Jerry Lewis

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planetjake · #1 Post by **planetjake** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 11:00 am

Haven't posted a topic here before, so I'm honored.

Recently, I've been watching the films of Jerry Lewis and become completely fascinated. I would just like to know how he stands around here and if anyone had some thoughts to share... Specifally about The Bellboy, The Errand Boy, The Ladies Man, The Patsy, The Family Jewels or The Nutty Professor.

David Ehrenstein · #2 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 2:16 pm

He's a genius.

http://ehrensteinland.com/htmls/bride/i ... ewis.shtml

The Ladies Man is my favorite, closely followed by The Nutty Professor and The Patsy. Among his Tashlin films Hollywood or Bust, Artists and Models and The Disorderly Orderly are the best.

And then there's Scorsese's The King of Comedy.

Along with Tati, Jerry is the comedy filmmaker who est understands the creative use of sound.

colinr0380 · #3 Post by **colinr0380** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 2:24 pm

What is the opinion on Funny Bones?

#4 Post by **Matt** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 2:32 pm

Jerry's movies as a director, when they're funny, are hysterically funny. When they're not (and there are terribly unfunny stretches in even his best films), they're awful. But he's got a great imagination for sight gags and in that, he does have a lot in common with Tati. I think a double feature of M. Hulot's Holiday and The Bellboy would be a perfect pairing.

The scene with the bartender in The Nutty Professor is my favorite moment in all of his films. "What'll it be? Hmmm?"

tryavna · #5 Post by **tryavna** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:34 pm

If you like watching people fall down a lot, you'll love Jerry Lewis.

Actually, I don't guess I ever "got" Lewis. I much prefer his work with Dean Martin. The contrasts between the two men's onscreen personas were huge -- much more than just about any other American comedy team that I can think of. And that contrast worked really well, in my opinion. Alone, Lewis overpowers a movie a bit too much for my tastes.

justeleblanc · #6 Post by **justeleblanc** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 3:51 pm

Matt wrote:The scene with the bartender in The Nutty Professor is my favorite moment in all of his films. "What'll it be? Hmmm?"

That drink order is especially wonderful.

Last year I went on ebay and bought a few of his later films on VHS, THE BIG MOUTH, CRACKING UP, HARDLEY WORKING, DONT RAISE THE BRIDGE, and in some ways I enjoys these a bit more than his early 60s period. They aren't better films, but they reveal a lot more about Lewis and his relationship with being a clown.

planetjake · #7 Post by **planetjake** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 7:58 pm

The Ladies Man is obsessing me... My God, does this guy have a fascinating complex or what? One second he is screaming that he doesn't want anything to do with women, the next second he is in a high-chair being spoonfed by a maternal looking housemaid, the very next he is dragging a huge chunk of rotting meat across the floor through puddles of spilled milk to feed the "baby"...

whoa...

marty · #8 Post by **marty** » Thu Nov 16, 2006 8:15 pm

Frank Tashlin's Artists and Models is a masterpiece and one of the greatest films of all time. No, I am not kidding.

fred · #9 Post by **fred** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 12:49 am

marty wrote:Frank Tashlin's Artists and Models is a masterpiece and one of the greatest films of all time. No, I am not kidding.

Amen. This is long overdue on dvd. Movies don't get any better than this.

David Ehrenstein · #10 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 6:52 pm

Funny Bones is quite good. Jerry is nicely paired with Oliver Platt and Lee Evans.

planetjake · #11 Post by **planetjake** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 6:51 pm

So, when do you think we'll be treated to a box-set of his post '65 work?I've been hearing alot of wonderful, strange things about Three on a Couch, Which Way to the Front and The Big Mouth. Have heard mixed things about everything else, which is always a good sign.

justeleblanc · #12 Post by **justeleblanc** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 7:57 pm

A box would be nice, but these are all over the place, studio-wise. I want to say Warner, Fox, and mostly smaller companies own his post Family Jewels works. And of course CLOWN CRIED is a lost cause.

planetjake · #13 Post by **planetjake** » Thu Dec 07, 2006 8:11 pm

I would punch my Grandma in the face to see CLOWN CRIED... In any case I think I will have to resort to VHS for many of these titles...

Jason · #14 Post by **Jason** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:28 am

Read the screenplay of The Day the Clown Cried, or so the internet claims.

HerrSchreck · #15 Post by **HerrSchreck** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:49 am

planetjake wrote:I would punch my Grandma in the face to see CLOWN CRIED... ..

Dude with lightning bolts like that you going to need to post much much more round here. Hachatcha... (drum shuffle, softshoe). That was awesome. I need a drink now..

#16 Post by **domino harvey** » Sat May 17, 2008 5:18 pm

I've wrapping-up working my way through the second Martin and Lewis collection and holy smokes is Living It Up bad. Remaking Nothing Sacred wasn't the best idea to begin with (I've never read/seen the original play but a few lines are lifted here from the screenplay verbatim), but the main problems are

One, it was not a good idea to trade the memory of Lombard for Lewis (and I LIKE Lewis). Usually Lewis is usually good for a few laughs in even his worst films, but I'm pretty sure my only chuckles in this movie came from Martin singing an ode to a picture of Audrey Hepburn and the pushy union waiter. Lewis barking like a Chinese dog is just more embarrassing than funny.

Two, everything this film changes to the original source makes it so much more offensive. I don't mean the racist stuff which is pretty boilerplate anyways, but the just perverted three-way "relationship" with the now-female Wally. And, thanks to the sexual reversal of roles, it's just not funny to hear a man graphically threaten a woman with tearing her heart out. And the fistfight loses all of its, ahem, punch when it's just two men.

Even the songs are awful, and there's like six of them. Next to Tashlin, anyone would look bad but even Taurog's other films in this set (Pardners and You're Never Too Young-- also a remake) at least show some workhorse-like competency.

David Ehrenstein · #17 Post by **David Ehrenstein** » Sat May 17, 2008 6:44 pm

But what about Jerry's dance with Sheree North?

planetjake · #18 Post by **planetjake** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:23 pm

Does anyone monitoring this thread have any idea about this release: http://www.dvdgo.com/tres-en-un-sofa-pr125069.aspx? I've known about if for a bit but haven't really had the money to bite the bullet. I guess what's holding me back is the 4:3 listing.

George Kaplan · #19 Post by **George Kaplan** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:37 pm

Coming to New York at Anthology Film Archives, a dream of a program, a week-plus of Jerry Lewis. And Roger Corman!

#20 Post by **domino harvey** » Fri Sep 25, 2009 5:09 pm

Three on a Couch and Cracking Up are two must-see rarities

dr. calamari · #21 Post by **dr. calamari** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:01 am

He was a favorite when I was a kid in the '60's, but I just find him painful to watch now. Although his Nutty Professor is still pretty good, and I really liked him in King Of Comedy, but from what I've been able to read on the subject he was really playing himself in that one.

Antoine Doinel · #22 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 1:48 pm

Jason wrote:Read the screenplay of The Day the Clown Cried, or so the internet claims.

In another part of the same site, it has comments from people who have had the film personally screened by Jerry Lewis and I think Harry Shearer has the perfect quote:

With most of these kinds of things, you find that the anticipation, or the concept, is better than the thing itself. But seeing this film was really awe-inspiring, in that you are rarely in the presense of a perfect object. This was a perfect object. This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and its comedy are so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is. Oh My God! - that's all you can say.

oldsheperd · #23 Post by **oldsheperd** » Tue Sep 29, 2009 4:28 pm

My Dad, my sister and I used to constantly watch cracking up when I was a kid.
The stop smoking deal with Dick Butkus was good. We still recite the lines from the waitress.
Do you want Italian, Russian, Thousand Island. Do you want decaf, caf or sanka?
SMORGASBORD!

What A Disgrace · #24 Post by **What A Disgrace** » Wed Jun 09, 2010 9:20 pm

How does this box compare to the R1 releases, regarding transfers and extras?

It contains two films not at all released in the states, so I'm particularly interested in those.

Saimo · #25 Post by **Saimo** » Thu Sep 09, 2010 2:53 pm

What A Disgrace wrote:How does this box compare to the R1 releases, regarding transfers and extras?

It contains two films not at all released in the states, so I'm particularly interested in those.

Yes, does anyone have specs about this? Thanks.

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