The Stoolie

Dated black comedy has Jackie Mason the perennial loser who's manipulated by detectives to conspire in the capture of his brother, a shady character involved in criminal activity. Mason pulls a swifty on the detective coercing him and takes off with a bundle of cash and an unmarked police car. He soon ditches the vehicle and tries to hire another, but typically, is declined. With the weight of the world on his shoulders, and little incentive or direction, he takes a limousine to the most expensive hotel by the sea, checks into the executive suite and quickly sets about enjoying his one and only stroke of luck - but hard luck has a habit of hanging around and it's not long before both he and his new romantic interlude discover that their stolen cash is tainted and the owners are in pursuit.

Mason cuts a depressing figure, shunned by every woman (with one exception) he attempts to hit on, and with zero prospects - heck, you can certainly sympathise with his motives. The movie itself is based around situational comedy, occasional slapstick and some melancholy moments designed to stir the emotions. I found Mason's character hopelessly pathetic and in every sense of the word, a stool pigeon - unnoticed and barely tolerated, until everybody wants him for the wrong reasons.

Thayer David (later to co-star in director Avildsen's "Rocky") and Marcia Knight playing the blonde who snubs Mason in the limousine, are perhaps the only other recognisable faces in a cast of unknowns, although that didn't dampen the appeal. A rare, insightful drama-cum-comedy, probably difficult to source, but worth a look.

Jackie Mason plays the title role, but don't look for his shtick because you won't find it here. His performance is more reminiscent of Dom DeLuise in Fatso. He's a down-on-his-luck nebbish who finds himself in a real jam due thanks to his brother, another loser who wants to be a player. The brother is nervously played to perfection by Don (aka Dan) Frazer, later of Kojak fame. Once Mason's love interest joins the proceedings, the movie seems to lose its initial momentum, and forgets about Frazer until its slapdash ending. The girl is quirky and neurotic enough for a movie of her own. Altogether, this is worth seeing as a time capsule of early Jackie Mason, and a marvelous performance by Don Frazer -- but has few other charms.

I have to wonder if the other reviewers actually watched the movie seeing all the inaccuracies in the plot summaries. Here is what actually happens. Mason is a loser in New York resorting to a life of petty crime. But he is a failure at even that, and has been getting by ratting out other criminals to a detective he knows. But even the detective treats him like slime. Mason turns the tables on the detective when he is sent into a crime den with $7000 to make a buy. Inside he is dumped on as usual, but he comes out and sends the detective in to make the bust as if he had set the criminal up as planned. Whereupon he steals the money and flees to Miami--flying first class and trying hard to enjoy it. He irritates the traveler sitting next to him in first class by lighting up a stogie. Just seeing how much air travel has deteriorated since those days is worth the full price of admission. The detective is up the creek for losing the money. The detective can barely keep his job, but manages to have the incident suppressed while he pursues Mason on his own time. Not only does he have to drive, but he gets victimized by one of the notorious I95 gas stations in Georgia, and again by a Georgia cop. This gives Mason enough time to get dumped on over and over and finally run into a plain Jane from long island who has been dumped on herself. They hit it off. Their unlikely romance is good for both of them. But finally, the detective catches up. But the money is gone. After a lot of failed attempts to get the money back, the detective decides to ripoff local drug pushers. This plan actually succeeds, but Mason has been truly saved through his new found love. Roles are reversed, the detective is now the criminal and mason is reformed--he won't even take the $100 the detective offers to help him get set up (the detective is content with the heroin and expects to make a killing back in NYC).

So the movie is about the redeeming power of love; the frailties and humanity in everyone. Mason is unmistakably Mason. It suffers from low budget. If the writing was a little better and the sound tracks were a little better, it would be a classic. Today it also suffers from having the wrong sixties stamp on it--films without much finish were fashionable then, or maybe people preferred their entertainment less flashy and more cerebral. Or more moralizing.

It is Mason's version of On the Waterfront.

Jackie Mason made his feature film debut in The Stoolie. Mason's a funny guy, but this film has Mason playing as most serious character.

The Stoolie casts Mason as a schlep of a human being who crosses the line between legal and illegal almost for exercise. He's a favorite Stoolie of detective Dan Frazer of the Weehawken, New Jersey police department.

However it's a brass ring that Mason grabs when while working with Frazer on a buy and bust opertion. He takes $7000.00 in buy money and skips to Miami Beach to live the good life. He faces a lot of rejection even with his new found wealth from women until he meets Marcia Jean Kurtz who is a 30 something plain Jane who is also looking for romance before it's too late.

All goes well until Frazer shows up. Mason takes a beating, but eventually all three try to work out the problems to everyone's satisfaction.

Frazer as the Weehawken detective is a far cry from Captain McNeil of the NYPD which Frazer was shortly to be cast as in Kojak. In his own way he's as big a schlep as Mason. See how folks take advantage of him when he begins his hunt.

The Stoolie is an interesting character study and one of the few times you'll see Jackie Mason being serious. Sad it failed to find mass aclaim and give Jackie Mason a second career as serious actor.

I remember seeing Jackie Mason standing in a hotel lobby in New York years ago. He had a show on Broadway at the time. I also remember his gaff on the Ed Sullivan show. In this he plays a small time loser who gets in over his head. It's the thing where a few dollars are blown and the person doesn't have the wherewithal to get it back and gets in deeper and deeper. Mason's character is so pathetic at every turn. There is some humor in it, but it mostly is a situational thing. His character, Roger Pitman, acts the way a desperate person would, especially when he is in unfamiliar territory. The acting is pretty good, but the story is just sort of dull and there is so little hope. If this had been a heist comedy, it may have worked better. We can all identify with the person who, having nothing, quickly gets in over his head. The world is full of cruel people and he meets them every few minutes. Even when he's with his thieving associates, they don't give him his share and he has few options. There is some interest here, but not a whole lot.