Jerry was the best

Aug 21, 2017 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

Jerry Lewis, the comedian who died yesterday, from natural causes, may not be well known to the present generation of movie lovers. His last movie Max Rose bombed at the box office. Young moviegoers in Guyana would not have had much of chance to see it, except on Netflix.
Max Rose revealed a different and matured side of Jerry Lewis far different from the traditional clumsy characters which he played in movies beginning in the 1950s and which made him one of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Jerry Lewis movies were sold-out in Guyana. His movies left local audiences in stitches.
Bell Boy, one of his earlier movies, was shown in Guyana, as late as the 1970’s and Jerry’s performance was so captivating that very few people recognized that it was only at the end of the movie that Jerry spoke. He was silent for the greater part of the movie. It showed the craftsmanship of the genre of comedy which Jerry perfected – you did not need vocals
When you saw one of the Jerry’s movies in the local cinema it was like going to the gym. You came out exhausted from laughing. Persons could hardly stay still in their seats. Persons used to laugh till they cried. Jerry had that effect on people. He entertained like few comedians could.
Jerry was one of the greatest entertainers of the 20th century. It is unfortunate that many Guyanese would not be treated to a rerun of his movies in our local cinemas.
In the old days, you had film festivals which often ran for a week at local cinemas. They offered an opportunity for reruns of old movies. You will not find that at any modern movie house today. They play the latest movies and do not even think about reruns.
That is one of the differences between the cinemas of yesteryear and that of the modern one today. Jerry’s early movies were shown well into the early 1980’s and often to sold-out audiences. He never ran stale.
The old movies however are available at video stores and on Netflix and other movie streaming services. But strangely, not many movies of Jerry Lewis are available on those streaming services.
His retirement brought an end to that brand of comedy which he perfected and whose exponents included Lou Castello, the Three Stooges and Peter Sellers.
Jim Carrey revived slapstick. Rowan Atkinson of Dr. Bean fame, brought back memories of Jerry. They were the closet imitations to that brand of comedy which Jerry popularized.
Jerry was the king of slapstick comedy. Moviegoers however had become exhausted by that genre by the end of the 1970’s. By that time, too Jerry was no longer a young man and he faded into the twilight. He made other movies, sporadically, later but it must have been clear by that he could never dominate cinema as he did in the 1960s.
His last movie Max Rose demonstrated his versatility. The lack of success of that movie did an injustice to what as a superb piece of acting destroyed by a poor and unimaginative plot. A better plot could have offered the chance to Jerry for an Oscar, something that eluded Jerry.
He nonetheless will go down in history as one of Hollywood’s greatest stars and the screen’s best slapstick comedian. It is ironic that that form of comedy is now making a second comeback when Jerry is gone.
Jerry was that master of slapstick. No one compares to him in that area. But as Max Rose revealed, Jerry was much more than slapstick. He was one of Hollywood’s unheralded kings.

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Jerry was the best

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