The Scene
The script simply read: 'Travis talks to himself in the mirror.' What Robert De Niro created from that sparse direction became one of cinema's most quoted moments. Alone in his dingy apartment, Travis Bickle practices quick-drawing his concealed weapons, rehearsing confrontations that exist only in his fractured mind.
'You talkin' to me?' he challenges his reflection, cycling through threat and mock-surprise. The scene is deeply unsettling because we're watching a man lose himself in violent fantasy, yet De Niro makes it almost seductive. It captures the dangerous allure of reinvention through aggression that would explode in the film's bloody climax.
De Niro's improvisation drew from his extensive preparation for the role, which included actually driving a taxi through New York City for weeks. The mirror scene was shot in one afternoon, with Scorsese giving De Niro complete freedom to explore Travis's psyche.
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