‘Flop of the year’: this is how critics rated one of Martin Scorsese’s best films at the time

Cinema fans are already looking forward to October 19 with great anticipation. Then “Killers Of The Flower Moon”, the new gigantic work (more than 200 minutes running time!) by Martin Scorsese, will be shown in German cinemas. The Italian-American director, who has worked in film for almost 50 years, is considered one of the best and most influential filmmakers of all time thanks to masterpieces such as ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Raging Bull’ and ‘GoodFellas’. .

However, it took a while before some of his work was truly recognized for its genius. A good example of this is probably ‘The King Of Comedy’ from 1982. The satirical thriller with Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Sandra Bernhard and Diahnne Abbot is now considered one of Martin Scorsese’s best films and was also one of the most important sources of inspiration for the hit film “Joker” starring Joaquin Phoenix. However, the critics heavily criticized the film when it released.

‘People hated him’

In a TikTok video by his daughter Francesco Scorsese, Martin Scorsese recently recalled the harsh reactions “The King Of Comedy” received at its premiere: “People hated him when he came out. It was the flop of the year. That’s what they said on Entertainment Tonight.”

In fact, ‘The King Of Comedy’ represented a departure from ‘Taxi Driver’ and ‘Like a Wild Bull’ not only in terms of staging. For many viewers, the dark satire, characterized by a deep-seated cynicism, may have been irritating. Although the critics caused poor reactions in the press, virtually no one in the cinemas was interested in the film. With a budget of $19 million, “The King Of Comedy” only managed to collect a paltry $2.5 million.

As I said, the tide has now turned. “The King Of Comedy” is always considered one of the highlights of Martin Scorsese’s work (the film was also one of the favorites of master director Akira Kurosawa). Robert De Niro’s portrayal of hard-nosed but unsuccessful comedian Rupert Pupkin is now celebrated as one of his most impressive performances. In this case, the old saying applies: good things take time.