Il delinquente delicato

Jerry Lewis plays a janitor called Sidney Pythias, who is hanging up with wrong kind of people.With the help of a cop called Mike Damon (Darren McGavin) he goes to the police academy to become a policeman.Delicate Delinquent from 1957 is Jerry's

first movie without Dean Martin, but he does nice job as solo. This isn't Lewis' greatest works, but it offers some great moments.Watch the movie if you want to be a cop or if you just like Jerry Lewis.

Jerry Lewis's first movie without Dean Martin casts him as a juvenile delinquent hired by a cop (Darren McGavin) to become a cop. "The Delicate Delinquent" is the typical sort of movie that Lewis was making around that time. It's mostly an excuse for him to act silly, sometimes via facial expressions. There's nothing special about the movie, although it does provide a few laughs. Without a doubt, Lewis reached his apex with "The Nutty Professor".

Martha Hyer (who later got married to Lewis's producer Hal Wallis) provides a foil for both Lewis and McGavin. Watch for a young Frank Gorshin (best known as the Riddler on the 1960s "Batman" series) as a gang member.

I first saw this movie at the theater in 1957. I was 13 and was captivated at the transformation of Sidney(Jerry Lewis). I watched as he went from a goofy, skinny kid(like I was then)to a mature, respected policeman. I never forgot this film and developed an interest in law enforcement. I have been retired for 8 years after a career with the PA State Police. The movie was more than entertainment to me.

In his first solo effort without partner Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis did a combination West Side Story and a police academy movie in The Delicate Delinquent. West Side Story was running on Broadway and its popularity and Jerry's would have guaranteed a built in audience.

Darren McGavin takes over from Dino and you can almost spot the places songs would have been dropped in. Lewis plays a bumbling young kid who gets accidentally in the middle of a gang rumble between the local Jets and Sharks and is caught in a police dragnet.

Personally I'm not sure how anyone could have mistaken Lewis for a juvenile delinquent, but McGavin is in charge of a mentoring program and he picks Lewis as his prototype test case. And monitoring the mentor is Martha Hyer who is from the City Council.

Jerry has surprisingly little in the way of raucous comedy routines and concentrates on developing his character. The film proceeds at a leisurely pace in telling the story.

Robert Ivers who plays one of Jerry's juvenile delinquent friends has a nice part himself. In the end he actually saves Lewis's career as a budding policeman.

The Delicate Delinquent was a nice solo debut for Lewis. He did much better for himself and Paramount Pictures than his old partner did with Ten Thousand Bedrooms.

At age 10, I kept my fingers crossed en route to see this movie. I loved both Martin and Lewis, was shocked at their breakup and truly wished them both happiness and success.

The movie did not disappoint me and I sensed that Jerry would be OK. Jerry's next movie, " Sad Sack " was much funnier; I thought - although I do remember having a huge poster of Liliane Montevecchi hanging in my bedroom for at least two years after seeing the movie - and perhaps "that" had something to do with my preference LOL.

The rest is history of course. For those in my age bracket, I also think it is worthwhile to mention how many times Jerry Lewis chose Kathleen Freeman to co-star in his movies. She was, of course, one of the two actresses to portray the maid in the 1953 TV series " Topper " which starred Leo G Carroll.