The 3-Act Paradigm at Work: Taxi Driver

written by Paul Schrader


Taxi Driver is a dark drama about a man who goes over the edge -- and in so doing, becomes an unlikely hero.

Structural Analysis

  1. Hook (1-3 min.)
    • An insomniac, Travis, talks himself into a job driving cab. He is a haunting figure of a man -- and this is a character hook.
  2. Complication (8 min.)
    • Travis passes a woman on the street, who walks into the political campaign headquarters where she works. He sees her as an angel in the sordid mess all around him.
  3. Call to Action (18 min.)
    • Travis gets up nerve to barge into the campaign headquarters, meet the woman (Betsy) and talk himself into a date.
  4. Act One Plot Point (33-6 min.)
    • He makes the mistake of taking Betsy to a porno movie. She leaves in a huff and refuses to go out with him again.
  5. Midpoint Plot Point (53-6 min.)
    • Travis rises out of funk and depression after losing Betsy to prepare for war. He buys weapons, builds contraptions that hide them on his body, and works himself into great physical shape. He clearly is preparing for something.
  6. Act Two Plot Point (95-7 min.)
    • But his attempt to assassinate the senator for whom Betsy works fails when he is spotted. Instead he goes on a rampage against the pimp of an underage prostitute he has befriended, killing him and ending up in a shootout at the rooming house the young prostitute works out of, getting severely wounded himself.
  7. Climax and Resolution (105-7 min.)
    • Travis becomes a hero in the press and to the young prostitute's parents, who reunite with her and get her back in school. When Betsy climbs into his cab, making overtures that she might want to see him again, he drives off before she can pay her fare.

    Notes

    This is an intense study of a troubled man, and there are very few moments when Travis is not in the focus of a scene. The antagonist here is the dreariness and decay of the urban center, the "scum" his taxi drives through each night. Has Travis made some peace with the world and himself after this strange journey to becoming a hero? The film leaves the answer ambiguous.
    MODULE 4: SCREENWRIGHT: the craft of screenwriting

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