¡Ay qué hijo!

This is another Martin & Lewis movie I watched on YouTube. In this one, Jerry plays the son of Eddie Mayehoff who is a former college football hero who's still reliving his glory days whenever he wakes up in the morning but his son isn't even close to being that good athletically. So this father asks fellow high school graduate-and football hero-Dean Martin to room with him so he can train him to play the game. I'll stop there and just say that with this one, the story takes more emphasis in order to naturally serve the comedy scenes when they gradually come with Lewis toning down his hyperactive shtick immensely making him a bit more sympathetic than before. Martin himself doesn't appear until maybe after 15 minutes and it takes a while before he teams with Lewis. But when the laughs come, they are truly earned by Lewis and occasionally Mayehoff whether together or separately. So on that note, That's My Boy is worth seeing. P.S. Not counting the My Friend Irma sequel, this movie marks the first time in M & L history that a leading lady from a previous one reappears with them in another one. And like her last stint in At War with the Army, Polly Bergen has another charming duet with Dean, this time on Ballin' the Jack. And it's nice to see a player from my favorite picture It's a Wonderful Life, Lillian Randolph, play another amusing servant character named May.

I think it's a real shame that this movie has never been made available on tape or disc - it's hysterical!! Sure, not all of the hysterics are intentional (e.g., Dean Martin, who was 34 when this was made, and looking every year of it, playing a high school senior. The only thing missing from his prom scene are the smokes & martinis...although they're certainly present in spirit. Classic). They even allow Deano a couple of songs: the funny "Ball & a Jack" sequence is intercut with Lewis ineptly trying to match Martin's suave moves from the sidelines, but a backseat seranade of "I'm in the Mood for Love" is so out of place and arbitrary that it's priceless! Nonetheless, the comedy that was intended comes off quite well, especially the great Eddie Mayhoff ("How to Murder Your Wife") as Lewis's hilariously overbearing & macho father (unintended comedic moment II: Mayhoff doing pushups at the beginning of the film, proclaiming to be the epitome of health. He looks, however, to be in awful shape!). This film is certainly dated, but it really adds to its charm. Imagine a time when butter, pancakes and syrup were considered good for you (as is sleeping with your window open)! People didn't question the "correctness" of hunting. Doctors smoked. Men shaved with straight razors. College students didn't wear baseball caps and baggy pants. Dean Martin attends your high school!! It's all here! I must have gone through about 10 different copies of this over the years (it showed up quite often on the old "late, late movie" shows that used to be on network television. I always screwed up the commercial edits). AMC shows this sometimes, so check it out!

That's My Boy was the first film in which people really started to take notice of Jerry Lewis and start classifying him with comedians like Chaplin and Keaton and Langdon. After over 60 years the film still holds up very well because it's got a universal theme, a kid who can't get out from under the shadow of his father.

Jerry is the nervous, spastic, and underachieving kid of former All American Eddie Mayehoff who later went on to be a captain of industry. Mother Ruth Hussey tries to help, but she too is dominated by Mayehoff who can't hear anyone's voice beyond his constant bloviating bellow. The man isn't blind he has to see what kind of kid he raised. Nevertheless he's going to turn Lewis into the next generation Mayehoff and he's got the money to make the attempt. He even pays for school jock Dean Martin to go to college as well and tutor Lewis in the fine arts of being a football hero and big man on campus.

That however interferes with Dino's efforts at courting Polly Bergen who Jerry is also interested in. I think you can see where this is going.

It all culminates as it always does in college pictures in the big football game at the end. Some of the gags are not as well presented as in such films as College Humor, Horsefeathers, and Hold 'Em Jail, still you'll get a few laughs from them.

Dino was shortchanged here. He gets two numbers nothing original just interpolated songs like Ballin' The Jack which he sings and dances with Bergen and I'm In The Mood For Love. Dino is strictly in support of Jerry for the first time.

But Jerry shows some real pathos in That's My Boy and was rightly praised by the critics. This film might have marked the beginning of the end for them as a team.

I can see Jim Carrey doing a remake of this for today's audiences. If not, every nerdy kid in America will identify with Jerry's character in That's My Boy.

"Gotta hit 'em low, hit 'em hard, and if they get up, hit 'em again. Gotta play GUTS football!" Poor Junior Jackson (Lewis) is the weak, uncoordinated, allergy-prone son of Jarring Jack Jackson, former Ridgeville football alum now trying to relive his collegiate days of glory through Junior. Studly Bill Baker (Martin) becomes the dorm-mate Jackson arranges to mentor Junior in football and other aspects of, uh, manhood. The plot is fairly predictable, but this is one hilarious movie about father-son relationships, college life, football, manhood, friendship, and girls (not in that particular order.) Martin & Lewis were never better together, along with a superb supporting cast. A classic comedy with heart.

I'm not a big fan of Martin and Lewis movies, though I think I saw all of them over the years. When I was a kid, I was a bit of a fan so I tried to see the films whenever they came on television. Of all their films together, this one is my favorite. It may not be hilarious from start to finish, but for this comedy team it is awfully good.

Lewis is very funny as the extremely clumsy and nerdy son of the rugged Eddie Mayehoff. Martin plays a football-playing student who Mayehoff WISHES were his son--in order to carry on the legacy. You see, because MANY years earlier Mayehoff had been a big college football star and he was beside himself having an embarrassment for a son. So, he makes Martin a proposition--take Lewis under his wing and make him a real man. In exchange, Mayehoff will bankroll Martin's college expenses.

What ultimately happens is a bit predictable but worth watching. The scene I particularly enjoyed watching was when Mayehoff took Lewis hunting! Good work by Martin & Lewis and a film that deserves to be seen a bit more often.

By the way, I am not sure if I'd consider this to be the team's best film or "The Stooge". "That's My Boy" is certainly a lot funnier but there's something likable about the oddly realistic "The Stooge".