Continuity mistake: In the scene where the man has DeNiro pull over to the curb and says he is going to kill his wife with a .44 gun, there is a close up of the meter clicking over to $2.75. In the next shot from the backseat, the meter reads $0.65.
Taxi Driver (1976)
Ending / spoiler
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks, Cybill Shepherd
New York taxi diver Travis Bickle (Robert DeNiro) goes nuts and attempts to assasinate Palantine the presidential candidate. He is foiled but gets aways. Next, he decides to save Iris the teenage hooker (Jodie Foster) by murdering her pimp. In a violent gun battle, he is shot several times but manages to kill Sport the pimp (Harvey Keitel) and two other gangsters. He tries to kill himself when the cops arrive but is out of bullets. Travis recovers and Iris is returned to her loving parents in Pittsburgh. Travis is hailed as a hero in the press and returns to driving his cab. The film ends with Betsy (Cybill Shepherd) taking a renewed interest in him.
Notorious ET
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Suggested correction: The reason for that is because after Travis stopped the car, he turned off the meter. Then Scorcese's character asks what he's doing, and to put the meter back on. The $.65 indicates "$.65 first 1/6 mile" as clearly painted on the cab.
As the text of the original mistake stated, there is a close-up of the meter. A biiig one, that follows by quite a few seconds the meter being turned off. You can see the 0.65 before that close-up, you can see it after, it then changes to 0.75 and so on. This correction is totally wrong and the original post is correct.
Travis Bickle: All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk pussies, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets.
Trivia: The assassination scene in this movie is said to have inspired John Hinckley Jr. to attempt to kill President Reagan. He did it to get Jodie Foster's attention.
Question: Why was Travis labeled a hero at the end and not arrested? He murdered several people.
Chosen answer: One theory about the end of the film is that it is Travis' dying thoughts, but this is not the view of Scorsese or writer Paul Schrader...they intended the ending to be ambiguous and an ironic critique of the media's, and the public's, reaction to and interpretation of violence (Travis is hailed as a hero for rescuing Iris, but we can imagine a very different reaction had he followed his original plan of assassinating a senator). Interestingly, when the film was originally shown on television, the following "disclaimer" of sorts accompanied the closing credits: "In the aftermath of violence, the distinction between hero and villain is sometimes a matter of interpretation or misinterpretation of facts. 'Taxi Driver' suggests that tragic errors can be made. The Filmmakers."
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