The Sad Sack

OK, the second Of Jerry Lewis" films after the split up with Dean Martin - and I was only 10 years old when I saw it. So naturally I wanted to see Jerry succeed ( as well as Dean of course ) in his now solo career. To my Mother's shock and amazement I hung an 8 1/2 by 10 inch photo of Liliane Montevecchi ( wearing that black sexy outfit from the movie ) on my bedroom wall. Raging hormones at age 10 ??? Maybe LOL

But seriously I thought the movie was a riot. David Wayne and Joe Montell cracked me up as did Peter Lorre. Never stopped laughing. Funny thing though; I've never seen this movie repeated on TV. This is disappointing. That photo of Liliane stayed on my wall until it darn near wore out. Jerry's first movie after the split up was Delecate Delinquint which starred Darren McGavin.

The type of humor is probably dated by today's ( yuk ) standards but I can tell you for a fact that the entire theater audience laughed as hard and as long as I did.

So, if you get a chance to see this movie, I recommend it. It is in black and white but that's OK.

Not as well-constructed as the prior Delicate Deliquent, the movie consisted of essentially two movies:

The first half was the silly buffoonish sometimes clueless but sometimes freakishly talented Lewis mucking things up as one might expect with really nothing to write home about.

Then the second half almost abruptly turns into a "spy thriller" dealing with exotic fully staged cafe performances, deadly weapons, concealed identities, and unknowing complicity with terrorists - all the while largely unfunny.

Legendary Peter Lorre, despite high billing, was largely wasted - you would have never known from this role that he was a major albeit aging film star.

Having watched all his solo era films, I consider this one of Lewis's weaker films.

For his second film post Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis did a live adaption of George Baker's World War II comic strip The Sad Sack. It was a role perfectly suited to his talents though I have to say that it looked like David Wayne was standing in for Dino.

It was a fateful day that Wayne and buddy Joe Mantell reporting back to Louisiana's Camp Calhoun ran into Lewis on the train who in his usual innocence befriends these two. Because of him they're late for reporting back and that's only the beginning.

In fact Lewis who is blessed with a photographic memory, but has the coordination of a goony bird has set an army record of most time in basic training. He's become an army project in that army psychologist Phyllis Kirk is sent down from the Pentagon and she puts Wayne and Mantell into personally supervising him through basic training. Seeing Lewis qualify on the rifle range is the funniest sequence in the film.

Once finished the whole platoon is assigned to an Air Force base in Morocco for security as some classified items involving a new army weapon have vanished. In fact the whole weapon has been taken, but its apart and bad guys George Dolenz and Peter Lorre don't know how to put it together. But the guy with photographic memory does.

The Sad Sack is a perfect part for Lewis and I have to say that David Wayne without getting in the way of the star gives a droll, but unobtrusive performance. It's definitely a Dean Martin part without the songs. Jerry even gets some romance here in the form of Liliane Montevecchi who plays a Moroccan belly dancer in league with the bad guys, but who has a change of heart when she meets The Sad Sack.

You have to see how Lewis, Wayne, and Mantell foil the bad guys. This is a really good role for Jerry and holds up very well for today.

The only memorable thing about this bland, tacky, cheap-looking comedy is Liliane Montevecchi. That this beautiful, spectacularly entertaining creature could have been intentionally included in this otherwise nastily drab picture is almost beyond belief. Peter Lorre is also brought in to jazz things up a bit, mostly to no avail, though thanks to his efforts one of his scenes with Jerry Lewis is very nearly funny.

I do believe the American critics simply prefer to dislike Jerry Lewis' comedy, rather than seeing it for what it really is. The French on the other hand laugh at what makes them laugh, without stopping to analyze weather or not they should. Maybe that is why Lewis is still so popular in France. If so, this film is a perfect example.

It is impossible to watch this film (dated though it is) and not laugh at the comic genius of Lewis. The man has the keen ability to leap between pathos and comedy without showing any signs of effort, or evident seams between the two. Like it or not American critics, that's comedic genius.

Try this film on for comedic size. You'll like it. And just sit back and laugh, don't analyze.