How They Became Famous There is a certain style of film-making viewers associate with Martin Scorsese, and it prevails to this day. Gangsters, anti-heroes, New York, extreme violence, a distinctive, retro sountrack. The list goes on. Scorsese is also know for his collaborations with Hollywood royalty such as Joe Pesci, Leonardo Di Caprio and most famously, Robert De Niro. His first big success, Mean Streets, included all of the above features: mobsters in New York, The Ronettes and De Niro all combining to make a distinctively Scorsese picture. This was followed by the gritty Taxi Driver and the abrasive Raging Bull, all dark, serious, dramatic films based around loner male-protagonists. What They Did Next Scorsese made a comedy. And to this day it stands out from his overall output. The King of Comedy was the director's first foray into an entirely new movie genre, and it was far from a complete success. While reasonably well-received by critics, it was a massive commercial failure. De Niro would blame this on the subject matter, but it was probably due to audience expectations. They didn't know what to do with a comedy directed by Martin Scorsese. Ultimately the film wasn't as big a departure as it may initially have seemed. Sure it was a comedy, but it was still based in New York. Robert De Niro continued his association with Scorsese, reprising the role of a psychopath once more only with a slightly different overall tone. It was very much a comedy made on the director's terms and how the director imagined it to be, rather than a pandering to convention.
