Dean and Jerry Part I

As anyone who still bothers to follow my Twitter feed knows I've been entertaining myself by watching volume one of the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis Collection. That means that I've watched 8 of the earliest Martin and Lewis films over a week (their third film At War With the Army is not included in this set but is easily found - I'll be watching it soon).

Defending Jerry Lewis is like defending the band Kansas - he's already been written off by the critics and everyone has an idea of how irritating he is set in their heads though they may not have even seen one of his movies. His critical reputation matters little to me other than how it might keep people from seeing his films. Critics (especially American) have always looked down upon film comedy, with Chaplin's exile being the most extreme example. Personally I've always enjoyed Jerry's movies (as well as those of many other classic comedians, with Buster Keaton at the top of the list) and these days I like to watch his films with my 9 year old son. I started watching Jerry's movies as afterschool and weekend movies on local networks when I was his age.

I had read Jerry's book about Dean Martin (Dean and Me) when it came out a few years ago and after watching the entertaining Who's Minding the Store I decided to tackle the biography that was written on him a number of years back (surprisingly the only biography that I could find on the guy). While reading this I realized that I hadn't seen many of his earliest films with Dean, which started me on this obsession. 

Martin and Lewis initially teamed up when they realized that their schtick of teasing each other's individual acts was a big hit. What most people who weren't around during Martin and Lewis' peak don't realize is exactly how popular they were as a team. They starred in 16 films from 1949 to 1956 (ruling the box office in the latter years) and were all over clubs, radio and tv, enjoying Beatlemania-like crowds at the heights of their popularity. Unfortunately one of the drawbacks of the films was their inability to capture the manic spontaneity of their stage work. Eventually due to Dean's displeasure over his roles as well as Jerry's attempts to hog the spotlight they were barely speaking to each other while they were filming their final films. Like any other comedy duo making movies they made both wonderfully entertaining films and real stinkers, and sometimes a little bit of both in one film.

Lewis is a fascinating person and innovator but I won't discuss that here - I'll save it for when I tackle his solo films, where he started directing and otherwise controlling the production of the films. He can certainly move between grating and hilarious in these early films while there are many parts where he and Dean click and you can get a sense of what so captivated their audiences. Dean had an excellent comic sensibility that comes out once you move past their initial few films in which he was a bit of a stiff.

Here is a ranking of the eight films from this set from best to worst. If you start with the first two and you have any appreciation for classic comedy I can't imagine that you'll be too disappointed.

Sailor Beware - Probably their funniest early comedy, this was their fifth film but the first one where they really clicked onscreen. Everyone in the 1940s and 1950s seems to have been making military comedies and there were some bad ones but this one ranks high. The boxing scene (with James Dean in his first role) is a classic.

Scared Stiff - With good songs (Song of the Enchilada Man!) and Carmen Miranda in her final role, this film is also interesting in a number of other ways. First, Dean gets to expand his repertoire from just being a straight man to actually trying out some wacky comedy. At times he seems to steal some of the Jerry bits. Personally, I think he seems largely disinterested but to his credit it certainly was a different type of role for him. Also interesting is this film's pacing and structure. Rather than spend an hour in a haunted castle as many haunted house comedies might do the film is in three parts - city, ship and haunted island. This keeps the film from getting stale. And it ends with a great Bob Hope/Bing Crosby cameo.

The Stooge - Not a great comedy but certainly one of the more interesting of their early films, The Stooge plays like a melodrama with comedic bits. It probably has the best onscreen representation of their stage work as Jerry plays a "stooge" who is hired to help improve Dean's one-man comedy/singing act. Dean is a prick until the very end when he realizes that Jerry deserves a little credit, while Jerry is a schmuck who worships Dean through thick and thin.The studio sat on this film for two years thinking that audiences preferred their wacky comedies.

The Caddy - A mixed (golf?) bag, with some hilarious bits, cameos from real-life golfers and That's Amore. OTOH, it has a dreary stretch in which Dean is forced to play a real cad and some of the abuse that Jerry is forced to endure is kind of unamusing. And frankly the plot is pretty awful. Also, as much as I like Donna Reed she did not fit the part of the sexy little rich girl very well. It has a great meta ending as the characters from the film meet the real Jerry and Dean. Not their best but plenty to entertain.

Jumping Jacks - A decent army comedy (their third) though Jerry comes off as particularly shrill in this one.

My Friend Irma and My Friend Irma Goes West - My Friend Irma was the film version of a radio serial with parts written for Dean and Jerry. It was their first film and they stole the show, though the film itself is not horrible. My Friend Irma Goes West expands their parts and is also fairly entertaining. Irma was the ditzy blonde who still hangs around in popular culture.

That's My Boy - Their fourth film is wretched, with the only laughs provided by the idea of 35-year old Dean playing a high school senior. Clearly the writers were unsure of what to do with the pair at this point, though that would soon be resolved.

So there you have it. 8 films, most of which are entertaining. I'll write up the second set of their films when I recover from watching these! In the meantime here's the Song of the Enchilada Man to keep you entertained: