The King of Comedy (film) character fails to differentiate between his fantasies and reality in much the same way. Scorsese sought to achieve the same with the film so that, in his words, the "fantasy is more real than reality". Rupert Pupkin has been compared to Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver": both characters have serious issues with reality testing, that is drawing the line between outer objective and inner subjective reality. In her review, entertainment columnist Marilyn Beck approved Johnny Carson's refusal to participate in "The King of Comedy", supposedly because he feared the film could inspire psychopaths like John Hinckley. Beck considered "The King
Robert De Niro Festival in 1997, he was awarded an Honorable Prize for contribution to cinema. De Niro would reference "In the Line of Fire", along with "Dirty Harry" (1971) and "Magnum Force" (1973), two more of Eastwood's films, in "Righteous Kill" (2008). He also appeared in the crime drama "Cop Land" (1997). He starred in the police action-thriller "Heat" (1995), along with fellow actor and long-time friend, Al Pacino. The duo drew much attention from fans, as both have generally been compared throughout their careers. Though Pacino and De Niro both starred in "The Godfather Part II" (1974), they shared no screen