De Niro and Scorsese’s ultimate tag team

If you haven’t seen the old movies, it’s a new one!
“Katsura Shigenoshin’s Classic Movie Stories” has come full circle and is picking out a number of newly released films, and this time we will be introducing “The King of Comedy” (1982).

This is the second collaboration between director Martin Scorsese and actor Robert De Niro, following films such as Taxi Driver (1976) and New York, New York (1977).

The main character is Rupert Pupkin (Robert De Niro), a self-proclaimed comedian who becomes delusional while chasing after the famous TV star Jerry Langford (Jerry Lewis), and believes that he too can join the ranks of the stars.

Rupert Pupkin of this film is often compared to Travis Bickle of Taxi Driver, whose style exposes the shady spirituality of humans.
Pupkin appears to be a cheerful, upbeat character, but beneath his personality, which mixes fantasy and reality, lurks an irredeemable darkness.

The film’s box office success was poor when it was released due to the discrepancy between the exciting title “King of Comedy” and the content. However, as a minor masterpiece, it has been highly acclaimed in the industry to this day, and it has had a huge influence on “Joker” released in 2019, with many homages to the film being made.