Taxi Driver Quotes

Shmoop will make you a better lover...of quotes

ALL QUOTES POPULAR BROWSE BY AUTHOR BROWSE BY SOURCE BROWSE BY TOPIC BROWSE BY SUBJECT

Source: Taxi Driver

Speaker: Travis Bickle

You talkin' to me?

Context

This line is spoken by Travis Bickle, played by Robert DeNiro, in the film Taxi Driver, directed by Martin Scorsese (1976).

If you think Uber is scary, you never got in a taxi with Travis Bickle, the "hero" of the 1976 film Taxi Driver.

He's a Vietnam War veteran (dishonorably discharged) suffering from insomnia and increasingly violent thoughts of vigilantism. He buys some guns and decides to try out a little tough guy speak. 

By himself. 

That's is when he utters the famous "You talkin' to me?" line…to an empty room.

Where you've heard it

Whenever anyone's trying to be tough (or jokingly trying to be tough), they'll pull this one out.

Additional Notable References

  • A comedy podcast about U2
  • Robert DeNiro party in Neighbors

Pretentious Factor

If you were to drop this quote at a dinner party, would you get an in-unison "awww" or would everyone roll their eyes and never invite you back? Here it is, on a scale of 1-10.

This isn't tough-guy speak, bro. It's a crazy person talking. And a legit crazy person used this movie as justification for an attempted presidential assassination. (Turn it up to 10 if you try to sound like DeNiro while saying it.)