General
- The "You talkin' to me?" scene has been parodied so much, it has its own page.
- The film's iconic poster is a mainstay of college dorms, and can be seen in the background in The Mitchells vs. the Machines, 13 Going on 30, Swingers, Dead Man's Shoes, Jarhead, Ghostbusters (2016) and Love (2015).
Anime and Manga
- In Cowboy Bebop, in the episode, "The Real Folk Blues," Spike makes a Finger Gun and pretends to shoot after a shooting rampage.
Comics
- Travis appears in a cameo in Before Watchmen, where he gives Rorschach a ride.
Film
- Daydream Nation: Barry plays with a gun while wearing an army jacket; a Palantine campaign poster can also be seen in the background.
- Drive (2011) shares quite a few thematic similarities with Taxi Driver, and mimics some of its shots and poster art (best seen in this post
). - The Lock-and-Load Montage in Evil Dead 2 spoofs a similar scene in Taxi Driver.
- Fear (1996): Mark Wahlberg's character is referred to as "Travis Bickle".
- First Reformed: like Travis, the protagonist pours alcohol on his breakfast. (Internal Homage, since the movies share a screenwriter in Paul Schrader.)
- Hot Fuzz: like Travis, the priest has a track system for holding guns up his sleeves.
- Joker copies a number of elements from the film, such as the finger guns gesture and the diary-keeping (to say nothing of the setting and ending).
- Kong: Skull Island: in Taxi Driver, Travis has a "King Kong Company" patch on his shirt. A similarly designed "Lizard Company" patch (confirmed as a deliberate homage) is seen on Preston Packard's shirt in Kong.
- Let's Go to Prison: John dresses up as Travis at one point.
- Greg has the DVD of the film in Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
- Napoleon Dynamite walking in slow motion wearing his new suit spoofs the scene in 'Taxi Driver' where Travis is shown walking in slow motion wearing a tacky red suit while on his way to meet Betsy for their first date.
- Neighbors (2014): Teddy dresses up as Travis Bickle.
- Observe and Report is a comedic version of Taxi Driver, with smaller references peppered throughout (like the protagonist flubbing and restarting his inner monologue).
- Pulp Fiction: the shot of Esmeralda's cab driver ID mirrors the shot of Travis Bickle's cab driver ID. (Tarantino has named Taxi Driver among his three favorite films.)
- Saw II: there's a photo of Travis Bickle on the police notice board.
- The psychotic Billy Bickle in Seven Psychopaths believes himself to be the son of Travis Bickle.
- Sheev Palpatine, the most important villain in the entire Star Wars franchise, was named after Senator Palantine.
- Transformers: Age of Extinction: Bumblebee plays an audio clip of the movie.
- Watchmen: the set design was heavily informed by Taxi Driver:Production designer Alex McDowell: We took frames from Taxi Driver, then painted them with the Watchmen colors so the end result is both period-correct, pop-culturally referential and graphic-novel layered. One of the bars on the street came directly from Taxi Driver.
Live Action Television
- 21 Jump Street: Hanson dresses up as Travis for Halloween.
- American Horror Story: after a killing spree, Tate mimics Travis's finger gun gesture upon seeing the police.
- Blue Bloods: Erin tells her daughter that the dress she tries on makes her look like Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver.
- Boardwalk Empire: during Bugsy Siegel's assassination attempt on Gyp Rosetti, the cinematography (with a slow overhead pan over the bodies) and the music are reminiscent of Taxi Driver's shooutout scene.
- The Boys: Homelander and Doppelganger are seen watching and discussing the movie.
- The Brady Bunch: in the film of the series, the Taxi Driver theme plays as Jan wanders the streets after running away from home.
- Criminal Minds: the episode "A Real Rain" is titled after Travis's monologue, and the cops in the episode discuss the movie.
- Everybody Loves Raymond: Peter Boyle recites the "One guy lives in Brooklyn, one guy lives in Sutton Place" speech.
- Just Shoot Me!: Jack's chauffeur keeps quoting the "righteous rain" speech.
- Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail cites Taxi Driver as a major influence behind the series, especially in its themes of urban isolation and the protagonist's mental health issues. Though later in the series, Elliot becomes more similar to both Betsy and Iris. Having a violent deranged man obsessed with him and being sexually abused as a child by a male figure.
- Often referenced in quips in Mystery Science Theater 3000.Crow: Travis Bickle had a better room than this.
- Northern Exposure: Joel fears he's losing his NYC edge and rents a VHS of the film to counter that.
- Lewis Wilson from The Punisher (2017) is inspired by Travis Bickle: he's a war veteran who works as a taxi driver, deals with PTSD that makes him unable to adjust to society, becomes homicidal, and ultimately tries to change society by force of arms. At point the reference becomes more blatant with Curtis Hoyle asking Frank Castle if Lewis' situation sounds familiar.
- Supernatural: in "Mystery Spot", the trickster calls Sam "Travis Bickle in a shirt".
- That '70s Show: Eric explains that he's good at shooting due to his "Taxi Driver phase".
- Trailer Park Boys: in "Jim Lahey is a drunk Bastard", a guy dressed like Travis Bickle is in the back of the crowd watching Mr. Lahey and Tom give their election speeches.
Music
- The music video for David Bowie's "I'm Afraid of Americans" is a Whole-Plot Reference to Taxi Driver.
- The Clash Sampled Travis' "wash the scum off the streets" speech for their song "Red Angel Dragnet" on their 1982 album Combat Rock.
- Rancid have a song called "Travis Bickle", which is titled after and sung from the POV of the protagonist of Taxi Driver..
- Rollins Band's "Disconnect" video is modeled on the film, with Henry Rollins in the Travis Bickle role.
Western Animation
- Bob's Burgers: the Couch Gag on the season 10 episode "Just the Trip" has a store called "You Walkin' to Me?" next door to Bob's Burgers.
- The "cleansing rain" monologue is quoted or parodied in Bob's Burgers, Family Guy and The Simpsons.
- Goof Troop: The shady taxi driver that Pete and Goofy hire to look for Max and P.J. in "Big City Blues" is based on Travis Bickle.
Video Games
- The Godfather Part II: the name of the taxi company is Bickle Cab Company.
- Grand Theft Auto:
- In the original game, one of the character profiles the player can choose is a man with a mohawk called Travis.
- Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories: there is a taxi cab called the Bickle '76, referencing the last name of Taxi Driver's protagonist and the year the film was released in.
- Shadow Warrior (2013) has a cutscene where Lo Wang shaves his head while lampshading that he is giving himself an Important Haircut, like in Taxi Driver.
