TristrumShady

Slightly long question-apologies

I was fortunate enough to see Taxi Driver on the big screen a few years ago when it was released on Blu-Ray.

There was a film discussion organised afterwards and one of the main topics of conversation centred on whether the character of Travis Bickle was a racist.

Most participants seemed convinced that Travis was a racist (against black people) and cited an earlier draft of the Taxi Driver script in which Harvey Keitel's character 'Sport' as one of their main justifications.

I was surprised at this view, I always saw Bickle as an angry, isolated character but one who just hated the bad/evil in society, not any race in particular. He never seems to target a particular group or race, just the villains in his city.

I never thought I'd get the chance to ask the writer so here we go! Did you write the character of Travis as a racist?

Thanks for the response. Didn't know that about the recasting of Sport, very interesting.