King of Comedy, The (1983, USA) C-109m. ***½ D: Martin Scorsese. Starring Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Diahnne Abbott, Sandra Bernhard, Shelley Hack, Ed Herlihy, Victor Borge, Tony Randall, Martin Scorsese, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Rupert Pupkin (De Niro) is a dreamer, a loser, setting all his hopes and dreams towards meeting his favorite star, TV talkshow host Jerry Langdon (Lewis) and persuading him to let him perform in one of his shows. When Langdon does not respond to his wishes, Pupkin teams up with neurotic Bernhard, herself a fan, to force the showmaster to acknowledge them. Intelligently handled psycho drama is incredibly bitter and realistic, kudos to a bravura performance by De Niro and Paul D. Zimmerman's thoughtful script. Another quiet, absorbing film from master director Scorsese.