Dean & Jerry's two greatest films - the blues lifters.
Jun 8, 2019 2:01:28 GMT
teleadm and mikef6 like this
Post by hitchcockthelegend on Jun 8, 2019 2:01:28 GMT
Well I had a troubled and disappointing start to the week, annoying as I was off work for a few days booked leave, so needed cheering up. We all have these films I'm sure, the ones to turn to like old friends when you feeling blue. I turned to 2 that I know can snap me out of a funk. Artists and Models (1955) & Hollywood or Bust (1956).
Artists and Models (1955) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0047840/reference
Happiness is just a state of mind my friend ... when you pretend.
Rick Todd and Eugene Fullstack share an apartment, Rick is a struggling artist and Eugene is a comic book fan with very few marbles! Both men are struggling to earn money, but when Eugene starts telling the comic book adventures of Vincent the Vulture in his sleep, Rick spies an opportunity to make some money. Trouble is is that the gorgeous Bessie Sparrowbrush and Abigail Parker are about to enter the boys lives, and with the secret services from different countries interested in Eugene's dreams as well, love and government interests are going to meet head on, with the result being chaos!
Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were a double act that had as many ups as they did downs, but something about their partnership tapped into the fluff entertainment market that entertained millions with a blend of crooning and idiotic pratfalling. Here with Artists And Models they manage to create an ode to joy that positively quakes with fun from the very first tremor of the opening sequence. If we were to dissect the film and analyse it piece by piece it would probably come up short of being a technical wonder and a genius smart piece of film making, but really why would anyone want to do that? Surely we enter a film like this in the hope of being taken away from the world? And few films in this genre can better lay claim to being odes to joy, love, friendship and care free abandon, all in one foul swoop. To me personally there is only Singing In The Rain that can portray better the beauty of living your life, Artists And Models has everything one needs to cure the blues.
Sparkling as it does in Vistavision, Artists and Models delights the eyes as much as it lifts the heart, technically it actually does score high and it's boosted by a cast on optimum form. Jerry Lewis is hated as much as he is adored, I guess his bumbling buffoonery annoys if taken in regular doses, but when he was on form he is nothing short of a comic genius. Witness here in this film the quintessential Jerry Lewis turn, from a quite brilliant telephone to bath sequence via mime, to an interplay musical sequence with the fabulous Shirley MacLaine, these could surely make the dead raise a smile.
Then there is Dino Paul Crocetti, those Italian looks so beloved by the ladies, sickeningly going hand in hand with a voice apparently sent from high above. Enjoy here a special sequence as Dean sings and dances with the children (sadly uncredited), every inch of the frame is filled with what makes the world go around. Shirley Maclaine, Dorothy Malone and the ever enjoyable Eddie Mayehoff all combine to make this one of the pinnacles of the Dean & Jerry partnership, it may not be your preferred genre, but everyone should let such an ode to joy into their lives just once, surely? 9/10
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Hollywood or Bust (1956) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0049322/reference
The boys sign off with unbridled joy.
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
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Artists and Models (1955) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0047840/reference
Happiness is just a state of mind my friend ... when you pretend.
Rick Todd and Eugene Fullstack share an apartment, Rick is a struggling artist and Eugene is a comic book fan with very few marbles! Both men are struggling to earn money, but when Eugene starts telling the comic book adventures of Vincent the Vulture in his sleep, Rick spies an opportunity to make some money. Trouble is is that the gorgeous Bessie Sparrowbrush and Abigail Parker are about to enter the boys lives, and with the secret services from different countries interested in Eugene's dreams as well, love and government interests are going to meet head on, with the result being chaos!
Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis were a double act that had as many ups as they did downs, but something about their partnership tapped into the fluff entertainment market that entertained millions with a blend of crooning and idiotic pratfalling. Here with Artists And Models they manage to create an ode to joy that positively quakes with fun from the very first tremor of the opening sequence. If we were to dissect the film and analyse it piece by piece it would probably come up short of being a technical wonder and a genius smart piece of film making, but really why would anyone want to do that? Surely we enter a film like this in the hope of being taken away from the world? And few films in this genre can better lay claim to being odes to joy, love, friendship and care free abandon, all in one foul swoop. To me personally there is only Singing In The Rain that can portray better the beauty of living your life, Artists And Models has everything one needs to cure the blues.
Sparkling as it does in Vistavision, Artists and Models delights the eyes as much as it lifts the heart, technically it actually does score high and it's boosted by a cast on optimum form. Jerry Lewis is hated as much as he is adored, I guess his bumbling buffoonery annoys if taken in regular doses, but when he was on form he is nothing short of a comic genius. Witness here in this film the quintessential Jerry Lewis turn, from a quite brilliant telephone to bath sequence via mime, to an interplay musical sequence with the fabulous Shirley MacLaine, these could surely make the dead raise a smile.
Then there is Dino Paul Crocetti, those Italian looks so beloved by the ladies, sickeningly going hand in hand with a voice apparently sent from high above. Enjoy here a special sequence as Dean sings and dances with the children (sadly uncredited), every inch of the frame is filled with what makes the world go around. Shirley Maclaine, Dorothy Malone and the ever enjoyable Eddie Mayehoff all combine to make this one of the pinnacles of the Dean & Jerry partnership, it may not be your preferred genre, but everyone should let such an ode to joy into their lives just once, surely? 9/10
Hollywood or Bust (1956) - www.imdb.com/title/tt0049322/reference
The boys sign off with unbridled joy.
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
