Question: Is there an official explanation to the ending of the movie? Some people say that it was Travis's dream sequence, and others say it was Travis going back to his manic depressive self again. What caused Travis to get so startled when he was looking at the rear vision mirror? Did Scorsese deliberately make the ending very vague or is there supposed to be an explanation to the ending?
Sammo
22nd Jan 2005
Taxi Driver (1976)
Answer: There is. Both Scorsese (in the audio commentary) and screenwriter Paul Schrader in multiple interviews establish that the ending is not to be taken as a dream sequence or anything of the sort. I love the previous answer, by the way, it does nail what has also been stated; while Travis survived this time, it's very likely there will be a next.
Answer: This is just my opinion. Remember Iris's line "Have you ever tried looking at your own eyeballs in the mirror?" or something to that effect. Well, Travis sees the madness reflected in his own eyes, doesn't like what he sees (as it reminds him of what he has done, what he might yet do).