The King of Comedy (1982)
Directed by Martin Scorsese

Film Review

After the rigours of Raging Bull (1980), Robert De Niro was eager to make a comedy and finally persuaded director Martin Scorsese to make a film from a script he had purchased from the Newsweek film critic Paul D. Zimmermann.  Scorsese had envisaged making The Last Temptation of Christ at this point, but De Niro refused to play the leading role of Jesus Christ.  The King of Comedy was the fifth film that Scorsese made with De Niro, and it could hardly be more different from their previous collaborations.  A skilful blend of satire and black comedy, the film explores the growing phenomenon of celebrity obsession and is one of Scorsese's most disturbing works, arguably the most incisive and pertinent piece of social commentary he ever made.

As the psychotically delusional Rupert Pupkin, Robert De Niro delivers one of his most chilling and most fascinating screen portrayals.  On the face of it, the character is unlike any that the actor has played before.  In contrast to the brooding loners of De Niro's previous films, Pupkin is an outgoing, oddly likeable individual who merely wants to live the American Dream.  It takes a while before we realise exactly what Pupkin is - a talentless loser who lives in his parents' basement and finds it impossible to separate fantasy from reality.  He inhabits a dream world, the product of his morbidly excessive interest in celebrities, which is fine until the day he makes up his mind to become famous himself.  Thereafter, he becomes an extremely dangerous proposition.  Pupkin retains our sympathy by virtue of his childlike naivety and complete lack of malice, and yet he is no longer the subject of a comedy, but rather one of a horror film.  There is no telling what extremes he might resort to in his bid to win his five minutes of fame.  De Niro's performance as the starstruck fanatic is among the actor's finest and most memorable, one that is poignant and frightening in equal measure.

The part of Pupkin's celebrity victim was originally to have been played by the popular American television host and comedian Johnny Carson, but Carson had no interest in the project.  Dean Martin was considered for the part but in the end Martin's former team-mate Jerry Lewis was given the role, an inspired choice as it turned out.  Lewis's attempt to make a big comeback in the early 1980s with his film Hardly Working (1980) had been a near-disaster but his role opposite Robert De Niro in Scorsese's film, that of the cynical talk show host Jerry Langford, won him widespread critical acclaim and helped to kickstart his flagging film career.  Whilst he is nominally the straight guy (to De Niro's colourful, wisecracking Pupkin), Jerry Lewis has never been funnier, and we cannot help feeling for him as he falls foul of fan interest at its most intrusive and threatening.  The film's other notable performance is supplied by Sandra Bernhard, who is both classy and hilarious as De Niro's erotomaniac sidekick.

The King of Comedy is now recognised as one of Martin Scorsese's greatest films, as worthy of our attention as his other inspired masterworks, Mean Streets (1973), Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980).  Yet when the film was first released it failed to find an audience, in spite of some very positive reviews.  This was in fact to be one of Scorsese's biggest flops, perhaps because its underlying messages were too subtle or not ones that a mainstream cinema audience of that time wanted to hear.  Today, the film feels extraordinarily prescient and paints a picture of a celebrity obsessed culture that is depressingly familiar.  Nowadays, everyone appears to be like Rupert Pupkin - every Tom, Dick and Harriette wants instant fame and will do almost anything to get it (except work for it).  In Jerry Langford, the harassed, disillusioned media star, we see the price that fame exacts from the individual who is fortunate to find stardom, but for many it seems it is a price worth paying.  After all, we all want to live forever...

Film Synopsis

Rupert Pupkin will do anything to be famous.  Convinced that he is destined to be the next king of comedy, he foists himself on America's premier chat show host, Jerry Langford, urging him to give him a spot on his evening show.  Used to this kind of unwelcome fan attention, Langford politely tells Rupert to call his office, believing this will be the last he will see of him.  Langford hasn't reckoned on Rupert's persistence.  When the chat show host fails to return his calls, Rupert forces his way into his office, convinced that Langford will give him a break once he has heard a demo tape of his comedy routine.  Rupert's efforts prove to be in vain and so, with the help of another psychotic fan, he abducts Langford at gunpoint and forces him to read out a ransom demand to his producer.  Rupert makes it clear that unless he is given the opening spot on the next edition of the Jerry Langford Show, Jerry Langford will be dead before the evening is out.  Rupert's methods for achieving stardom may be a little extreme but they prove to be wonderfully effective...