Le délinquant involontaire

Everybody knows that the late fifties - more precisely the second part of this decade - evoked the juvenile delinquency. Thanks to Nicholas Ray and his REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE which opened the way to this kind of subject; a social and drama scheme, that you could use in nearly all kinds of features, including science fiction - look for some Edward L Cahn's movies. Only westerns did not speak that much of juvenile delinquency, with the exception of some Billy The Kid westerns where the juvenile delinquency element was not that far...Back to this movie, it remains an amusing comedy, because of Jerry Lewis, but not as slapstick as other films starring also Jerry Lewis and that looked like more TEX AVERY cartoons than social comedies. Because in this film, the social element is also not so far. A social message, to give a chance to juvenile delinquents to succeed in life.

My wife hates Jerry Lewis. The French love him. Why the divergence?

In the late 40's and 50's Martin and Lewis were the most popular comedy act of their era. Watching some of their early stand-up routines one can't help marvel at Lewis's precocity and Martin's understated comic acumen. People who really know about Dean know what an underrated genius he was, but in this movie, Lewis's wide range of talents - mimicry, improvisation, foolery, jest - erupt with no comic-duo distractions. It's his tour de force.

Darrin McGavin turns in a great performance as Damon to Lewis's Pythias. The stunning Martha Hyer is great as the uppity goody two-shoes who falls for McGavin. Don't forget the uncredited cameo by Frank Gorshin. Robert Ivers, Horace McMahon, Richard Bakalyan, Milton Frome, et al, complete a great cast in one of the best comic movies ever.

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.

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.

Jerry proves in his first film outing after his infamous parting with his partner Dean Martin that his brand of comedy needs no specific straight man as the whole world is his straight man! Jerry plays a peripheral (read barely in) member of a gang who get into a rumble at his backdoor and he is subsequently arrested along with them. Seeing that he's different from the others, a sympathetic cop (Darren McGavin) takes him under his wing to guide him away from the other gang members and make an upstanding citizen of him. Which of course is a monumental task considering who he has as a charge. Speaking of which, you will get a 'charge' out of this movie.

(see my review on Amazon.com)