Jerry Lewis should have at least been nominated for an Oscar for this role. He was perfect in it. Possibly the only time he got any praise from film critics.
If you’ve seen interviews of Jerry Lewis you might agree with me that Lewis was basically playing himself as he would react to those situations. Anyway it was a genuine performance it felt so real.
I am feeling that his could have played well during the "Beavis and Butthead" era, or when "South Park" first came out. "The King of Comedy is dark, cynical, and brutally funny.
Jerry Lewis's performance is flawless. What an ingenious casting, turned out better than it would have if they'd have gotten Johnny Carson, their original choice.
It's weird that Siskel talks about how obsessed people were with celebrity culture back in 1983. Got much worse 30+ years later. It's a great movie, creepy as Rupert was.
Brandon FG I've always said that this film saw what was coming: people becoming famous for notoriety's sake more than actual talent. The opening credits scene, where Sandra Bernhardt's character gets into Jerry's car, freezes on her hands clawing at the closed window with Rupert looking at her on the other side. The way it's framed, it looks like a TV screen, which kind of underscores what S&E are saying about how television is changing everything. Even now, we still sort of claw at screens on our phones and tablets to get our entertainment.
I can understand why Ebert didn't like it, no one is likable. but it is a fascinating film. It was one of the first films to deal with the dark side of fandom. it's a great movie.
Today the fans have social media to destroy someone without every having the meet them . Jerry had to be rude to Rupert at his estate when he showed up with that girl from the bar which finally got him angry not from the insults but the rejection .
Absolutely amazing that Ebert didn’t get it or enjoy the movie - it’s exquisite on so many levels. Sandra Bernhard alone is incredible. One of the all time great movies - often hysterically funny, beautifully acted, poignant, clever, beautifully directed & edited, wonderfully atmospheric, perfectly paced, wonderful dialogue & fabulous improvisation. Just a jewel of a movie.
that's not amazing, that was business as usual for him. i'll never understand the rose colored glasses people still look at this guy through. he sure didn't have rose colored glasses for anybody or anything else.
Roger respected the movie after seeing it a 2nd time, gave it 3 stars in the print review. He just found it incredibly unpleasant, and nothing I've heard about the film indicates he was being obtuse or lying in coming to that conclusion.
@@plasticweapon Well, I will admit I have this high opinion of Ebert, and I think it is well deserved. But he wasn't perfect; I disagree strongly with some of his reviews and would say so in his presence if he were still alive and the opportunity presented itself (naturally of course. I wouldn't just blurt them out if he happened to be around or anything like that). But so what? You're not gonna agree with even your favorite critic all of the time. Ebert's reviews are excellent and well written, and I can sometimes appreciate his POV if I happen to disagree with him. And besides, I've watched a lot of S&E and Siskel comes across to me as pickier and more of a hardass on movies than Ebert.
I think this is a brilliant film. This about a man that is completely deluded, that will not accept a life outside his fantasy and will do anything to be famous. He lives in a flat with his mother but you never see her or the rest of the apartment just the basement filled with celebrity cardboard cut outs where he practices his act, the lack of camera movement shows a sense of fixation. He lives in a dream, in a fantasy and he will accept nothing else.
I’ve always taken away that he didn’t live with his mother but imagined that she was also there due to his final stand up monologue. Makes the conversations even creepier on a “Psycho” level.
TheDoubleDinger ooooh that’s so true!!! I mean he said she’s been dead for 9 years, I never thought about it in a “Psycho” sense, that’s extremely clever! Good on you for picking that up dude!!
@Petar Stanić I only recently heard of this after seeing someone compare it to Joker. Both Joker and Taxi Driver are movies I had to watch more than once to appreciate. Definitely gonna watch this one soon.
"I like the film's focus on the creeping television culture in this country, the desire for celebrity..." You have to wonder if Siskel would feel the same today, knowing fiction has become reality.
Agree 100%! Completely underrated movie - superlative perf.s by DeNiro and Lewis IMO ... love the irony of Ebert saying he didn't find it entertaining cf. the title "The King of Comedy" and of course it was shot with gritty and sinister undertones reminiscent of Taxi Driver etc ... Must watch it again soon.
Ebert talks about this movie in one of their interviews on Later with Bob Costas that's on UA-cam. The interview is from the early '90s and Roger quoted someone who said that any time you can remember a character's name years later, that movie must have done something right. And he admitted that 10 years later he still remembered the name Rupert Pupkin. He never fully declared that he liked the movie but he did warm up to it as time went by.
Just saw this film for the first time and it was strange, repellent, but never boring. It felt indecipherable, much like Pupkin himself and is hard to embrace but difficult to forget.
I totally understand for this movie. But I felt that same way not about this movie, but Eureka, with Gene Hackman and several other big names (it's a film I would bet money that few people know of). It is pretty good though, and definitely worth seeing at least once.
Consider watching it several times. In college, I wrote a paper about this movie and watched it over and over again. Each time there was something more to pick up on that I missed the first time.
Just watched again for the third time .It’s a very good dark comedy.Robert Di Nero was needless to say terrific in this role.The supporting cast also did a fine job Jerry Lewis but especially Sandra Bernhard.While watching the closing credits I heard Van Morrison singing the song “Wonder Remark”which I had never heard before.Great song and fitting for this movie.
What's different is how few characters Scorsese used. In most films like this about show biz, e.g., "Network," "Tootsie," and "Nashville," most scenes are busy with action and the frenetic energy of putting on a show, crowded with people in the foreground and background, so there's never a sense of loneliness. However, in "King of Comedy, " not counting the audience during the tonight show at the end, I don't think any scene contained more than three characters at a time, brilliantly creating this stifling sense that Rupert was alone in the universe with his dreams.
"From what I've read..." Lewis and Scorcese really didn't quite "get it" but DeNiro sort of guided things along during production. It was hysterical when it came out. Now, it's just sad commentary
I felt the excact same way as Roger. It is one of the most awkward movies i have ever seen, and still just thinking about it, makes me cringe. But i still really admired it, in a weird way, and Robert De Niro gives a fantastic performance as a complete doofus, and Martin Scorsese was really brave, when he made this, and i know what his point is with the film. But i am not surprised by the fact that it flopped, because as Gene mentioned: it really isn't an easy film to like.
Bob DeNiro and Jerry Lewis are brilliant. So are Diahnne Abbott as Rita and Sandra Bernhard as Masha. Rita and Masha are like a fun house mirror of each other. Rita is beautiful but not rich. Masha is rich but not beautiful. Rita and Masha, like many average and not-so-average people, are turned on by celebrity. Rita is "stable enough" to accept a life that offers more regret than glamour. Masha has gone over the edge and descended into a madness of all glamour and nothing to regret. When you sit back and contemplate these two women's lives, you wonder if you have gone a little mad to conclude it may be Masha - - in her bra and panties, screaming and running down the street after the object of her delusion - - who is somehow better off than Rita, who is trapped in her dreary, dismal, everyday existence. Masha, despite it all, still has her hopes, passions, and dreams intact. Rita is left with only their absence and the excruciating emptiness and loneliness their absence inevitably bring. Two stellar performances from two gifted actresses. Five out of five stars.
@@ghostrider2664 Casino, Last Temptation of Christ, Mean Streets, Gangs of New York. Well, I should have written “obscure” instead of “underrated.” People do like this, but it isn’t as remembered as Goodfellas or Raging Bull
@@linkbiff1054 I've not seen this and hardly have ever heard about it. It looks thoroughly uncomfortable, the same kind as in Edmund with William H Macy. The David Mamet thing.....
Talking about Scorsese's most underrated, there's only two films. This one, and "after hours". Two gems, totally forgotten between meatballs and tomatoe sauce.
Intriguing that so many people, including Ebert, feel the same way I did about this movie. I saw it only once many years ago, when I was maybe 13 years old. I thought it was one of the most creepy, embarrassing, and uncomfortable things I had ever seen. Nevertheless, I've remembered so much about it over the years. I'm not saying I liked it, or that it's good. But it does stick with you.
That was my first impression of the movie as well. As I watched it several times throughout the years, it becomes less creepy, and you realize what brilliant performances the cast gave. I love the movie now.
I thought a lot more highly of the film than Ebert did--and enjoyed it more too. It may not be Scorsese's best film, but it's very, very good. If there's anything about this film that is a "turnoff" as they put it, it's not a lack of entertainment; there's plenty of it in the film (they don't mention Sandra Bernhard's inspired comic performance), it's the film's raw, unceasing cynicism. It shows how people--both the successes and the failures--are trapped in their own narcissistic little world and the heroes of their own story, no matter how mediocre or flat-out unstable they are in reality. That's a hard pill to swallow when you go to watch a movie to be inspired in some way. In a sense it's a bigger downer than Taxi Driver, which was dark (and certainly more violent) but not quite so bleakly pessimistic in its implications.
Ebert did like it, not as much as I do, but it grew on him after a second viewing. Often I find that he could crystallize something I never really considered yet makes total sense. For this film, it was the lack of catharsis or fulfillment for any of the characters. That is why he felt weird about it, and indeed this sort of thing is incredibly rare in movies.
The first time I saw the movie on DVD it had me hooked on the which way Rupert was going with his obsession and no matter how pathetic he got where i would normally laugh because I met people like him but this time I laughed inside as a stored emotion for later. He was so detached from reality that he was calm with the FBI and acted like Prison was an episode of a TV show while he also was so casual to bargain because he said Jerry was as good as dead if his demands weren't met because he knew the FBI didn't know where Jerry was. The final scene in the bar showed how he didn't care about going to prison because he wanted to be inside that box that is a fantasy world for the end product but a reality for the people creating the fantasy. Rupert's life didn't blur the lines for fantasy and reality because he never had 100% of either since he existed inside the reality around him like a fish swimming through clear water which it can't see but feels it and needs it to stay alive from the oxygen . But as for his vision of being on Jerry's show one day , that fantasy is always somewhere down the road over the next hill expect that his failures hit him like potholes that cause the odd flat and force him to stop and look around at where he is while putting on the spare tire to get back up to speed. The kidnapping scene with the car was much like his life going slow to watch and follow others that are successful and then drag them into his sick and twisted World in side the car as it he can hijack success from Jerry .
Siskel & Ebert launched a million movie review podcasts. True originals that are very missed. I'd love to hear their take of movies today with all the cgi. This film & taxi driver as most people know inspired the joker. So ahead of their time about culture's obsession with celebrity & with the internet & podcasts anyone can achieve some level of fame.
Awww, getting all nostalgic over eighties vhs and rabbit ears TV Lol the floating tracking snow in the beginning is how EVERY vhs movie we EVER watched Lol
It's interesting how Siskel and Ebert are saying how television is effecting "everything". Oh they have no idea how today's world is not even about television.
I disagree with Siskel... After watching this again tonight I liked Jerry's character. He seemed the only likable character. He is put through hell and he is just a normal guy dealing with abnormal situations. The scene with him reading the cue cards actually made me feel sympathy for him. He was always nice to Rupert even when Rupert didn't deserve it.
The scene where a lady yells at Jerry and said she hoped he died of cancer actually happened to Jerry Lewis. Lewis never improvised, he stuck to the scripts but for Scorsese, he improvised and his soliloquy about the pressures of fame were completely improvised by him on the spot. It’s very telling. He did it simply and brilliantly.
The early days of the American celebrity culture is cynically but accurately depicted by Scorsese. Little did they know that 4 decades later a reality TV star would be elected president because of celebrity culture.
RIP, Jerry Lewis. I was not a fan of him or his comedies way back when. But I thought he was great in this movie as a straight man. The movie wasn't quite on the psycho level of "Taxi Driver", but it was still a very effective character study.
Did you see the Joker yet and what did you think? I see the king of comedy parallels but it has more in common with Taxi Driver, also with De Niro. I recommend you don’t see the Scorsese films til you see Joker. Go in fresh.
POTENTIAL SPOILER AT END. An amazing movie. My friend and I dissected this movie in discussion after discussion after it came out. Robert Dinero was amazing as Rupert Pupkin, the delusional wanna-be comedian. After seeing this I realized just how much we all partially live in a fantasy world, imagining meetings with our favourite celebrities or imaging events in our lives that ultimately were delusional. For me it was a rude awakening and it helped me get out of that wasteful empty pursuit. Jerry Louis was amazing as well. You really felt sympathy for this guy who could not live a regular life. Everyone felt like they owned (or were owed) a piece of him. The lady talking at the phone booth was a prime example. After watching this film, my attitude towards "celebrity" changed. The King of Comedy's main character played by Robert Dinero (Deniro?) can be viewed and enjoyed in 2 ways. At times he's hilarious, like we're watching a slapstick comedy, and yet he's pathetic and cringe-worthy in his delusional celebrity fixation. The fact that he gets the attention he wants, in the end, at Jerry Lewis's expense is the movie's most poignant part.
I just saw it for the first time. It was a sort of presage to celeb culture and reality TV. For me it was hard to determine,at times;what was real,and what was made up in Rupert's psycho world. some of the fantasy was obvious,but not all of it.
robofthewest Jerry had people clamoring for a piece of him, but then you see the scene where he goes home to his empty apartment and has a lonely dinner by himself. Later in the film, I believe during the scene where Rupert shows up at Jerry's house with the girl he's trying to impress, Jerry makes a comment to Rupert about fame not being all it's cracked up to be.
What didn't makes sense near the end was that Jerry didn't know where he was being held and it was night time when the girl took the tape of Jerry . He gets free and we see him rush out of the building and runs to his left and the girls comes outs almost naked and chases him. How did he know to head to his left when he came out . I though he would stand on the road to look for a Taxi Driver to tie in Robert's movie as a taxi driver that was the good person Travis Bickle wanting to help people where his part as a cabby gets shown when a cab stops to help Jerry when Rupert kidnapped him . What i found funny about Taxi Driver was that Travis get a letter from the parent of Iris to thank him for getting their daughter back home . Travis Bickle can be mixed up to spell Let Iris Back which was his goal to remove the grip of evil and pain to get her back home.
Jerry had to take the long road and endure insults and travelling , Pupkin wanted to act like he had a time machine to skip over the 10-15 years in Clubs .
Gary wood exactly. He didn't want to have to pay his dues. Like reality stars and other people who are rich and famous for doing things like playing video games online or making prank videos; they want the payoff without the actual hard work and sacrifice.
For those who have seen King of Comedy and Joker, read on. For the rest: SPOILER ALERT! at the end of KOC DeNiro’s obsessed delusional fan becomes a variety show host. In Joker, DeNiro is the show host and Joker is the obsessed, delusional fan. The tables have turned.
I have always liked this Film and everything about it! The Actors were great and even though it was based on a persons Fantasy, it had a very real realistic flavor throughout this movie and very entertaining. DeNiro was great as usual but I was also Impressed with Jerry's Character and how he played the talk show host, which seemed to be very real and honest!
I didn't think JOKER stole from this film; it used some of the material effectively as a homage. Also found out something interesting and a little unpleasant: Robert De Niro ad-libbed anti-Semitic slurs while in character to make Jerry Lewis angrier and have him lash out more at Rupert Pupkin. De Niro had no malicious intent and apologized to Lewis after, but man.
Just saw TKOC recently free on UA-cam..I forgot how awesome Sandra Bernhard was in this underrrated classic. I'm glad I saw it again after it's original HBO airing back in the mid 80's.
Always loved this movie. I was spellbound by it when I first saw it and it remains my favorite Scorsese film. It also should go without saying, but it’s more relevant today than ever.
Incredible film! This, along with Hi, Mom!, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas (duh!). Saw Mean Streats, but that was long ago and I don't recall. anyway, Robert De Niro is a national treasure!!! And for that reason, I find his TDS all the more tragic. End of the day, he's just one more human manipulated by mainstream media. The disintegration of critical thinking is SAD, and it is too widespread.
yes yes yes jerry was fantastic in this film BUT this has got to be deniro’s best role - he’s so aggressive with such a passive tone. so so so different to any other role he’s played and it’s fucking superb
The only person to root for in this is Catherine Scorsese who played Rupert's mother. Maybe she finally gets some peace when Rupert goes to prison. There's more scenes of her in the outtakes (which are on this site) and you can see how hard De Niro is trying not to laugh. The scene where he can't open his safe is ridiculous.
I recently saw this film thinking I had missed something. If anyone is interested in a grounded Jerry Lewis movie Arizona Dream is worlds beyond this schlocky film.
Really an underrated Scorsese film that goes under the radar because it wasn't as big as Raging Bull or Taxi Driver but nevertheless I always found this movie entertaining because it was so out there and so different from the norm that Marty and Deniro always gave us. It's definitely a weird film but worth giving it a watch in my opinion..
I kind of see where Ebert is coming from here...it's possible to find a movie striking, thought-provoking, excellent, etc. without LIKING it. There are plenty of movies that I'm glad I saw, even if I didn't enjoy the process of watching them and may or may not go back to. In this case, DeNiro and Bernhard were both fine, but man, I was struck by how isolated and lonely Jerry Lewis's character was, even in a world where it seemed like everyone knew and wanted a piece of him (I still think about the scene where he's walking down the street and one of his fans demands that he talk to her sister on the pay phone, and when he says he can't because he has some place to be, she instantly switches to "I hope you get cancer!")
This movie was brilliant it went over my head the first time like picking up a bag full of elbows there is not one part of De Niro's character that you can relate or feel comfortable with brilliant and also gives you a perspective of what celebrities have to deal with in the public eye very disturbing
I think this film is so well made. There are so many scenes where you are uncomfortable watching them. It's human behavior that makes you uncomfortable to see. I thought Jerry Lewis was absolutely fantastic in this film. So was Sandra Bernhard. The end of this film is wild. But you say to yourself, " I can see this happening." Both reviewers are absolutely right. The characters are unlikable. But a part of you likes them. All of them. But you are glad you don't know them or have to deal with them. But the film in a strange way sticks to your bones. You don't really know how, it just dose. XENDAVA
The Joker ripped this and Taxi Driver so hard but without the moral integrity to denounce its title character as a crazed, deranged and dangerous man whose unfortunate circumstances do not atone his horrid acts of violence.
I would say tKoC is Scorsese's best film of the 80s. I love Raging Bull, and its direction is brilliant (though its much lauded boxing scenes do remind me a lot of Robson's Champion now), but I feel like this film encapsulates its era better, much in the way Taxi Driver did a decade before it. It feels all the more relevant today in an age of internet celebrity.
One of those hidden gems from the master filmmaker, Scrosasee. It's a study of fleeting fame from a person will tons of desire with no talent. Kinda like those people who try to sing on American Idol and other shows. What lenghths would a person go to in order to become famous for something they love to do? I guess anything!!
Rupert was definitely outrageous but I still found him often at least a little likeable, Scorsese and even De Niro may not have liked him but they, probably especially De Niro, still made him very compelling, at times and in ways relatable and sympathetic.
It really is strange how subdued the music is in this because there is music in there. I watched it probably 10 times before I realized Back on the Chain Gang by The Pretenders is in it, and it's one of my favorite childhood songs.
Spoilers galore in this review. Sure, the movie is over 30 years old but there are people that didn't see it then (when they reviewed the movie) and people who haven't seen the movie now.
Having just watched the film 🎥 The movie challenges you and has one of the most ingenious and brilliantly realized endings It worked and made me uncomfortable
Roger Ebert here represents pretty much everyone that went into Joker without knowing what to expect and walked out disappointed. They were expecting big action set pieces and Batman and entertainment. Movies like Joker, King Of Comedy, and Taxi Driver were not made to be entertaining. They were made to tell stories with important messages. They’re think-pieces. Cinema has just been in such a downward spiral the past few decades that we go in expecting every movie to be pretty much the same. Just mindless popcorn garbage. That’s why I’m grateful for filmmakers like Kubrick, Coppola, Scorsese, Tarantino, and now Todd Philips. Cinema was made to tell stories. They’re like big picture books. But certainly movies like these aren’t for everyone, and I can understand that. It just pisses me off that people left Joker feeling angry or upset cause they didn’t get the big mindless war field of CGI violence they’re so used to in Marvel movies. Know what you’re in for before you pay for your ticket, otherwise you WILL be disappointed.
Jerry Lewis should have at least been nominated for an Oscar for this role. He was perfect in it. Possibly the only time he got any praise from film critics.
Truer words were never spoken.
@@goldcanyon340.I agree with you two, and I can’t even stand him in anything else!
If you’ve seen interviews of Jerry Lewis you might agree with me that Lewis was basically playing himself as he would react to those situations. Anyway it was a genuine performance it felt so real.
The film was at least two decades ahead of its time. To this day it still feels fresh and unique.
I am feeling that his could have played well during the "Beavis and Butthead" era, or when "South Park" first came out. "The King of Comedy is dark, cynical, and brutally funny.
Jerry Lewis's performance is flawless. What an ingenious casting, turned out better than it would have if they'd have gotten Johnny Carson, their original choice.
From what I know, Carson read the script, and was less than amused.
Jerry was so talented! My God! Anyway three great performances! Wow!
Carson lacked the imagination for this role. Lewis embraced the role, was totally perfect in it.
@@wormwood8191 well since he didn't do it , you can't really say how he would have performed
It's flawless because he plays a caricature of himself. He was a nasty, condescending man in real life
It's weird that Siskel talks about how obsessed people were with celebrity culture back in 1983. Got much worse 30+ years later. It's a great movie, creepy as Rupert was.
Right! Look at who's president on the United State of America right now! THAT is what celebrity can do for you these days.
Brandon FG I've always said that this film saw what was coming: people becoming famous for notoriety's sake more than actual talent. The opening credits scene, where Sandra Bernhardt's character gets into Jerry's car, freezes on her hands clawing at the closed window with Rupert looking at her on the other side. The way it's framed, it looks like a TV screen, which kind of underscores what S&E are saying about how television is changing everything. Even now, we still sort of claw at screens on our phones and tablets to get our entertainment.
I can understand why Ebert didn't like it, no one is likable. but it is a fascinating film. It was one of the first films to deal with the dark side of fandom. it's a great movie.
Today the fans have social media to destroy someone without every having the meet them . Jerry had to be rude to Rupert at his estate when he showed up with that girl from the bar which finally got him angry not from the insults but the rejection .
I feel like we've been obsessed with celebrity culture since the beginning
Absolutely amazing that Ebert didn’t get it or enjoy the movie - it’s exquisite on so many levels. Sandra Bernhard alone is incredible. One of the all time great movies - often hysterically funny, beautifully acted, poignant, clever, beautifully directed & edited, wonderfully atmospheric, perfectly paced, wonderful dialogue & fabulous improvisation. Just a jewel of a movie.
that's not amazing, that was business as usual for him. i'll never understand the rose colored glasses people still look at this guy through. he sure didn't have rose colored glasses for anybody or anything else.
Roger respected the movie after seeing it a 2nd time, gave it 3 stars in the print review. He just found it incredibly unpleasant, and nothing I've heard about the film indicates he was being obtuse or lying in coming to that conclusion.
Interesting he was still intrigued by it, then later seemed to admit it just went a bit too far in what it was trying to do.
@@plasticweapon right over your head. Roger was an amazing man.
@@plasticweapon
Well, I will admit I have this high opinion of Ebert, and I think it is well deserved. But he wasn't perfect; I disagree strongly with some of his reviews and would say so in his presence if he were still alive and the opportunity presented itself (naturally of course. I wouldn't just blurt them out if he happened to be around or anything like that). But so what? You're not gonna agree with even your favorite critic all of the time. Ebert's reviews are excellent and well written, and I can sometimes appreciate his POV if I happen to disagree with him. And besides, I've watched a lot of S&E and Siskel comes across to me as pickier and more of a hardass on movies than Ebert.
I️ Love the king of comedy. I️t has aged very well too
like a fine wine
Goodwins all access Media service provider absolutely
I think this is a brilliant film. This about a man that is completely deluded, that will not accept a life outside his fantasy and will do anything to be famous. He lives in a flat with his mother but you never see her or the rest of the apartment just the basement filled with celebrity cardboard cut outs where he practices his act, the lack of camera movement shows a sense of fixation. He lives in a dream, in a fantasy and he will accept nothing else.
I’ve always taken away that he didn’t live with his mother but imagined that she was also there due to his final stand up monologue. Makes the conversations even creepier on a “Psycho” level.
TheDoubleDinger ooooh that’s so true!!! I mean he said she’s been dead for 9 years, I never thought about it in a “Psycho” sense, that’s extremely clever! Good on you for picking that up dude!!
Jerry Lewis' BEST role!!! I love black comedy, and this is brilliant. I could watch King of Comedy 100Xs and could NEVER get sick of it.
@Petar Stanić I only recently heard of this after seeing someone compare it to Joker. Both Joker and Taxi Driver are movies I had to watch more than once to appreciate. Definitely gonna watch this one soon.
"I like the film's focus on the creeping television culture in this country, the desire for celebrity..." You have to wonder if Siskel would feel the same today, knowing fiction has become reality.
one of the most underrated character driven stories of all time. One of my top favs from scorsese
Agree 100%! Completely underrated movie - superlative perf.s by DeNiro and Lewis IMO ... love the irony of Ebert saying he didn't find it entertaining cf. the title "The King of Comedy" and of course it was shot with gritty and sinister undertones reminiscent of Taxi Driver etc ... Must watch it again soon.
Ebert talks about this movie in one of their interviews on Later with Bob Costas that's on UA-cam. The interview is from the early '90s and Roger quoted someone who said that any time you can remember a character's name years later, that movie must have done something right. And he admitted that 10 years later he still remembered the name Rupert Pupkin. He never fully declared that he liked the movie but he did warm up to it as time went by.
That movie was genius.
Just saw this film for the first time and it was strange, repellent, but never boring. It felt indecipherable, much like Pupkin himself and is hard to embrace but difficult to forget.
I totally understand for this movie. But I felt that same way not about this movie, but Eureka, with Gene Hackman and several other big names (it's a film I would bet money that few people know of). It is pretty good though, and definitely worth seeing at least once.
Consider watching it several times. In college, I wrote a paper about this movie and watched it over and over again. Each time there was something more to pick up on that I missed the first time.
Siskel was right more than Elbert.
Jerry Lewis is brilliant in this film. Should have got the Oscar.
Just watched again for the third time .It’s a very good dark comedy.Robert Di Nero was needless to say terrific in this role.The supporting cast also did a fine job Jerry Lewis but especially Sandra Bernhard.While watching the closing credits I heard Van Morrison singing the song “Wonder Remark”which I had never heard before.Great song and fitting for this movie.
What's different is how few characters Scorsese used. In most films like this about show biz, e.g., "Network," "Tootsie," and "Nashville," most scenes are busy with action and the frenetic energy of putting on a show, crowded with people in the foreground and background, so there's never a sense of loneliness. However, in "King of Comedy, " not counting the audience during the tonight show at the end, I don't think any scene contained more than three characters at a time, brilliantly creating this stifling sense that Rupert was alone in the universe with his dreams.
RIP Jerry Lewis
"From what I've read..." Lewis and Scorcese really didn't quite "get it" but DeNiro sort of guided things along during production.
It was hysterical when it came out. Now, it's just sad commentary
I felt the excact same way as Roger. It is one of the most awkward movies i have ever seen, and still just thinking about it, makes me cringe. But i still really admired it, in a weird way, and Robert De Niro gives a fantastic performance as a complete doofus, and Martin Scorsese was really brave, when he made this, and i know what his point is with the film. But i am not surprised by the fact that it flopped, because as Gene mentioned: it really isn't an easy film to like.
its an easy film to like if you don't judge the main character
I thought his character was totally likeable lol he was charming and funny minus the painful desperation and persistence
@@Boots43096 @damazy Wlodarczyk I relate to Rupert a lot.....lol
Bob DeNiro and Jerry Lewis are brilliant. So are Diahnne Abbott as Rita and Sandra Bernhard as Masha. Rita and Masha are like a fun house mirror of each other. Rita is beautiful but not rich. Masha is rich but not beautiful. Rita and Masha, like many average and not-so-average people, are turned on by celebrity. Rita is "stable enough" to accept a life that offers more regret than glamour. Masha has gone over the edge and descended into a madness of all glamour and nothing to regret. When you sit back and contemplate these two women's lives, you wonder if you have gone a little mad to conclude it may be Masha - - in her bra and panties, screaming and running down the street after the object of her delusion - - who is somehow better off than Rita, who is trapped in her dreary, dismal, everyday existence. Masha, despite it all, still has her hopes, passions, and dreams intact. Rita is left with only their absence and the excruciating emptiness and loneliness their absence inevitably bring. Two stellar performances from two gifted actresses. Five out of five stars.
every character was flawed and believable. absolute brilliant casting. i love it more after each time i watch (at least 10 times). timeless!
Siskel wins this one! This and After hours are my favourite Scorcese pictures.
I loved it. One of Scorsese's 5 most underrated.
What are the other four?
@@ghostrider2664 Casino, Last Temptation of Christ, Mean Streets, Gangs of New York.
Well, I should have written “obscure” instead of “underrated.” People do like this, but it isn’t as remembered as Goodfellas or Raging Bull
@@linkbiff1054 I've not seen this and hardly have ever heard about it. It looks thoroughly uncomfortable, the same kind as in Edmund with William H Macy. The David Mamet thing.....
Talking about Scorsese's most underrated, there's only two films. This one, and "after hours". Two gems, totally forgotten between meatballs and tomatoe sauce.
TKoC aged so well
I loved this movie and dinero and Jerry were both phenomenal!
Intriguing that so many people, including Ebert, feel the same way I did about this movie. I saw it only once many years ago, when I was maybe 13 years old. I thought it was one of the most creepy, embarrassing, and uncomfortable things I had ever seen. Nevertheless, I've remembered so much about it over the years. I'm not saying I liked it, or that it's good. But it does stick with you.
That was my first impression of the movie as well. As I watched it several times throughout the years, it becomes less creepy, and you realize what brilliant performances the cast gave. I love the movie now.
I miss Gene Siskel, one of the great movie critics and a true lover and supporter of film!
I thought a lot more highly of the film than Ebert did--and enjoyed it more too. It may not be Scorsese's best film, but it's very, very good. If there's anything about this film that is a "turnoff" as they put it, it's not a lack of entertainment; there's plenty of it in the film (they don't mention Sandra Bernhard's inspired comic performance), it's the film's raw, unceasing cynicism. It shows how people--both the successes and the failures--are trapped in their own narcissistic little world and the heroes of their own story, no matter how mediocre or flat-out unstable they are in reality. That's a hard pill to swallow when you go to watch a movie to be inspired in some way. In a sense it's a bigger downer than Taxi Driver, which was dark (and certainly more violent) but not quite so bleakly pessimistic in its implications.
Ebert did like it, not as much as I do, but it grew on him after a second viewing. Often I find that he could crystallize something I never really considered yet makes total sense. For this film, it was the lack of catharsis or fulfillment for any of the characters. That is why he felt weird about it, and indeed this sort of thing is incredibly rare in movies.
Great movie in my opinion, and I loved Siskel & Ebert, the best movie critic team ever. 🎬🎥
This film is the companion piece to The Joker - many similarities but in a sense aware kind of way. This film is decades ahead of its time
I saw the Joker with my brother and kept whispeing to him 'This is The King of Comedy".
It is so much better and richer than Joker.
Yeah, the actual prequel to Joker. This is what DeNiro's character did to get into the business only to get blown away by the Joker...
This is such a pleb opinion
Genious scorsese here! Very underrated movie.
Increible smart "comedy" when in reality is a twisted drama character development!
It's scary.
The first time I saw the movie on DVD it had me hooked on the which way Rupert was going with his obsession and no matter how pathetic he got where i would normally laugh because I met people like him but this time I laughed inside as a stored emotion for later.
He was so detached from reality that he was calm with the FBI and acted like Prison was an episode of a TV show while he also was so casual to bargain because he said Jerry was as good as dead if his demands weren't met because he knew the FBI didn't know where Jerry was.
The final scene in the bar showed how he didn't care about going to prison because he wanted to be inside that box that is a fantasy world for the end product but a reality for the people creating the fantasy. Rupert's life didn't blur the lines for fantasy and reality because he never had 100% of either since he existed inside the reality around him like a fish swimming through clear water which it can't see but feels it and needs it to stay alive from the oxygen .
But as for his vision of being on Jerry's show one day , that fantasy is always somewhere down the road over the next hill
expect that his failures hit him like potholes that cause the odd flat and force him to stop and look around at where he is while putting on the spare tire to get back up to speed.
The kidnapping scene with the car was much like his life going slow to watch and follow others that are successful and then drag them into his sick and twisted World in side the car as it he can hijack success from Jerry .
Siskel & Ebert launched a million movie review podcasts. True originals that are very missed. I'd love to hear their take of movies today with all the cgi. This film & taxi driver as most people know inspired the joker.
So ahead of their time about culture's obsession with celebrity & with the internet & podcasts anyone can achieve some level of fame.
I think he's character in raging bull is way less likeable.
Sandra bernhardt's performance starts off slow, but she really catches fire and most of the comic joy in the movie comes from her
she's excellent from beginning to end
Awww, getting all nostalgic over eighties vhs and rabbit ears TV Lol the floating tracking snow in the beginning is how EVERY vhs movie we EVER watched Lol
It's interesting how Siskel and Ebert are saying how television is effecting "everything". Oh they have no idea how today's world is not even about television.
I disagree with Siskel... After watching this again tonight I liked Jerry's character. He seemed the only likable character. He is put through hell and he is just a normal guy dealing with abnormal situations. The scene with him reading the cue cards actually made me feel sympathy for him. He was always nice to Rupert even when Rupert didn't deserve it.
And by the end of the 80's, Jerry Lewis had a stalker in real life.
The scene where a lady yells at Jerry and said she hoped he died of cancer actually happened to Jerry Lewis. Lewis never improvised, he stuck to the scripts but for Scorsese, he improvised and his soliloquy about the pressures of fame were completely improvised by him on the spot. It’s very telling. He did it simply and brilliantly.
The early days of the American celebrity culture is cynically but accurately depicted by Scorsese. Little did they know that 4 decades later a reality TV star would be elected president because of celebrity culture.
One of Scorsese's best films and my personal favourite.
RIP, Jerry Lewis. I was not a fan of him or his comedies way back when. But I thought he was great in this movie as a straight man. The movie wasn't quite on the psycho level of "Taxi Driver", but it was still a very effective character study.
I'm here because I heard the Joker movie coming out this week was basically a re-write of this movie, which I had never heard of previously.
Did you see the Joker yet and what did you think? I see the king of comedy parallels but it has more in common with Taxi Driver, also with De Niro. I recommend you don’t see the Scorsese films til you see Joker. Go in fresh.
POTENTIAL SPOILER AT END.
An amazing movie. My friend and I dissected this movie in discussion after discussion after it came out.
Robert Dinero was amazing as Rupert Pupkin, the delusional wanna-be comedian.
After seeing this I realized just how much we all partially live in a fantasy world, imagining meetings with our favourite celebrities or imaging events in our lives that ultimately were delusional.
For me it was a rude awakening and it helped me get out of that wasteful empty pursuit.
Jerry Louis was amazing as well. You really felt sympathy for this guy who could not live a regular life.
Everyone felt like they owned (or were owed) a piece of him.
The lady talking at the phone booth was a prime example.
After watching this film, my attitude towards "celebrity" changed.
The King of Comedy's main character played by Robert Dinero (Deniro?) can be viewed and enjoyed in 2 ways.
At times he's hilarious, like we're watching a slapstick comedy, and yet he's pathetic and cringe-worthy in his delusional celebrity fixation.
The fact that he gets the attention he wants, in the end, at Jerry Lewis's expense is the movie's most poignant part.
I just saw it for the first time. It was a sort of presage to celeb culture and reality TV. For me it was hard to determine,at times;what was real,and what was made up in Rupert's psycho world. some of the fantasy was obvious,but not all of it.
robofthewest Jerry had people clamoring for a piece of him, but then you see the scene where he goes home to his empty apartment and has a lonely dinner by himself. Later in the film, I believe during the scene where Rupert shows up at Jerry's house with the girl he's trying to impress, Jerry makes a comment to Rupert about fame not being all it's cracked up to be.
What didn't makes sense near the end was that Jerry didn't know where he was being held and it was night time
when the girl took the tape of Jerry . He gets free and we see him rush out of the building and runs to his left and the girls comes outs almost naked and chases him.
How did he know to head to his left when he came out . I though he would stand on the road to look for a Taxi Driver to tie in Robert's movie as a taxi driver that was the good person Travis Bickle wanting to help people where his part as a cabby gets shown when a cab stops to help Jerry when Rupert kidnapped him .
What i found funny about Taxi Driver was that Travis get a letter from the parent of Iris to thank him for getting their daughter back home .
Travis Bickle can be mixed up to spell Let Iris Back which was his goal to remove the grip of evil and pain to get her back home.
Jerry had to take the long road and endure insults and travelling , Pupkin wanted to act like he had a time machine to skip over the 10-15 years in Clubs .
Gary wood exactly. He didn't want to have to pay his dues. Like reality stars and other people who are rich and famous for doing things like playing video games online or making prank videos; they want the payoff without the actual hard work and sacrifice.
"The King of Comedy" is a terrific movie. It was dark, cynical, mischevious, and brutally funny. Thanks for sharing.
For those who have seen King of Comedy and Joker, read on. For the rest: SPOILER ALERT! at the end of KOC DeNiro’s obsessed delusional fan becomes a variety show host. In Joker, DeNiro is the show host and Joker is the obsessed, delusional fan. The tables have turned.
I have always liked this Film and everything about it! The Actors were great and even though it was based on a persons Fantasy, it had a very real realistic flavor throughout this movie and very entertaining. DeNiro was great as usual but I was also Impressed with Jerry's Character and how he played the talk show host, which seemed to be very real and honest!
Sandra Bernhard stole this movie, she was brilliant
does anybody know what else they reviewed on this episode??
Wow. Miss these guys.
I didn't think JOKER stole from this film; it used some of the material effectively as a homage. Also found out something interesting and a little unpleasant: Robert De Niro ad-libbed anti-Semitic slurs while in character to make Jerry Lewis angrier and have him lash out more at Rupert Pupkin. De Niro had no malicious intent and apologized to Lewis after, but man.
Thank you for sharing this!
Tips on how to disturb reception staff: "Oh, I don't mind. No really, I'll just wait here."
Ebert nailed it. It’s an intelligent movie, but cold, and distant. Still worth watching, though.
Just saw TKOC recently free on UA-cam..I forgot how awesome Sandra Bernhard was in this underrrated classic. I'm glad I saw it again after it's original HBO airing back in the mid 80's.
Great underrated film
Always loved this movie. I was spellbound by it when I first saw it and it remains my favorite Scorsese film. It also should go without saying, but it’s more relevant today than ever.
On my top favorite list. NYC played a part too.
"I'll wait. I'll wait."
Incredible film! This, along with Hi, Mom!, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull and GoodFellas (duh!). Saw Mean Streats, but that was long ago and I don't recall. anyway, Robert De Niro is a national treasure!!! And for that reason, I find his TDS all the more tragic. End of the day, he's just one more human manipulated by mainstream media. The disintegration of critical thinking is SAD, and it is too widespread.
This movie seems more relevant now than when it was released. It's definitely one of Scorsese's very best.
Gives away the whole plot lol
Nice post; thank you
I loved these reviews back in the day, but whoa! he gives away the whole plot.
The pain in Rupert’s life is all in his stand up.
yes yes yes jerry was fantastic in this film BUT this has got to be deniro’s best role - he’s so aggressive with such a passive tone. so so so different to any other role he’s played and it’s fucking superb
The only person to root for in this is Catherine Scorsese who played Rupert's mother. Maybe she finally gets some peace when Rupert goes to prison. There's more scenes of her in the outtakes (which are on this site) and you can see how hard De Niro is trying not to laugh. The scene where he can't open his safe is ridiculous.
I recently saw this film thinking I had missed something. If anyone is interested in a grounded Jerry Lewis movie Arizona Dream is worlds beyond this schlocky film.
Really an underrated Scorsese film that goes under the radar because it wasn't as big as Raging Bull or Taxi Driver but nevertheless I always found this movie entertaining because it was so out there and so different from the norm that Marty and Deniro always gave us. It's definitely a weird film but worth giving it a watch in my opinion..
I kind of see where Ebert is coming from here...it's possible to find a movie striking, thought-provoking, excellent, etc. without LIKING it. There are plenty of movies that I'm glad I saw, even if I didn't enjoy the process of watching them and may or may not go back to. In this case, DeNiro and Bernhard were both fine, but man, I was struck by how isolated and lonely Jerry Lewis's character was, even in a world where it seemed like everyone knew and wanted a piece of him (I still think about the scene where he's walking down the street and one of his fans demands that he talk to her sister on the pay phone, and when he says he can't because he has some place to be, she instantly switches to "I hope you get cancer!")
Just saw this movie on Amazon, i loved it
This movie was brilliant it went over my head the first time like picking up a bag full of elbows there is not one part of De Niro's character that you can relate or feel comfortable with brilliant and also gives you a perspective of what celebrities have to deal with in the public eye very disturbing
I think this film is so well made. There are so many scenes where you are uncomfortable watching them. It's human behavior that makes you uncomfortable to see. I thought Jerry Lewis was absolutely fantastic in this film. So was Sandra Bernhard. The end of this film is wild. But you say to yourself, " I can see this happening." Both reviewers are absolutely right. The characters are unlikable. But a part of you likes them. All of them. But you are glad you don't know them or have to deal with them. But the film in a strange way sticks to your bones. You don't really know how, it just dose.
XENDAVA
Ebert was amazing but he could be very wrong which he was about this one, Silence of the Lambs, and the Chosen. All superb films.
the girl in the movie didnt get mentioned but she was so perfectly psychotic in her own right. this movie is a classic
This movie came back to life thanks to the Joker movie...Joker movie makes more sense after watching this first. Both are Great and both are timeless.
The Joker ripped this and Taxi Driver so hard but without the moral integrity to denounce its title character as a crazed, deranged and dangerous man whose unfortunate circumstances do not atone his horrid acts of violence.
Fun fact) the woman bartender Deniro is trying to impress in the movie is his real life wife.
This is a beautiful sick movie,
or a sick beautiful movie... no gore... sublime.
I would say tKoC is Scorsese's best film of the 80s. I love Raging Bull, and its direction is brilliant (though its much lauded boxing scenes do remind me a lot of Robson's Champion now), but I feel like this film encapsulates its era better, much in the way Taxi Driver did a decade before it. It feels all the more relevant today in an age of internet celebrity.
I loved how Roger Ebert was always willing to give a challenging film, like this or Mulholland Dr., a second chance after disliking it the first time.
one of Scorsese' best
The movie was absolute brilliance
One of those hidden gems from the master filmmaker, Scrosasee. It's a study of fleeting fame from a person will tons of desire with no talent. Kinda like those people who try to sing on American Idol and other shows. What lenghths would a person go to in order to become famous for something they love to do? I guess anything!!
These clowns don't know what they are talking about!
The King of Comedy is an absolute classic! Warm, funny, goofy and crazy :))
They both liked it, wat are you babbling about
I watch the movie regularly, it's so uncomfortable but perfect!
Rupert was definitely outrageous but I still found him often at least a little likeable, Scorsese and even De Niro may not have liked him but they, probably especially De Niro, still made him very compelling, at times and in ways relatable and sympathetic.
It really is strange how subdued the music is in this because there is music in there. I watched it probably 10 times before I realized Back on the Chain Gang by The Pretenders is in it, and it's one of my favorite childhood songs.
Spoilers galore in this review. Sure, the movie is over 30 years old but there are people that didn't see it then (when they reviewed the movie) and people who haven't seen the movie now.
The film equivalent of Scott's Tots
One of my favorite movies
Not a word about Sandra Bernhard, who stole the movie.
I always agreed with Siskel much more often than Ebert.
Warhol said it. Fifteen minutes😮
A very underrated film.
Disturbing.
Having just watched the film 🎥
The movie challenges you and has one of the most ingenious and brilliantly realized endings
It worked and made me uncomfortable
You are forced to hang out with someone for 2 hours you wouldn’t spend two minutes with in real life….which is its charm.
Siskel was spot on.
Great movie 2 legends Lewis & Deniro loved jerry in the tied up tape scene!!!
Roger Ebert here represents pretty much everyone that went into Joker without knowing what to expect and walked out disappointed. They were expecting big action set pieces and Batman and entertainment. Movies like Joker, King Of Comedy, and Taxi Driver were not made to be entertaining. They were made to tell stories with important messages. They’re think-pieces. Cinema has just been in such a downward spiral the past few decades that we go in expecting every movie to be pretty much the same. Just mindless popcorn garbage. That’s why I’m grateful for filmmakers like Kubrick, Coppola, Scorsese, Tarantino, and now Todd Philips. Cinema was made to tell stories. They’re like big picture books. But certainly movies like these aren’t for everyone, and I can understand that. It just pisses me off that people left Joker feeling angry or upset cause they didn’t get the big mindless war field of CGI violence they’re so used to in Marvel movies. Know what you’re in for before you pay for your ticket, otherwise you WILL be disappointed.