Roomful of Mirrors: Orson Welles’ THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (Columbia 1947)

For my money, THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI is the perfect film noir, a tour de force by producer/writer/director/star Orson Welles that assaults the senses and keeps the viewer enthralled at all times. All this despite the meddling of Columbia Pictures czar Harry Cohn, who demanded Welles reshoot scenes and ordering its 155 minute running time cut down to 87. The version we see today, released in the states in 1948 (it was first run in France six months earlier), is still a brilliant piece of filmmaking thanks to the immense talents of Welles and his cast and crew.

Orson Welles scared the pants off American radio listeners with his Oct. 30, 1938 “Mercury Theatre on the Air” broadcast of H.G. Wells’ WAR OF THE WORLDS. Signed to an unprecedented contract by RKO, Welles’ first feature was of course CITIZEN KANE (1941), now considered by many the greatest film ever made. The film didn’t light up the box office at the time though, and ruffled the feathers of William Randolph Hearst, the newspaper tycoon on whose life KANE is based. It lost the Oscar to John Ford’s sentimental HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY, then Welles’ second production, 1942’s THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, was butchered by RKO. No longer the boy wonder of motion pictures, Welles made JOURNEY INTO FEAR (1943) and THE STRANGER (1946) before taking on a stage project, a musical adaptation of AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS.

Strapped for cash, Welles offered his services to Cohn for the money he needed to launch his play. Legend has it he saw the cover of the book his theater cashier was reading and told the mogul he had it in mind for his film. The truth is Columbia contractee William Castle  owned the rights to Sherwood King’s novel “If I Die Before I Wake”, and asked Welles to pitch it to Cohn, hoping to direct it himself. Welles decided to direct himself, leaving Castle with an Associate Producer credit, as well as having an (uncredited) hand in the screenplay and some 2nd Unit work.

Welles also narrates the tale (complete with Irish brogue!) as sailor Michael O’Hara, who spots beautiful blonde Elsa Bannister riding through Central Park in a coach. She’s played by Rita Hayworth , Welles’ estranged (at the time) wife, with a short ‘do and hair dyed blond, another detail that went up Cohn’s ass. The girl is abducted by some ruffians and Michael stops a rape attempt. In gratitude, she offers him a job… on her husband’s yacht. Disappointed, Michael rips up her card and walks away, as two as-yet unidentified men watch from afar.

Next day the woman’s husband, disabled lawyer Arthur Bannister, comes calling at the union hall. Bannister, “the world’s greatest criminal lawyer”, insists Michael take the job. Reluctant but still attracted to Elsa, Michael accepts, and the crew set sail on The Circe from New York to San Francisco. We now meet the two men, one of whom is Sidney Broome, a sleazy PI working for Bannister’s divorce cases. The other is Bannister’s partner George Grisby, who makes Michael an unusual offer… five thousand dollars to commit murder. The victim: Grisby himself!

Things spiral out of control quickly for Michael from here, as he’s caught in a web of lies, deceit, and an elaborate frame-up that finds him being defended by Bannister for Grisby’s murder. These people to Michael are sharks feeding on themselves, and he’s trapped in their cesspool of wickedness with seemingly no way out. Welles performs wonders with this film, using close-ups, odd camera angles, and deep shadows to create this unholy world of the rich and powerful. The overlapping dialog injects the film with a sense of realism, as does the location footage. The Aquarium scene, the circus-like courtroom atmosphere, the Chinese theater scene, all are breathtaking, but take a backseat to the finale set in a Twilight Zone-ish funhouse Hall of Mirrors, a dazzling cinematic piece de resistance that has been often imitated but never duplicated. It is a masterpiece in every way, and has been rightly hailed as true work of art.

The marvelous Everett Sloane almost steals the picture as Bannister, the egotistical, cruel attorney. His bit cross-examining himself in the courtroom is a work of acting art in itself. Broadway star Glenn Anders is strange indeed as Grisby, and this is his best known of the ten films he was in. Ted de Corsia, the brutish Willie Garzah of THE NAKED CITY , adds his brand of menace to the role of Broome. Other Familiar Faces include (besides Sloane) CITIZEN KANE alumni William Alland, Erskine Sanford, Gus Schilling, and Harry Shannon. Errol Flynn’s yacht The Zaca stood in for Bannister’s Circe, and the actor can be spotted in a scene hanging out in front of a Mexican cantina (which wasn’t much of a stretch for Flynn!).

THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI is perfect in every way, as film noir and as filmic art. Even with the cuts and extensive retakes, Welles’ talent shines through; in fact, they may have even helped the film. We’ll never know, as the trimmed footage is apparently lost, yet what remains is an electrifying piece of cinematic magic you don’t want to miss!

Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door: PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID (MGM 1973)

(PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID airs tonight at 11:45 EST on TCM. Do yourselves a favor… watch it!)

PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID was director Sam Peckinpah’s final Western, and as usual it’s about more than just the Old West. It’s about the new breed vs the old establishment, about the maverick auteur vs the old studio guard, and about his never-ending battle to make his films his way. The fact that there are six, count ’em, SIX different editors credited tells you what MGM honcho James Aubrey thought of that idea! They butchered over 20 minutes out of the movie, which then proceeded to tank at the box office. Fortunately for us, PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID has been restored to its full glory, and we can enjoy Peckinpah’s original artistic vision.

I’m not going to try to make excuses for Peckinpah; he was a legitimate pain in the ass, a chronic alcoholic and drug abuser with manic mood swings and a violent temper. A real reprobate. But damn, he made some of the best films of the 60’s and 70’s! His takes on the western and crime genres were ultra-violent lyrical tone poems, influencing an entire generation of filmmakers who tried to copy his style, but rarely succeeded. Take a look at virtually any action-packed movie made in the last fifty years, at directors from Scorsese to Tarantino, and you’ll see the Peckinpah influence. Sam Peckinpah may have been a pain in the ass, but the man was an artist of the first order.

PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID concerns the familiar tale of two old friends, one an outlaw, the other now a lawman, and their final confrontation. The two leads are veteran James Coburn as Garrett and relative newcomer Kris Kristofferson, better known at the time as a singer/songwriter. Garrett has been hired by the powers that be in Lincoln County, New Mexico to rid the territory of Billy and his gang. The pair had ridden together as outlaws, and been on opposite sides before (Billy: “Wasn’t long ago I was the law, riding with Chisum. Pat was an outlaw. The law’s a funny thing.”). Garrett doesn’t want to kill Billy, but knows in his heart that’s exactly what it’s going to take.

Cinematographer John Coquillon got his start working on AIP horrors (WITCHFINDER GENERAL, THE OBLONG BOX ), and was a favorite of Peckinpah. There are marvelous location shots of the rugged Durango, Mexico scenery, notably the reflective river. A standout comes when Billy kills his religious fanatic jailer (a scary R.G. Armstrong), and at Billy’s capture, his arms stretched out like Christ on the Cross when he gives up. Coquillon and Peckinpah worked together on the director’s seminal STRAW DOGS, and later on CROSS OF IRON and THE OSTERMAN WEEKEND. They make a great duo, each man enhancing the other’s artistic vision.

The plaintive score, as you may already know, is by Bob Dylan, who also has a role as Alias, an enigmatic figure to say the least (Pat: “Who are you?” Alias: “That is a good question”). Dylan may not be an Olivier or DeNiro, but he’s just right in this role, saving Billy by throwing his knife at just the right moment, being intimidated by Garrett, and pretty much just being Dylan. The hit song “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door” is featured on the soundtrack, which was released as his 12th album, and I’m sure you Dylan fans already own it!

The movie is stocked with some of Hollywood’s best character actors, all of whom get their chance to shine. Slim Pickens and Katy Jurado play a pair of lawmen (lawpersons??) aiding Pat, and Pickens’ death scene is played out to the aforementioned Dylan hit. Jack Elam is Alamosa Bill, who tracks Billy down and dies in a gun duel. Good Lord, there’s Luke Askew, John Beck, Richard Bright, Matt Clark, Elisha Cook Jr , singer Rita Coolidge, Jack Dodson, Gene Evans , Emilio Fernandez, Paul Fix ,  Richard Jaeckel , L.Q. Jones, Jason Robards , Charlie Martin Smith , Harry Dean Stanton, Barry Sullivan , Dub Taylor, Chill Wills, a veritable Who’s Who of Hollywood Familiar Faces!

The final, fatal killing of Billy the Kid is haunting for both its beauty and its ugliness. That pretty much sums up the best of Sam Peckinpah’s work, the dichotomy of beauty and the grotesque, the proud and the profane, walking hand in hand through a random, chaotic world. PAT GARRETT AND BILLY THE KID was Peckinpah’s final word on the Western genre, and I’m glad it’s been restored to its original form, so future generations can study the cinematic artwork of this difficult, self-destructive, brilliant genius.

Happy 100th Birthday, Jack Kirby!

Today marks the centennial anniversary of the undisputed King of Comics, ‘Jolly’ Jack Kirby! This creative genius was responsible for some of the best known (and loved) characters of the 20th Century, and his influence is still felt to this day. Rather than using my meager words, here’s a gallery of comic cover art featuring the amazing talent of Jack ‘King’ Kirby!

Happy birthday, King!

Halloween Havoc!: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (Bryanston Pictures 1974)

RIP Tobe Hooper, director of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, POLTERGEIST, SALEM’S LOT, FUNHOUSE, and so much more. This post was originally published in October 2016.

Source: Halloween Havoc!: THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE (Bryanston Pictures 1974)

Still Great Entertainment: Gable & Harlow in CHINA SEAS (MGM 1935)

Back in the 1970’s, Boston’s WCVB-TV Channel 5 ran a weekend late-nite movie series called “The Great Entertainment”. For 18 years, host Frank Avruch did Robert Osbourne-like introductions to the station’s library of MGM films, way before the advent of cable. This is where I first saw and fell in love with many of the classic movies and stars of the 30’s and 40’s. When TCM recently aired CHINA SEAS, I hadn’t seen the film in decades, and knew I had to DVR it. It had made an impression on me, and while rewatching I was not disappointed; it’s still a rousing piece of entertainment!

Clark Gable is rugged sea captain Alan Gaskill, carrying a quarter million British pounds worth of gold as cargo aboard his liner heading from Hong Kong to Singapore. Jean Harlow plays ‘China Doll’ Portland, Gaskill’s in-port squeeze who comes along against his wishes. Gaskill’s former flame, refined Sybil Barclay (Rosalind Russell), shows up, and the skipper gives China Doll the big freeze. While Gaskill tries to rekindle that old flame, Dolly takes up with wild animal importer Jamesy McArdle ( Wallace Beery ), who unbeknownst to all is in league with a gang of Malay pirates out to hijack all that loot!

This was Gable & Harlow’s fourth go-round together, and the no-nonsense he-man was the perfect foil for the brassy platinum blonde. Their Jules Furthman/Kevin James McGuiness-penned banter sparkles, with Harlow making the most out of her by-now-familiar floozy with a heart of gold persona. Beery, who appeared with the two in 1931’s THE SECRET SIX , had honed his loveable rogue role down to a science, and the three stars all shine brightly in this romp.

The diverse passenger list is a Familiar Face lover’s dream, with Lewis Stone a disgraced third officer who redeems himself in grand fashion, humorist Robert Benchley  a tipsy American novelist who spends the movie inebriated, stiff-upper-lip C. Aubrey Smith  the fleet’s owner, Akim Tamiroff a shady jewel thief embroiled with passengers Edward Brophy and Lillian Bond, Hattie McDaniel Harlow’s wisecracking traveling companion, and Ivan Lebedeff the chief pirate. Dudley Diggs, Willie Fung, Forrester Harvey, William Henry, and Donald Meek are also onboard for the ride.

For a film made in 1935, there sure are a lot of Pre-Code elements here. There’s no doubt Harlow’s China Doll is less than virginal, and the violence is fairly graphic for the era. The scene during a raging typhoon features extras getting run over by a runaway steamroller, and Gable suffers through the agonizing torture of the dreaded ‘Malay Boot’ at the sadistic hands of the pirates. Executive producer Irving Thalberg had been planning CHINA SEAS for over five years, and it seems some of those Pre-Code elements sailed right past the Hayes Office!

Director Tay Garnett was the ideal choice to helm CHINA SEAS, striking the right balance of masculine action with his deft comic touch. Garnett’s career stretched back to the days of Mack Sennett, and among his filmography you’ll find gems like SHE COULDN’T TAKE IT, SEVEN SINNERS, MY FAVORITE SPY, BATAAN, THE CROSS OF LORRAINE, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, and A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT. He dove right into episodic TV in the 50’s and 60’s, and capped off his career with a pair of family friendly made-in-Alaska flicks, CHALLENGE TO BE FREE and TIMBER TRAMPS. Garnett’s movies are well worth looking into.

CHINA SEAS is a rollicking adventure with a cast of professionals at their peak, headlined by the red-hot screen team of Gable & Harlow. I’ve been hearing a lot recently about how millennials don’t really get into older, black and white movies, but I think this film will turn anyone into a classic film buff. It’s “Great Entertainment”, indeed!

One Hit Wonders #8: THEY’RE COMING TO TAKE ME AWAY HA-HAAA! by Napoleon XIV (Warner Bros Records, 1966)

Back when AM Radio ruled the airwaves, before the onset of polarization, you could hear everything from rock and pop, to soul and jazz, to country and folk all on your favorite local station. Frequently sandwiched in with the hits were novelty tunes, like “They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV, which reached #3 on the Billboard Top 100:

Napoleon XIV didn’t really exist. The record was the brainchild of one Jerry Samuels, a recording engineer who used a Variable-Frequency Oscillator to create the vocal effects and manipulated the tape speeds to get his desired results. Samuels didn’t exactly sing the ditty as much as use a poetic cadence, which makes him a pioneer of early rap music!

“They’re Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!” plummeted down the charts as quickly as it rose. A controversy had ensued regarding the song making fun of the mentally ill, and the record wound up banned in many cities, disappearing as fast as it emerged. Samuels made several unsuccessful attempts to recapture his one-hit glory, but lightning never struck twice for him. The record remains a favorite among afficianodos of bizarre obscurities, and has been a staple of the Dr. Demento radio program over the decades.

Waterlogged: CATALINA CAPER (Crown International 1967)

Beach Party movies had run their course by 1967, as AIP released their final entry in the surf cycle, THE GHOST IN THE INVISIBLE BIKINI, with Tommy Kirk  and Deborah Walley replacing Frankie and Annette , and nary a beach in sight. Crown International Pictures, AIP ‘s impoverished cousin (if one can imagine!), produced what is considered the last of the genre, CATALINA CAPER, also starring Kirk and a cast of dozens.

CATALINA CAPER is basically an lame excuse to get a bunch of young hardbodies on the beach and let ’em dance around to some dated rock music. Believe it or not, there’s a plot (though not a very good one) involving the theft of an ancient Chinese scroll masterminded by one of the teen’s con artist parents (Del Moore, Sue Casey) and a gangster trying to get ahold of it. There’s also a subplot (imagine that!) about Kirk torn between his bud’s sister (Venita Wolf) and a beautiful foreign chick (Ulla Stromstedt of TV’s FLIPPER), whose current boyfriend is working for the gangster. Said boyfriend is played by a pre-CAROL BURNETT SHOW/WONDER WOMAN Lyle Waggoner, who I’m pretty sure would like to leave this off his resume!

There are other Familiar Faces caught up in this no-budget nonsense. Robert Donner, known for roles on THE WALTONS, MORK & MINDY, and 6 John Wayne Movies, tries to be funny as a bungling insurance investigator. He’s not. Peter Duryea, son of noir icon Dan Duryea , is one of the young’uns, and proves that talent isn’t always inherited. Michael Blodgett of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS infamy is another groovy teen, and gets a choreographer’s credit to boot! The rest of the cats and kittens are undistinguished unknowns who never went on to anything of note.

We do get some music, consisting mostly of past-their-expiration-date acts that probably cost short money to hire, though somehow the producers got Motown’s Mary Wells to sing the title tune, “Never Steal Anything Wet”. 50’s rock pioneer Little Richard is onboard to do “Scuba Party”, complete with his signature “Woooo”s, and it’s the best thing about the film. The Cascades and their puffy shirts cover a Kinks number, “There’s a New World”. Ray Davies should’ve sued! Carol Connors (not the porn star, but the former lead singer of The Teddy Bears) performs “Book of Love”, backed by The Cascades and those puffy shirts. Connors did better for herself when she cowrote “The Theme from ROCKY (Gonna Fly Now)”, earning an Oscar nomination.

Lee “Roll ‘Em” Sholem directed with all the subtlety of an anvil dropped on your head. Sholem managed to have a long career doing B’s like SUPERMAN AND THE MOLE MAN, TOBOR THE GREAT, CANNIBAL ATTACK, and a slew of episodic TV. The DP is none other than Ted “TV” Mikels, future director of cult classics THE ASTRO-ZOMBIES, THE CORPSE GRINDERS, and THE DOLL SQUAD. Robert Caramico, another name familiar to Grindhouse fans, is credited as camera operator. The two did manage to get some good underwater photography done, at least.

CATALINA CAPER ended the Beach Party era with a definite whimper, not a bang. There’s not a whole lot to recommend here, even if you’re a fan of the genre. The plot’s dumb, the comedy unfunny, and the music isn’t that great. The bikinied babes are all hot, though. I guess that counts for something!

Roger of the Skies: VON RICHTOFEN AND BROWN (United Artists 1971)

Producer/director Roger Corman finally cut ties with American-International Pictures after they butchered his apocalyptic satire GAS-S-S! Striking out on his own, Corman’s next movie was VON RICHTOFEN AND BROWN, a World War I epic about famed German aerial ace The Red Baron and the Canadian pilot who shoots his down Roy Brown. There are grand themes, as Corman sought to make a statement on the futility of war, the end of chivalry, and the mechanized savagery of what was to be “the last war”. The film looks good, shot in Ireland, with exciting aerial footage, but despite all the outer trappings VON RICHTOFEN AND BROWN is still a Corman drive-in movie.

John Philip Law also looks good as Baron Manfred von Richtofen, the aristocrat/warrior who became the feared Red Baron. Law was always great to watch, whether as the blind angel in BARBARELLA, the black-clad supervillain in DANGER: DIABOLIK, sexy Robin Stone in THE LOVE MACHINE, or the fabled sailor in THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD. Unfortunately, his acting left a lot to be desired, for Law had the range of a popsicle stick, and was just as wooden. His Red Baron lacks the charisma necessary to make the audience care about him, and scuttles the film’s impact.

Don Stroud was originally slated to be Von Richtofen, but instead has the role of Canadian Roy Brown, who ultimately shoots down the Red Baron. Stroud adds some life to the movie with his performance, as he did in films like COOGAN’S BLUFF, BLOODY MAMA, ANGEL UNCHAINED, and JOE KIDD,  and as Mike Hammer’s cop pal Pat Chambers in the MICKEY SPILLANE’S MIKE HAMMER TV series. A very underrated actor usually stuck in supporting parts or leads in ‘B’ flicks, Stroud gets a chance to shine here and runs away with the film’s acting honors.

There’s some incredible aerial action  shot by DP Michael Reed and choreographed by real-life RCAF pilot Lynn Garrison (who’s interesting life story can be read on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_Garrison.  The planes were leftover from 1966’s THE BLUE MAX, and Corman shot the whole thing in Ireland rain or shine, believing a war wouldn’t take the day off because of weather, so why should he? The dogfights between Von Richtofen’s men and the British flyers are realistically done, though the climactic battle itself is, well, anti-climactic.

Barry Primus (BOXCAR BERTHA, NIGHT GAMES) is young Hermann Goering, member of Von Richtofen’s squad whose actions foreshadow Nazi atrocities to come. Veteran Hurd Hatfield (THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY) lends his touch of decadent elegance to the brief role of German plane manufacturer Anthony Fokker. Corin Redgrave (son of Sir Michael , brother of Vanessa and Lynn), Ferdy Mayne , and Stephen McHattie also appear in support.

Corman’s modern-day knights of the air saga isn’t a complete success, but is worth a look for fans of the auteur’s movies. I’d love to see what Quinten Tarantino could do with this material, preferably with a large part for Christoph Waltz. Are you listening out there, QT?

The Day the Clowns All Cried: RIP Jerry Lewis

Jerry Lewis is an acquired taste for many. His unique comic persona isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, especially among the highbrow set (except in France, where for decades he’s been hailed as a genius). He was zany, manic, childlike, and the last of the great slapstick comedians, his career spanning over eighty years. He was a comic, writer, director, actor, singer, businessman, innovator, and philanthropist. Jerry Lewis is a true American icon, and the embodiment of the American  dream.

Joseph Levitch was one of those “born in a trunk” kids referenced in many a classic movie. His father was a vaudevillean, his mom a piano player, and by the time he was five Lewis was appearing with his parents onstage at Catskill Mountain resorts. A high school dropout, Lewis did what was known as a “record act” as a teen, where he’d lipsynch popular tunes of the day with comic results. During this time he met a young crooner named Dean Martin , and the two developed an act where Lewis would interrupt Dino’s singing with his wacky antics, much of it improvised. The 28-year-old Martin and 19-year- old Lewis were a smash on the nightclub circuit, within three years had their own radio variety show.

Television was in its infancy when Martin & Lewis appeared on Ed Sullivan’s TOAST OF THE TOWN in 1948. Jerry’s mirthful mayhem, combined with Dean’s good looks, were made for the medium, and they took TV by storm, becoming rotating hosts of THE COLGATE COMEDY HOUR, along with established acts like Eddie Cantor, Bob Hope, and Abbott & Costello. Millions of Americans got their first exposure to Martin & Lewis and their fresh new brand of buffoonery, and soon the duo supplanted Abbott & Costello as the #1 comedy team in the country.

The team went to Hollywood that year as well, supporting “dumb blonde” Marie Wilson and her MY FRIEND IRMA radio gang in two films. Paramount signed them to a long-term contract and they made 13 movies together beginning with the 1950 service comedy AT WAR WITH THE ARMY (Dean and Jerry also did a cameo in the Hope and Crosby entry ROAD TO BALI). All the Martin & Lewis films are worthwhile, but my favorite is 1955’s ARTISTS AND MODELS, directed by Frank Tashlin. The former Looney Tunes animator’s vivid imagination lets Jerry run as wild as Bugs Bunny, playing Eugene Fullstack, a comic-book crazed geek obsessed with a character called “The Bat-Lady”. Dean is his roommate Rick Todd, a struggling fine artist who uses Eugene’s feverish comic-book dreams to crash the industry. The lunacy satirizes everything from the Cold War to the Kefauver Congressional hearings on how comics were warping American youth’s minds, and features one of Dino’s best movie tunes “Innamorata”, and sexy ladies Dorothy Malone, Shirley MacLaine, Anita Ekberg, and Eva Gabor.

All good things must end, and the team broke up in 1956. Martin, tired of being the straight man to Jerry’s increasingly expanding popularity, wanted to go it alone, and the breakup was one of the most acrimonious in show business history. Jerry’s first solo film was 1957’s THE DELICATE DELINQUENT, with Darren McGavin taking the Martin role.  In 1960, Lewis became a quadruple threat as he wrote, produced, directed, and starred in THE BELLBOY. Jerry plays inept bellboy Stanley, who gets into a series of unrelated misadventures at Miami’s Fontainebleau Hotel, where Lewis was doing his nightclub act while filming. Lewis does the character of Stanley in pantomime, and the name itself is an homage to comedy legend Stan Laurel, who consulted Lewis on the gags (and there’s a Laurel lookalike popping up throughout the film). For this movie Lewis invented a device called the Video Tap, which allowed the director to see what the camera operator sees in terms of framing. This later became de rigueur in filmmaking, and the industry has Jerry Lewis to thank for it.

Jerry’s best known and loved film is undoubtedly 1963’s THE NUTTY PROFESSOR, a Jekyll & Hyde take-off with the star in the dual roles of nebbish college professor Julius Kelp and smug, smarmy hipster Buddy Love. Here Lewis found the perfect balance of slapstick and pathos, playing two highly exaggerated extensions of his own personality. Contrary to popular belief, ‘Buddy Love’ was not a slam against former partner Martin; Lewis has denied this several times over the years. THE NUTTY PROFESSOR remains Lewis’ greatest film achievement, later remade in 1996 by Eddie Murphy.

Jerry’s other solo efforts were hit-and-miss; of them, two stand out in my mind. 1964’s THE PATSY finds bellboy Stanley turned into a top banana by a group of greedy Hollywood hangers-on looking to replace their former “meal ticket”. Again, Lewis marvelously walks the tightrope between comedy and pathos, aided by his best supporting cast: Everett Sloane, Phil Harris, Keenan Wynn, John Carradine, and Peter Lorre in his last movie. 1965’s THE FAMILY JEWELS has Jerry in seven different roles as a recently orphaned little girl inherits 30 million dollars and must choose a new guardian among her six uncles (all essayed by Lewis), assisted by faithful family chauffeur Willard (also Lewis). THE FAMILY JEWELS doesn’t get as much attention as the other two films, but it’s a delight, with Jerry in top form impersonating all the screwball relatives. Jerry’s son Gary appears in this one with his band The Playboys, singing their #1 hit “This Diamond Ring”.

In 1966, Lewis began hosting the annual Muscular Dystrophy Labor Day Telethon, and used his show biz clout to attract the top stars in Hollywood, Vegas, Nashville, New York, indeed around the world, to donate their time to this worthy cause. Lewis’ “Love Network” of TV stations across the country (local Channel 6 right here in New Bedford, MA was among the first) joined in to broadcast the event nationwide during the holiday weekend. This wasn’t Jerry’s only humanitarian effort; he was charitable behind the scenes for many worthy causes. Ex-partner Dean Martin finally reunited with Jerry in a surprise 1976 segment orchestrated by mutual friend Frank Sinatra, one of TV’s most memorable moments. Jerry’s co-host every year was TONIGHT SHOW sidekick Ed McMahon, and every year the star would perform his heart-wrenching signature tune, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”:

Jerry Lewis never really slowed down. Martin Scorsese’s 1983 THE KING OF COMEDY had him cast as talk-show host Jerry Langford, kidnapped by unhinged stand-up wanna-be Rupert Pupkin (Robert DeNiro). The 1986 TV Movie FIGHT FOR LIFE has Lewis and Patty Duke as a couple who must leave the country to obtain medication for their daughter’s epilepsy. He appeared in a five-episode arc of the 80’s crime drama WISEGUY as a clothing manufacturer threatened by gangsters, along with Ron Silver and Stanley Tucci. A 2006 episode of LAW & ORDER: SVU cast him as the uncle of Richard Belzer’s Detective Munch. And a little less than a year ago Lewis had the title role in the indie film MAX ROSE, as an aging jazz pianist who finds out his late wife (Claire Bloom) had an ongoing affair, and questions his entire life.

There’s so much more I could tell you about Jerry Lewis: his health battles, his humanitarian efforts, his success in Vegas, his failures as a solo TV performer. I’d probably be up all night just writing about his films with Dean.  When he died today at age 91, it truly was the end of an era. Lewis once was quoted as saying, “I don’t want to be remembered. I want the nice words when I can hear them”. Sorry Jerry, but you will definitely be remembered, not only for your show biz career, but your kindness in helping the less fortunate. I know you can’t hear all the nice words today though. All the clowns in the world are crying, and their tears are drowning them out.

 

 

Dead Pigeons Make Easy Targets: THE CHEAP DETECTIVE (Columbia 1978)

THE CHEAP DETECTIVE could easily be subtitled “Neil Simon Meets MAD Magazine”. The playwright and director Robert Moore had scored a hit with 1976’s MURDER BY DEATH, spoofing screen PI’s Charlie Chan, Sam Spade, and Nick & Nora Charles, and now went full throttle in sending up Humphrey Bogart movies. Subtle it ain’t, but film buffs will get a kick out of the all-star cast parodying THE MALTESE FALCON, CASABLANCA , TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT, and THE BIG SLEEP .

Peter Falk  does his best Bogie imitation as Lou Peckinpaugh, as he did in the previous film. When Lou’s partner Floyd Merkle is killed, Lou finds himself in a FALCON-esque plot involving some rare Albanian Eggs worth a fortune. Madeline Kahn , John Houseman, Dom De Luise , and Paul Williams stand in for Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Elisha Cook Jr, respectively, and they milk it for every laugh they can get, especially Kahn as the mystery woman who continuously changes her name and personality!

There’s a CASABLANCA subplot with Louise Fletcher as Lou’s former flame, now married to French resistance fighter Fernando Lamas, getting an opportunity to show off his comic skills. Nicol Williamson plays Colonel Schissel, leader of “the Cincinnati Gestapo”, with young James Cromwell as his aide Schnell. James Coco and David Ogden Stiers are café waiters, and since you can’t have CASABLANCA without Sam, we get Scatman Crothers as the piano player who’s told not to play that song again… “Jeepers Creepers”!

Eileen Brennen mimics Lauren Bacall as a sultry saloon singer who calls Lou “Fred” (he in turn dubs her “Slinky”). Ann-Margret channels THE BIG SLEEP’s Martha Vickers as the oversexed wife of ancient, decrepit Sid Caesar , Simon’s old YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS boss. Marsha Mason, Simon’s wife at the time, plays Merkle’s cheating widow Georgia, who accidentally flushes the dead dick’s ashes down the toilet! Stockard Channing’s on hand as Lou’s handy, virginal secretary Bess, and Vic Tayback, Abe Vigoda, and Carmine Caridi are the overbearing cops on Lou’s case ( at one point, Tayback tells Vigoda to “stop leaning” on Lou… literally!). Funnyman Phil Silvers , who Simon also worked with on the SGT. BILKO sitcom, has a cameo as a cab driver.

DP John Alonso, who shot the neo-noir CHINATOWN (and there’s a CHINATOWN gag in this, too), gives us a fog-shrouded, sepia-toned San Francisco setting. Simon goes back to his SHOW OF SHOWS roots with all the puns, word play (“Hello, Georgia. I just had you on my mind”), and wacky sight gags. It’s obvious Simon has an affection for these films as he lampoons all the Bogart movie tropes, and the cast seems to be having a ball. There are plenty of guffaws to be had viewing THE CHEAP DETECTIVE, a Bogie devotee’s delight, and fans of film parodies like AIRPLANE! and THE NAKED GUN are sure to get a kick out of this one.