Living It Up

Jerry Lewis plays a railroad worker Homer Flagg, who think he's dying on radioactive poisoning in three weeks.Dean Martin is his doctor Steve Harris, who tells him that's not the case.A beautiful New York reporter Wally Cook (Janet Leigh) comes to New Mexico wanting to write a series of articles about this "dying" young man.She takes both Homer and the doc to New York.Homer hasn't bothered the lady with the truth, that he's not actually going to die, because he's always wanted to go to NY.And of course the love sick doctor falls for the pretty reporter and so does Homer.The whole city of New York feels pity for the poor Homer. Norman Taurog's Living It Up (1954) is an extremely funny Jerry Lewis movie from the time he still made a team with Dean Martin.It's not only Jerry who makes you laugh hard, also Dean does that trick.Janet Leigh makes a perfect leading lady in the middle of the clown and the playboy.You can find awfully many funny scenes from the movie, like where Jerry pretends he's a doctor from Paris, Wienna and Hong Kong.He also pretends he's Dean's character while Dean is Jerry.Also the scene on the dance floor with Sheree North is pretty amazing.I saw this movie for the first time in seven years yesterday.It sure brought me back.

I've seen this movie many times over the last 40 years and I noticed that during the scene where they're bringing all the food "Homer" ordered to the suite, the first waiter to enter the room is Rodney Dangerfield. Unfortunately, he is not listed in the credits and I have submitted this to the IMDb database managers. I'd like someone else to look closely at that scene to make sure I'm not crazy. I know that to add the credit they need some concrete evidence, like a cast list or contract or anecdotal evidence from Rodney himself, who is no longer with us, but I'm pretty sure it's him.

As for the film, overall, it's a typical silly Martin/Lewis film. Full of Jerry's mugging and Dean's singing and charm. Some good gags, especially the light bulb bombing of Fred Clark.

I give it a 7 of 10.

I saw this film in Albany, NY while taking a 40' yacht up the Hudson River from New York City. I thought it was very funny. coincidently, I was with the songwriter, Bob Hilliard and his wife Jackie, the night before I left New York. Also, Albany is mentioned in the movie and the Albany audience went wild. I had to take a boat and a bus to Albany to experience this. In the first comment about this film, the writer refers to Bob Hilliard as a "Brill Building Writer." Most writers and musicians worked out of that building in the forties and fifties. Bob wrote a number of hits, including; "Our Day Will Come" "Moonlight Gambler" "Be My Life's Companion" "Money Burns A hole In My Pocket" "In the Wee small Hours of the Morning", and many more. I don't think he should be dismissed as just a "Brill Building Song Writer." You can read more about Bob and see a list of all of his songs by running a search for "Bob Hilliard" in one of the major search engines. There is a website with stories and a list of all of his songs.

A young man riding around in a radioactive car is reported as having radiation sickness. But the newspapers got it wrong. So what else is new? But the dying boy (Jerry Lewis) and his venal doctor (Dean Martin) carry on the charade as Lewis (Homer Flagg) get a free trip to New York with all expenses paid. But how long can they keep it up?

Other reviewers focus on the film's long pedigree. So let's focus on the movie.

The best thing about the movie is Fred Clark. This is no insult to Martin or Lewis. Clark and supporting actors like him stole many a movie. Not being leading men gave them more time to think up ways of honing their characterizations to dagger points.

Dean Martin does what he has to: look good and sing well. A little Jerry Lewis goes a long way. And this movie is a long haul with him. One wonders what Janet Leigh did wrong to find herself buried amongst the scene stealers.

Martin and Lewis made better movies. They also made worse movies. I prefer their shorter features to get less fed up with Lewis. At least this film's pedigree means it has a better-than-usual plot for the stars.

The strange appeal of the comedy team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis can perhaps best be understood in this movie, arguably the least off-putting (to scores of people who cannot abide Lewis) of the 17 films the guys made together. Almost all their films contained music, and Martin was a successful singer in his own right. Here he gets to sing "How Do You Speak to an Angel," and "Ev'ry Street's a Boulevard in Old New York" (with Lewis), songs that were already known from the Broadway show on which it is based, "Hazel Flagg." If you want to sample Martin and Lewis, this is arguably the team at its best.