The Delicate Delinquent

My wife hates Jerry Lewis. The French love him. Why the divergence?

In the late 40's and 50's Martin and Lewis were the most popular comedy act of their era. Watching some of their early stand-up routines one can't help marvel at Lewis's precocity and Martin's understated comic acumen. People who really know about Dean know what an underrated genius he was, but in this movie, Lewis's wide range of talents - mimicry, improvisation, foolery, jest - erupt with no comic-duo distractions. It's his tour de force.

Darrin McGavin turns in a great performance as Damon to Lewis's Pythias. The stunning Martha Hyer is great as the uppity goody two-shoes who falls for McGavin. Don't forget the uncredited cameo by Frank Gorshin. Robert Ivers, Horace McMahon, Richard Bakalyan, Milton Frome, et al, complete a great cast in one of the best comic movies ever.

Jerry Lewis plays a janitor called Sidney Pythias, who is hanging up with wrong kind of people.With the help of a cop called Mike Damon (Darren McGavin) he goes to the police academy to become a policeman.Delicate Delinquent from 1957 is Jerry's

first movie without Dean Martin, but he does nice job as solo. This isn't Lewis' greatest works, but it offers some great moments.Watch the movie if you want to be a cop or if you just like Jerry Lewis.

Jerry proves in his first film outing after his infamous parting with his partner Dean Martin that his brand of comedy needs no specific straight man as the whole world is his straight man! Jerry plays a peripheral (read barely in) member of a gang who get into a rumble at his backdoor and he is subsequently arrested along with them. Seeing that he's different from the others, a sympathetic cop (Darren McGavin) takes him under his wing to guide him away from the other gang members and make an upstanding citizen of him. Which of course is a monumental task considering who he has as a charge. Speaking of which, you will get a 'charge' out of this movie.

(see my review on Amazon.com)

Everybody knows that the late fifties - more precisely the second part of this decade - evoked the juvenile delinquency. Thanks to Nicholas Ray and his REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE which opened the way to this kind of subject; a social and drama scheme, that you could use in nearly all kinds of features, including science fiction - look for some Edward L Cahn's movies. Only westerns did not speak that much of juvenile delinquency, with the exception of some Billy The Kid westerns where the juvenile delinquency element was not that far...Back to this movie, it remains an amusing comedy, because of Jerry Lewis, but not as slapstick as other films starring also Jerry Lewis and that looked like more TEX AVERY cartoons than social comedies. Because in this film, the social element is also not so far. A social message, to give a chance to juvenile delinquents to succeed in life.

Sydney L. Pythias (Jerry Lewis), more juvenile than delinquent, is a janitor mistaken for a gang member whilst emptying out the garbage. Kindly police officer Mike Damon (Darren McGavin) tries to straighten him out by putting him through police training.

The role of Damon was earmarked for regular Lewis partner Dean Martin, but Martin allegedly refused to play a copper and the role was given to McGavin. Thus the film became notable for being the first solo film for Lewis away from his regular partner. They never worked together again. Written and directed by Don McGuire who works from a script based upon the Greek mythology legend of Damon and Pythias, the film also stars Martha Hyer, Robert Ivers and features a rare dramatic turn from comedian/impressionist Frank Gorshin. After the tremendous success of the Martin/Lewis partnership the big question of course would be if Lewis as a solo performer would be a big draw? The Delicate Delenquent was a massive success, made for under half a million dollars it went on to make almost $6 million. Thus launching Lewis on a lucrative solo career encompassing many more film's in the decades to come.

Very much a send up of teen rebel movies that were knocking about in the 50s {delinquency amongst teens was becoming a hot topic in the decade}, Lewis' movie is gentle blend of comedy and drama. Tho he doles out some of the gurning buffoon antics that were his comedy trait, Lewis does get to play it more restrained for much of the piece, and it works, none more so than with the warm and uplifting finale. With that in mind, newcomers to the movie should not expect a raucous Jerry Lewis piece. The comedy is good, with some scenes during the police academy training portion of the film, particularly enjoyable. While Jerry sings "By Myself," in cheeky recognition of his split-up with Dino. The romantic interest in the film comes via the beautiful Martha Hyer, who married Hal Wallis in 1966, the producer of the Dean Martin/Jerry Lewis films. And tho it's not a fully formed character, there's just enough material to let Hyer leave a favourable mark.

A long way from Lewis' best solo film {The Nutty Professor} but engaging enough on both its comedy and dramatic fronts. 6.5/10