I finally watched The King of Comedy by Martin Scorsese last night. At the beginning of the 80’s he directed two black comedies: this and After Hours. Judging by the comments on the Internet Movie Database they’re pretty widely misunderstood and underappreciated. Too many people fixate on Mean Streets, Goodfellas, Casino and Taxi Driver. They expect every Scorsese movie to be about tough men doing tough things. It’s true that a lot of Scorsese’s movies are about male-dominated social structures: the Mafia (obviously), Jazz bands, sports and organised religion (Catholicism and Buddhism), but people who watch Scorsese films in lieu of getting a testosterone injection are missing out.
I imagine audiences at the time did not warm to Scorsese’s comedies, and this explains why he hasn’t made any since 1985. The blame should rest not only with the Scorsese=macho crew, but also with those who eschew delicate, sad and sometimes surreal and disturbing comedy for Adam Sandler pratfalls. I won’t be taking Courtney to the cinema for 50 First Dates on Valentine’s day, for purely selfish (and probably elitist) reasons.
