The King of Comedy (1982) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error The King of Comedy ( 1982 ) PG | Aspiring comic Rupert Pupkin attempts to achieve success in show business by stalking his idol, a late night talk-show host who craves his own privacy. Director: From $2.99 (SD) on Amazon Video ON DISC Famous Directors: From Sundance to Prominence From Christopher Nolan to Quentin Tarantino and every Coen brother in between, many of today's most popular directors got their start at the Sundance Film Festival . Here's a list of some of the biggest names to go from Sundance to Hollywood prominence.

a list of 25 titles created 13 Jun 2011 a list of 47 titles created 07 Jan 2013 a list of 34 titles created 27 May 2013 a list of 27 titles created 11 Oct 2013 a list of 23 titles created 14 Nov 2015 Title: The King of Comedy (1982) 7.8/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 2 wins & 6 nominations. See more awards » Videos Four honourable men business ends up in a chaos when Johnny boy adopted their profession and ruined their empire Director: Martin Scorsese An ordinary word processor has the worst night of his life after he agrees to visit a girl in Soho whom he met that evening at a coffee shop. Director: Martin Scorsese An egotistical saxophonist and a young singer meet on V-J Day and embark upon a strained and rocky romance, even as their careers begin a long, up-hill climb.

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Director: Martin Scorsese From childhood to adulthood, Tibet's fourteenth Dalai Lama deals with Chinese oppression and other problems. Director: Martin Scorsese A mentally unstable Vietnam War veteran works as a night-time taxi driver in New York City where the perceived decadence and sleaze feeds his urge for violent action, attempting to save a preadolescent prostitute in the process. Director: Martin Scorsese Edit Storyline Rupert Pupkin is obsessed with becoming a comedy great. However, when he confronts his idol, talk show host Jerry Langford, with a plea to perform on the Jerry's show, he is only given the run-around. He does not give up, however, but persists in stalking Jerry until he gets what he wants. Eventually he must team up with his psychotic Langford-obsessed friend Masha to kidnap the talk show host in hopes of finally getting to perform his stand-up routine. Written by Andrew Hyatt <dres@uiuc.edu> It's no laughing matter. See more » Genres: 18 December 1982 (Iceland) See more » Also Known As: King of Comedy See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know?

Trivia Martin Scorsese is quoted as saying about the screenplay, "I thought the movie was just a one-line gag: You won't let me go on the show, so I'll kidnap you and you'll put me on the show." See more » Goofs When Rupert gives Rita the flower in the bar, the position of her arms changes between shots as she accepts the flower. See more » Quotes [first lines] Ed Herlihy : And now, from New York, The Jerry Langford Show! With Jerry's guests Tony Randall, Richard Dreyfuss, Rodney Dangerfield, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Lou Brown and the orchestra, and little old me Ed Herlihy. And now say hello to Jerry! Pupkin: A Name I Can't Forget! 2 November 2005 | by ccthemovieman-1 (United States) – See all my reviews For some reason, I rarely count any movie in the past 30 years "a classic" but I think of this one as such, and that's a compliment. It has stayed with me since the first time I saw it almost 20 years ago.

In fact, I've never forgotten the name, "Rupert Pupkin," a strange name made famous by Robert De Niro as the leading actor in this unique drama/comedy/ crime film. De Niro was just outstanding, one of his best efforts in an illustrious career. Jerry Lewis and Sandra Bernhard also were really good here, in supporting roles. Comedians sometimes make great dramatic actors as Lewis has demonstrated in several films. I don't know, frankly, if Bernard has ever done anything remotely as good as this. Biographies of eccentric people usually are interesting and this one more than fits the bill. This movie was not popular with audiences and a number of critics but I think it was superbly done with laugh-out-loud lines as well as subtle humor and great acting. It is a wonderful character study of obsessed fans of celebrities, a pitiful condition that exists even more today. I am not particularly a fan of director Martin Scorcese. Almost all of his films are ultra profane, but not here. There has very little profanity, and none, ironically, by De Niro. The only negative I found was making a hero out of his character, who executes a kidnapping and is richly rewarded for his efforts.

Puh-leeze!! I wish Hollywood would stop making heroes out of criminals. If you have a warped sense humor, however, which I do, you'll love this film. I think it is perhaps the best-ever from Scorcese and De Niro. 38 of 61 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes Robert De Niro as Rupert Pupkin in 'The King Of Comedy' - Photos - Robert De Niro's iconic movie roles - NY Daily News Robert De Niro's iconic movie roles Robert De Niro's iconic movie roles Academy Award-winning actor Robert De Niro has a prolific career that spans decades and includes some of the most significant films of our time. From Jake LaMotta to Vito Corleone, take a look at some of his most iconic roles that define his impressive career … Robert De Niro's iconic movie roles 6 | 10 Robert De Niro as Rupert Pupkin in 'The King Of Comedy' While we're used to seeing Rober De Niro play a tough guy or a gangster, he has also excelled at comedic roles throughout his career.

De Niro starred as Rupert Pupkin, an aspiring stand-up comedian, in the 1983 film "The King of Comedy." His character becomes obsessed with Jerry Langford, a successful comedian played by Jerry Lewis (l.), who he believes will launch his career. ullstein bild/Getty Images How Taxi Driver ruined acting | 1843 How Taxi Driver ruined acting How Taxi Driver ruined acting Every actor with something to prove longs to play a character like Travis Bickle. But forty years after “Taxi Driver” was made, Robert De Niro has yet to meet his match Every actor with something to prove longs to play a character like Travis Bickle. But forty years after “Taxi Driver” was made, Robert De Niro has yet to meet his match Tom Shone | May 6th 2016 “Every day, for 40 fucking years, one of you has stopped me on the street and said, ‘You talkin’ to me?’” groused Robert De Niro at a recent Q & A at the Tribeca Film festival reuniting the makers of “Taxi Driver”.

Martin Scorsese, Harvey Keitel, Jodie Foster, Cybil Shepherd and screenwriter Paul Schrader all swapped anecdotes, and De Niro led the audience in one last rendition of his most famous line, in an effort to expunge the ghost. He’s not the only one haunted by the role, which remains the template for every young Hollywood actor eager to put the lucre of blockbuster dollars behind them with a walk on the indie wild side: Christian Bale in “The Machinist”, Ryan Gosling in “Drive”, Sam Rockwell in “Seven Psychopaths”, in which he plays an actor who believes himself to be the illegitimate son of Travis Bickle. They all believe that. “‘Taxi Driver’ is the ultimate independent-movie performance,” Leonardo DiCaprio has said. “Playing a character like Travis Bickle is every young actor’s wet dream.” It’s not hard to see the appeal. As the alienated Vietnam vet-turned-New York driver, collecting cab fares and resentments before exploding in one awful night of violence, De Niro is a ticking time bomb, a black hole of a man intent on taking New York City personally, staring everyone down as if training rifle sights onto their foreheads.

Travis is no mere character, subject to the plot of “Taxi Driver”: he is the plot. “Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets,” he says in voiceover, in the flat, pedantic tone of someone reading aloud a letter of complaint about drainage to their local council. It is the tone of autodidacts, sociopaths and bores, and Travis is all three. Therein lies the genius of De Niro’s performance. It lets us see that if we met a sociopath, we would, in all likelihood, be bored to tears. Sociopaths aren’t charismatic – they’re anoraks. Most of the anecdotes served up at the Beacon Theatre – how De Niro got his cabbie licence to prepare for the part, how screenwriter Paul Schrader hit bottom before writing it, how Foster hated her outfits – were already known, but the best insight into what it’s like to act opposite De Niro comes from Foster on the film’s DVD .

After describing her initial trepidation at appearing opposite the Oscar winner, she recalls how De Niro would pick her up at the same time every day for several weeks and take her to a diner to walk through the script. “After the first time, I was completely bored,” she says. “I think I rolled my eyes at times because he really was awkward.” Take away Travis’s Magnum and what do you have? He bored her into familiarity with him. De Niro would achieve even greater acclaim for his performance in “Raging Bull”, in which all the rage in Travis is made manifest. But the performance that Scorsese regarded as De Niro’s best, and in many ways the true apotheosis of all that lurked in Travis, was his wannabe comedian in “The King of Comedy”, Rupert Pupkin. A small masterpiece of passive-aggression, Pupkin masks his anger with a tight smile and a laugh like he’s counted all the “ha”s in the script. None of his imitators understand that it is this vein of demented pedantry that makes De Niro’s best performances.

They think the key to Travis is that final act of violence – just watch the endings of “Breaking Bad”, last year’s Cannes winner “Dheepan” and countless Sundance features about lone-wolf psychotics, from “Snow Angels” to “Seven Psychopaths”. There’s a scene in Nicholas Winding Refn's “Drive” where Ryan Gosling, who plays a cool-cat getaway driver known only as Driver, suddenly smashes a man’s head open in an elevator, stamping on it until its splits like a pumpkin. It comes out of nowhere, a Scorsese power chord interrupting a Michael Mann movie – that is, until you learn that Gosling is a big fan of “Taxi Driver”, at which point all becomes horribly clear. “I think [Driver and Travis] share that fantasy of needing to be a hero,” Gosling has said. But where “Drive” indulges that fantasy, “Taxi Driver” denies it: that final night of violence is cataclysmic, but also spasmodic and full of misfires. Travis botches his own suicide; the gun barrel clicks empty.

Playing a psychopath has become one of those things young actors do to tell us they’ve matured, like growing a beard or working with a European arthouse director. De Niro was 33 when he appeared in Scorsese’s movie, and had spent most of his twenties scrounging a living from the dinner theatre circuit, making movies that couldn’t find distributors, and gluing the windows of his one-room walk-up together to keep the New York winters out. The stew of alienation and resentment that propelled Travis Bickle across the screen was real. DiCaprio, Gosling and Bale are all ex-child actors who have, from an early age, known only lionization. Their primary motive when choosing parts is to jam the radar of Hollywood casting agents and put their years in the Mickey Mouse Club behind them. We may have seen too many pretty boys intent on proving their dark side. The best performance in this vein that I have seen recently was from an actress, Riley Keough, who plays a law-firm intern moonlighting as a high-class call girl in the Starz series “The Girlfriend Experience”.

The TV show could almost be Bret Easton Ellis’s favourite: there’s lots of stainless steel and mirrored glass, underscored with moody electronic hums; Keough moves affectlessly from room to room, blandly mirroring men’s desires back at them. “You’re like a female Ted Bundy,” a client tells her. She’s a sociopath but Keough doesn't play her as a cipher: the cogs whirring behind that beautiful clock-face are in almost constant motion. And when her lies finally catch up with her, in episodes eight and nine, Keough pulls off something truly spectacular: a meltdown of cool hellfire both real and feigned, one that may offer a glimpse of her vulnerable inner life – that is, unless it’s her most cunning check-mate yet. Move over Travis. Your daughter is in town. Tom Shone is professor of film history at NYU ‎The King of Comedy (1982) directed by Martin Scorsese • Reviews, film + cast • Letterboxd 5 Both deliciously funny and scary as hell; Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy is a work of ingenious, prophetic wisdom and focus.

Both grounded and elevated by one of Robert De Niro's finest performances, the film slivers and slides through different forms of deconstruction and satire until the final irony hits like a ton of bricks. Martin Scorsese's direction is magnificent here. While not as classical as Raging Bull or as lush as Taxi Driver, It feels just as pure, mainly when the camera decides to watch Rupert Pupkin in all his mesmerizing and terrifying glory. Both hilarious and creepy, De Niro embodies this complex character with glorious quirkiness and a sense of childish playfulness. In particular, the scenes involving… 8 From the many times Robert De Niro has collaborated with Martin Scorsese and created many of the director's most famous (and best) works whether they go from Taxi Driver to Raging Bull and Goodfellas, one of the least recognizable in that bunch is The King of Comedy. Yet the fact it feels so forgotten in comparison to many of Scorsese's most recognizable works has not been able to overshadow what was most important, The King of Comedy is also one of his finest efforts. Arguably his most demented work under his body of work, this deserves more recognition than what it has at the moment.

Robert De Niro now stars as Rupert Pupkin, a delusional wannabe standup comedian who idolizes… Better to be king for a night than schmuck for a lifetime. -Rupert Pupkin Vito Corleone, Travis Bickle, Jake La Motta and... Rupert Pupkin. Those names are not mentioned together nearly often enough. The King of Comedy is one of Robert De Niro 's greatest performances and his most underrated collaboration with director Martin Scorsese . Sure people here praise the film, but it's overwhelming how many people have never seen this. De Niro's performance is so genuine that there's several scenes in the film that I find incredibly hard to watch. It's like seeing a real person filled with desperation for validation and receiving nothing but rejection time and again. At first it just looks like Pupkin is simply obsessed with… 8 From the many times Robert De Niro has collaborated with Martin Scorsese and created many of the director's most famous (and best) works whether they go from Taxi Driver to Raging Bull and Goodfellas, one of the least recognizable in that bunch is The King of Comedy.

Yet the fact it feels so forgotten in comparison to many of Scorsese's most recognizable works has not been able to overshadow what was most important, The King of Comedy is also one of his finest efforts. Arguably his most demented work under his body of work, this deserves more recognition than what it has at the moment. Robert De Niro now stars as Rupert Pupkin, a delusional wannabe standup comedian who idolizes… Review by Daniel ★★★★½ Watched because I told a friend that I thought Scorsese was "a'ight," and he implored me to watch some more. Glad I did. Robert De Niro's Rupert Pupkin is hands down one of the most odious protagonists I've ever seen. He combines the unstable mind of Travis Bickle, with the persistence and general sliminess of Louis Bloom from Nightcrawler, but without the redeeming qualities of either. He is a pathetic, self-deluded, lazy, egotistical individual... and yet I see myself in him. Even as he went to lengths I would never even envision, I couldn't help but identify with him, sympathize with him, hell, even root for him.

It's a testament to both the central performance and Marty's direction that I'm… Review by Carlos Reis ★★★★½ Comédia negra sobre o culto das celebridades e toda uma geração de comediantes de palco, "O Rei da Comédia" é uma sátira à frente do seu tempo - e daí a incompreensão geral que marcou a sua estreia em 1983 -, um tour de force de Robert de Niro no papel de um psicopata estranhamente encantador que procura, a todo o custo, os seus cinco minutos de fama (que acredita serem mais do que suficientes para o lançarem para uma carreira de sucesso). Scorsese não almeja qualquer gargalhada do público, e é essa sua ousadia de oscilar entre o drama e a farsa, o real e a fantasia - sendo a fantasia muito mais real do que a própria realidade… Martin Scorsese on The King of Comedy’s Surprising Modern Relevance | Vanity Fair Twitter Left, from AF Archive/Alamy; Right, by Brent N. Clarke/FilmMagic/Getty Images.

If nothing else, Donald Trump’s rise to political prominence proves that The King of Comedy, Martin Scorsese’s masterfully disquieting 1983 black comedy, is more relevant than ever. In The King of Comedy, no-talent obsessive Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro) stalks his way to success after he kidnaps talk-show idol Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis) and bullies his way into getting a 10-minute spot on Langford’s show. Pupkin is a uniquely media-obsessed megalomaniac. His lack of talent is irrelevant: he succeeds because he cannot process rejection, and he is successful at pushing buttons. Sound familiar? With The King of Comedy now playing at New York’s Film Forum, Vanity Fair spoke to Scorsese on the phone about how he created Pupkin, from his mustache to his obsession with celebrity. __Vanity Fair: You’ve said that Rupert Pupkin is sort of like a younger version of you inasmuch as he is as driven, or perhaps obsessed with succeeding at any costs.

Before you started shooting the film, you and Robert De Niro talked to some photographers and autograph collectors in order to get a better hand on the character. Did you see yourself in these obsessed fans? __ Martin Scorsese: I didn’t really understand where I stood in relationship to the film, the story, Rupert Pupkin, and Jerry Langford, too, until I was in the process of making the film—the shooting, the editing. I don’t think I necessarily liked what I found. What I mean is: I saw myself in Rupert, on the surface, as somebody that came from that appreciation of early television of the 50s—particularly New York variety comedy shows. Steve Allen, Jack Paar. These personalities were so vivid and so strong that they became something very new to me. I really appreciated that part of what I guess you’d call “show business.” That part of me is there in Rupert, there is no doubt. Over the years, I began to realize how genuine and how serious my involvement in The King of Comedy was. De Niro noticed that connection in Paul Zimmerman’s script first. De Niro was also more aware of autograph people and the idolization for the sake of idolization of celebrities.

I understand that now, but I stumbled my way through it each day back then. Being around Jerry Lewis helped. He was an idol of mine, and represented all aspects of American show business, which meant a lot to me. [King of Comedy] is about a certain aspect of our culture, and also about not taking yourself too seriously, even though I do. All of that came out during the making of the film. You got the look for King of Comedy from a tailor called the “Shirtmaker to the Stars.” Lew Magram. [De Niro, costume designer Richard Bruno, and I] walked by his store, and there was a mannequin in the window. We suddenly realized that the mannequin . . . the mustache, and the hair, the suit, the tie, shirt, shoes, everything—Rupert was looking at us. If you notice, the mustache is slightly shorter on one side. That came from the mannequin. [Laughs] De Niro had been trying to get you interested in the script since 1976.

After you reread Zimmerman’s script, were all three of you on the same page about how Pupkin sees and idolizes Langford, and about how to portray characters? Can you think of an instance where your collaborators surprised you with where they took the character? Not really, because by that time, I had experienced more of that world that Bob had experienced. By the time I’d made Taxi Driver, New York, New York, The Last Waltz—success, failure, all kinds of things happened. And then I kind of began my career again on Raging Bull. After making Raging Bull, I was at a different point in my life, and was able to absorb The King of Comedy better. To a point. In 1981, when I was shooting [King of Comedy], I realized that I had to wipe the slate clean as a filmmaker and start all over again. I literally started relearning how to make movies. That’s what King of Comedy really helped me to do. The film’s post-production process was lengthy.

During a discussion about *King of Comedy *at the Tribeca Film Festival, you singled out an exchange that took 25 or 30 takes: Pupkin asks Shelly Hack’s character . . . “Let me speak to Jerry.” I think it took even more than that. Then we realized that we were getting into an obsessive behavior. But we enjoyed the nuance in each take. That made it very difficult to edit the film. I was working on the film shot by shot, scene by scene, character by character. I was working on the levels of hostility and civilized behavior, the mixture of those. Today, I heard an artist on NPR say that he was working some place, and was causing a bit of a disturbance. The interviewer asked, “Did they allow that?” Because he was [obstructing] the exit or something. And the artist said, “Well, I was invited to leave.” In effect, that’s King of Comedy. “They threw you out!” “No, I was invited to leave.” [Laughs] How hard was it to keep Pupkin from being too pathetic, or grotesque, or easy to dismiss? We tried out slightly different tones with each take.

The other actors responded accordingly, but primarily it was [De Niro]. We were exploring; we didn’t really know. It was a very arduous process. The King of Comedy ends on a note of uncertainty: Rupert Pupkin succeeded, but we don’t know how. Was that ending exactly what Paul Zimmerman scripted? Has its meaning changed for you since you shot it? No, not really, except that he becomes successful without being good. He’s good enough. That’s the most unsettling part, that he’s good enough. I didn’t really go further than what Paul Zimmerman had put on the page. And by the way: the monologue that [De Niro] delivers is word-for-word from the script. Paul knew it; he was on another level. I was just making movies. Could Rupert Pupkin succeed today? Would he be different at all, in a modern context? I don’t see how. And why should he be? There are so many Ruperts around us. There’s so much dilution, and democratizing of what quality is, for better or for worse. Share Travis Bickle or Rupert Pupkin : Which DeNiro Character is Really a Villain?

Home » Arts & Entertainment » Movies » Travis Bickle or Rupert Pupkin : Which DeNiro Character is Really a Villain? Travis Bickle or Rupert Pupkin : Which DeNiro Character is Really a Villain? When the American Film Institute released a list of the 100 greatest American movies ever made in 1998, Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver came in at number 47, sandwiched in between A Clockwork Orange and Jaws. The 100 finalists had been narrowed down from a list of 400 nominees. Missing from this list of 400, as well as from the list of 100, was another Martin Scorsese film, The King of Comedy. Taxi Driver enjoyed almost universal acclaim from the moment it was released. Even the temporary pall cast over the film after John Hinckley claimed it inspired him to shoot Pres. Ronald Reagan did nothing to limit the film’s steady claim to being a classic.

On the other hand, The King of Comedy was almost universally ignored by critics and audiences when first released; many critics complained that it was nothing more than a pale imitation of Taxi Driver that followed the same general plot line of a psychotic individual achieving a level of fame after committing a violent act. It is the fact that Travis Bickle winds up as the hero at the end of Taxi Driver that has driven much of the acclaim for that movie. It has been held up as a shining example of the rise of the antihero in the films of the 1970s. In fact, the latter film stands as a much more complex example of antiheroism in film because Travis Bickle’s standing as an antihero must be held up to question; Bickle is actually a simple hero in comparison to his counterpart Rupert Pupkin in The King of Comedy. Yet both characters are last seen in the guise of socially accepted hero. While the earlier film has retained much of its status, it has taken some hits from critics questioning the validity of many assumptions commonly made about it.

In contrast, the stock of The King of Comedy has risen as in retrospect it has come to be seen as eerily prescient in the way it foresaw the rise of the culture of the pseudo celebrity. In another American Film Institute list, Travis Bickle was voted as the 30th best film villain of all time. In fact, Bickle should not have been on the villain list at all, but rather the hero list. Why is he on the villain list? Because he threatens to kill a Presidential candidate and because he does kill several people at the end of the movie. But who does he kill and why? He kills drug pushers, pimps, scum. And why? To save a twelve year old girl from living amongst them, from being a prostitute. In fact, if one were to change the circumstances and the characters around a little, Travis Bickle could have been played by John Wayne. And, in fact, he was. In The Searchers, Wayne played an equally psychotic hero trying to save a young girl after she was kidnapped by Indians.

(I’m not equating Native Americans with drug dealers and scum, by the way, but rather how Wayne’s character views them as savages from which a good, white American should be saved). Contrast the motives of Bickle with Rupert Pupkin. Pupkin kidnaps TV talk show host Jerry Langford at gunpoint, ties him up, gags him and blackmails his way onto Langford’s television show so he can show off his comic talents. While Travis Bickle commits crime in the name of saving a young girl, Pupkin commits crime in the name of becoming a celebrity. And become a celebrity he does. In the coda of Taxi Driver, newspaper headlines show that Travis Bickle has become a minor celebrity, thanked by the girl’s parents and now the object of romantic interest by a girl who earlier spurned him. In the coda of King of Comedy, Pupkin has become a famous celebrity. Not just a celebrity, but a celebrity more famous for being famous because he committed a crime than for any real talent. Pupkin is the fictional forerunner of such pseudocelebrities as attempted murderer Amy Fisher or homemade porn queen Paris Hilton.

Very few moviegoers would not be able to immediately identify from which film the following quote comes: “Are you talking to me?” The vision of Travis Bickle, portrayed by Robert DeNiro, standing in front of a mirror in and continually making this query of his reflection has reached an iconic state. The story goes that DeNiro basically improvised this scene during shooting; regardless, that quote could stand as a thematic motif of the film as a whole. Travis Bickle both chooses to be alone only after having loneliness thrust upon him. In essence, his story is one of a disconnected individual responding to society with suspicion tinged by curiosity. Travis Bickle is not really part of the world in which he lives, nor is he completely certain whether or not he wants to be. His basic response to life is exemplified by those words, “are you talking to me?” In contrast, Rupert Pupkin, the main character played by the same actor in The King of Comedy, might well be asking, “Why aren’t you talking to me?” Rupert Pupkin is a struggling comedian trying to go straight from his mother’s basement to late night television. (Echoes of Paris Hilton’s rise to international fame).

While Bickle questions whether he really wants to be a part of the world around him-ultimately, he decides he’d rather try to remake the world from scratch instead of joining it-Pupkin eagerly tries to join the world he desires. At the end of Taxi Driver when Travis Bickle refuses the come-on of Betsy, the girl who rejected him earlier, it’s clear he has decided not to join the world that finally accepted him. In contrast, Rupert Pupkin is given fame and fortune to join the world he always wanted and there is never any doubt that he won’t become an official member. While there are similarities between the two films, the major differences lie in the main characters and how critics and audiences have responded to them. Travis Bickle seems a likely villain because his violence is blood-soaked; Pupkin seems less threatening because he’s a jokester. But in the end, Travis Bickle is no more a villain than a John Wayne character and Rupert Pupkin’s villainy has been accepted into our living rooms in the guise on celebrities ranging from Tonya Harding to the most hated participants on such shows as Survivor and The Apprentice.

Others are Reading Audience Reviews for The King of Comedy ½ This movie came straight outta left field really, after two mean thrillers and hard hitting biographical, a black comedy felt like an odd turn. Scorsese was still kinda finding his feet at this point, almost at a fork in his career in what to do, his following two movies after this ('After Hours' and 'The Colour of Money') confirms this. From very raw emotional adult films, then branching out into a comedy, even with De Niro, seemed brave. Scorsese could of easily slipped into the mainstream realms at this time. 'After Hours' was another quirky black comedy, but the type of comedy that you could easily see Tom Hanks leading, whilst 'The Colour of Money' was most definitely a mainstream movie with the man of the moment Tom Cruise. Luckily this didn't happen and we have a string of adult targeted movies to enjoy...mainly mobster movies. Nevertheless looking back its cool to see these more unique Scorsese projects, how he handled them and how or if his now infamous trademarks and style are still visible. First up, its a Scorsese movie, De Niro? check, New York setting?

check, plot about a wacko loner? check...annnnd we're done. The film feels like an extension of Scorsese's 1976 film 'Taxi Driver' to be honest, naturally this is down to the simple fact that De Niro plays another lonely weirdo who inadvertently becomes a hero of sorts by the end. You could almost call this a remake really, just a more light-hearted version. We follow the celebrity worshipping Rupert Pupkin (great name) as he tries his utmost to get on Jerry Langford's (Jerry Lewis) talk show with his stand-up act. This takes up pretty much the entire film until an encounter with Langford at his home shows Pupkin he has no chance of getting on the show. The ever resourceful Rupert doesn't let this fade him though as he hatches a plan to kidnap Langford in order to demand his act be shown on the talk show. At the same time Pupkin has the help of another fellow celebrity worshipper/stalker in Masha (Sandra Bernhard). I can't help but think De Niro is gonna explode in a tidal wave of blood soaked violence when I watch this movie.

Its probably down to his previous performances and roles (and the era when this was made), but its like you're just waiting for his character to pop and kick someones head in. Its really quite unnerving at times, that's how good De Niro is, the man is a twitching time bomb ready to blow. I love watching De Niro in this movie, its almost hypnotising with his little quirks, his little nuances, everything we now know about the man but ramped up to ten. I could probably go on record saying this is one of De Niro's best performances. Not only is he uncomfortable to watch with his sleazy used car salesman-esque appearance complete with a little annoying tash, but he's both funny and kinda lovable at the same time. His character is always very polite and well mannered to everyone he meets, he's smart, gracious, keen and accepting of criticism to a degree. I adore how he oozes around the top brass in the networks main building in NY, still very polite and pleasant but also such a slippery, slimy, creep, trying his best to talk his way into a meeting with the mighty Langford.

Its amusing because you know this guy probably doesn't really have much talent but he clearly thinks he does. He's clearly overly ambitious and overly confident in himself which is funny but at the same time not exactly a bad thing, that's why you kinda love the guy for persevering, he's got balls but no sense of tact. The little moments where we see Pupkin pretending to be on the show with Langford, in conversation with him either professionally or in private and setting up his own overblown introductions for the show etc...are priceless. The funniest thing is he's doing this at his home with his mother in the next room type of thing, a typical middle aged man still living at home with him mum scenario. These brief scenes also show us how crazy Pupkin is, his room (or basement) is decorated like a real talk show studio with a big picture of an audience on one wall, mock-ups of Langford he can talk to etc...This shows us his potential scary side and makes you wonder if he will go hyper nuts at some point. The other cast members are all very good in their roles too.

Jerry Lewis really nails that old fashioned 70's (I'm guessing) talk show host look with the big rimmed glasses, dapper suits, slick hair and smoking whilst on the air. He really does look like one of your old relations in a family photo from back in the late 70's early 80's perhaps. Not only that but you really feel his frustration and anger as he puts up with the constant unwanted attention and pestering from fans and nutjobs. The scene where he confronts Pupkin at his private home is probably his strongest. I was also really impressed with Bernhard who gives us an excellently crazy yet sexy stalker. I don't much about Bernhard outside of the TV show 'Roseanne' and her role in the Bruce Willis turd 'Hudson Hawk', but towards the end of this film she really gives it her all. The sequence with her character having a romantic dinner with the kidnapped Langford (duct taped to a chair) is amusing, sexy and obviously disturbing. All three being perfect traits of Bernhard.

Of course the twist in the film is that Pupkin's stand-up routine is successful, he doesn't end up killing anyone or himself in a blaze of glory and he actually manages to achieve what he always wanted. On one hand that might seem anti-climatic but on the other hand the more predictable ending of him getting killed along with his idol would be errmm...predictable. For me this ending is just right, it could of easily been a subdued finale but I think Pupkin was too likable, as was Masha, neither of them really do anything unlikable throughout. In the end I was really happy Pupkin manages to succeed with his dream, sure he's a bit twisted and unhinged in a strangely calm way (he did kidnap someone after all), but he's still a really nice guy at the end of the day. I like this film very much, I think its a cute yet slightly off-kilter story which shows both a gutsy win for the little guy and the heartache a famous personality may have to deal with. But at no point is it ever deadly serious to the point of being a thriller, the crime committed is serious but its all done in a very tame almost apologetic way.

Its a breath of fresh air to see an early performance by De Niro where he isn't a psychopath for the mob or just out of his mind. This movie was a bomb on release and has been largely forgotten about ever since, but I wholeheartedly recommend it. Phil Hubbs Super Reviewer Martin Scorsese's The King of Comedy is a highly entertaining drama that has enough comedic moments to make this film entertaining and memorable. The film's choice of actors is great as well, and Robert De Niro and Sandra Bernhard have great chemistry together, and overall the film is a highly memorable picture that is entertaining due to the fact that it possesses a winning formula that is brought to life by Scorsese's great direction. The King of Comedy is an engaging picture that boasts memorable performances, a great story, and brilliant direction to really make the film standout. I really enjoyed the movie, and felt it was another standout feature from Martin Scorsese, who is one of cinema's finest directors.

With this film, being a slight change of pace, as Scorsese would be more at ease with the crime, and gangster genres, it's great to see him movie in the comedy genre, and he is able to pull it off because he is a phenomenal filmmaker and storyteller. The way Scorsese crafts a film is unmatched by any other director, he is able to get the simplest ideas and make them into a terrific, well layered picture that delivers some truly engaging entertainment. Scorsese is one of my favorite directors, and I've seen a lot of his movies, The King of Comedy would rank among his best films, a film that is funny, dramatic, thrilling from start to finish and is sure to appeal to fans of the director. With that being said, Whenever Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese would make cinematic gold. If you enjoy Martin Scorsese's work, then you're surely going to love this film. The King of Comedy successfully mixes comedic elements with drama, and in turn, it delivers one of the most memorable films of Martin Scorsese's career.

Alex roy The King of Comedy (1982) | MovieSnackx The King of Comedy (1982) The King of Comedy (1982) Time: 109 min Cast: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Sandra Bernhard Storyline: Rupert Pupkin is obsessed with becoming a comedy great. However, when he confronts his idol, talk show host Jerry Langford, with a plea to perform on the Jerry’s show, he is only given the run-around. He does not give up, however, but persists in stalking Jerry until he gets what he wants. Eventually he must team up with his psychotic Langford-obsessed friend Masha to kidnap the talk show host in hopes of finally getting to perform his stand-up routine. Related movies: One review to The King of Comedy (1982) 30/12/2014 at 18:50 Ryan Klinker says: Everyone idolizes someone. Whether it be an athlete, a family member, or a performer, we all aspire to be like someone. For some, however, this love and aspiration is taken deeper, and it becomes one’s life goal to literally become their idol.

Such an instance is evident in the story of Rupert Pupkin. Infatuated with late night show host Jerry Langford, Rupert is desperate to become the next “King of Comedy”. When we first meet our protagonist, he is in the middle of the crowd outside the building where the Jerry Langford Show is filmed. After the mob of fans surround’s Jerry’s car, Rupert manages to get into the car with his idol, and Rupert does his best to spark up a relationship. Insisting that the man call the office, Langford gets out of the car, and Rupert still seems cluelessly optimistic about his career in comedy. Following his chance encounter with Langford, Rupert is insistent that he is worthy of comedic stardom, and even though he is turned down time and time again by the studio, he remains oblivious to the fact that he is going about this the wrong way. Still disillusioned, Pupkin retreats back into his mother’s basement, where cardboard cut-outs of Jerry, celebrity guests, and a crowd stand posed in his room. As he carries on his fantasy in his room, the real world that he refuses to face moves on.

Still driven by his desire for a slot in the Langford Show for a standup set, Rupert resorts to the most desperate of plans, kidnapping the show host himself. My Thoughts With the name “The King of Comedy”, one may probably think that this is a comedic film. As much as Rupert Pupkin would want it to be a big comedy performance, his story is not one of humor. Though tenacity is a desirable trait in the working world, there comes a point where one must realize that their ambitions are unrealistic. For Rupert, he simply does not think his actions through from the other person’s point of view, and his persistence is futile. Taking the “crazed fan” persona far past normalcy, Pupkin is seemingly unaware of his odd behavior, which makes him sympathetic in a way. However, this feeling of sympathy disapates when he kidnaps Langford. This film was made after Scorsese classics Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, and thi film shares one common vein with the previous two: an isolated man that struggles against his surroundings and situation. For Travis, Jake, and Rupert, the problems that they face are amplified by the fact that they are at odds with the world that they live in.

From a filmmaking standpoint, this film is good, but not up to par with its predecessors. Robert De Niro delivers his signature method acting as usual, but the cast around him don’t seem to even the film out. Jerry Lewis isn’t his usual funny self (as a kidnapped man usually is), and Sandra Bernhard is utterly….psychotic. This film does not attract the eye with stunning cinematography, but it is still agreat Scorsese film. Score: 8/10 Comments: I didn’t like how the film ended. It isn’t true to the character of Rupert. Also, the intention of this movie is not to wow the viewer, it is to spark thought. Still a great film, however, and I encourage its viewing. This film, and the character of Rupert, is summed up in one of his biggest lines: “It’s better to be a king for a day rather than a schmuck for a lifetime.” *Quick Note: though this is a PG-rated film, it’s a grown up movie.

The idea behind it won’t register in a youngsters mind, an odd scene involving the removal of clothing (down to bra and panties), and an invitation for “doing it” won’t be a wise choice to let a child see Did you like this post? Check out my blog at Rupert Pupkin (Character) Rupert Pupkin (Character) There may be more photos available for this character. To select more photos to be displayed in this character's gallery, click the Edit Photos link. Overview ... aka "King of Comedy" - Japan (English title) Additional Details From The King of Comedy (1982) Rupert Pupkin : [arguing with Masha] What about things that I did for you that no money can buy, no money can buy? What about the time I gave you my spot! You came over there, I gave you my spot! You stood there and I let you get right next to Jerry. I waited for 8 hours for him and you went right next to him cause you were crying to me cause you wanted to get next to Jerry and you got next to him... See more » Update You may correct errors and omissions on this page directly.

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Question: In which film does Robert De Niro play the character Rupert Pupkin?
Answer: The King of Comedy