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Poll

What's your favourite film by Jerry Lewis?

The Bellboy
1 (4.8%)
The Ladies Man
2 (9.5%)
The Errand Boy
0 (0%)
The Nutty Professor
2 (9.5%)
The Patsy
1 (4.8%)
The Family Jewels
0 (0%)
Three on a Couch
0 (0%)
The Big Mouth
0 (0%)
One More Time
0 (0%)
Which Way to the Front?
0 (0%)
Hardly Working
0 (0%)
Cracking Up (aka. Smorgasbord)
0 (0%)
haven't seen any
8 (38.1%)
don't like any
5 (23.8%)
Taken as a whole, his work is without peer
2 (9.5%)

Total Members Voted: 21

Author Topic: Lewis, Jerry  (Read 7219 times)

ringoraintree

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Re: Lewis, Jerry - Director's Best
« Reply #10 on: November 04, 2012, 12:03:38 PM »
Nice mentions of Lewis's work here.  Really really enjoyed reading these posts.  Lewis is a genius.

Thought maybe some of the Lewis fan's here might be interested in checking out my 11 hour Jerry Lewis audio series.   The series covers:  The Nutty Professor / Who's Minding The Store? / The Patsy / The Errand Boy / Cinderfella / Rock-A-Bye Baby / The Jazz Singer / The Ladies Man / The Big Mouth / Lewis's teaching days at USC as well as the book The Total Film-maker.  The series provides a rare look into Lewis the man, the kid, the clown and the filmmaker as well as showcases new information and behind-the-scenes content never discussed or featured in any book on Lewis to date.   

The series features archival interview content from Lewis himself as well as brand new audio interviews with the following people:

*GUESTS:

Bill Richmond (Co-writer of The Ladies Man, The Errand Boy, The Patsy, The Nutty Professor, and The Big Mouth)

Chris Lewis (Jerry Lewis's son)

Stella Stevens ( co-star The Nutty Professor)

Pat Stanley (co-star of The Ladies Man)

Hope Holiday (co-star of The Ladies Man)

Sylvia Lewis (co-star of The Ladies Man)

Francine York (co-star of It's Only Money, Cracking Up, The Nutty Professor and The Family Jewels)

James Best (co-star of Three On A Couch)

Joe Piscopo (comic, worked with Jerry on Saturday Night Live in 1983)

Howard S. Berger (filmmaker, fan of Lewis)

Luke Sacher (filmmaker; director of the 1996 documentary: Jerry Lewis: The Last American Clown)

Ethan De Seife (writer of Tashlinesque: The Hollywood Comedies of Frank Tashlin)

Chris Tashlin (son of Frank Tashlin)

Rex McGee (former student of Lewis at USC / former asst. to Billy Wilder / screenwriter of 1992 film, Pure Country)

Gregg Barson (filmmaker; director of the 2011 documentary The Method To The Madness Of Jerry Lewis)

Bob Konikow (friend of Frank Tashlin / former USC student of Jerry Lewis)

Richard Gabai (actor/filmmaker; fan of Lewis)

Eddie Deezen (actor; super fan of Lewis)

William A. Wellman Jr. (co-star with Lewis in The Big Mouth, The Patsy, and The Ladies Man)

James Neibaur & Ted O'Kuda (co-authors of The Films Of Jerry Lewis book)

Dr. Rae Beth Gordon (author of Why The French Love Jerry Lewis book)

Murray Pomerance (author/editor of the 2002 book of Lewis essays Enfant Terrible!)

Danny Peary (cult movie author; Lewis fan)

Shawn Levy (Lewis biographer;  writer of the best selling book, The King Of Comedy)

*some guests are specific to certain episodes; some not yet aired


Episodes now available on I-Tunes:

Episode 1:  The Nutty Professor / Who's Minding The Store?
http://mondofilmpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/05/episode-06-genius-of-jerry-lewis-part.html

Episode 2:  The Errand Boy / The Patsy
http://mondofilmpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/08/episode-07-genius-of-jerry-lewis-part.html

Episode 3:  Rock-A-Bye Baby / The Jazz Singer /  Cinderfella
http://mondofilmpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/10/episode-7-genius-of-jerry-lewis-part.html

Episode 4:  The Ladies Man
http://www.mondofilmpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/11/episode-8-genius-of-jerry-lewis-part.html

Episode 5:  The Big Mouth  -  Available on 11-12-2012
http://mondofilmpodcast.blogspot.com/2012/11/episode-9-genius-of-jerry-lewis-part.html
« Last Edit: November 12, 2012, 10:49:05 AM by ringoraintree »

roujin

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Re: Lewis, Jerry - Director's Best
« Reply #11 on: November 04, 2012, 12:32:33 PM »
whoa! incredible!

Dave the Necrobumper

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Re: Lewis, Jerry - Director's Best
« Reply #12 on: November 04, 2012, 06:24:12 PM »
Thank you ringoraintree, downloading the podcasts now.

ringoraintree

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Re: Lewis, Jerry - Director's Best
« Reply #13 on: November 12, 2012, 10:48:33 AM »
The 5th and final episode is now live!  Sadly, Francis Ford Coppola just emailed me telling me he's be happy to talk about THE LADIES' MAN but I've already put that show out.  I'm gonna try to get him still, and re-issue the show with his commentary on it.

Verite

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Re: Lewis, Jerry - Director's Best
« Reply #14 on: February 01, 2013, 02:08:23 AM »
An untrammelled masterpiece. One final delight.

I'll watch this in May.  That's the month in which I'll delve further into the filmography of The Partial Filmmaker.
"When in doubt, seduce."
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roujin

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Re: Lewis, Jerry - Director's Best
« Reply #15 on: February 09, 2013, 06:12:47 PM »

Three on a Couch (Jerry Lewis, 1966)

Notes

- in scenes with leigh, he's often giving the back to the audience and/or leigh. any time she tries to get him up, he turns away, almost like turning away from psychiatry's gaze (and the psychology of character identification/turning away from audience)'
- lewis starts out as a suave, put together guy, kind of like a non-asshole version of Buddy Love. The film then sets out to completely tear that image up, fragment it, etc. In this Lewis, isn't even a "fella," just an empty vessel, that then gets to try out different masculine personas/identities.
- the cowboy one is particularly hilarious as he literally casn't walk comfortably inside of it (the boots are killing him) and then he spends the next couple of minutes unsure of how to have a cigar in his mouth and still talk (undoing the masculine by immediately putting a phallic symbol into his mouth),.
- there's this incredible sequence where lewis and leigh slow dance (with lewis with his back completely to the audience) that's beautifully romantic and incredible; it's seriously like they're floating in space and the whole thing's rife with a dizzying romanticism. of course, the punchline of the scene is that the whole thing's deflated, as Lewis usually does.
- that's not even to mention about the cross-dressing, the fey zoologist brother, and the way that he completely fails at every single role he tries to play (all of which is overlooked, of course).
- and don't even get me started on the incredible party sequence, which like the hidden room in Ladies Man, opens up the physical space all the way up to ridiculous levels (just how is all of this happening anyway?) and is a marvel of orchestration and sight-line orientation (the best part is where he directs the three girls to slowly make their way across the throng of people in three different parts of the screen). it reminded me to rewatch Bells are Ringing.
- this is such a fascinating CINECAST!ing movie. goddamn i love lewis.

Verite

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Re: Lewis, Jerry - Director's Best
« Reply #16 on: August 28, 2013, 02:56:18 AM »
Quote from: Jonathan Lethem
Did you know that Jerry Lewis turned down the role of the killer in CRUISING, the lead in BEING THERE, and the title role in CHARLY? What's more, he turned down the Robert Shaw part in JAWS, and the role of Salieri in AMADEUS. Also Peter Ustinov's part in LOGAN'S RUN. Can you imagine him as Humbert Humbert? Apparently he couldn't.  [...]  He was also screen-tested for the Sterling Hayden role in THE GODFATHER and the John Hurt role in ALIEN, though it is unclear whether he was actually offered these parts or not.  [...]  Unquestionably, EXCALIBUR would have been a different film completely had Lewis not dropped out during the first week of shooting to be replaced by Nicol Williamson as Merlin. He also turned down the role of the arsonist in BODY HEAT.

Strangely, Jerry Lewis was never considered for any part by Michael Cimino.

Full piece: here.
"When in doubt, seduce."
                   -Elaine May

roujin

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Re: Jerry Lewis- Director's Best
« Reply #17 on: August 26, 2014, 12:14:23 PM »
1. The Ladies Man (1961)
2. The Nutty Professor (1963)
3. Cracking Up (1983)
4. The Patsy (1964)
5. The Errand Boy (1961)
6. The Bellboy (1960)
7. Three on a Couch (1966)
8. The Family Jewels (1965)
9. The Big Mouth (1967)
10. Hardly Working (1980)

Which Way to the Front? (1970)
Boy (sh) (1990)
« Last Edit: September 03, 2014, 06:15:25 PM by roujin »

roujin

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Re: Jerry Lewis- Director's Best
« Reply #18 on: September 03, 2014, 05:45:05 PM »
Hardly Working (1980)

Begins with a curious greatest hits montage of Lewis' past bits scored to Who's Minding the Store's great typewriter scene, serving as both commentary on Lewis the actor/director's past triumphs and also as back story to the clown figure of this new movie. Moves on to scene after scene of Lewis trying and failing to assimilate to normal society - Lewis acting as instigator of a thousand small disasters at whatever job he chooses to try next. Even after watching most of his films, Hardly Working still registered as completely bizarre. Lewis is so oddly mannerist; he stretches the fabric of the world at will just to accommodate his gags, discarding things like emotional tenor, logic or causality. If it gets in the way of the scene, the timing of it, then it must go. What this leaves us with is Lewis bending the world and its people to his own peculiar point of view, shredding its plot progression into a series of stop-start sequences that hang around ill-fitting, and turning his characters into Bressonian after school special wannabes. The whole thing is bizarre and weird and desperate. As it should be.

jascook

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Re: Lewis, Jerry
« Reply #19 on: April 18, 2017, 10:22:49 PM »
The Nutty Professor: 6/10
Sara: Good-bye, father Isak. Can't you see you're the one I love? Today, tomorrow and forever.
Isak Borg: I'll keep that in mind.