You talkin' to me?

Robert De Niro's character from Taxi Driver is the top anti-hero.

15:04 17 August 2004

Robert De Niro's portrayal of the brooding Vietnam veteran Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver has topped a poll of movie fans' favourite alternative screen idols.

The film that saw De Niro utter the legendary line "you talkin' to me?" also produced the best anti-hero, according to the readers of Total Film.

Cinemagoers have long rooted for the bad guy in films, with the so-called anti-hero becoming something of a cult figure in movie history.

De Niro's character is followed in the list by Jean Reno's sensitive hit man in the film Leon (1994), a doomed assassin who shows his tender side in a curious relationship with a young girl he befriends.

The list of "characters you hate to love" also includes Jack Carter from the sixties classic Get Carter, played by British actor Michael Caine, and Mel Gibson's Mad Max in its top ten.

Total Film top ten...

1) Travis Bickle, Taxi Driver (1976)
2) Leon, Leon (1994)
3) D-Fens, Falling Down (1993)
4) Harry Callahan, Dirty Harry (1971)
5) Alex DeLarge, A Clockwork Orange (1971)
6) Mad Max, Mad Max (1979)
7) Dr Hannibal Lecter, The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
8) Jack Carter, Get Carter (1971)
9) Snake Plissken, Escape from New York (1981)
10) John Rambo (First Blood, 1982)