Which Scorsese film features a famous 'You talkin' to me?' monologue?

The story behind the answer

The famous 'You talkin' to me?' monologue appears in Martin Scorsese's 'Taxi Driver'.

Robert De Niro delivers the scene as Travis Bickle, a lonely and increasingly unstable New York City taxi driver. Standing before a mirror, Bickle imagines confronting an opponent and rehearses how he would respond. The monologue reveals his isolation, aggression and growing obsession with becoming a violent self-appointed protector.

The scene is especially notable because the dialogue was largely improvised by De Niro. Screenwriter Paul Schrader wrote the surrounding sequence, but De Niro developed the repeated challenge and much of its rhythm during filming. Scorsese reportedly drew inspiration from a mirror scene involving Marlon Brando in the 1967 film 'Reflections in a Golden Eye'.

The quote became one of cinema's most recognizable lines and is often mistakenly treated as a generic Robert De Niro catchphrase. In the film, however, it belongs specifically to Travis Bickle's mirror rehearsal. The American Film Institute ranked it tenth on its 2005 list of greatest movie quotes.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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