Ou Vai ou Racha

I caught this on YouTube soon after the great Jerry Lewis passed away. I always love to read the "backstories" about films, so I read about it in Wikipedia and IMDb before I watched it. This was the comedy team's final film, and the two barely spoke to each other off camera during the shoot. You can't tell that from the finished film, because the chemistry between the two is there. Because the version I saw on YouTube turned off the audio whenever there was a song (for music copyright reasons), I can't comment on the music, but I am sure that it was good. Enjoyable, frothy comedy.

Oh, poor little film, only three user comments! I'll scribble something for self-amusement, so, uh... You might as well skip this.

The film is indeed highly enjoyable.

Some of the bits are stupid, borderline-infantile in fact, but that matters not.

The movie buff element could've been emphasized more.

I need to see more Tashlin. Nice cartooniness again, though the look of "Artists and Models" is even sweller. In fact, it's better overall.

The songs, in something of a surprise, are great!

The dialogue sparkles at times, which I appreciate much.

What, that's it?

It's hard to believe that this was Martin and Lewis' last film. It was reported that they could barely stand each other to make this film--this is hardly evident when you watch it. There are some great laughs in the film, such as the beginning when Jerry spills popcorn in the lady's hair.

Some great comedic stuff is provided by the dog, Mr. Bascom. There is an especially cute segment where he meets and "falls in love" with Anita Eckberg's dog. Oops....don't want to give too much of it away.

All in all this is a very funny movie, and well worth buying or renting.

"Hollywood or Bust" was the last of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin musical comedies and a very good one. Although it is not as bracingly innovative and riotous as Tashlin's "Artists and Models", I kept laughing throughout.

Some hilarious and enjoyable scenes come to mind: The opening moments in the movie theater where Lewis is ruining a woman's hair with popcorn; the rousing musical number "A Day in the Country" (Martin and Lewis in a car) which is Tashlin's homage to the "Beyond the Blue Horizon" number in Lubitsch's 1930 musical "Monte Carlo"; and there is Lewis' imitation of Rudolph Valentino's "Blood and the Sand".

Sure it can be silly and puerile at times, but it's a lot of fun.

Worth seeing.

Malcolm Smith loves the movies and especially Anita Ekberg. Getting one of his lucky feelings, Malcolm buys a ream of raffle tickets to win a car. Sure enough he wins, but so does gigolo gambler Steve Wiley, who, not unsurprisingly has won by less than honourable means. Refusing to give out two cars, the promotion merely tells the men that they will have to share the car. Much to Steve's annoyance as he has debts to pay. So deviously he agrees to drive with Malcolm to Hollywood, planning to ditch him at the first chance he gets. Only he hadn't figured on Mr. Bascom, Malcolm's Great Dane who's along for the ride, and an encounter with the pretty Terry Roberts. Yep, it's safe to say this is not going to be an ordinary road trip.

With their relationship deeply fractured at this time (this was their last film together), it's something of a surprise to find that Hollywood Or Bust is one of the finest films that Dean Martin (Steve) and Jerry Lewis (Malcolm) made. Everything that made the duo so massively popular is in here, even into the bargain daring to cast a satirical slant to the whiles and trials of Hollywood itself. A lot of the credit has to go to director Frank Tashlin. Tashlin, who was also at the helm for arguably the boys career high point Artists & Models, keeps the whole thing zippy, steering the duo in a direction to which they simply could not fail.

Sure enough the humour is almost juvenile at times, and yes Dean of course croons and tries to bed the girl (a spiky Pat Crowley as Terry), but it's got such a sense of joy to it, the kind of joy that much like Artists & Models, can really lift the blues. Stand out songs from the Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster score are "A Day in the Country" and "It Looks Like Love", whilst it will be tough not to giggle at some of the antics of Mr. Bascom and the irrepressible Lewis, particularly with one particular movie parody. Anita Ekberg comes and joins in the fun later in the piece, just in time for the riotous carnage that you know is around the corner.

If the sight of a Great Dane driving a car is not funny to you? Well chances are you should avoid this film completely. But that would be a shame for it's a delightful film, brisk and cheeky, it's most definitely one that's in desperate need of reappraisal from the grumpy brigade because it's a real blues lifter. 8/10