This is How Movies Should Be Made

Excellent but underrated film

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This Jerry Lewis comedy, which he also co-wrote and directed, begins with an unusual premise: a movie star has died and his staff of handlers (Keenan Wynn, Everett Sloane, John Carradine, Phil Harris, Ina Balin, and Peter Lorre who died before this was released) are discussing if they should split up. That would become "no" when Jerry, as bellhop Stanley Belt, shows up and clumsily drops his ice and glasses which makes the team try to make him a star. I'll stop there and just say that while I know that Lewis tends to overdo his shtick, I usually find it funny maybe both because and despite him doing so. I mean, when he mouths in the wrong places his recorded lyrics to his hit song (which I personally don't think would have been a hit even as a novelty tune) or has a disastrous encounter with music teacher Hans Conried (a veteran player of Lewis' movies), I'm so there laughing my head off! And a couple of silent sequences are pretty amusing if not as funny. But when we see Stanley at his night club debut, his accident-prone and mixed-words performance is painful to watch not only to the characters watching but to the actual film audience as well though it's possible Lewis meant it that way. There's also some entertaining tap dancing by The Four Step Brothers and some cool shoe shine-bopping by Scatman Crothers even though his character borders on an African-American stereotype though even there you get something of an edge in modern humor at the end of that bit. After the aforementioned night club bit, it loses some steam but the ending more than makes up for it. Oh, and cameos by the likes of Hedda Hopper and Ed Sullivan are also fine for the good sports they show up as. So on that note, The Patsy is well worth a look for any Lewis fan out there. P.S. This is one of the few movies that both Keenan and his father, Ed Wynn, both show up in though in this case, they have no scenes together. Oh, and Sullivan mentions both Martin & Lewis and The Beatles as among those that made their TV debut on his show, having filmed his scene not long after The Fab Four's first appearance with him on February 9, 1964.

Jerry's best work, he is hilarious in this one, and he plays the character that made me a Jerry fan, the guy who says, "Hey laaady", not the freak he played in Nutty Professor... Anyone who doesn't like this movie is not a fan of comedy, they're fans of Paulie Shore... Love Jerry, Love the Patsy, thats what it's all about, home alone!Woody Allen has even commented on how Jerry's direction in this film is Superb...The whole ice dropping bellboy scene near the beginning, still makes me laugh like a wild man!Jerry is the King of Comedy and this is his crown jewel!

An office boy is turned into the great new sensation - a 'patsy' of a committee of old timers. Jerry Lewis is Stanley Belt, a clumsy, dumb kind of a man who seems the perfect fall guy to generate income for those pulling the strings.A strong supporting cast - Everett Sloane, Peter Lorre, Keenan Wynn, Phil Harris, John Carradine - shine in support of Lewis; while Ina Balin provides decoration and a love interest.'The Patsy' is slightly self-indulgent and presents both the best and the worst of Jerry Lewis, although when it is funny, it is well worth watching - the piece where Lewis sings on television is hilarious.If you're a Lewis fan, don't miss. If you're not, perhaps this isn't the one to start with. If you have no feelings either way, it is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon, with some general interest for film buffs.

THE PATSY (1964) ** Jerry again a bell-hop, again mistakenly hired - this time as a new star-to-be who has no talent whatsoever.