Ebert said it was one of the greatest films he had ever seen and gave it four stars.
Gene Sisko (as transcribed) gave it a thumbs down; he is called a little prudish with this material, and Saturday Night Fever is called his favorite movie.
The thumbs-down review found interesting ground spoiled by a violent, unpleasant and unnecessary climax; Ebert answered that without the violent climax it would not be the same movie, and the two argued about it.
The dissenting critic is thought to have possibly backtracked, and a joke says the film could have ended in a disco.

Casting What-Ifs

Harvey Keitel as the campaign worker

In the discussion (4)

Approx. transcript time · 01:10:40Read transcript

The casting items come from the internet with uncertain accuracy; Schrader reportedly wrote Travis with Jeff Bridges in mind, which seems possible.
Scorsese reportedly talked to Dustin Hoffman, who found the movie too crazy; its truth is doubted.
Keitel was definitely offered the campaign worker role Albert Brooks played and wanted the pimp instead; the studio had the pimp changed to a white character over riot and liability fears, and Keitel ended up in the part.
Reports conflict on whether Melanie Griffith was first offered Iris; a Linda Blair possibility and a Tatum O'Neal / Bad News Bears swap are also mentioned with doubt.

De Niro honoring his $35,000 deal; Connie Foster as body double; Julia Phillips's book on Cybill Shepherd's lines; Dick Smith's fake Mohawk; gunshot makeup effects; Mohawk on display at the Museum of the Moving Image

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:18:10Read transcript

After De Niro's profile rose the producers feared they could not afford him, but he honored his original $35,000 deal, which helped get the movie made.
Jodie Foster's sister Connie, about 19, was her body double for scenes such as the last one.
Producer Julia Phillips's book says they were frustrated that Shepherd could not remember her lines in the coffee-and-pie scene.
The most shocking find is that De Niro's Mohawk was not real: Dick Smith made a bald cap with individually placed hairs so other scenes could be filmed after the Mohawk scenes.
Haircuts during a shoot make producers' heads explode; productions ask to be told before an actor cuts their hair.
Smith's gunshot effects are amazing, though a fishing-line pull on the neck wound is visible in slow motion; the blood running down the finger-gun hand is also smartly done.
The Mohawk hairpiece is on display at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria.

Picking Nits

Betsy flirting with Travis

In the discussion (6)

Approx. transcript time · 01:24:06Read transcript

The biggest nit is whether Betsy would really flirt with Travis, since someone so gorgeous must have been swatting men away for years.
A reply argues he has something charming and deep, echoed by her saying he is not like anyone she has met, before he self-destructs like athletes who blow it when it's working.
He is running a Neil Strauss 'The Game' pickup routine, negging her, and can say these things because he is a full-on stalker.
The film never presents Travis as a good guy yet makes viewers relate to his anger, like Alex in A Clockwork Orange, a bold, very 70s move.
Joker with Phoenix is the modern version, which may have needed to be an overt homage to get made.
Documentaries now show such behavior directly, and the Jeffrey Epstein documentary is what Taxi Driver would be today.

Probably Unanswerable Questions

Dream or fantasy reading; rearview-mirror sound sting; Travis Bickle in 2021

In the discussion (7)

Approx. transcript time · 01:27:27Read transcript

Though the creators reject it, how much of the ending or the film is a dream or happens in Travis's head is open to interpretation. — Sean Fennessey
A reply says it is all happening, unlike Burning; it would feel unreal only if Betsy had been friendly at the end, and the sound over the rearview mirror shows the time bomb ticking again.
The meaning of the rearview sting is asked; Herrmann came up with the sound, played backwards, and it reads as Travis constantly watching his back.
Scorsese's and Calvinist-raised Schrader's religious streak suggests a heaven-and-hell reading, as with the burning flowers; Schrader's original ending was far bloodier, like a samurai movie or The Wild Bunch.
A 2021 Travis Bickle would be on the internet 19 hours a day, a less interesting movie.
Incel comparisons do not fit because Travis has no sexualization, and online he would find a community that fed his disturbances rather than being God's lonely man.
He would find his people or curate his own reality; in the film he can't, and even at the late-night diner he spaces out.