The Errand Boy is one of Jerry Lewis‘ funniest movies. As well as being a biting satire of the movie industry.
The Errand Boy
Dear Brigitte is a funny family comedy, dealing with the Leaf family, headed by Dr. Robert Leaf (Jimmy Stewart). He’s the proverbial absent-minded professor, a poet who loves art and music, and dislikes the hard sciences. When his young son Erasmus (Billy Mumy) turns out to be a mathematical prodigy, it causes him no end of consternation. Vina Leaf (Glynis Johns) plays the loving mother. Cindy Carol plays the older sister (who uses her brother’s math skills to do her homework. And later the homework of her boyfriend, Fabian, which leads to people wanting to use him to win at the race track.
Way … Way Out is set in the “far future” of 1986 (!), there’s a problem with the American lunar base — the men stationed there for long-term missions are going stir-crazy from lack of … female companionship. The American government decides to solve the problem by sending up a married American team in their place — but the only astronaut qualified is Pete Mattemore (Jerry Lewis), who is still single.
Way … Way Out
In The Big Mouth, Jerry Lewis plays the role of Gerald Clamson. He’s a bank examiner on vacation who, while fishing, catches a frogman. The frogman, who coincidentally is the spitting image of Jerry Lewis, has stolen diamonds from his criminal gang, and hidden them at a nearby resort hotel.Clamson takes the map to the diamonds given him by the frogman, and makes his escape while the gangsters attack. At the hotel, Jerry Lewis accidentally injures the hotel manager, played by Del Moore. So Jerry Lewis disguises himself as the title character from The Nutty Professor in order to investigate the mystery at the hotel. At this point, there are three different subplots running together:
The Big Mouth
Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the River is a Jerry Lewis film, based on the book of the same name. Oddly, Jerry Lewis is cast playing the part of the straight man in the movie. He plays George Lester, an American who goes from one get-rich-quick scheme to another. Much to the distress of his suffering wife Pamela, played by the lovely Jacqueline Pearce. After three years of being dragged across the globe, she has had enough of his constant neglect of her. And she sues for divorce. While she leaves the country as part of dealing with her emotions, George decides to ‘renovate’ her ancestral home. It’s a stately English manor, that he turns into a 1960’s style discotheque and Chinese restaurant. When Pamela eventually returns home, she is aghast. And George thought to regain her affections by proving that he can make money by staying in England.
Don’t Raise the Bridge, Lower the RiverIn Hook, Line and Sinker, Jerry Lewis plays the part of Peter Ingersoll. He’s an unhappy insurance salesman who’s living the American Dream. Only to be so caught up in the rat race that he’s unable to enjoy any part of his life. His normal existence is interrupted, however, when his doctor (played by Peter Lawford) and best friend diagnoses him with a weak heart, and gives him the news that he only has a few months to live.
Hook, Line and Sinker [Jerry Lewis]
