The Errand Boy
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Brian Donlevy, Felicia Atkins, Iris Adrian, Pat Dahl, Stanley AdamsBrand: PARAMOUNT HOME VIDEO
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Black & White, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 92 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2004-10-12
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Paramount
Movie Reviews of The Errand Boy
Movie Review: Filled With Humorous Sketches; One of 3 Masterpieces by Jerry Lewis
Summary: 5 Stars
Maybe the French are onto something. I think Jerry Lewis is often underrated as a director and actor. Sure, there are a lot of misfires in his cinematic canon, but I think he produced at least 3 comedic masterpieces. "The Errand Boy" is one of them, and Jerry Lewis should be judged primarily on the basis of movies such as "The Errand Boy," "The Bell Boy," and "The Nutty Professor." Jerry not only acts in this movie but directed it and co-wrote it, thus fulfilling his "auteur" theory of filmmaking in which the director has complete control over presenting his own personal vision.
While "The Errand Boy" doesn't have a unified story like "The Nutty Professor," it's filled with such imaginative and funny sketches that I consider it a 5-star movie. Lewis directed and acted in "The Errand Boy" in 1961, during the several-year period when he had separated himself from Dean Martin and before he began making awful, maudlin movies with only a few forced laughs. He's still young enough to project a youthful helplessness without being "over the top" or too old to carry it off any longer.
The plot is minimal, with Morty Tashman (the Jerry Lewis character) being hired to spy on Paramutual Studios to see why they're losing money. Along the way, Lewis satirizes the artificial world of Hollywood, such as in the opening scenes when we learn that what you see in movies is not real (for example: the "wife" who is getting beat by her husband is, in reality, a champion boxer with a wig on, and the couple who are so lovey dovey on film are a married couple who in real life hate each other's guts.)
But Lewis' humor is at its best in this movie when it's at its most random and picaresque. There is no way for words to capture the humor of "The Errand Boy," but scenes to watch for in particular are:
Morty on the elevator
Morty mistakenly getting cast as an extra in a flapper era film
Morty's run in with the cast from Bonanza
Morty trying to safely carry an enormous stack of packages past a screen door without it slamming
Morty messing around in various movie sounds and screwing up the audio or randomly appearing in scenes
My favorite is the scene with Morty trying to retrieve jelly beans from an enormous jar on the top shelf of a studio store. Look for Barry Livingstone, the boy who played Ernie on "My Three Sons" in that scene.
If you don't like "The Errand Boy," then the odds are you'll never like Jerry Lewis. But for me, it's still one of the funniest films ever made.
Summary of The Errand Boy
THE MISERLY HEAD OF A HOLLYWOOD STUDIO HIRES A GOOFYPAPERHANGER TO SPY ON HIS EMPLOYEES.Similar DVD Movies
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