The Disorderly Orderly

I can watch Jerry Lewis films over and over again and still get the full laugh effect. This one finds him as an orderly in a mental hospital (!) where he manages to fumble everything from breakfast to scrubbing the floors. He meets a destitute patient (Susan Oliver) and then the fun begins. These sequences provide a little of the film's serious side but overall the slapstick and Jerry's mugging are hilarious. Even the kids will get a hoot out of this. Highly recommended for family viewing.

This is the usual Jerry Lewis slapstick, though a lot of it seems somewhat forced this time around. Still, writer/director Frank Tashlin keeps it breezy and fast-paced, and makes some memorable scenes, such as the wild chase at the end. Tashlin's previous work in animation is really evident here.

What's unusual about this J.L. entry is that there are a number of quite serious moments, ranging from a criticism of for-profit medical care, and the saga of a suicidal patient Lewis' character falls for. These moments are treated so serious (and convincingly) it's really odd to find them in such a slapstick movie.

This is the kind of movie most Lewis fans cite when talking about his best.

And why not? "The Disorderly Orderly" pairs Lewis with a good director (Tashlin), apt foils (especially Freeman), supremely funny moments (check out his "sympathy pains") and just the right amount of bathos in spots to give his character not just a clown but a good-hearted, hard-working, sympathetic clown.

And as most come to expect with this kind of movie, slapstick is the prevalent language throughout and if you don't speak it, you won't understand it here. I do, and I did.

See, and they said he wouldn't make it without Dean.

Eight stars. Classic slapstick carnage with a classic slapstick idol.

Jerry Lewis may have reached his wackiest here. He plays Jerome Littlefield, an orderly who appears to be a combination of Insp. Clouseau and Gilligan. Pretty much most of the movie features him getting into a series of embarrassing situations. I personally think that they could have just left it at that and avoided the love story.

And yes, that's Alice Pearce as the over-communicative Miss Fuzzibee, right before she got the role of a certain nosy neighbor suspicious that there's a witch or something in the neighborhood. All in all, "The Disorderly Orderly" is classic comedy at its best. You gotta wonder how they did some of those scenes. Also starring Kathleen Freeman.

By this Time in His Solo Career Jerry Lewis was Showing Signs of Slipping and the Usual Self Indulgence was Becoming a Bit Much for Discerning Movie Goers and this was the Comedian's Final Year to be a Box Office Star.

It is a Typical Mugfest for Jerry and with His Familiar Director and Friend Frank Tashlin to Help with the Ego, there is Much Emphasis on Elaborate Visuals for Lewis to Run Amok in and around. But a Number of Times the Whackiness Subsides for some Sentimental Claptrap that is Painful to Watch.

The Final Chase Sequence is Quite Good and Jerry has a Few Bits of Inspiration Throughout and this was the Last Movie that could be called a Fine Film as the Remainder of His Output was Decisively Poor.

Note: Jerry Lewis was outstanding in a straight role in Martin Scorsese's King of Comedy (1982), one of his best performances on screen.