  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. 
