Movie
The Delicate Delinquent
Comedy film with a runtime of 100 minutes, released in 1957. Presented in English.
At a Glance
Synopsis
Jerry Lewis' first solo effort was also his first headlong plunge into pathos. The Delicate Delinquent stars Jerry as mixed-up teenaged janitor Sidney Pythias, a nice kid on the verge of throwing in with a not-so-nice street gang. Sensing potential in Sidney, police officer Mike Damon (Darren McGavin, in role originally intended for Lewis' ex-partner Dean Martin) takes the boy under his wing. To prove that Sidney can be weaned away from bad influences, Mike arranges for the boy to become a rookie cop, with fitfully hilarious results (the best scene, involving a monolingual Japanese gentleman, is also the most politically incorrect). Martha Hyer costars as an idealistic social worker with whom Mike (and briefly, Sidney) falls in love. The film's tenuous balance between juvenile-delinquent drama and slapstick comedy is never more pronounced than in the opening scene, wherein the clumsy Sidney, carrying a bulky garbage can, stumbles into the middle of a gang rumble. Though not Jerry Lewis' best film, Delicate Delinquent was a hit, proving he could carry a picture himself; as a bonus, Jerry gets to sing the significantly titled ditty "By Myself".
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Cast
- Jerry Lewis
- Darren McGavin
- Martha Hyer
- Robert Ivers
- Horace MacMahon
- Richard Bakalyan
- Joseph Corey
- Mary Webster
- Milton Frome
- Jefferson Searles
- Rocky Marciano
- Emory Parnell
- Emile Meyer
- Emile G. Meyer
- Dave Willock
- Michael Ross
- Don Megowan
- Irene Winston
- Teru Shimada
- Kazuo Togo
- Don McGuire
- Taggart Casey
- Horace McMahon
- Hal Pereira
- Haskell Boggs
- Nick Castle
- Earl Hedrick
- Don McGuire
- Edith Head
- Howard Smith
