You talkin' to me? (phrase): Difference between revisions
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| character = Travis Bickle |
| character = Travis Bickle |
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| actor = [[Robert De Niro]] |
| actor = [[Robert De Niro]] |
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| creator = |
| creator = [[Paul Schrader]] |
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| firstusedin = ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' |
| firstusedin = ''[[Taxi Driver]]'' |
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Revision as of 02:15, 3 September 2009
| You talkin' to me? | |
|---|---|
| Character | Travis Bickle |
| Actor | Robert De Niro |
| First used in | Taxi Driver |
| Voted #10 in AFI's 100 Movie Quotes poll | |
"You talkin' to me?" is a popular quote said by Travis Bickle, a character played by Robert De Niro in the 1976 movie Taxi Driver. The quote and the scene it was featured in have become a pop culture icon, and made De Niro a star. In 2005, it was chosen as #10 on the American Film Institute list, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes.[1]
In the scene, Bickle is looking into a mirror at himself, imagining a confrontation which would give him a chance to draw his gun. He says the following line:
"You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Then who the hell else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well I'm the only one here. Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?"
Roger Ebert called this quote "the truest line in the film." This line was also described by Ebert as "Travis Bickle's ... desperate need to make some kind of contact somehow - to share or mimic the effortless social interaction he sees all around him, but does not participate in."
Screenwriter Paul Schrader does not take credit for this line, saying that in that scene his script only read, "Travis speaks to himself in the mirror," and that DeNiro improvised the dialogue. However, Schrader went on to say that DeNiro's performance was inspired by a routine by "an underground New York comedian" whom he had once seen, possibly including his signature line.[2]
The first recorded instance of the line "You talkin' to me" was in an episode of The Twilight Zone called "Nervous Man in a Four Dollar Room", written by Rod Serling, spoken by the character Jackie Rhoeads.
References
- ^ "Frankly, My Dear, I Don't Give A Damn", AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, American Film Institute.
- ^ "'There was a sense of exhilaration about what we had done'", excerpt from Schrader on Schrader, in The Guardian, 1 September 2004.