Das Mondkalb

Arguably despite having Jerry Lewis, Dick Shawn and Howard Morris (3 great comedic actors) in the cast this was the most unfunny Jerry Lewis movie I have ever seen. The cold war/space race humor is indeed dated but despite being an attempt at political satire it failed as comedy and probably didn't get lots of laughs even back in 1966. I'm used to Jerry Lewis as a great comedic actor but in this movie he was playing it straight and totally lacking the kind of outrageous antics and physical comedy that made his earlier movies great comedy. I'm inclined to believe that even in France this Jerry Lewis effort would have been a great disappointment. Not only was it lame comedy but it wasn't even good science fiction. Absolutely thumbs down.

A few parts had me howling, even though the rest of the room was dead quiet. But I've always been a fan of Jerry's more subtle "deadpan" humour and surrealistic, wordless scenes where the comedy seeps into you rather than the bang-pow punchline type of laugh.

For example in CINDERFELLA there's that scene where he's trying to light his stepbrother's cigarette. No music, no dialogue, no camera motion at all. Just 120 seconds of pure disaster. Or in NUTTY PROFESSOR there's the hilarious scene where he timidly enters the dean's office--again, no sound, no words, just a thick, hilarious atmosphere.

WAY... WAY OUT has a few of those types of gags, and they were brilliantly done, including one of the funniest gags I've ever seen ("If I'm not mistaken, that's Stella Mary right there"). Unfortunately the film seemed to switch gears halfway through, once they're on the moon, and it became more of a silly sitcom. Still, I enjoyed it until the end.

A word about the visual presentation: magnificent! Sure, we don't generally go to Jerry Lewis movies to see artistic cinematography, but it's there. The sets are surreal (futuristic in a cool retro-60s way). Everything was large and colourful. Shots are framed wonderfully (be sure to see it in widescreen). The camera moves smoothly and brilliantly throughout the action. But then, as I said above, everything changes once they're on the moon. The sets become smaller, more claustrophobic and less grandiose. This returns us to the silly sitcom feel.

Overall it was wacky & entertaining. I think it's best watched by people who are familiar with Jerry's subtle style, rather than his slapstick skits. For that reason I'm afraid most people will be disappointed. But a few of you may really enjoy it.

Our narrator informs us at the start that our film takes place near the turn of the century, so we must assume it is 1998 or 1999. NASA is now NAWA and is in a pickle. Both the Americans and the Russians are maintaining weather stations on the moon. The Americans have 2 male astronauts while the Russians have a male and female. The problem is, one of the Americans keeps attacking the Russian female because he has gone mad. The head of NAWA sees a publicity coup by arranging for a married American team to replace the 2 men, but everything falls apart when the newly married couple starts fighting. Enter Lewis as Peter Mattemore, the oldest trainee who always finds a way out of actual space flight. Mattemore manages to convince Eileen Forbes (played by the lovable Connie Stevens) to marry him and go to the moon with him. Hilarity ensues after they arrive at their destination to find the 2 Russian cosmonauts (played by Dick Shawn and Anita Eckberg) and find Shawn's character is a sex crazed cossack.

For most of the film Lewis is rather subdued in his acting, only letting some of his comic genius burst out for a few seconds at a time. It isn't until we are 2/3's through the film that the true slapstick that we recognize as Lewis trots out during the party scene with all 4 main characters. Stevens is her usual sexy yet girl next door type. She really makes those clear plastic couches and pillows look good. Eckberg, although more statuesque and built than Stevens, takes a back seat to Connie. Shawn is a zany lunatic that is about the only equal to Lewis when it comes to over the top acting.

Believe me, any of those French critics who can see this odious mess and STILL consider Jerry Lewis a genius ought to be drowned in their own vichysoisse! Jerry is at his most self-indulgent on this project, and isn't helped by a lot of leering jokes that even a horny twelve-year-old would consider in bad taste. The all-but-incomprehensible plot and sluggish acting don't help, either. Only bright spot about this film is the underrated, under-used Dick Shawn as Jerry's Russian counterpart.

At least a good director experienced in handling Jerry, like Frank Tashlin or Norman Taurog, could have possibly made something out of this, but Gordon Douglas was always a director (?) whose main virtue was that he could bring in films on-time and at or under budget. Douglas' films were successful because of either their stars or stories ("Robin and the Seven Hoods," the Carroll Baker "Harlow"), but he himself was a director of workmanlike competence and no more. It's a reputation he upholds here, with his indulgent direction and sluggish pacing.

All of which proves, once again, that Jerry Lewis' last really good film on his own was "The Nutty Professor." After that, he started believing his press clippings, especially his foreign ones, and, after a while, he wasn't as much funny as downright pathetic. And "Way... Way Out" is a textbook example of this.

Mid 60's sex comedy in space. 2 rocket scientists (Jerry Lewis and incredibly cute Connie Stevens) rushed by the air force into marriage to be the first husband and wife on the moon, There they meet an unmarried couple of Russian cosmonauts (a stunningly statuesque Anita Ekberg's the girl), drink a lot of vodka and get stupid. Unfortunately apart from the couple of guys (Howard Morris and Dennis Weaver) Lewis and Stevens are sent to relieve, after 3 years of isolation together. going crazy and at each others throats for lack of female companionship, the rest of the tepidly "sexy" shenanigans that happen "Way Out" aren't as much fun as what goes on back on earth, Bob Morley gets the best lines and makes the most of them--who cares how a distinguished English gentleman ended up head of the American space program? :-) Brian Keith is hilarious as military brass stereotype Gen. "Howling Wolf" Hallenby, and there's the brief appearance of a ridiculous southern senator Deuce Hawkins (Alex D'arcy} who manages to get in a complaint, topical then, but apropos of nothing else here, that the civil rights movement was going "too fast", a sentiment that seems still to be held by a great number of senators and their constituents to this day. You laugh while you cry when you see something like that all these years later With the advantages of home viewing these days, I'd FF once they arrived on the moon, pausing only to admire the lovely ladies, at home in their spacepod, lounging around in their negligees..