Favorite Jerry Lewis film

[WI_DEM]

Poll question: Favorite Jerry Lewis film

Ok, I know Jerry Lewis, I know the jokes--only the French like him, yada, yada, yada...but the French have been right about alot of things especially lately. And Lewis was (at one time) one of the biggest stars in the United States placing in the Top Ten box office stars list 13 times between 1951-1964. His humor could be infantile and yet he could be brilliant at mime and mimickry.

Many of his films don't hold up and it is debateable whether any one of them is a complete success from beginning to end--but there are moments which stand out still--the typewriter scene in "Who's Minding the Store?", the Chairman of the Board scene from "The Errand Boy", The dance down the stair case from "Cinderfella", combing the gangsters hair and re-arranging his hat from "The Ladies Man" (a scene even Orson Welles said convulsed him with laughter), The comic ballet with Shirley Maclaine from "Artists and Models", The sympathy pains scene with Alice Pearce from "The Disorderly Orderly"...

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

1. My hat...fix my hat...

"The Ladies Man" followed by "Nutty Professor."

[camero]

18. I had my brother watch that when he was 2

He kept running around the house saying, "Do you know you're sitting on my HAT".

[bif]

2. Tie between "Cinderfella" and "The Errand Boy"

He's a genius. I really don't car what anyone thinks. Pure genius. You're righrt abo0ut those scenes. There are just so many of them. Nice to see I'm not the only one who appreciates Jerry.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

3. That REALLY old one in which he's an E.T.

B&W even. Can't remember the title. Can't find it at any online filmography of his.

[TheBlob]

5. Visit to a Small Planet (1960)

Adapted from a Gore Vidal story.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

10. Yes! It's more recent than I thought...

Odd that such a movie would be B&W in 1960. But it is.

[WI_DEM]

6. ah, Visit to a Small Planet

not one of his better known films, but a departure for him and he has another wonderful "beat-nic" dance in that film.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

12. It's the one that made me laugh the most when I was 12

and Brazilian TV was showing JL's entire filmography, one at a week. In retrospect, there are much better ones.

[NightTrain]

4. "We should never again have to discuss talking."

THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, baby! :bounce:

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

7. It begins and ends with "Who's Minding the Store"

Never fail to catch it when it's on TV!

[peekaloo]

8. 'King of Comedy'

[mac56]

9. "Rock-a-bye Baby"

Frank Tashlin was a genius.

Second choice: "The King Of Comedy".

[disgruntled_goat]

11. honorable mention

Who's minding the store - corny as hell, but IMO, PURE LEWIS

it's only money - underrated, good cast. "ooh! I'm that guy!!"
</shaving>

way way out - i just wanna see that one again to make sure I didnt imagine it, cuz it was bizarre.

The patsy - the american Idol of its time. that song, 'i lost my heart at the drive in' (i think that was its title) is so bad it's hilarious.

[WI_DEM]

13. I agree on "It's Only Money"

it is one of his best but also one of his most coherent comedies. Tashlin was his best director.

[camero]

14. The Ladies Man

And Juvenile Delinquent ( I think that's what it was called) where he was mentored by a cop.


I saw myself in The Ladies Man.

[WI_DEM]

15. "The Delicate Delinquent"

his first film after breaking up with Dean Martin.

[camero]

17. Thanks

I thought that movie was hilarious. Trouble just kept finding him. :)

[robertpaulsen]

16. The Bellboy

Probably the closest Lewis came to approaching Chaplin's level of comic genius. But all comparisons aside, Jerry Lewis was a genius in his own right. I think Tarantino said in one of his films that Jerry Lewis will never be fully appreciated in his own country until he dies, but the day he does, America will hail him as a genius.

[Whitacre D_WI]

19. "King of Comedy"

is a brilliant, brilliant film.

[salinen]

20. One of these

Can't remember the title, but this little girl must choose between all her uncles which is to be her new father. Anyway, the scene where the uncle who is a pilot takes this group of ladies and the movie they watch in flight is one of the funniest scenes in any movie.

[camero]

21. The Family Jewels

That one.

[bmbmd]

22. I agree-Family Jewels from the old days

"Funny Bones" recently.

[Fight_n_back]

23. Are there any where he is murdered with a hammer?

I would choose that one if it existed.

There is the film where he is a clown that leads children into Nazi ovens but he doesn't let anyone see it.

[WI_DEM]

24. "The Day the Clown Cried"

based on a story about a clown used by the Nazi's who does indeed lead them to the ovens--not a pretty topic--but the film was never released because the producer went bankrupt and the film was never totally finished.

[Bat Boy]

26. Another reason it wasn't released...

is because it was about a freakin' clown who leads people to the oven!

Jerry pushed like crazy, but to no avail. Apparently there are still one or two copies around, but the rest have been destroyed.

According to people I know who have actually seen bits of it, it really isn't that bad if you ignore the part about the freakin' clown who leads people to the oven!

[WI_DEM]

27. but how is that any worse

than what was depicted in films like Schindler's List? Believe me, I'm not comparing Jerry's film to "Schindler" but apparently the story of "The Day the Clown Cried" is based on a true circumstances.

[Bat Boy]

29. Yes, the events were true...

But, and I've only seen Schindler's list once, I don't recall any freakin' clowns leading people to the ovens!

I might not have been paying close attention. It was on cable...

[Westegg]

30. Yep, "Clown Cried"---the lost "masterpiece"...

I am haunted by thoughts of this strange film. A few years ago, some friends of mine in L.A. were set to do a staged reading of the screenplay, which had been attained illegally. Jerry's people got wind of this, and shut down the reading down hours before it was to happen. Alas.

[terrya]

25. IMO, "The Nutty Professor"

It's quite a good movie. Well, it's Jerry Lewis' best.

Terry

[WI_DEM]

28. it actually made the AFI's list of the 100 best comedies ever

made.

[KinkyDem]

31. What's that one ...

he wasn't in?

[WI_DEM]

32. oh,

"One More Time" which he directed but didn't appear in :)