Occhio alla palla

When Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis split up in 1956, the consensus was that Jerry's comic talents would sustain his career, but that Dino would have a rough going. Well the consensus only had that half right. Most critics did focus on Jerry's talents, Dean was the straight man who sang a nice song occasionally.

But of all their joint films, The Caddy is best remembered for Dean's singing of That's Amore. The Harry Warren-Jack Brooks song sold a lot of records for Dean, putting him on something of an equal footing with his partner. It was nominated for an Oscar that year and until ten years or so later when Dino revived a song called Everybody Loves Somebody and made it his theme, That's Amore became the song most identified with the man from Steubenville, Ohio.

Of course Jerry has his moments in The Caddy, clowning with the various golfers who made cameo appearances here, doing a comic obligato after Dean sings That's Amore and a number called The Gay Continental. But That's Amore made this of all their films, Dean's triumph.

In fact Dino had another great reason to enjoy this film. Though not as publicized in fact he was as passionate about the game of golf as that other noted singer on the Paramount payroll, Bing Crosby. If he wasn't involved in any of the scenes on a given day, you would find Martin on the links invariably.

The plot such as it is involves Jerry Lewis as the son of a noted golf pro who also has an extreme case of stage fright. Jerry is engaged to Barbara Bates who is Dean's sister. Both come from an Italian fishing family. Father Joseph Calleia is a commercial fisherman and mother Argentina Brunetti runs a restaurant, specializing in seafood and pasta.

Jerry agrees to coach Dean and be his caddy. A lot of money can be made from professional golf although Calleia doesn't believe it. If this story sounds familiar that was the attitude of the patriarch of another San Francisco Italian fishing family named DiMaggio when three of their sons opted for careers in baseball. I guess Joe and his brothers Vince and Dom must have been flattered because they didn't sue Paramount.

Donna Reed plays the socialite sponsor of golf tournaments who falls big time for Dean. And Jerry gets to have another straight man in this film in the person of Clinton Sundberg, Reed's snooty butler. In fact Jerry gets even another substitute straight man in Fred Clark who is his and Bates's boss at the job they have at a department store. Although to be fair, Lewis rehashed some material here the Marx Brothers originally used in The Big Store.

The Caddy is one of the Martin-Lewis teams best and funniest comedies and if that don't get you, That's Amore will.

I have now re-watched all of the Martin & Lewis films and one thing I have noticed is how often Dean had to play characters who were complete louses. I can honestly see how this helped to break up the team as who would want to constantly play jerks in order to make their partner look more sympathetic?! This one finds Dean to be a bit of a jerk--though fortunately it's not nearly as bad in this one as in some of their other films and as a result it works a bit better.

Jerry plays Harvey, the son of a pro golfer who is ALSO a heck of a player. However, Harvey cannot go pro because he chokes up horribly when folks watch him play. But when he meets his fiancée's brother, Joe (Dean), Harvey sees that Joe could be a pro himself--and with his help, Joe enters his first tournament. But there is a problem...Joe wins the tourney and his ego becomes a bit inflated. He soon is taking his new friend for granted. Can Joe pull it together or are the two destined to go their separate ways? What do you think?!?!

One of the best things about this film is the music. Often I find the musical interludes distracting...but here Dean sings one of his greatest hits. "That's Amore" is the PERFECT tune for Dean's talents and you cannot help but love the song. Additionally, the humor is decent and Joe's not nearly so rotten as he could have been! Pleasant viewing.

Before I review The Caddy proper, let me just say that as a big fan of It's a Wonderful Life, I like to mention whenever players of that movie are in others I review. First, there's leading lady Donna Reed who of course was Mary Hatch there. Next, there's Argentina Brunetti-Mrs. Martini there-who's Dean Martin's mother here. Then, there's Bill Edmonds-Mr. Martini there-who's another of the Italian relatives (though I have to admit I didn't recognize him here). Finally, though I also didn't recognize her here, there's Mary Treen who even IMDb couldn't identify by role. Okay, with that out of the way, I'll just say that with Dean & Jerry playing entertainers who were once golfer and caddy, respectively, there's some hilarious scenes of Lewis wrecking havoc at a department store, of impersonating an Important Rich Man, and of disrupting some famous golfers' games. And Martin has an iconic moment when he sings a song that would be permanently identified with him: "That's Amore". And not just him but Jerry and the whole family sings along to one of the most entertaining numbers on film ever. What I didn't like was the way they have Dean treating Jerry like dirt in the middle of the movie and how dramatic that becomes at the expense of the mostly funny business that came before that. But it's worth it just to see how the whole thing ends especially when a couple of surprises happen there. Oh, and it was also hilarious whenever Jerry's boss Fred Clark-best known to me for his part in "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show"-is on screen. And the leading lady Jerry has here is played by the stunning Barbara Bates. So appealing is she here that I was stunned when I read of how tragic her life turned out. So on that note, The Caddy, despite its unevenness, gets a recommendation from me.

How can you go wrong with Jerry Lewis, Dean Martin, Donna Reed and Ben Hogan all in the same film?! The funniest of the Martin-Lewis pairings, with real-life players Sam Snead and Julius Boros adding to the goofy golf. Oscar-nominated song "That's Amoré" has been a classic for 45 years (it should have won the Academy Award; hear it again in "Moonstruck"). If you don't crack up when Jerry tells Bantam Ben "That's a wedge shot Mr. Hogan," then take up tennis.

Joe Anthony (Dean Martin) and Harvey Miller, Jr (Jerry Lewis) are a star humor team. A friend recounts their story to a reporter. Harvey's father is a champion golfer. Harvey could be a great golfer but he can't perform in front of a crowd. When both Harvey and girlfriend Lisa (Barbara Bates) get fired for leaving work to see a golf tournament, Lisa gets him to work as a golf instructor. Lisa's brother Joe becomes his first client. Joe is a natural and starts playing in tournaments with Harvey as his caddy. He falls for socialite Kathy Taylor (Donna Reed).

This is generally fun. It is sad to hear that Martin and Lewis had already started splitting during this film. It doesn't really show on the screen although they aren't always together. Lewis is hamming it up while Martin is suaving it up. It's not the funniest but the guys are working hard. The misunderstanding is stupid but those are often the case in this type of movie. This is a fair Martin and Lewis film.