Travis Bickle

**Travis Bickle** is the titular main protagonist of Martin Scorsese's 1976 psychological crime thriller, *Taxi Driver*. He is a Vietnam veteran suffering from PTSD, who after having enough of society while working as a cab driver in New York City becomes a vigilante.

He was portrayed by Robert De Niro, who also played Johnny Civello in *Mean Streets*, Jimmy Doyle in *New York, New York*, Jake LaMotta in *Raging Bull*, Rupert Pupkin in *The King of Comedy*, Jimmy Conway in *Goodfellas*, Max Cady in *Cape Fear*, Ace Rothstein in *Casino*, Frank Sheeran in *The Irishman* and William Hale in *Killers of the Flower Moon*.

## Biography

### Early life

Travis Bickle was born in New York in 1950. Not much is known about Travis' early life other than he was raised in New York City by an unnamed mother and father, who he is now distant to. According to Travis, he has been a loner his entire life, pushing people away and keeping his thoughts to himself. During the beginning scene, the Personnel Officer asks what education Travis had, Travis responds "here and there", implying that Travis either did poorly in school or just dropped out.

Some time during the 1970's or late 1960's, Travis was drafted into the U.S. Marine Corps during the Vietnam War. Nothing is known about what happened during his time in the war, but what is known is that something traumatic happened to him, as for during the main events of the film, Travis suffers from PTSD and is revealed to have an honorable discharge.

### 1976

By 1976, Travis is still living in New York City in an apartment, where he now suffers from chronic insomnia. To cope with this, Travis takes a job as a night shift taxicab driver. When Travis isn't doing his job, he writes in a diary, where he writes about his problems with society, describing the world around him as "scum", and wishes to one day "rid the streets of scum".

While on the job, Travis notices a woman, who he grows a liking to. The woman is named Betsy, who works as a campaign volunteer for Senator Charles Palantine. After working up the courage to talk to her, Betsy agrees to go out on a date with him at a cafe. Betsy eventually starts growing a likeness to Travis as well, which is ruined when Travis takes Betsy to a porno theater, without realizing the mistake he had made. The next day, Travis enters the campaign office where he shouts at Betsy, until he is kicked out by Betsy's co-worker, Tom.

After his breakup with Betsy, Travis begins focusing more on prostitutes he passes while on the job. Travis eventually meets up with his fellow cab driver friend, Wizard, where they discuss Travis' violent thoughts. Starting to consider the idea of Travis becoming a vigilante, Travis gets into contact with an black market gun dealer, by the name of Easy Andy, who he buys various handguns from. Travis starts attending Palantine's rallies, planning to assassinate Palantine. One night, while at a convenient store, Travis murders a man attempting to rob the store.

Throughout Travis' journey of becoming a vigilante, Travis notices a young prostitute who he aims to make her quit her life as a child prostitute. Travis eventually meets with the girl's pimp, Sport, who informs Travis that the girl is in fact 12-years-old. Afterwards, Travis finally convinces the girl, named Iris Steensma, to end her life as a child prostitute. Soon after, Travis gets a mohawk and nearly assassinates Palantine, but is chased of by the Secret Service agents.

Later that day, Travis enters Sport's brothel and murders Sport and his fellow pimps. After traumatizing Iris, who watches on in horror, Travis attempts suicide, but is instead placed in a hospital after the wounds he had taken from the shootout. Travis goes into a coma, while being considered by the people as a hero for saving Iris. Travis eventually regrows his hair and begins working as a cab driver again. While on the job, Travis reunites with Betsy. Travis drives Betsy to her stop and smiles while driving away, before noticing something in the mirror and growing agitated by it.

## Personality

On the surface, Travis seems like sort of a freedom fighter. During the entire film, Travis is disgusted by the "scum" he sees on the streets. This causes Travis to become a vigilante in the first place, but mostly about crime and prostitution. One of the most shocking scenes in the film is when Travis is told by one of his passengers that he plans to kill his wife. Instead of realizing that the passenger is out of his mind, Travis agrees with the passenger, seeing his wife as scum as well. In the scene, Travis identifies with the man, as both of them use violence against something they hate instead of thinking their actions through. So mostly, Travis is an angry and violent man, who instead of hating horrible parts of himself, and instead hating society.

But throughout Travis' various diary entries he states that he has been a loner his entire life and feels as though he is the only one who sees the problems in society and is the only one that can stop crime altogether. Travis is also extremely introverted and antisocial with him not really connecting with his "best friends". Despite this, Travis also wishes to fit in with society with him trying to do things that he feels are normal instead of doing what he actually likes doing. Just like how Betsy said, Travis is a "Walking Contradiction", trying to act reasonable, heroic and unlike the rest of the people, Travis instead acts violently due to his loneliness and his cynical view on the world. Altogether, Travis is a very complicated character with him wishing to not only stand out but to also fit in, all in a way of trying to fix society in the wrong way.

## Deaths

* **Unnamed robber:** Shot in the face.
* **Matthew "Sport" Higgins:** Shot to death.
* **Anthony Sciloso:** Shot six times in the face.
* **Unnamed bouncer:** Shot in the head.
	+ Total: 4

## Gallery

Travis Bickle during the opening of the film.Travis with Betsy.Travis at a porno theater.Travis preparing for becoming a vigilante.Travis' transformation.Travis before going into a coma.
## Trivia

* Travis Bickle is ranked #30 on AFI's list "100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains".
* Travis is loosely based upon Arthur Bremer, who in 1972 attempted to assassinate Alabama Governor George Wallace.
* Travis Bickle's plan on assassinating Senator Palatine inadvertently gave John Hinckley, Jr. the idea of attempting to assassinate President Ronald Reagan. He had watched the movie at least 15 times and become obsessed with Jodie Foster, who played Iris; he deluded himself into believing that killing Reagan would make her fall in love with him, much like how, in the film, Travis deludes himself into believing that assassinating Palantine will win him over Betsy's heart.
* Travis Bickle's depression and many psychological aspects are theorized to have come from his days as a Vietnam war veteran, and possibly having Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
* Some fans have theorized that the ending in which Iris' father writes him a latter of gratitude, and he gives Betsy a ride is all occurring in his mind as he's still in a coma at the hospital. The film's director, Martin Scorsese, has debunked this theory, clarifying that these events did in fact happen. However according to him, the point of Travis glancing in the rear view mirror at the end of the film is meant to signify that he could still go mad again at any moment, and that in the future, he won't be hailed as a "hero" again.
* Travis was originally going to be a playable character in a *Taxi Driver* video game adaptation, however the project was eventually scrapped during development.
* Robert De Niro has expressed several times about doing a sequel film in order to continue Travis's story.