Jerry Lewis

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HJackson
Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2011 7:27 pm

Re: Jerry Lewis

#51 Post by HJackson » Wed Jun 03, 2020 4:20 pm

What a thrill to finally see The Big Mouth via the recent and quite attractive Koch Blu. Why this never got a decent DVD release (unless I missed it...) is a mystery. A marvellous return to form for Jerry after the pleasant but restrained 3 on a Couch, his debut for Columbia the year prior. I think this one stands shoulder to shoulder with his finest work at Paramount and is possibly more gag-laden than any of them. There are a few moments where it feels like Jerry may be leaning on a crutch - the nerd character from The Nutty Professor and The Family Jewels makes yet another appearance, although Jerry once again carries it off with aplomb, and the cringe-inducing Oriental schtick is back with Jerry playing the role of a Kabuki dancer... - but it all comes together quite expertly regardless.

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mizo
Joined: Mon Aug 06, 2012 10:22 pm
Location: Heard about Pittsburgh PA?

Re: Jerry Lewis

#52 Post by mizo » Thu Jun 25, 2020 6:18 pm

Just watched Which Way to the Front? and was really surprised by how much I enjoyed it, given that it seems to have no reputation or particularly vocal fans. Telling the story of the world's richest man (played by Lewis, stealthily sucking on a pacifier during a board meeting) who, rejected for service in World War II, decides to form his own army out of similar misfits, the movie marries Lewis' typical flair for visual & aural gags with one of his more compelling plots - compelling in the sense that every new development is dictated by the same hilariously blunt stupidity/genius.
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One of my biggest laughs came not long after Lewis reveals his plan to impersonate a formidable, high-ranking SS officer whom he physically resembles. The other members of his team express their worries that he won't be able to pull it off, and his failure to master German lends some credence to these fears. Then they catch their first glimpse of the real-life Nazi commander, marching like a lunatic and screaming, in Lewis' most deranged register, "JOY-MANY IST DER FADDERLAND!"
The film really showcases Lewis' skill at shifting registers, from placid, near-silent sobriety (moments where the film could be mistaken for any WWII drama) into extreme, aggressive silliness. As is fairly typical with Lewis' films, it comes at the expense of any real psychological coherence to his character, who behaves at one moment like the fairly shrewd, impossibly wealthy C.E.O. he is, and at the next like a demented child. This might well contain the most yelling of any Lewis film, but instead of irritating, it mostly manages to do what I imagine it was meant to, which is to buoy long dialogue scenes with the same kind of manic buzz as the scenes of physical comedy. In fact, I came to prefer the former, and they pitch most of the film's third act into a constant trill of ecstatic joy. If only more of the shout-y Italian comedies were so skillfully modulated!
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One thing I will say, though, is that the climactic Hitler scene is probably overplayed. That's when the balance starts to tip and the film teeters dangerously close to turning into a displeasing shouting match. But I think it mostly rights itself - and it's all worth it for that initial, wonderful revelation that the crazed Nazi they were targeting was secretly plotting against the Fuehrer all along. Lewis' own version of The Man Who Was Thursday!
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the social satire that runs through much of the film, which at times mocks the military and, especially, enlistment propaganda quite savagely. Think M*A*S*H (the show) or The Teahouse of the August Moon, but with Lewis' brand of contemptuous mockery, infantilizing everyone and undercutting any trace of solemnity with ridicule. A few moments - as when Lewis, role-playing as a Nazi, proclaims that his wife makes the best knishes - have an undercurrent of cultural revenge against anti-semitism, here re-inserting Jewish culture into the supposedly purified Aryan society, in a way that is more compelling to me than what Mel Brooks does in The Producers and considerably more than what Tarantino does in Inglourious Basterds (to which this film bears a few other striking similarities). It also has a few bits that feel pretty current (from a speech about Colonico, an ex-gangster: "He committed twelve murders, ran an extortion racket, and was a master at armed assault. Then Mr. Colonico quit the police department..."). It also ends with one of the most singularly tasteless and stridently offensive gags I can think of. I kind of loved it, but also felt a little bad about loving it, haha. Maybe one reason the film doesn't get talked about more...

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