Taxi Driver screenwriter Paul Schrader weighs in on one theory regarding the film’s ending and Travis Bickle’s possible death. Released in 1976, the film is directed by Martin Scorsese and remains one of the director’s most acclaimed works. Robert De Niro memorably takes on the starring role as Bickle, an unstable veteran with increasingly violent desires. The film’s climax sees Bickle injured in a gruesome shootout, but ultimately surviving and getting a mostly happy ending.
Now, in a recent response to a question on Twitter, Schrader clarifies his intentions regarding the Taxi Driver ending. A popular theory – recently regurgitated in a news post regarding De Niro reportedly reprising his role as Bickle for an Uber ad – posits that Bickle dies during the climactic shootout and that the film’s final scenes are in Bickle’s imagination. Schrader now confirms that this isn’t how he sees the ending. Check out a screenshot of Schrader’s post below:
“It wasn’t our intention but it’s a legitimate interpretation,” writes Schrader, affirming that there’s nothing wrong with believing that Bickle does indeed die.
Why Taxi Driver’s Ending Is So Memorable
The ending to Taxi Driver is shockingly violent. Deciding to rescue Iris (Jodie Foster), a child prostitute, Bickle enters the brothel where she works and kills her pimp and one of Iris’ clients, sustaining several gunshot wounds in the process. He then kills the establishment’s bouncer, too, and then turns his gun on himself. Bickle is out of bullets, however, and one of the film’s most iconic scenes is Bickle putting a finger gun to his head.
Taxi Driver is very much a slow burn film, and the ending serves as the culmination of all of Bickle’s darkest thoughts and urges. The movie puts the audience inside Bickle’s head, and the lines of where reality meets imagination sometimes feel blurred. This is ultimately crucial to Taxi Driver‘s longevity, with each subsequent re-watch unveiling new details and meanings.
While Schrader may not have intended for Taxi Driver‘s ending to take place within Bickle’s head, it is, as he says, a fair interpretation. Being able to interpret a movie in a breadth of different ways can help it live on in the public consciousness, and it’s undoubtedly one of the many reasons why Scorsese’s 1976 film remains one of his best.
