Der Prügelknabe

About two years ago my mom asked me to get her a movie with Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. I had heard of both of them and seen them on TV here and there but had never seen a movie with the two of them. I looked online and found "The Stooge." I didn't know if it was a good one or not because I had never heard of it, so I bought it. So on Christmas day we watched the movie together and I absolutely loved it! I never knew Jerry Lewis was that funny and I had know idea Dean Martin was a comedian, I just knew he was a beautiful singer. I recommend this movie to people of all ages. It has to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. I am 25 years old and with all of the comedies that are out these days, "The Stooge" is still one of the best! Classic!!

It's hard to see why Hal Wallis and Paramount held this film for two years before releasing it. Maybe they wanted a few more straight out comedy hits for Martin and Lewis before giving this one to the public.

The story has a somewhat true background based on writer Sid Silvers's experience as just such a stooge for singer/vaudevillian Phil Baker. They however didn't stay a team for any length of time in the way Martin and Lewis did.

Martin has a singing/accordion act that is going nowhere until he hires a stooge with whom he can do shtick with from the audience. Of course The Stooge is Jerry Lewis.

The Stooge was an uncomfortable film for both of these guys. It exposes the cracks in their own relationship. What's ironic here is that because of television in the sixties, everyone knows just how funny Dean Martin could be on his own.

Dino's given a whole bunch of film standards to sing in this, mostly owned by Paramount. He recorded all of them and they wound up on his first long playing album from Capitol records along with That's Amore. I still have that album.

There's one new song written for the film, A Girl Named Mary and A Boy Named Bill. Dino sings it solo and with leading lady Polly Bergen. Of course they play Bill and Mary in the film. On the Capitol recording Dean ends it in a falsetto that puts him poaching in Frankie Valli territory. It's one of my favorites of his film songs.

Fans will no doubt recognize Frances Bavier, Aunt Bee herself, as Jerry's mom. And Jerry has some great moments with nervous Percy Helton and with slow burn short order cook Donald MacBride.

Hal Wallis was nervous for nothing. The Stooge is one of the best team efforts for Martin and Lewis.

I haven't seen this movie in years, but a flick like this one just cannot be forgotten! I am in my early twenties and for more than half my life, I have been a film buff of movies old and new. Martin and Lewis are one of my all time favorite comedy duos, and at one time, I was renting movies here and there so that I could see all of the films they made together, and ones the lively, virtuous humanitarian Lewis did during his solo career.

When I saw this movie, it just blew me away. This film is the most dramatic film those boys ever made--and if you're thinking that that can't possibly be saying much since most of their movies were screwball comedies, I'm here to tell you you're mistaken. This movie is funny, but it's also very impassioned and heart-rendering, so you might do yourself a favor by keeping a box of tissues near you when viewing it.

Both Martin and Lewis are great in these dramatic and comedic roles as a comedy team that splits up because Lewis' character is under-appreciated and emotional mistreated by Martin's character. In a oddly coincidental way, this movie seemed to foreshadow the boys' split up in '56, but of course, in the movie, there is a happy ending. And while everyone knows that both Dean and Jerry went on to have successful solo careers and reunited as friends years later, I think that it would have been great to have seen them do a couple more films together that were as unforgettable as this one.

With this, Martin & Lewis's seventh feature together, they're reunited with the following co-stars from previous movies: Polly Bergen-who was in At War with the Army and That's My Boy-playing Dean's wife who once again has a wonderful duet with him, Marion Marshall-who was also in TMB as well as Sailor Beware-playing Jerry's girlfriend, Eddie Mayehoff-previously Jerry's father in TMB is now Dean's and eventually Jerry's manager, Richard Erdman-previously the person Jerry passes himself off as in Jumping Jacks is Dean's previous performing partner here, and Mary Treen-previously the assistant of Corrine Calvet in SB is now the assistant of Jerry's boss before Jerry's teaming with Dean. In this one, Dean is an entertainer who's trying to make it as a single but his act sucks when he tries that so Jerry is picked to play a stooge for him. I'll stop there and just say that while I liked the way the actors switched from comedy to drama during the transitional scenes, sometimes I think the screenplay or maybe the direction didn't make them seamless enough to be believable to me. In fact, I found Jerry and sometimes Dean more funny offstage than when they did their act on-stage. And I think it was a mistake to make it seem like Jerry didn't know what he was doing the whole time he's on stage especially whenever it's obviously not the case-such as when he has to go on by himself after Dean drinks too much to do so and does a great parody of Maurice Chevalier. Nevertheless, this is another enjoyable Martin & Lewis picture that gets a recommendation from me. P.S. Frances Bavier, as Jerry's mom, was a nice surprise to me especially when she did his laugh. And what a coincidence that both her and Ms. Treen are in this picture since Ms. Bavier replaced Ms. Treen as the housekeeper in the first episode of "The Andy Griffith Show"!

Funny man Jerry Lewis is Ted Rogers and Dean Martin is Bill Miller in this Norman Taurog comedy from 1953.Dean's character gets angry when the clown gets all the attention, something that happened in the real life too.In 1956 these two split up.The Stooge is a marvelous Martin and Lewis picture.It's impossible to get bored while watching a Lewis and Martin movie.The movie has also some serious moments but the drama and comedy are well balanced in the movie.There's a lot of singing in this movie and it's amazing to see Jerry and Dean on stage entertaining people.Polly Bergen is wonderful playing Dean's love interest Mary Turner. Jerry Lewis is one of my favorite comedians of all time and after he stopped clowning with Dean he did very well alone.The master turned 75 years old the 16th day of March and it would be great if he still made some great comedies just like he did in the 50's and 60's. But you can laugh during these old movies of his and The Stooge is a must see for all the fans of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.