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{{Infobox character
| name = Travis Bickle
| image = ]
| portrayer = ]
| creator = ]
| species =
| gender = Male
| first = '']''
| last =
| cause =
| age = 26
| born = 1950
| occupation = ], ]
| title =
| nickname =
| alias =
| family =
| spouse =
| children =
| relatives =
| residence = ], ]
| religion =
| nationality = {{flagicon|US}} ]
}}

'''Travis Bickle''' is a fictional character from the 1976 film '']'', played by ].

In the ]'s ], Bickle was named the 30th greatest film ]. '']'' magazine also ranked him 18th in their "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters" poll.<ref>{{cite news | last = | first = | coauthors = | title = The 100 Greatest Movie Characters | work = ] | pages = | language = | publisher = | date = | url = http://www.empireonline.com/100-greatest-movie-characters/default.asp?c=18 | accessdate = 2008-12-02 }}</ref>

==Biography==
Not a lot is known about Bickle's past other than that he is a former ] who served in ], and has "not much" education. He was ] from the military in 1973. He is socially inept, has no apparent friends, and is suffering from ]. He takes a job as a graveyard shift ] driver to occupy his time. As he works late at night in dangerous neighborhoods, his customers tend to include ]s, ], and ]. He is visibly disgusted by them, and begins ] about "cleansing" such "filth" from the streets.

Bickle becomes smitten with a woman, Betsy (]), who works in the local ] of a ], a ] Palantine. He often watches Betsy from his cab, and finally enters the office with the pretense of wanting to support the would-be candidate, and asks her out. They meet for coffee, and Betsy finds him odd but intriguing, and agrees to see him again. This time, he takes her to the porno movie theater he frequents, apparently seeing nothing unusual in his choice of date venue. She is appalled and refuses to see him again.

After Betsy rejects him, Bickle becomes increasingly ] and starts acting out his ] fantasies. He buys several guns and takes to carrying them, and knives secreted about his person — taped to his limbs, for example, or in hidden spring-loaded holsters. He famously practices a menacing, tough guy swagger in the mirror &mdash; '']'' &mdash; to use on whomever angers him. Eventually, he shaves his head into a ]. He attends one of Palantine's speeches, apparently intent on shooting him. He draws the attention of ] agents and flees, so it is never clear whether he would have carried out the ].

He also becomes obsessed with "saving" Iris (]), a 12-year-old ] he has seen on his route. He pays her pimp, Sport (]), for her time, but refuses to have sex with her, trying instead to persuade her to leave prostitution and return home to her parents. Iris rebuffs him, only increasing his anger and resolve to take her away from a dangerous life. He shoots and kills Sport, but is wounded in the process. He goes on a rampage through a ] in which Iris is servicing a client, killing the client and a bouncer with a wounded arm.

The newspapers hail Bickle as a hero for rescuing Iris. While in the hospital, he receives a letter from her parents, thanking him profusely for returning their daughter to them (she had been sent home after the police arrived and found out she was a ]). After recovering, he sees Betsy, who grants him an admiring, seductive smile.

==Pop culture references==
* Bickle's first name was a homage to the Mick Travis character (played by ]) in '']'' (]) and '']'' (]), the latter of which was one of Scorsese's favorite films at the time.
* ] song "Red Angel Dragnet" from their album, '']'', refers to Bickle, and quotes dialogue from the film.
*]'s ] album '']'' includes the song "Travis Bickle."
*] repeatedly sample the musical score from the film, along with voice clips.
*]' song "If It's The Last Thing I Do" (''a.k.a.'' "Travis") starts ''"Sometimes I feel like Travis Bickle/ Just wanna shoot up all the bad lurking in this town"''.
*Australian ] band Valentia have a song called "Travis", in reference to Travis Bickle, from their 2005 release ''Trapped in a Metaphor.''
*]'s song "Botanic Mistress", from their album ''Home from Home'', begins with the line ''"I felt like Travis Bickle, tyrannical, lonely and blue"'', and later in the song has ''"And I'll feel like Bickle once more, And maybe I will lose it, Go insane and start a gun war?!"''.
*] reference Travis Bickle in the song "High Plains Drifter", from their 1989 album '']'', with the line "Bust a Travis Bickle when I feel that I'm getting pushed".
*] ] sounds and dialogue from movie in their cover of ]'s song "The Badge", which appears on '']'' soundtrack.
*]' ] for the single "Disconnect" features him as the Travis Bickle character.
*]'s album '']'' includes sounds and dialogue from the movie in his song "At the Speed of Life".
*]'s song "Doin' the things that we want to" off his '']'' album includes the line, "Here's to Travis Bickle and here's to Johnny Boy growin' up on the mean streets of New York." This is a reference to De Niro's earlier performance in Scorsese's film '']''.
*]'s hotel scene in '']'' portrays him practicing his De Niro impression on a mirror, with some improvisation.
* In ]'s 1995 film '']'', one of the chief protagonists, Vinz, re-enacts Bickle's monologue in front of his mirror with a policeman's gun.
* The ] song "Even Superman Shot Himself" off of the album ''Mega!! Kung Fu Radio'' uses the lyric "Like Travis Bickle said, 'Suck on this'." The song "Organizized" came from a line of dialogue from the movie: "one of these days I gotta get myself organizized."
* In the film '']'', murals depicting characters from ''Taxi Driver'' are visible in the bar scene, including one of Bickle as Mark Renton leans against the wall.
* In the song "Just Another Victim," by ] and ] (Featured on the OST For the film '']'') the lyrics include: "Holy diver I'm a survivor/Feeling like DeNiro In ''Taxi Driver''/With Jodie Foster And Harvey Keitel..."
*The 2005 video game '']'' features a bonus taxicab dubbed "Bickle '76", a reference to both Travis Bickle and the year of ''Taxi Driver'''s theatrical release.
*In an issue of '']'', ] and his filthy assistants exit a cab owned by the Bickle Taxi Co., and their driver looks like Bickle, complete with mohawk.
* In the 2000 film '']'', the character of Fearless Leader (played by Robert De Niro) delivers a version of Travis Bickle's "Are you talking to me?" dialogue.
* In the Element Skateboards film, "Element World Tour", the sound bite heard before Reese Forbes' part is taken from Travis Bickle's narrative about getting into shape.
*On the '']'' episode "]" the character of Eddie Sherman is similar to Travis Bickle. Eddie wears army clothing and appears to be antisocial and introverted. Eddie also mention how a girl he really liked went out with him a couple of time and then things just cooled off, much like the relationship Travis had with Betsy.
*In '']'' "At the Movies" Tommy watches a scene from what appears to be "Taxi Driver", and sees Travis' famed "You talkin' to me" line, while holding a banana.

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bickle, Travis}}
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Revision as of 15:55, 22 September 2009

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