The Stooge (1952)

Redundant and unnecessary.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Martin & Lewis were everywhere in the 1950s. Movies. TV. I remember the duo very well and watching them as a child, I thought Jerry Lewis was hilarious. I haven't seen them together since those days. When I saw "The Stooge" recently on TCM, my memories took a big jolt. This is a really is an unpleasant, uncomfortable movie. Lewis plays a pathetic nitwit who should be kept on a leash for his own good; instead he is exploited by show biz types. Dean is Dean, a competent crooner with a pleasant, easy going manner. Dean Martin never reached his stride until he cut the umbilical cord from Jerry and took up with the Sinatra Rat Pack. There's nothing funny about "The Stooge." The movie is a curio, an example of what the public applauded as comedic entertainment 60 years ago: the eccentric combo of Martin & Lewis.

I would LOVE to know more about the background for this film. After all, so many elements are reminiscent of the real team of Martin & Lewis that it's hard to know how much is fiction and how much is autobiographical. I do know, however, why Jerry Lewis loved this film. And, you could probably assume that Dean Martin didn't, as it really made him look like an awful person.In many ways, this film is not really a comedy--making it unique for the team. And, in many ways, the act on screen looked a lot like Martin & Lewis' real stage act--something that people particularly loved on television where they made a HUGE splash. Dean plays a straight man who croons and Jerry an obnoxious guy in the crowd who disrupts the act and acts really goofy. However, unlike the real team, Jerry plays a really dumb guy--a guy who is successful just being himself. The problem in the film is that Dean's character is totally selfish and exploits Jerry. They are less a partnership and more Dean having hired help. But, as the act becomes more and more popular, it's more and more obvious that Jerry is an important part of the act--something Dean just doesn't want to admit. And, because Jerry is no nice and guileless, people around Dean grow to hate him. As I said, the film makes Dean look like a horrible person and Jerry a poor victim. It's very entertaining and dramatic....but as I said above, you wonder how close this is to fact.On the plus side, Jerry's performance isn't quite as broad and obnoxious as many of his other films. Dean is just fine but I would give $100000 to have been able to read his mind when this film was being made. You also wonder if, perhaps, this film may have laid some of the groundwork for the team's break up several years later. Because of this, it's a bit uncomfortable to watch--is it a case of art imitating life (or vice-versa)? Compelling and very interesting.

The Stooge was Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis's 7th Movie together (8th if you include the blink and you'll miss it cameo in Hope/Crosby's Road to Bali), and it's one of their best.Dean plays Bill Miller a Broadway star and part of a successful musical comedy double act, who decides that he could be just a big a star doing a single act. despite all around him advising him that he couldn't.As predicted, his solo act goes down like a lead balloon and he lays egg after egg in all the houses he plays, thanks to his poor and well travelled jokes. His agent Leo Lyman, (Eddie Mayehoff), convinces him to get a 'Stooge' to sit in the audience and heckle him as he performs in the hopes of adding life to his stagnant act.Enter ex stock room boy Ted Rogers,(Jerry), as the klutzy kid hired for the role. The new and revived act brings the house down with audience convulsed with laughter at the way they played off each other.Bill & Ted tour the country to rave reviews but Bill has delusions of grandeur by thinking he's still a single act. Even though most of newspapers are praising Ted, he receives no formal billing, a fact that either doesn't bother Ted, or he's content to see his friend happy by not mentioning it. In Bill's defence, there is no conscious malice towards Ted as he does genuinely care for Ted as a person, but sees him as nothing more than an essential prop in HIS act.Ted is naive in every single way and will not have a bad word said about his 'partner', especially when his girlfriend, Genevieve 'Frecklehead' Tait, (Marion Marshall), Leo, and even Bill's wife Mary, (Polly Bergen), try to stick up for him by telling him that he's being made out a stooge in more ways than one. Bill's failure to realise that he is actually part of a mega successful double act finally threatens to alienate everyone close to him and even end his marriage.The Stooge is in many ways a mirror of Dean & Jerry's own rise to fame and also a precursor of the demise of their partnership in 1956. When they were both booked to play the 500 club as single acts in 1946 both acts were not very successful until Jerry started heckling Dean during his act smashing plates and causing mayhem. The act quickly took off until by the end of their first week it was standing room only. When they split up 10 years to the day later, critics were convinced that Dean Martin would disappear from the scene and wouldn't be able to make it without Jerry who would no doubt become the clown prince of Hollywood. Thus the entire film is an undisputed case of life imitating art.The support cast is brilliant, the songs superb and you can never EVER get sick and tired of listening to Dino sing. Jerry has couple of great scenes. One see's him singing a song in his own squeaky voice but turns into Maurice Chevalier whenever he puts on a hat, the other is in his very first scene in the diner where he shares the laughs with that brilliant character actor Donald MacBride.Drama, Comedy, and Dino singing, this movie's got the lot.Enjoy!!!!

I'm 25 years old and have always had a huge respect for Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin. I hope one day to shake the hand of Jerry Lewis. Thing is, I never really sat down through any of their full length films because I'm your typical new movie kinda guy. I like to see what's just coming out in theaters and these older movies, well I usually just think of them as having poor quality and over drawn out moments. I caught this film on HBO and was absolutely hooked. Everything was so beautiful, so perfect in this film. The acting is terrific. The only thing that could have made this film even better is if they showed a few more cars but hey, we can't have everything, and well, I'm just a major car guy. The movie was made in 1953, pardon me, released in 1953. My daily driver is a 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air. This movie has really fired me up to watch a lot of older films. Pretty soon I'm sure I'll be commenting on a few others. I'm filling up my DVR with everything 50's and back as we speak. Here's the thing, I love new movies and anytime I find a new release that is set back in the 50's, I'm a major sucker for it. With this, there is no error in these movies; no "hey did you see that? That was a 1980's van in the background!" Okay, yes it's a bit cheesy but this movie really gave me a lot of inspiration to watch more classics. I LOVE this film!