The Patsy (1964)

Did you know that after today, there are only 38 more Sundays left in the calendar year which may seem like a lot, but it really isn't with how time flies by. So with that being said, we have another cool Sunday At The Classics for you guys and would believe me if I said I had never seen a Jerry Lewis (The Nutty Professor) film? Well, it's true and thanks to HULU I decided to check out the 1964 comedy The Patsy which was written and directed by Lewis himself. The film follows a comedy writing team who just recently lost their comedy star when he died in a plane crash. Rather than breaking up and go their separate ways they stumble on a nitwit hotel employee named Stanley (Lewis) who they believe they can turn into the next comedy star, but that will prove to be challenging. The film also stars Ina Balin (The Comancheros) as Ellen, Everett Sloane (Citizen Kane) as Caryl Fergusson, Phil Harris (The Jungle Book) as Chic, Keenan Wynn (Dr. Strangelove) as Harry, Peter Lorre (M) as Morgan, John Carradine (The Ten Commandments) as Bruce, Scatman Crothers (The Shining) as Shoeshine Boy, Hans Conried (Peter Pan) as Prof. Mueller, and Del Moore (The Nutty Professor) as The Policeman.

I don't really know the reason why I have never checked out a Jerry Lewis film to be perfectly honest and it's weird because I just never took the time to. To understand what kind of comedian he was, it seems like he was a very physical comedian in where they do a lot of faces and just dumb comedy like stumbling over words and bumping into things to get a laugh which he did succeed to get out of me in a few of the scenes. For Mr. Lewis to have been around as long as he had been, he must of done something right, but what I liked most about this film was the writing and the story. The film was social commentary on Hollywood at the time and how desperate they always were to find the next big thing which still applies to this very day. Just think of how many comedians have come and gone when they tried finding the next Eddie Murphy. The whole film they are riding and dying on the idea of word getting out that they have found the next star even though he seems to be a complete moron. The funny thing is that when they all abandon him at the end, that is when he is the most successful because now he has something to prove to everyone. The real star was born at the very moment in time and it all came from within him and not this comedy team. The film was also stacked with some of the best in the business and it was awesome to see Scatman Crothers in the film, he has his moment with Jerry which was very funny. I definitely think this film was worth checking out and I look forward to more Lewis films in the future so I am going to go ahead and give the film an A- for a final grade.