I saw Jerry Lewis' 1980 comeback film HARDLY WORKING when it was first released, in a theater filled to the gills with rabid Jerry Lewis fans (of which I am one) who were all joyously ecstatic to be seeing a new Jerry Lewis movie after all those years.
The opening montage of scenes from his earlier comedies was greeted with cheers, and this giddy enthusiasm carried over for the rest of the film. (The donut scene was a particular favorite--everybody there totally "got" it.)
Good spirits and joyous Jerry Lewis fandom abounded in that theater that night, and I had a wonderful time. It didn't matter that some scenes went too long, or didn't have as much comic oomph as they should, or that Jerry occasionally gave in to his tendency for "sad clown" mawkishness. We didn't care.
Whenever I see this movie now, I recall the feelings I had when I first saw it that night. Maybe you had to see it in that context and that frame of mind to truly enjoy it.
Anyway, I'm still a huge Jerry Lewis fan as I have been all my life, and I enjoy all of his movies from the highs of THE NUTTY PROFESSOR and THE LADIES MAN, to the middle ground of THE BIG MOUTH, THREE ON A COUCH, and CRACKING UP, to the lows of WHICH WAY TO THE FRONT? and HOOK, LINE, AND SINKER.
Now if I could just see THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, my life would be complete.
2 comments:
Your wish is my command. Here is The Day The Clown Cried (albeit approx 30 minutes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9zy-VQLL9I
Thanks Alan!
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