Everyone always talks about the “You talkin’ to me” scene or the final shoot out at the end but, for me personally, the scene that I always look forward to whenever I see Taxi Driver is the scene where demented cabbie Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) buys an arsenal from the friendly and sleazy Andy (Steven Prince). I’ve always felt that Taxi Driver was meant to be more a comedy than anything else and this scene manages to be funny and disturbing at the same time.
Apparently, Prince was a former heroin addict-turned-personal assistant to director Martin Scorsese. His appearance here is proof of how the right actor in the right part in the right scene can totally dominate even with only 3 minutes of screen time.
Through the Shattered Lens 
I never knew about the addict / personal assistant angle. That’s interesting. What I like about this scene is how after Bickle says he wants all of it, the guy is ready to sell him a whole bunch of other drugs. He rattles off everything including a Caddy. Now that’s a salesman. 🙂
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I know, right? He’s just so eager and cute about it all. 🙂 And I love how Travis has just been buying an arsenal there and then he’s aiming the guns out the window at people and pretending like he’s shooting them and then as soon as Andy goes, “You want some dope? Some hash?” Travis gives him this look like, “What type of person do you think I am!?” lol.
Scorsese later made a short film — and I can’t remember the title off the top of my head — that was basically just him interviewing Steve Prince about his life. I’ve never seen it but I sure do want to. 🙂
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It’s scenes like this one that makes Taxi Driver very grindhouse and exploitation to me.
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