Stars:
Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Tony Randall, Diahnne Abbott, and Sandra Bernhard
Writer:
Paul D. Zimmerman
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Feature
length: 109 minutes
Extras:
“A Shot At The Top” Making-Of Featurette, Sill Gallery, Deleted Scenes,
Theatrical Trailer, and TV Spot
Languages:
English Stereo and English, French, and Spanish Language Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions and Spanish Language Subtitles
Packaging:
Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 28
Sound:
Stereo and Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1982/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox
Home
Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: PG
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
“The
King Of Comedy” is now twenty years old and just in time for the theatrical
release of Scorsese’s “Gangs Of New York” comes this prophetic dark comedy
to DVD. The film may not have been appreciated upon its initial release, but it
is probably one of the director’s better films. At the time when the film was
released, people were likening Jerry Lewis’ “Jerry Langford” character to
Johnny Carson, but now I think David Letterman would be more on target. Long
before Oliver Stone and Woody Allen made films about the American obsession with
celebrity and the fine line between fame and infamy, Robert De Niro delivers a
great performance as Rupert Pupkin, an aspiring comedian and obsessed fan of
Jerry Langford that kidnaps the popular talk show host for a shot at the top by
doing standup on the nationally televised program. Lewis is perfect as the talk
show host because after years in show business, he is an accomplished
professional and knows how to play the character seriously without going over
the top. Sandra Bernhard also delivers a great performance that one will learn
upon watching the new 22-minute “Making Of Featurette” produced Automat
Pictures, that she actually adlibbed quite effectively. The featurette features
new videotaped interviews with both Martin Scorsese and Sandra Bernhard.
Scorsese briefly touches upon the thematic similarities between “Taxi
Driver” and “The King Of Comedy” during the featurette and gives some
terrific anecdotal insight into the film’s production and initial theatrical
release. Tony Randall and Scorsese both make cameos in the “The King Of
Comedy” as well.
This
new Fox DVD release features a good anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) transfer and
a clear new English Stereo Soundtrack. English,
French, and Spanish two-channel Monaural Soundtracks are encoded on to the DVD
as options along with English Captions and Closed Captions for the hearing
impaired and Spanish Language Subtitles. I actually preferred the monaural
soundtrack to the stereo soundtrack. I found it had a fuller quality to it
though there was nothing wrong with the stereo soundtrack. The picture quality
is not perfect, but considering the age of the film, I think Fox did a good job.
In
addition to the featurette I noted above, the DVD also features the videotaped
monologue used for the film’s opening and a 37-second deleted scene. The
theatrical trailer as well as a Canadian TV spot, and a still gallery of lobby
cards and behind-the-scenes photos wrap up the extra features on this DVD.
The
interactive menus are animated to match the cutout fantasy world in Pupkin’s
basement and all of the menus are easy to navigate.
Scorsese fans will want to add this film to their DVD-Video collection.
“The King Of Comedy” is available on DVD now from Twentieth Century Fox Home
Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.