December 11, 1978: The Lufthansa Heist

December 11, 1978: The largest robbery on American soil to that point is committed at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, New York City. 

Members of the Lucchese crime family robbed Lufthansa Cargo Building 261, belonging to Lufthansa, the largest airline in Germany, taking $5 million in cash and $875,000 worth of jewelry. The $5,875,000 heist would be worth about $26.4 million in 2022 money. The story was told in the film Goodfellas, but, with most of the names changed, the story is true.

Organized crime in New York is led by the so-called Five Families: Lucchese, Gambino, Genovese, Colombo and Bonanno. Jimmy "the Gent" Burke was a Lucchese associate, but, being of Irish descent, he could never be a "soldier," or a "made man," in the "family." But, as the top hijacker of trucks and their cargo in New York in the 1960s and '70s, he sure made them a lot of money. He had previously done so at JFK Airport, at the Air France terminal on April 7, 1967, netting $420,000 worth of cash and cargo (about $3.7 million today).

Having succeeded in the Lufthansa heist, Burke was paranoid about it. He was afraid that, if his guys spent too much of the loot too soon, it would attract the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (As the crime was on the grounds of an airport, it was in the FBI's jurisdiction, not the New York Police Department's.)

But it was 2 weeks before Christmas, and, in anticipation of getting their share of the loot, some of the guys in Burke's crew began spending like crazy, especially on their wives and/or mistresses. One of them bought a brand-new top-of-the-line Cadillac, which, parked in front of a known Lucchese Family hideout in Queens, might as well have been spray-painted with the words "UNMARKED MOB CAR." And some of them were getting antsy, and demanded their share before Burke was ready to give the shares out.

So all through 1979, members of Burke's crew started dying. The guy who bought the car, and his wife, were found shot to death inside the car. One member of the crew, Henry Hill, got busted for cocaine trafficking in 1980, and it may have saved his life, because Jimmy had told him to go down to Florida to perform a contract killing. That made Henry suspicious, because Jimmy had never asked him to do a "hit" before. He was sure that if he went down, he would never come back up alive. So he made preparations to go into hiding, but the Feds got him first.

The first time Henry got arrested, as a teenager, he kept his mouth shut, earning the respect of Burke, Burke's boss Paul Vario, and everybody else who called Vario his boss. This time, with a wife and 2 kids to think about, he spilled his guts.

Ironically, most of the guys he ratted on were charged with things other than the Lufthansa heist. Burke, the mastermind, was charged for his role in the 1978-79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. While serving time for that, he was convicted of a murder, and that had nothing to do with the Lufthansa heist or its aftermath, either. He was doomed to die in prison, and did, in 1996. So did Paul Vario, in 1988.

Hill was involved in the planning of the Lufthansa heist, but did not actually participate in it, only finding out it was successful by listening to the radio the next morning. (He did participate in the Air France robbery at JFK in 1967.)

He and his family went into the FBI's Witness Protection Program, going from the life of a millionaire gangster to, as he put it, "living like a schnook." Nicholas Pileggi wrote the book Wiseguy based on Hill's story, and quoted Hill, half-Italian and half-Irish (and thus also ineligible to be a made man, as you have to be full Italian, preferably full Sicilian but that's negotiable), as having to endure indignities like ordering spaghetti marinara and getting egg noodles with ketchup.

In 1990, Martin Scorsese released the film Goodfellas, based on Pileggi's book. The two of them wrote the screenplay together, and it has been hailed as one of the best movies ever made, not just one of the best gangster movies. Hill was played by Ray Liotta. Hill and his wife Karen, played by Lorraine Bracco, were the only people whose names weren't changed for the movie. (Although the guy who bought the Cadillac, and paid for it with his life and his wife's? He was played by a guy named Johnny Williams, and his nickname was Johnny Roastbeef. Scorcese liked the nickname so much, he named the character "Johnny Roastbeef," too.) As of December 11, 2022, Williams is still alive.

Jimmy Burke, who was still alive but in prison when the movie came out, became Jimmy Conway, and was played by Robert De Niro. Vario became Paul Cicero, and was played by Paul Sorvino. Tommy DeSimone, involved in both heists, became Tommy DeVito, and was played by Joe Pesci. In real life, DeSimone was not funny. In fact, Pesci may have toned the character down.

The real Hill couldn't stay out of trouble, and was busted for drugs again, and served time, and was kicked out of the Witness Protection Program. Karen divorced him, and she and their kids were allowed to stay in the Program.

Henry Hill was a schnook. Still, the Mob never did kill him. He did that to himself: He may have gotten off drugs, but he continued to drink like there was no tomorrow, and died in 2012, a day after his 69th birthday.

The money and the jewels from the Lufthansa heist have never been found.

One more thing: That great single-shot sequence of Henry and Karen going through the kitchen to the main room of New York's legendary Copacabana Club, to the tune of "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals? Well, the Copa has since been moved to new addresses, but is still in business. The original building, at 10 East 60th Street, is still there, and Scorcese had the interior made up to look like it did in 1963 when that song came out.

And I wish somebody had done a similar filming sequence at the old Yankee Stadium, from Subway tunnel to gate to seat, before it was torn down.

*

December 11, 1978 was a Monday. It was the off-season for baseball, and there were no games played that night in the NBA, the NHL or the WHA. But, that night, on ABC's Monday Night Football, the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Los Angeles Rams, 20-19 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

November 25, 1976: The Band's "Last Waltz"

November 25, 1976: Once upon a time, there was a rock and roll band named simply "The Band." On this Thanksgiving Night, their original lineup played its last concert. It led to what has often been called the greatest rock documentary, titled The Last Waltz.

In 1957, in his native Arkansas, high school senior Levon Helm met singer Ronnie Hawkins. Hawkins invited Helm to drum with his band, The Hawks. Hawkins hadn't gotten very far in America, but was popular in Canada. The rest of the band was from the Canadian Province of Ontario: Lead guitarist Robbie Robertson from Toronto, bass guitarist Rick Danko from Blayney, and keyboard players Richard Manuel from Stratford, and Garth Hudson from Windsor, across the Detroit River from Detroit.

In 1963, tired of playing the same old songs instead of original material, the Hawks left Hawkins. In 1965, they joined Bob Dylan, and became his touring band until his motorcycle wreck in 1966. As Dylan recovered in 1967, together, in the basement of Dylan's house in Saugerties, New York, they recorded what became known as The Basement Tapes. These songs wouldn't be released until 1975.

But they did form the basis for the group's 1968 debut album, named for the house: Music from Big Pink. Because the locals called them simply "the band," that's what they called themselves. Three of the songs on the album were written by Dylan: "Tears of Rage," written with Manuel; "This Wheel's On Fire," written with Danko; and one of the best songs Dylan's ever written, "I Shall Be Released." But the album is best known for "The Weight," written by Robertson, who became the group's main songwriter.

In 1969, The Band played at the Woodstock festival, and then released their follow-up album, also titled simply The Band. It included their 2 best-known songs: "Up On Cripple Creek," a truck driver's tale of his mistress (clearly, "my big mama" and "my Bessie," both mentioned in the last verse, are 2 different women); and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," in which a Confederate civilian laments what the Civil War did to his people (who, of course, started it, for an incredibly evil reason).

The continued to record and tour together, but got weary of touring. In 1976, Robertson said they should retire from live performances. On October 30, they appeared on Saturday Night Live. They played 1 more show, on November 25, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, and it was filmed for a documentary by Martin Scorcese, who was coming off making Taxi Driver.

It was Thanksgiving Night, and free turkey dinners were provided for the 5,000 people in attendance. The night was loaded with guests. The Band had made peace with Hawkins, and he was on hand. So was Dylan. So was blues legend Muddy Waters, whom the whole Band admired. So were ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone Ron Wood, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Neil Diamond, Van Morrison, Emmylou Harris and Paul Butterfield. The show ended with Dylan leading the ensemble singing "I Shall Be Released." The film about the show, The Last Waltz, was released on April 26, 1978.

In 1983, without Robertson, who didn't want to get back together, the rest of the band went back on tour. But on March 4, 1986, after a performance outside Orlando in Winter Park, Florida, Manuel, struggling with substance abuse, hanged himself in his motel room. He was only 42 years old.

In 1992, The Band played "When I Paint My Masterpiece" at the Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. At that point, The Band consisted of Helm, Danko, Hudson, guitarist Jim Weider, keyboardist Richard Bell and drummer Randy Ciarlante (as Helm switched to mandolin).

Danko died on December 10, 1999; Bell on June 15, 2007; Helm on April 19, 2012; and Hawkins on May 29, 2022. As of November 25, 2022, Robertson, Hudson, Weider and Ciarlante are still alive.

UPDATE: Robertson died on August 9, 2023. Garth Hudson died on January 21, 2025. And it took me until 2024 to think of this, but the 1970s were Schrödinger's Decade. There was too much overwrought music, and, at the same time, not enough of it.

*

November 25, 1976, like all Thanksgiving Days, was a Thursday. There were 2 games played in the NFL.

* The Detroit Lions beat the Buffalo Bills, 27-14 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan. In a losing effort for the Bills, O.J. Simpson rushed for 273 yards, a new single-game NFL record. I have a separate entry for this event.

Walter Payton would break that record the next season. O.J., of course, would go on to have a very different kind of "record."

* And the Dallas Cowboys beat the football version of the St. Louis Cardinals, 19-14 at Texas Stadium in suburban Irving, 10 miles northwest of downtown Dallas. The leading rusher in that game only had 54 yards, and it was the Cowboys' quarterback, Roger "the Dodger" Staubach.

There were 3 college games:

* Number 11 Texas A&M beat arch-rival Texas, 27-3 at Memorial Stadium in Austin.

* Number 17 Rutgers beat Colgate, 17-9 at Rutgers Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey. This completed an 11-0, undefeated season for Rutgers. I have a separate entry for that event.

* And Kent State beat Northern Illinois, 42-0 at Dix Stadium in the Cleveland suburb of Kent, Ohio.

One more note from football on this day: Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was born.

Baseball was out of season. In recent times, the NBA and the NHL have avoided playing on Thanksgiving, so as not to compete for TV ratings with the NFL. But, this time, there were 3 NBA games:

* The Cleveland Cavaliers, beat the Detroit Pistons, 111-105 at The Coliseum in the Cleveland suburb of Richfield, Ohio.

* The Houston Rockets beat the New Orleans Jazz, 105-99 at the Superdome in New Orleans. In defeat, "Pistol" Pete Maravich scored 35 points.

* And the Phoenix Suns beat the Washington Bullets, 104-98 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

There were 2 NHL games. The New York Islanders lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 3-1 at the Nassau Coliseum. And the Boston Bruins beat the Vancouver Canucks, 4-2 at the Boston Garden.

And there were 2 games in the World Hockey Association. The New England Whalers beat the Birmingham Bulls, 5-3 at the Jefferson County Civic Center in Birmingham. And the Quebec Nordiques beat the Indianapolis Racers, 5-0 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis.

September 19, 1990: "Goodfellas" Premieres

Left to right: Ray Liotta, Robert De Niro,

Paul Sorvino, Martin Scorcese and Joe Pesci

September 19, 1990: Goodfellas premieres, directed by Martin Scorcese, based on the book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi. Along with Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, it is considered perhaps the greatest film ever made about organized crime.

Pileggi had collaborated with Henry Hill, an associate of the Lucchese crime family. He was played by Ray Liotta in the movie. Organized crime in New York is led by the so-called Five Families: Lucchese, Gambino, Genovese, Colombo and Bonanno.

(In case anyone affiliated with any of them is reading this, I did not list them in that order for any particular reason. I only listed the Lucchese family first because that's who Hill worked for. No slight was intended to any of the other families.)

Henry, who narrates the film, worked under Lucchese associate Jimmy "the Gent" Burke, whose name was changed to Jimmy Conway for the movie. He was played by Robert De Niro. As in real life, the half-Italian, but also half-Irish, Hill and the all-Irish Conway could never be a "soldier," or "made man," in the "family" -- only an "associate." But, as the top hijacker of trucks and their cargo in New York in the 1960s and '70s, Burke/Conway sure made them a lot of money, so they treated him well.

The first time Henry got arrested, as a teenager, he kept his mouth shut, earning the respect of Conway, Burke, Lucchese capo Paul Vario, and everybody else who called Vario his boss. For the movie, Vario's name was changed to Paul Cicero, and he was played by Paul Sorvino.

Lorraine Bracco plays Karen Friedman, Henry's girlfriend and eventual wife, who is seduced by Henry's free-spending lifestyle. This is emphasized by a great single-shot sequence of Henry and Karen going through the kitchen to the main room of New York's legendary Copacabana Club, to the tune of "Then He Kissed Me" by The Crystals.

In real life, the Copa has since been moved to new addresses, but is still in business. The original building, at 10 East 60th Street, is still there, and Scorcese had the interior made up to look like it did in 1963 when that song came out. I wish somebody had done a similar filming sequence at the old Yankee Stadium, from Subway tunnel to gate to seat, before it was torn down.

The film tells how, on April 7, 1967, a team led by Conway robbed the Air France terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens, netting $420,000 worth of cash and cargo (about $3.7 million in 2022 money). This team included Hill and Tommy DeSimone, renamed Tommy DeVito for the movie. He was played by Joe Pesci, and the role, for which Pesci won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, forever defined him as a Mobbed-up, foul-mouthed Italian lunatic who could be set off by anything, including references to his short stature, and even by a compliment: "I'm funny? Funny, how?"

This was demonstrated by recreating the events of June 11, 1970. Two weeks earlier, William Bentvena, a.k.a. Billy Batts -- his "Mob name" was not changed for the film, and his real name wasn't mentioned -- had just gotten out of prison on a drug trafficking charge. Conway (Burke) owned a Queens nightclub named Robert's Lounge, and threw a party for Batts. DeSimone was there, and Batts, a made man in the Gambino family, asked DeSimone if he still shined shoes, a reference to his being short.

On June 11, Batts was at The Suite, a Queens nightclub owned by Hill. DeSimone assaulted Batts, beating him until he was apparently dead. DeSimone, Hill and Conway put him in the trunk of Hill's car, drove him to a secluded spot in Upstate New York, made sure he was dead, and buried him there.

By 1973, Hill had a cocaine connection in Pittsburgh, and a cocaine addiction, and mistresses. He was arrested and sent to prison, but kept his connection going there. When he got out, Vario warned him to stay away from coke, either using, trafficking or dealing. But he was too weak to stay away.

Burke's gang planned to rob the Lufthansa Cargo Building at JFK Airport. Hill was part of the planning, but did not participate in the actual robbery. On the morning of December 11, 1978, while listening to the radio in the shower, he learns that they pulled it off overnight. The $5,875,000 heist, the largest ever on American soil to that point, would be worth about $26.4 million in 2022 money.

Having succeeded in the Lufthansa heist, Burke was paranoid about it. He was afraid that, if his guys spent too much of the loot too soon, it would attract the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. (As the crime was on the grounds of an airport, it was in the FBI's jurisdiction, not the New York Police Department's.)

But it was 2 weeks before Christmas, and, in anticipation of getting their share of the loot, some of the guys in Burke's crew began spending like crazy, especially on their wives and/or mistresses. One of them bought a brand-new top-of-the-line pink Cadillac, which, parked in front of a known Lucchese Family hideout in Queens, might as well have been spray-painted with the words "UNMARKED MOB CAR." And some of them were getting antsy, and demanded their share before Burke was ready to give the shares out.

So all through 1979, members of Burke's crew started dying. The guy who bought the car, and his wife, were found shot to death inside the car. Scorcese showed these murders to the tune of the Jim Gordon piano and Eric Clapton & Duane Allman guitar outro from "Layla" by Derek and the Dominoes.

One murder that was not connected to this was that of Tommy DeVito. In real life, DeSimone was reported missing by his wife on January 14, 1979, a mere 34 days after the Lufthansa heist. The real Hill gave conflicting answers as to what happened to him, including that he was killed by Vario's son Peter, and that he was killed by the eventual boss of the Gambino Family, John Gotti. who had been a close friend of Batts'.

The film shows DeVito being convinced that he's going to be "made," which requires a ceremony attended by other made men. He's driven to a house, and when he walks into a room, he sees it's empty. For once, his bravado falls, because he knows it's a trap. He has just enough time to say, "Oh, no," before he's shot in the head.

This leads to a phone call to Conway, who, in his anger and his grief, destroys the phone booth. It also leads to the movie's most-remembered quote, from Hill: "It was revenge for Billy Batts, and a lot of other things. And there was nothing that we could do about it. Batts was a made man, and Tommy wasn't. And we had to sit still and take it. It was among the Italians. It was real greaseball shit. They even shot Tommy in the face, so his mother couldn't give him an open coffin at the funeral." (Tommy's mother had been played by Catherine Scorcese, the director's mother. She appeared in 16 films, all but 5 of them directed by her son.)

Hill got busted for cocaine trafficking in 1980, and it may have saved his life, because Burke had told him to go down to Florida to perform a contract killing. That made Hill suspicious, because Burke had never asked him to do a "hit" before. He was sure that if he went down to Florida, he would never come back up alive. So he made preparations to go into hiding, but the Feds got him first. This time, with a wife and 2 kids to think about, he spilled his guts.

Ironically, in real life, most of the guys he ratted on were charged with things other than the Lufthansa heist. Jimmy Burke, the mastermind, was charged for his role in the 1978-79 Boston College basketball point-shaving scandal. While serving time for that, he was convicted of a murder, and that had nothing to do with the Lufthansa heist or its aftermath, either. He was doomed to die in prison, and did, in 1996, although the movie, released in 1990, said that "Conway" was still in prison. Paul Vario also died in prison, in 1988.

The Hill family went into the FBI's Witness Protection Program, going from the life of a millionaire gangster to, as Hill put it, "living like a schnook." He mentioned one particular indignity: Going to a restaurant, ordering spaghetti marinara, and getting "egg noodles with ketchup." The song "My Way" is heard over the closing credits -- not the original version by Frank Sinatra, as you might expect, or the cover by Elvis Presley, but the cover by Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.

Goodfellas was nominated for 6 Oscars, but Pesci was its only winner. While The Godfather is praised for its fantasy treatment of organized crime in America, Goodfellas is said to show The Mob as it actually is: Murderous, psychopathic, greedy, valuing money over everything, including family and other loyalties. "The life" is no life at all. As the old radio show The Shadow put it, Crime does not pay.

After the movie came out, the real Hill couldn't stay out of trouble, and was busted for drugs again, and served time, and was kicked out of the Witness Protection Program. Karen divorced him, and she and their kids were allowed to stay in the Program.

Henry Hill was a schnook. Still, the Mob never did kill him. He did that to himself: He may have gotten off drugs, but he continued to drink like there was no tomorrow, and died in 2012, a day after his 69th birthday.

The money and the jewels from the Lufthansa heist have never been found.

In 1995, Scorcese released Casino. The similarities to Goodfellas were many. It was a period piece set in the 1970s and early '80s. De Niro and Pesci were in it. There was narration, alternating between De Niro and Pesci. There was a twisted romance, between characters played by De Niro and Sharon Stone. The reality of how rotten the Mob is was shown to be obvious. Pesci's character is a foul-mouthed asshole who can't control his temper, and ends up getting betrayed and killed (even though he's one of the narrators). There's a murder montage set to a classic rock song, in this case The Animals' version of "House of the Rising Sun."

And it ends with the main character telling what's happened to him since. At least De Niro's Ace Rothstein, based on the real-life Lefty Rosenthal, was no longer a marked man and was relatively well-off, if bored. It beat the way Hill ended up.

Casino was hailed as an excellent film, but it was so close in form to Goodfellas that the comparison did it no favors. And as we have seen, favors are important in Mob life. But, contrary to what The Godfather showed, honor is not. Scorcese has been honored, although it took until 2006, with The Departed, a Mob film set in Boston, for him to finally get an Academy Award for Best Director.

*

September 19, 1990 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees lost to the Toronto Blue Jays, 7-6 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. The losing pitcher was Tim Leary, and the winning pitcher was future Yankee Jimmy Key. Junior Félix hit a home run for the Jays. Hensley Meulens and Jim Leyritz hit them for the Yankees.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Boston Red Sox, 8-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Cal Ripken went 3-for-4. Wade Boggs, uncharacteristically, went 0-for-4, although he had an RBI on a sacrifice fly.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants, 5-1 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 6-3 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Robin Yount went 0-for-3, but had an RBI on a fielder's choice. Paul Molitor went 1-for-4.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. A skinny 26-year-old named Barry Bonds hit 2 home runs.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Kansas City Royals, 1-0 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis. Shane Mack singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning. Mark Guthrie pitched 9 innings of shutout ball, and Gary Wayne finished an 8-hit, 11-inning shutout. George Brett went 2-for-5.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-4 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Houston Astros beat the Cincinnati Reds, 5-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the California Angels, 12-5 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim).

* The San Diego Padres beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 9-4 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Yes, the Dodgers and the Angels were both at home on the same day. Tony Gwynn did not play for the Padres, but among those who did, Benito Santiago and former Yankee 3rd baseman Mike Pagliarulo hit home runs, Jack Clark went 1-for-3 with 2 walks, Roberto Alomar went 1-for-5, Joe Carter went 2-for-4 with a walk and 2 RBIs. Eddie Murray homered for the Dodgers.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox, 7-3 at the Oakland Coliseum. Rickey Henderson went 1-for-3 with 2 walks. Mark McGwire hit a home run.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Seattle Mariners, 6-5 at the Kingdome in Seattle. 19-year-old Ken Griffey Jr. hit a home run off 43-year-old Nolan Ryan.

* And the New York Mets and the Montreal Expos were rained out at Shea Stadium. The game was made up as part of a doubleheader the next day. The Expos swept, 6-4 and 2-0. In the opener, the Mets blew a 4-2 lead when Frank Viola ran out of gas in the top of the 8th, and the Expos scored 4 runs. Earlier in the game, Tim Raines and Tim Wallach had hit home runs.

In the nightcap, Chris Nabholz pitched the game of his life, allowing just 1 hit, a single in the 6th by 2nd baseman Tommy Herr (a former St. Louis Cardinal that I had completely forgotten had ever played for the Mets).

February 9, 1976: "Taxi Driver" Premieres

February 9, 1976: The film Taxi Driver premieres, directed by Martin Scorcese. Robert De Niro plays Travis Bickle, a Vietnam War veteran who drives a taxicab in New York City.

I consider the film part of a series that shows the decline of New York City. In 1961, Breakfast at Tiffany's showed a New York that was still classic and magical. By 1969, Midnight Cowboy showed the City to have become a garish mess of crime and poverty. In 1976, Taxi Driver showed things as even worse, where what was once good had become crazy (including Travis), and what was bad was irredeemable. Things bottomed out in 1981, with Fort Apache: The Bronx.

Travis starts, then ruins, a relationship with Betsy (Cybill Shepherd), who works for Senator Charles Palantine, who is running for President. (He was played by Leonard Harris, who played another New York politician, the Mayor, in Hero At Large, starring John Ritter as another taxi driver who ends up thinking too much of himself.)

Travis buys a gun, and tries to act tough, looking at his reflection in a mirror, and saying, "You talkin' to me?" The line became the one everybody who does impressions does when imitating De Niro. He meets Iris (Jodie Foster), 12 years old and already a prostitute, and tries in vain to get her to quit that life.

He then goes to a campaign rally, planning to assassinate Palantine, but the Secret Service chase him away. He goes to the brothel where Iris works, and shoots Sport Higgins (Harvey Keitel), her pimp. A shootout results, and Travis, despite killing everybody in the room but Iris, is wounded himself.

The film's ending is ambiguous: Travis appears to recover, is hailed as a hero for what he did, is not prosecuted, keeps his job as a cabdriver, and even picks Betsy up as a fare, hearing her say she followed his story in the newspapers, and he refuses to take her money.

None of this is realistic, not even by the standards of 1970s New York City. It's been suggested that the film's epilogue is actually Travis' imagination of what should happen to him, as he dies. Scorcese has acknowledged this theory, but has refused to confirm it.

First, art imitated life: Scorcese has compared Travis to Arthur Bremer, who went around the country in the Spring of 1972, intending to assassinate President Richard Nixon; but, deciding that Nixon's security was too tight, instead went after Governor George Wallace of Alabama, who was running for the Democratic Party's nomination for President. Bremer's attempt paralyzed Wallace, and forced him to drop out of the race.

Then, life imitated art: John Hinckley wanted to assassinate President Jimmy Carter in 1980; unable to get close enough to him, he got his chance in 1981, shooting the new President, Ronald Reagan, who nearly died. Hinckley said he wanted to "impress" Foster.

The film was released just 5 months after the incumbent President, Gerald Ford, faced 2 failed assassination attempts within a matter of days; less than 4 years after the attempt on Wallace; 6 years after an attempted assassination of Pope Paul VI; 8 years after the assassinations of Dr. Martin Luther King and Senator Robert F. Kennedy; 11 years after the assassination of Malcolm X; and within 13 years of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy and Medgar Evers. For some people, it hit a little too close to home. Within 6 years, the world would see the murders of former Beatle John Lennon and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, and attempts on the lives of Reagan and Pope John Paul II.

In 1982, De Niro starred in The King of Comedy, as a comedian who wanted to impress the host of a Tonight Show-like program, played by Jerry Lewis. Failing in that, he kidnapped the host, but did kill him.

Both Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy would be influences on the 2019 film Joker, a re-imagining of the origin stories of both the superhero Batman and his arch-nemesis, the Joker. In this film, set in Batman's fictional hometown of Gotham City (named for an old name for New York) in 1981, the now-much-older De Niro plays the Tonight Show-style host, Murray Franklin; while Joaquin Phoenix plays Arthur Fleck, a mentally ill man in a world going madder around him, until he sees Franklin mock his standup comedy act, and he takes matters into his own hands, killing Franklin live on the air.

As with Taxi Driver, we're never sure just how much of Joker is really happening, especially the ending, or if it's happening in the protagonist's head. Phoenix even copied the "You talkin' to me?" scene.

*

February 9, 1976 was a Monday. Actor Charlie Day was born.

Baseball and football were out of season. There were no games in the NHL or the World Hockey Association. There was 1 game played in the NBA: The Houston Rockets beat the Kansas City Kings, 105-86 at The Summit in Houston. (The arena has since been converted into the Central Campus of the Lakewood Church, Dr. Joel Osteen's "megachurch.")

There were 2 games played in the American Basketball Association. The New York Nets lost to the Denver Nuggets, 138-119 at the Nassau Coliseum. And the Spirits of St. Louis beat the Virginia Squires, 112-105 at The Scope in Norfolk.