After his passing in 2017 at the age of 91, film fans and critics began to reassess the comedic legacy of Jerry Lewis and his impact on Hollywood and pop culture. Lewis’ brand of broad comedy has largely fallen out of favor with theater-goers and critics, and the late actor still doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. While the French revere Lewis’ unique creativity, America has yet to come around with an appreciation for his comedic genius, even as he paved the way for comic actors like Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler.
There was a time, however, when America couldn’t get enough of Lewis. In the 1940s and 1950s, he and his partner Dean Martin toured nightclubs across America and made 17 movies, becoming two of the biggest names in show business. The films highlighted what made their nightclub act so successful: Martin’s velvety voice and Lewis’ screwball comedy, and while critics were unimpressed with their films, moviegoers loved them.
Paramount
When the partnership fell apart in 1956, Lewis took his movie career solo, becoming one of the biggest box office draws in the late 1950s and 1960s. The 1970s and 1980s saw Lewis’ film career decline, with his role in Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy a rare highlight. His charity work as host of the annual Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) Telethon, however, kept him in the spotlight.
After his retirement from The MDA Telethon in 2011, he only appeared in a handful of projects, none very successful. His lead role in the 2013 film Max Rose earned some high marks from critics for his performance, although the film itself was not well received and actually went unreleased for three years. His final role, in 2016’s The Trust with Nicolas Cage, only amounted to about two minutes of screen time. The cameo was a favor to his friend Cage, but it wasn’t the cinematic sendoff he deserved.
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10 The Big Mouth (1967)
Columbia Pictures
The Big Mouth finds Lewis playing a man on vacation who gets mixed up in a search for stolen mob diamonds. While the film doesn’t pack in the laughs of some of his better films, it has a cool 1960s vibe, and there are some notable gags. That includes several scenes.in which Lewis, hoping not to be recognized, assumes a disguise that essentially reprises his Nutty Professor character of Julius, all the way down to the voice, glasses, and fake teeth.
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The film has some fine comic actors in supporting roles, including Charlie Callas (the voice of Elliott in Pete’s Dragon) who plays a mobster who loses his mind. The film also features the film debut of Susan Bay, who would go on to marry Star Trek legend Leonard Nimoy in 1989. Bay-Nimoy appeared in a number of TV series from the 1960s through the early 1990s, including two episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
9 Scared Stiff (1953)
This is the only Martin & Lewis film on the list, which isn’t too surprising considering the duo’s other films aren’t very good. This cinematic outing, however, is a remake of Bob Hope’s 1940 comedy The Ghost Breakers, and like that film, Scared Stiff revolves around people visiting a mysterious haunted mansion. In this case, Dean plays a nightclub singer, and Jerry plays a bellhop who go on the run from mobsters and use the mansion as a hideout. You’ll have to endure way too many songs before the thrills, chills, and laughs kick in, but the third act is plenty of fun.
8 The Bellboy (1960)
Paramount Pictures
Imagine going to see a modern Hollywood blockbuster in which the star rarely utters a word — that was the premise of Lewis’ 1960 hit The Bellboy. Lewis plays Stanley, a bellboy at a swanky Miami Beach hotel, who (almost) never speaks, yet still manages to create chaos for the guests and staff. The twist here is that Lewis plays two roles, the bellboy and himself, as “movie star Jerry Lewis” comes to stay at the hotel. This sets up some great gags, as well as a cameo by the legendary Milton Berle, who also plays himself and a bellboy. The film marked Lewis’ directorial debut, and he shot it in four weeks, in order to have it ready for a summer 1960 release.
7 Who’s Minding the Store? (1963)
Who’s Minding The Store? finds Lewis in his prime, and the movie boasts some of his best physical gags, including his classic “typewriter” scene. The film is set in a truly dated relic of the past, a multi-level department store, where Lewis’ character of Norman works. That allows for a number of settings for varied gags (the women’s shoe department scene is a standout), and the film boasts one of his funniest supporting casts, with a number of character actors contributing some truly hilarious scenes.
6 The Ladies Man (1961)
In The Ladies Man, Lewis plays a man who is dumped by his girlfriend and swears off women. Looking for a fresh start, he takes a job in a mansion, only to discover he is now at the beck and call of dozens of single women who live there. It’s silly and contrived, but even when the gags don’t quite connect, you’ll still chuckle a lot more than you expect.
Lewis’ ingenuity as a writer and director is on full display here. A four-story mansion interior was built on a Paramount soundstage (one of the biggest sets built at the time), which could split apart to accommodate cameras. Lewis also attached a small video camera to the film camera, allowing him to view a replay of his shot instantly. It is a practice that all directors would later imitate, in what is now termed “Video Village.”
5 The Disorderly Orderly (1964)
The Disorderly Orderly is one of Lewis’ more underrated 1960s comedies. It features not only some fantastic gags, but also a hilarious performance from noted character actress Kathleen Freeman, who often appeared in Lewis’ films. Jerry plays a bumbling orderly at a private hospital whose antics create havoc, until someone from his past (Susan Oliver) is hospitalized there. Actress Karen Sharpe plays the love interest in the film, and in a reflection of the times, has a definite “Jackie O” style and look.
4 Cinderfella (1960)
Jerry Lewis was gender-bending fairy tales before it was cool, and while twisted fairy tales are all the rage now, Lewis’ Cinderfella at least offers some solid laughs. Lewis plays Fella, who serves his stepmother and stepbrothers (including the great Henry Silva) day and night until his Fairy Godfather (Ed Wynn) comes along. Lewis is great in the role, although the film slows down when he insists on singing. When Jerry reads an inscription off of a ring, however, the laughs more than make up for the sub-par musical numbers.
3 The Family Jewels (1965)
Lewis’ tour-de-force The Family Jewels finds him playing seven different roles, including six eccentric uncles all vying to become the guardian of their young niece (Donna Butterworth), the heir to a million-dollar fortune. Although not highly regarded by critics, Lewis fans love the film for its over-the-top visual gags. One of the uncles, Julius the photographer, is a direct copy of his character from The Nutty Professor two years before, also named Julius.
Sebastian Cabot, best known for his roles in The Time Machine, Family Affair, and Disney’s The Jungle Book as the voice of Bagheera the panther, is a hilarious sidekick to Lewis’ lead character of Wilbur the chauffeur. This was the debut film for young Donna Butterworth, who only had one other film credit in her brief career, starring with Elvis Presley in 1966’s Paradise, Hawaiian Style. Watch for one of the movie’s funnier gags, when it is revealed that the music on board Uncle Eddie’s plane is being played by a live band crammed into a closet. The band is Gary Lewis and the Playboys, led by Jerry’s real-life son, who had a hit song that year, “This Diamond Ring,” which plays on a radio early in the film.
2 The Nutty Professor (1963)
Lewis’ 1963 classic finds him at the top of his comedic game. The character, the gags, and the supporting cast of The Nutty Professor all click here. The story, a clever send-up of the Jekyll and Hyde tale, finds Lewis as the best character he ever crafted: Julius Kelp, a socially inept college professor. Julius creates a potion that turns him into Buddy Love, a person that apparently women in the 1960s found irresistible. Ignore the fact that Love is a boorish jackass — Lewis both ridicules and embraces the character — and just focus on the jokes, because there’s lots to laugh at here.
In Julius Kelp, Lewis revels in the awkward silences that punctuated his comedy. The over-the-top gags are perfectly executed, and his reaction shots were never funnier. Eddie Murphy may have brought his signature style to his 1996 remake of the film, and Lewis returned to voice the character in an animated sequel, but this film is still the superior version.
1 The King of Comedy (1982)
20th Century Fox
Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy explored America’s obsession with celebrity culture long before social media sent it into overdrive. The themes in the film resonate even today, and the film is bolstered by De Niro’s performance, which Scorsese has singled out as one of the actor’s best. De Niro plays Rupert Pupkin, an aspiring stand-up comic whose delusional fantasies lead him to kidnap late night talk show host Jerry Langford (Lewis).
Ironically, Lewis found himself playing the straight man in the film, a role usually taken by his former comedic partner Dean Martin early in his career. The film also features what is likely the most accurate depiction of Lewis’ true personality, as he was known to be famously aloof and rudely impatient (something embodied in a hilarious viral interview with the man). Lewis admitted as much, saying he was basically playing himself in the film. Nobody could’ve done it better.
