History YMMV / TaxiDriver

* AwardSnub: At the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, it lost Best Actor (Peter Finch) and Best Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight) to ''Film/{{Network}}'', Best Original Score to ''Film/TheOmen1976'', and Best Picture to ''Film/{{Rocky}}''. Creator/MartinScorsese wasn't even ''nominated'' as Best Director. Neither was Creator/PaulSchrader for his brilliant screenplay. Considering that year was amongst the most competitive in the history of the Oscars, the Oscar losses might be justified or debated against, although less so as time goes on considering the film's immense reputation.

** Creator/AlbertBrooks as Tom just before he broke out as a director and actor with his film ''Film/RealLife'' and became a much more recognizable character actor.
** A more niche example: the personnel officer in the opening scene who hires Travis for the cab company is played by Creator/JoeSpinell, who played hitman Willie Cicci in ''Film/TheGodfather'' and ''The Godfather Part II''.
** This was Creator/JodieFoster's first major movie role. However, she did not become a highly in-demand actress until TheNineties, after the success of ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.
* SignatureScene: Travis talking to the mirror.

* OneSceneWonder: Creator/MartinScorsese's cameo as a psychopathic passenger that Travis picks up. Apparently, Scorsese never planned to be in the scene; the actor they hired got sick on the day of the shoot and so Scorsese had to step in.

* NeverLiveItDown: John Hinckley trying to emulate Travis by shooting Ronald Reagan to impress Creator/JodieFoster. Not that any sane person would ever see that link otherwise, though.

* MemeticMutation: Travis' "You talking to me?" bit is a heavy source of parody in popular media.

* FairForItsDay: The scene where Wizard and the other taxi drivers discuss gay people and more specifically, two gay men he drove in his cab earlier that night. Wizard expresses the opinion that whatever sexual activities two consenting adults engage in behind closed doors is none of his business and he won't judge anyone by it, and in fact only opposes the fact that one of them started attacking the other, saying "In my cab, don't go bustin' heads.". While the inclusion of "behind closed doors" would be seen as either homophobic or intolerant today, it was a rather tolerant and progressive opinion in the 1970s. UsefulNotes/RichardNixon gave a similar opinion to express his empathy towards and tolerance of homosexuals in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSrGKcH40tQ a candid moment in 1971]] from his notorious White House tapes.[[note]]Although Nixon did rather spoil that by going on to argue that "Once a society goes in that direction, the vitality goes out of that society," apparently being under the belief that being gay was somehow catching.[[/note]] Additionally, Wizard and the other taxi drivers do not object upon learning about a new law in California that allows gay couples to collect alimony from each other, they see the law as being perfectly fair.

** Wizard's line about California being more progressive than New York when it comes to gay marriage is funny since, of the two states, New York legalized gay marriage first.

---> ''"We really have fought over the years to keep people's hands off Taxi Driver, to keep it from being a video game, and to keep it from having a sequel. It's a one-off kind of film."''

* DiagnosedByTheAudience: There's something really off about Travis. He has immense difficulty speaking to others and socializing, tends to see people in black and white terms, suffers from insomnia and mentions taking pills in addition to drinking a lot, has a strange, stilted manner of speaking both in real life and in his voiceover, tries to be charming but often comes across as vaguely creepy instead, has a frightening capacity for violence simmering just below the surface and he is heavily implied to be suicidal. It's been stated by psychologists that Travis likely suffers from [[http://www.disorders.org/personality-disorders/paranoid-schizoid-schizotypal/ Schizotypal personality disorder]]. That's in addition to the fact that he likely has some level of PTSD from his military service. The fact that he lies to his parents about his life and addresses them in a bizarrely formal manner, calling them "mother and father" rather than the traditional "mom and dad", also opens up the possibility of some issues there.

* HardToAdaptWork: Creator/PaulSchrader has noted that he and Scorsese have regularly halted, blocked, and stalled attempts to license ''Taxi Driver'' spin-offs or adaptations beyond its movie form. There was a {{Novelization}} by Richard Elman that was released around the same time as the film but is now [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]]. A never-released video game was in the works. According to [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1005431#1005431 to one]] [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1005870#1005870 of the staff]], it was going to be a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' Clone, written by Hollywood Writers who had never played a video game or seen the movie (beyond the mirror scene) before. [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=606445&highlight=taxi+driver#606445 Featured stupid dialog with awful voice acting]] and made Travis a mass-murdering psychopath instead of a deranged loner posing in the mirror. It even went through a period where the license was removed from the game before getting applied again.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Travis a "rebel with a cause" who targets Palantine mistakenly...or is he dissolving into insanity, and his rescue of Iris is just him looking for a justification for his desire to give in to violence? Or both...? For that matter, we never actually learn what is wrong with Travis. He shows signs of [[UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome Asperger's Syndrome]], schizotypal personality disorder, and [[HeroicBSOD post-traumatic stress syndrome]] (from his time in Vietnam), [[AmbiguousDisorder but it's not clear which if any disorder he has]] or how it/they influence(s) his deteriorating mental state. For that matter, the awkward, overly formal letter he sends his parents which doesn't show any real signs of affection, and where he lies about his life raises questions about what kind of home he came from.

* HardToAdaptWork: Creator/PaulSchrader has noted that he and Scorsese have regularly halted, blocked, and stalled attempts to license ''Taxi Driver'' spin-offs or adaptations beyond its movie form. There was a novelization that was released around the same time as the film but is now [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]]. A never-released video game was in the works. According to [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1005431#1005431 to one]] [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1005870#1005870 of the staff]], it was going to be a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' Clone, written by Hollywood Writers who had never played a video game or seen the movie (beyond the mirror scene) before. [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=606445&highlight=taxi+driver#606445 Featured stupid dialog with awful voice acting]] and made Travis a mass-murdering psychopath instead of a deranged loner posing in the mirror. It even went through a period where the license was removed from the game before getting applied again.

** Easy Andy the gun salesman.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Is Travis a "rebel with a cause" who targets Palantine mistakenly...or is he dissolving into insanity, and his rescue of Iris is just him looking for a justification for his desire to give in to violence? Or perhaps both...? For that matter, we never actually learn what is wrong with Travis. He shows signs of [[UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome Asperger's Syndrome]], schizotypal personality disorder, and [[HeroicBSOD post-traumatic stress syndrome]] (possibly from his time in Vietnam), [[AmbiguousDisorder but it's not clear which if any disorder he actually has]] or how it/they influence(s) his deteriorating mental state. For that matter, the awkward, overly formal letter he sends his parents which doesn't show any real signs of affection, and where he lies about his life raises questions about what kind of home he came from.
* AwardSnub: At the UsefulNotes/{{Academy Award}}s, it lost Best Actor (Peter Finch) and Best Supporting Actress (Beatrice Straight) to ''Film/{{Network}}'', Best Original Score to ''Film/TheOmen1976'', and Best Picture to ''Film/{{Rocky}}''. Creator/MartinScorsese wasn't even ''nominated'' as Best Director. Neither was Creator/PaulSchrader for his brilliant screenplay. Considering that year was amongst the most competitive in the history of the Oscars, the Oscar losses might be justified or debated against, although arguably less so as time goes on in light of the film's immense reputation.

** In fact, the score overall, which is by turns brooding, melancholic, and foreboding, and then romantic and gorgeous, perfectly captures the film’s tone. Music/BernardHerrmann's last and arguably best work.
* FairForItsDay: The scene where Wizard and the other taxi drivers discuss homosexuals and more specifically, two gay men he drove in his cab earlier that night. Wizard expresses the opinion that whatever sexual activities two consenting adults engage in behind closed doors is none of his business and he won't judge anyone by it, and in fact only opposes the fact that one of them started attacking the other, saying "In my cab, don't go bustin' heads.". While the inclusion of "behind closed doors" would be seen as either homophobic or intolerant today, it was a rather tolerant and progressive opinion in the 1970s. UsefulNotes/RichardNixon gave a similar opinion to express his empathy towards and tolerance of homosexuals in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSrGKcH40tQ a candid moment in 1971]] from his notorious White House tapes.[[note]]Although Nixon did rather spoil that by going on to argue that "Once a society goes in that direction, the vitality goes out of that society," apparently being under the belief that being gay was somehow catching.[[/note]] Additionally, Wizard and the other taxi drivers do not object upon learning about a new law in California that allows gay couples to collect alimony from each other, they see the law as being perfectly fair.

** Easy Andy tells Travis a great deal about the guns he's buying, but it's all very inaccurate and leaves one wondering why an arms dealer wouldn't know his own merchandise. Then one realizes Travis probably doesn't know anything about the history of the merchandise he's buying and Andy is just telling him this stuff to convince him to buy it.
** Another possibility is the fact that after Easy Andy sells Travis the guns, he starts offering to sell drugs to him. Why would a gun dealer be offering to sell drugs? Simple: He's not a gun dealer who also sells drugs. He's a drug dealer who had guns he was looking to unload. This would explain why his information about guns was inaccurate: he's a drug dealer and is trying to get rid of the guns he just happen to get. As to why Travis didn't question him about his information is just as simple: he doesn't care about the information about gun histories, his only interest is that they work.
*** It also brings up some FridgeHorror into the mix with this thought: if Easy Andy is a drug dealer trying to get rid of the guns he has, what's he doing with them in the first place? It explains even more why his info on them is wrong: he could be selling guns that are linked to previous crimes and he's trying to get rid of them so he doesn't get caught with them.
** Lastly, it's another possible example of Travis being an UnreliableNarrator. Travis is persuaded so easily since he's already fixated on guns and getting a step closer to living out his fantasies. Since he has no interest in drugs, Andy's pushy salesmanship is a lot easier to see through.
* HardToAdaptWork:
** A never-released video game was in the works. According to [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1005431#1005431 to one]] [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1005870#1005870 of the staff]], it was going to be a ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' Clone, written by Hollywood Writers who had never played a video game or seen the movie (beyond the mirror scene) before. [[http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=606445&highlight=taxi+driver#606445 Featured stupid dialog with awful voice acting]] and made Travis a mass-murdering psychopath instead of a deranged loner posing in the mirror. It even went through a period where the license was removed from the game before getting applied again.
** Creator/PaulSchrader has noted that he and Scorsese have regularly halted, blocked, and stalled attempts to license ''Taxi Driver'' spin-offs or adaptations beyond its movie form. There was a novelization that was released around the same time as the film but is now [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]].

** Wizard's line about California being more progressive than New York when it comes to gay marriage is rather funny since, of the two states, New York legalized gay marriage first.

** The film has badly suffered from being idolized by gun-toting sociopaths who believed they'd found their representative in Travis (most infamously John Hinckley Jr). The other side of the fandom is nutjobs who take Travis' vigilante and racist ways as something to be admired. Like ''Film/AClockworkOrange'' five years earlier, a brilliant work of art that suffered because it was viewed by dangerous idiots.
** There are also those who use his famous "You talkin' to me?" scene as a sort of BadassBoast, when in context Bickle's just talking to himself and fantasizing (admirers never remember Travis’ next line, “Well, I’m the only one here”). Specifically he was irritated by how stupid he came across interacting with secret service agents and wanted to be commanding and intimidating in his next interactions. [[DirtyCoward Eventually, he flees when said secret agents spot him and chase him]].
* {{Narm}}: Amidst the otherwise ''very'' [[NightmareFuel intense climatic shootout]], we have the man with his fingers blown off yelling over and over again, [[LargeHam “I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOU! I’LL KILL YOU!,”]] and he doesn’t stop yelling until Travis ''finally'' puts him out of his misery.

* OvershadowedByControversy: Just try thinking about this movie without also thinking about the attack on UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan. This became a major problem for Creator/JodieFoster, who would go on to ban any and all questions related to the assassination attempt from interviews later in her life.

** A somewhat more niche example: the personnel officer in the opening scene who hires Travis for the cab company is played by Creator/JoeSpinell, who played hitman Willie Cicci in ''Film/TheGodfather'' and ''The Godfather Part II''.

* SpecialEffectFailure: While the film looks great, HD copies can make Bickle's iconic mohawk, which was actually a bald cap, look pretty fake in certain scenes. The exploding hand from the final shootout is also blatantly made of rubber or wax.

* TheWoobie: Iris and other child prostitutes who are totally used to that kind of life and cynical enough to be skeptical of such would-be rescuers as Travis. Suffice to say seeing that bloody rampage committed by Travis will give her nightmares for years and years, in addition to her time as a prostitute and her ([[UnreliableExpositor potentially]]) abusive parents, whom she says she ran away from and Travis returned her back to.
* WriterInducedFanon: Travis Bickle is never explicitly identified as TheVietnamVet (except for it being mentioned in [[FreezeFrameBonus one of the newspapers]] the camera pans over at the end), but the hints are there in his overall behaviour and jackets, the social context of 1970s New York City and the mention of him being in the Marines and a charred NVA flag in his apartment. Nonetheless, Martin Scorsese considers him to be a ShellShockedVeteran returning from Vietnam. Creator/PaulSchrader, for his part, while never opposing this interpretation, kept it intentionally vague because he modeled the character on his own personal breakdown and embellished it with more general feelings, so as to lend the film to considerable {{Applicability}}. Regardless, it is now very rare to find a description of the film which ''doesn't'' refer to Travis as a Vietnam veteran.