The Stooge (1952)

Load of rubbish!!

Brilliant and touching

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

STOOGE, THE (1952) *** (out of four) Dean Martin plays a singer wanting to make it on his own but he needs the help of a stooge (Jerry Lewis) in order to hit the big time. Once there, Dean decides he can make it solo. Outside his performance in THE KING OF COMEDY, I wasn't really a big fan of Lewis whose humor just really doesn't appeal to me. I had been told that his teamings with Martin were much better than his solo career and that's certainly something I'd agree with because THE STOOGE turned out to be a nice little gem. The film features all sorts of wonderful gags including a scene inside a diner and another were Lewis takes his first drink of alcohol. Even the songs are pretty good, which is why I was somewhat shocked that Paramount kept this on the shelf at first.

The film opens with Bill Miller (Dean Martin) in bed with his love interest (a magazine with his face on the cover), but it isn't long before Bill becomes too sexed up from his magazine cover that he telephones his girlfriend Mary Turner (Polly Bergen) who also happens to be getting restless and squirrelly in bed with her own magazine cover. No, not the magazine with Bill on the cover, you see Mary also has a magazine with her own face gracing the cover. This is either a quick and effective way by the director (Norman Taurog) in letting the audience understand that these two people are either very talented singers on their way to stardom, or that they're incredibly narcissistic self lovers that only use the sounds of each other's voices to finish off before going to sleep. The film leads me to believe it's both. So, as narcissism raises its pretty face at the opening of the film, we see these two characters on equal footing. Before the end of the film each character will strip away their narcissistic tendencies, hers through self-sacrifice by becoming a scrapbook queen, his by turning to the bottle and nearly destroying his burgeoning performing career along with any relationship he's had with anyone female or idiot.The wild card in all of this mix is that of Ted Rogers (Jerry Lewis). Ted is the man who not only holds the fate of Bill in his hands, but who also has the wherewithal to help save Bill and Mary's relationship when Bill becomes too ambitious with his own career. Ted is such a great guy that he can be seen writing the finishing touches of a birthday note to Mary that Bill was too shortsighted to complete. Ted is also the guy who has the inspiration to write a love song to Mary so that Bill can get in Mary's good graces when Bill selfishly blew off her birthday party. In fact, the only time when Mary truly hears any meaning behind the words, "I love you" is when they are uttered from the drunken lips of Ted while both Mary and Bill are undressing Ted for bed. Mary gives Ted a kiss on the cheek while Bill takes off Ted's shoes. This is the closest thing to an Ménage a Trois that 1950's American cinema could approach. I'm glad that's as far as it could go; I don't want to know anything about anyone's little 'Whozis'.Seeing that this is a 1950's comedy/drama, everything has a tidy and happy ending; even Ted manages to land a hot little number in disguise. Affectionately referred to as 'Freckle Head' (Marion Marshall) by Ted throughout the movie, Ted's love interest practically steals the screen from Mary. 'Freckle Head' becomes infatuated with Ted from the moment they share a balcony at one of Bill's shows. She then employs the look of love damn near every second of the movie she's in. Her comic facial gestures hold their own against those of the extremely 'hamorific' Lewis. Somehow the two have a mild chemistry together and seem to make a fairly good couple.Leo Lyman (Eddie Mayehoff) plays Bill's agent. He plays a sort of unsung silent hero throughout the movie. Silent because most of his screen time shows him clapping in the front row at his two prized clients or walking out of a scene looking dejected at how Bill has misbehaved. He's another character who wants to stand up for a principle and by the end of the movie he gets to…what else would you expect?Even to the most casual movie fan, "The Stooge" cannot simply play itself out solely as a typical 'cash in movie vehicle' that draws upon the innocent caricatures of Martin & Lewis, the film's storyline takes on the feel of an unintentional premonitory guide book replete with glaring sign posts, warning of the duo's dissolving partnership that was only five years away.But really, try not to think about that. Just let "The Stooge" roll over you, take one for the team. It really is their best film. I wouldn't ask you to do this for "At War With The Army"; only an enemy would ask you to do something like that.Clark Richards 8/10.

I haven't seen this movie in years, but a flick like this one just cannot be forgotten! I am in my early twenties and for more than half my life, I have been a film buff of movies old and new. Martin and Lewis are one of my all time favorite comedy duos, and at one time, I was renting movies here and there so that I could see all of the films they made together, and ones the lively, virtuous humanitarian Lewis did during his solo career. When I saw this movie, it just blew me away. This film is the most dramatic film those boys ever made--and if you're thinking that that can't possibly be saying much since most of their movies were screwball comedies, I'm here to tell you you're mistaken. This movie is funny, but it's also very impassioned and heart-rendering, so you might do yourself a favor by keeping a box of tissues near you when viewing it.Both Martin and Lewis are great in these dramatic and comedic roles as a comedy team that splits up because Lewis' character is under-appreciated and emotional mistreated by Martin's character. In a oddly coincidental way, this movie seemed to foreshadow the boys' split up in '56, but of course, in the movie, there is a happy ending. And while everyone knows that both Dean and Jerry went on to have successful solo careers and reunited as friends years later, I think that it would have been great to have seen them do a couple more films together that were as unforgettable as this one.