Yeah, even better than the , "you talking to me?" scene. That is how good De niro is in this movie. NO words!!
ilovejourney1 2 years ago 12
Great vintage TV clip !!!!!! LOVE THAT SONG !
5171967cafk 2 years ago
Very sad.
11CGOD11 2 years ago
can someone tell me what song is that?
bufprochi1 2 years ago
jackson browne
late for the sky
bearsagainstevil 2 years ago
thank you
bufprochi1 2 years ago
@bufprochi1 Jackson Browne's Late for the Sky off the album of the same name.
ddamaged 1 year ago
@ddamaged thanks very much
bufprochi1 1 year ago
Comment removed
h4z4rd 2 years ago
This scene is amazing. It's exactly relating "loneliness is pain" so awesome.
SweeetPicker 2 years ago
I relate so strongly to this scene. I'm watching everyone around me socializing and having the time of their lives, going to parties and fucking each other... while here I am alone in my room like I am every night, filled with angst and despair as I sink deeper and deeper into depression and loneliness. If only I could reach out and touch someone in that other world, it would ease my pain and dread of living.
rockyshott 2 years ago 120
Haha, good one.
JasonRadley 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
actually I translate this scene as the dancing shoes of the black man that he shot in the convenient store when the guy was trying to rob the place.
yakitoriPB 2 years ago
as well as yes....his characters lost love or unreturned feelings from the woman he wanted.
yakitoriPB 2 years ago
@rockyshott Yeah we've all been there. It's OK to sulk for now, but you don't want to end up devoting your life to morbid self-attention.
vipersquad 1 year ago
@rockyshott you are not alone.
theironman5678 1 year ago
@rockyshott Damn... So perfectly said... Im speechless. .. As I started reading your comment, an eerie feeling grew in me as I felt I was reading my own words.
Thuggxmafiatl 1 year ago
@rockyshott
I feel the same way. A lot of people feel that way. That's why so mant people feel touched by this scene.
billiam77 1 year ago
@rockyshott lol it's artistic loneliness it's betther then everything cant you see thay made a movie about it?did they made a movie about going clubing?ou ye they did like 100000 but there all crap compared to the Taxi Driver!
MichaelBlue1990 1 year ago
@rockyshott Beautifully stated.
whbon73 1 year ago
@rockyshott you are either in your teens or just god´s lonely man
prinzeugen 1 year ago
@rockyshott thats me too
4TheTabsInUrEyes 1 year ago
@rockyshott I know what you mean. Same situation.
Barcslay 11 months ago
@rockyshott Sometimes is good feel that way, make you enjoy more the time what will you spend with other people.
But who knows, righ?!
habibks1 11 months ago
@rockyshott
I feel exactly as you do. Unfortunately, it doesn´t have a solution, apart from betraying yourself...
Einvestigator96 10 months ago 4
@rockyshott I, like many people feel the exact same way which is shown by the 106 likes. true loneliness is when your alone even though theres millions of people around you just like NYC or London. Maybe you should get a petat least they won't fuck you over like "friends" and the rest of this cesspit of a society.
Talentz92 10 months ago
@Talentz92 You're right, the only one who has never fucked me over is my dog. I don't even trust some of my family. My dog, heroin, and pills have been my only true friends. "I'm Gods lonely man" . And just like Scott Weiland in the song Creep..."Friends don't mean a thing"
zombiekill551 10 months ago
@rockyshott I feel the exact same way. This has always been my favorite scene in this film, because how much I can relate.
zombiekill551 10 months ago
@rockyshott.... you must have cum crusted socks
usernameDOGS 9 months ago
On 0.04, is that Obama?
JasonRadley 2 years ago
One of my fav movies of all time. His esrangment is palpable.
indigosow 2 years ago
it never ceases to amaze me just how amazing Scorcese is. i can watch this scene over and over and over, and it never gets tired.
Montazzle 2 years ago 4
SREDNIVASHTAR74- yes it is. :)
Montazzle 2 years ago
pivotal scene cuz he's halfway sane and handsome here, but now realizing his dreams won't come true. this is his point of no return.
he's like "what's does it matter?"
after this he goes rambo.
MrNytn2001 2 years ago
yeah, well said. best scene in the movie.
ilovejourney1 2 years ago
Comment removed
mrhorn2001 2 years ago
The greatest film ever made.
SREDNIVASHTAR74 2 years ago
I love this scene as well as the whole movie!!!!just MASTERPIECE !
75andalive 2 years ago
One of the greatest scenes in movie history.
Moon4464 2 years ago 3
The symbolism in some of the many scenes of this movie are astounding........Martin Scorcese is an absolute genius
mets72186 2 years ago
Don't forget Paul Schrader.
Vercettislugger 2 years ago 3
Totally met him.
Anything2DoWithFilm 2 years ago
Loneliness has followed me my hole life, there is no escape, i am god's lonely man...
cuchoguitar 2 years ago 3
One of the greatest films ever! Certainly one of my faves.
A mans film. And not because of the violence.
Im sure every man has felt like Travis at some point in their life - uncertain about their own future, loneliness and thinking that their life was meant for more then what they are. And that they can make a difference.
All people react differently. And Travis acted in the only way he knew how- unfortunatley.
cookedit 2 years ago 31
@cookedit nicely said.
11CGOD11 1 year ago
@cookedit what's even more disturbing about his reaction is that it goes unnoticed, and everything goes back to the way it was. He is heralded as a hero, yes, but ultimately his actions make no difference to anything.
HaroldEarlMusic 1 year ago
@cookedit "A mans film." somewhat true i guess... but im a female and i can relate 100 percent to travis bickle. and with most male anti hero characters for that matter.
angiec 1 year ago
@cookedit - love yourself
FOAMER103061 1 year ago
The best part of the best film ever made. Indescribable.
Sand811 2 years ago 3
This is one of my favorite songs, and when I got to this part in the movie it totally sold me on the film, what a great moment.
cjwynes 2 years ago
great music implementation, almost on par with stuck in the middle with you in reservoir dogs.
Cryer24597 2 years ago
missed the part where he knocks over the TV...
MGM12 2 years ago
He knocks over the T.V when he is watching some day time soap. Anyway great track from Jackson Browne and incredible movie, thanks for posting!
BringBackTheEighties 2 years ago
i was there too, like travis, im gettin out, forever my fav movie of all time!
timestom 2 years ago 4
I'm still there.
FireTiger941 2 years ago
Comment removed
xoken 2 years ago
ここのシーンが一番いい
otahukukao 2 years ago
jim crowe laws we need them back bannister mall is gone 1862 slaves 1992 free jim crowe 1965 civil rights you cant have slavery set them free and think things will be allright i feel defeated by my own people sold out world war 2 generation sold us out to scum just watch the news america awake
bozboy99 2 years ago
My heart aches for Travis in this scene; it really gets to the core of his loneliness and alienation and his desire for human contact. Amazing how DeNiro can elicit sympathy for such a gun crazy sociopath.
DrRestezi 2 years ago 5
listen you fuckers. travis bickle is supposed to be a racist character alright... lets just settle this once and for all. watch the special edition of this dvd with martin scorese comentary. his is a racist character, and i am not being politically incorrect.
iJustWannaWatchPORN 2 years ago 2
Listen you fucker, you screwhead - this scene just tries to show that not all BLACK people are criminals, and robbers or whatever like the previous scene showed the stick up with the hispanic store owner. It shows they also have a lavish lifestyle - so you tell me how it's racist?!!!
lizgannon 2 years ago
WHY DO YOU TRY AND SUGAR COAT EVERYTHING!!! watch the fucking special edition!!! They made him a racist protagonist!!!!!!!!!! IM NOT BEING RACIST, ITS JUST HOW IT IS!!!!!!!
iJustWannaWatchPORN 2 years ago
@iJustWannaWatchPORN True, Travis is racist, but it's really a symptom of a deeper problem that he has. And his racism is incidental to his feelings of disaffection and alienation, which are the central theme's Schrader's script.
ddamaged 1 year ago 3
@ddamaged i made a similar comment on the other copy of this clip a few months
ago - just not as well worded as your comment.
people who get hung up on his racism , alleged or otherwise, just don't get it.
webmail111 1 year ago
He's on the outside looking in. I know how that feels..
Richard20TRILLION 3 years ago 5
Yes, I know what you mean. I feel like the world is surrounded by a screen, I can see the world, hear it, smell it, analyze it. I can interact with people yet I cannot connect with anyone. Always on the outside looking in.
FireTiger941 2 years ago
I think one time or another, everyone has experienced it. Its a tragic part of life, excellently made into a film.
ajjps15 2 years ago
I agree, but I have not just felt like this "one time or another", it's all the time. For me it is not just a "tragic part of life", my life itself has been a tragedy.
Thanks for trying to cheer me up though, and this is an excellent film indeed.
FireTiger941 2 years ago
What version of the song is this? Is this a live version?
travisreininger 3 years ago
Nevermind, didn't realize the song was started in the middle...my bad
travisreininger 3 years ago
This is the original, from the album.
edurtsnah 3 years ago
Thanks, I figured it out after I listened to the song in full...stupid me.
travisreininger 3 years ago