FAQ for
Taxi Driver (1976) More at IMDbPro »

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Scorsese himself has commented that it was meant to signal to the audience that Travis could have a fit of rage again at any point in the future and that he is not the glorious hero the newspapers make him out to be. The sound itself was originally a cymbal clash. However, Scorsese felt that it sounded too cliché so Bernard Herrmann had the idea to play the sound backwards, making it sound unusual and threatening.

It is Robert De Niro. The newspaper clippings look like his driver's license picture, and in the picture, the newspaper is slightly faded and he looks as if he's clean shaven so he doesn't look quite the same as we are used to seeing him throughout the movie.

As for the rearview mirror, it was definitely De Niro again as seen by the mole on his cheek. Though admittedly he does look different than the alternate shot of his entire face. This could be explained that it was filmed at a different time so the makeup might have changed between filming.

No, in order to secure the film an R rating, Martin Scorsese had to desaturate the colour of the film for the shootout scene so the blood does not look as graphic. Scorsese has admitted he actually liked the desaturated result better than the original, but the film's writer did not. The original negatives from the 70's which contain the fully saturated blood were eventually destroyed.