# Travis Bickle **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282 "2011-12-15T07:44:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/21 "2011-12-16T13:17:24Z")
> [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](#): > > It doesn’t really matter if scenes are fantasies or not. Scorcese’s film career is full of scenes that may or may not be fantasy - the point is that Scorcese doesn’t know himself, it’s part of his incompetence. Tell you what, you stick to Dwayne Johnson action films, and leave the real films to those of us capable of critical thought. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/22 "2011-12-16T13:45:33Z")
In the special features interview with Paul Schrader, he says the final scenes are real - inspired by the mood/news of the day. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/23 "2011-12-16T14:22:32Z")
Yeah–I want to see a Scorcese-Schrader deathmatch, with them hurling epithets (“It was real, you goomba!” “Yah, yah, ya fuckin’ Lutheran faggot, ya literalist dumbfuck!”). That’s my idea of a GOOOOD movie! ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/24 "2011-12-16T15:17:25Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I’ve only seen this movie once, 2-3 years ago, and the ending didn’t strike me as a fantasy sequence at all. I did later read that some people took it that way, but I think it’s better and more interesting if Travis really did manage to become a “hero” despite being psycho and doing things in the wrong way and for the wrong reasons. Exactly. In a sick society, even the heroes are sick. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/25 "2011-12-16T16:31:32Z")
> [@Steophan](#): > > Tell you what, you stick to Dwayne Johnson action films, and leave the real films to those of us capable of critical thought. Seriously? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_In_Black)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/26 "2011-12-16T17:40:15Z")
When I saw it, I thought the end was real. But I also didn’t really care for it. After seeing it, I was really surprised that it is so popular. It’s not a bad movie. But it isn;t great either. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/27 "2011-12-17T02:30:10Z")
> [@The\_Man\_In\_Black](#): > > When I saw it, I thought the end was real. But I also didn’t really care for it. After seeing it, I was really surprised that it is so popular. > > It’s not a bad movie. But it isn;t great either. Taxi Driver is not exactly what I’d call a ‘popular’ movie. I’d also hesitate to use the term ‘cult movie’ either, but it does fit that moniker (i.e. a film that is not widely popular in general but is fiercely popular amongst a smaller group of fans). I’d hesitate to call it a cult movie because, IMO, it’s so much more than that. It was nominated for Best Picture for Christ’s sake. And it’s interesting what it lost to: Rocky, very much an anti-Travis Bickle character! Not that the Stallone film isn’t also a great movie, but opposite in that Taxi Driver is not what you’d call the ‘Feel-Good hit of the decade’! But regardless of whether you like it Taxi Driver is **NOT** , by any measure, an incompetent film, nor Scorsese an incompetent director of it. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/28 "2011-12-17T06:37:52Z")
AFAIK, it was meant to be taken literally. Travis may not have done Iris any favors, BTW; prostitutes are almost invariably molested as children, usually by fathers or stepfathers, and the tone of her dad’s letter to Travis–“I have taken steps to see…”–strongly imply that this is the case for Iris. Don’t mistake Travis Bickle for Batman. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/29 "2011-12-17T06:56:43Z")
[Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZpO2htry8I) is Jodie Foster’s take on Travis Bickle. An interesting couple of minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/30 "2011-12-17T15:37:02Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZpO2htry8I) is Jodie Foster’s take on Travis Bickle. An interesting couple of minutes. Interesting take. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DonLogan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/51bf81/32.png) [@DonLogan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DonLogan)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2011, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/31 "2011-12-17T15:47:00Z")
The ending of The King of Comedy is an echo of the same theme. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2011, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282/32 "2011-12-18T06:56:01Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZpO2htry8I) is Jodie Foster’s take on Travis Bickle. An interesting couple of minutes. God, Jodie Foster is like Sigourney Weaver in that she will remain incredibly hot no matter how old she gets! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/travis-bickle/606282.md?page=1)