Factual error: Travis begins the movie at 26 years old, and reports leaving the army with honorable discharge in May 1973. His first diary entry just after being hired is "May 10th." In the newspapers at the end he is still 26, and it says that he has been a taxi driver for 6 months. The movie obviously does not take place in winter, and the only months referenced (plus the timeline of a presidential nomination) are June and July. Besides, 1973 would not be the right year for a story set just before a presidential election, unlike 1976 when the movie came out.
Sammo
19th Mar 2020
Taxi Driver (1976)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
Suggested correction: This error is based on the assumption that he had just been discharged. I don't remember anything in the movie to indicate that as opposed to being discharged three years earlier.
The articles at the end of the movie say "Travis Bickle, 26, has been a taxi driver for six months since he came to New York upon leaving the Service where he fought in a special forces unit in Viet Nam" (sic). I think it's fairly obvious from the context too that he hasn't had much experience with 'real life' after 'Nam, surely not 3 years. The original script didn't have this discrepancy, by the way, because the date of his discharge was May 1971, which would account for just about enough months of difficult civilian life to get involved in the 1972 Presidential race.
10th May 2003
Taxi Driver (1976)
Corrected entry: When Robert DeNiro attempts to kill the senator, it is June according to his diary entry, and he has a mohawk. He still has the mohawk later on at the hotel shoot out. In the last scene of the movie his hair is fully grown in. In the conversation with Cybil Shepard we learned the senator received the nomination for president. That had to take place at the party's convention no later than August in the same year.
Correction: Just because Palantine was nominated in August doesn't mean that this scene takes place in August. Bickle hasn't seen Betsy since he was shot. It could be several months later.
Actually, no. The dialogue explicitly says through Betsy, when Travis brings up that he heard that the Senator got the nomination; "It won't be long now. Seventeen days." So, in that context, it would mean that he will officially receive the nomination in seventeen days at the convention. It can't be "several months later."
She doesn't correct him about already getting the nomination. I interpreted the line to mean it was 17 days to the election.
Mid-October then? Hm, the leaves are bright green and everyone wears the same clothes as the rest of the movie including Charlie in a tanktop, and passersby in just shirts with rolled sleeves and polos, at night in NY. As far as the statement goes, the comment is right, it can be easily read that way too, it's just that the context does not seem to fit well.
5th Dec 2001
Taxi Driver (1976)
Corrected entry: At one point when Travis is in his room doing what he does he rips the arm off his white shirt. A minute later, the sleeve is back on.
Correction: We can assume that the shirt Travis has on at the end of the scene is a new, different shirt than the one that he cut the sleeve off. The cut shirt is for his plan against the Senator.
The whole scene shows him preparing for what he melodramatically wants to be his last heroic gesture. We see him sharpen the knife, cut the sleeve with it, and strap the knife to his boot, and write a farewell letter telling Iris that he'll be dead when she reads it. It can't be another shirt. He's not changing shirts to write that letter.
27th Aug 2001
Taxi Driver (1976)
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.
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
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.
24th Jul 2008
Taxi Driver (1976)
Continuity mistake: During the fight in the end, Travis shoots a man's hand and his four fingers are blown apart; yet when the same man jumps at Travis as he enters Jodie Foster's room, you can briefly see two of his "missing" fingers on Travis' shoulder. (01:39:40)
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.
2nd Jun 2008
Taxi Driver (1976)
Corrected entry: When Travis is with the gun salesman, he is trying out the black gun. You see a close up shot of him holding the gun with his arm outstretched with his jacket on. In the very next shot (no time has elapsed) his arms are at his side and his jacket is now completely off. (00:56:50)
Correction: I am really not sure about the "no time has elapsed" bit. Everything about the setup leads to believe time has indeed passed. He has the gun in his pants and he is checking himself out in the mirror, which is why he removed the jacket and his arm is in a different position. The differences are so many that it's not an awkward mistaken transition or edit hiccup, it's a jump ahead in time, on purpose.
This is verified by Scorsese on the commentary he recorded for the laserdisc release. He specifically states it was a jump cut to speed up the action.
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.