The Jerk

Last updated

The Jerk
The Jerk.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Carl Reiner
Screenplay by
Story by
  • Steve Martin
  • Carl Gottlieb
Produced by
Starring
Cinematography Victor J. Kemper
Edited by
Music by Jack Elliott
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
  • December 14, 1979 (1979-12-14)
Running time
95 minutes [1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$4 million [2]
Box office$100 million [2]

The Jerk is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and written by Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, and Michael Elias (from a story by Martin and Gottlieb). This was Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh, Catlin Adams, Maurice Evans, and Jackie Mason. Critical reviews were mostly positive, and The Jerk was a major financial success.

Contents

Plot

Navin Johnson, a homeless person sleeping in a stairwell in Los Angeles, addresses the camera directly to tell his life story.

The white adopted son of black sharecroppers in Mississippi, Navin grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of these circumstances. He is unable to dance in rhythm to the spirited folk songs played by the family, but finds that he can do so perfectly to a champagne-style song on the radio. Seeing this moment as a calling, he excitedly decides to leave home and travel to St. Louis, where the broadcast originated. Along the way, he adopts a dog and names it "Shithead" after angering the guests at a motel by waking them up in the middle of the night, having misinterpreted the dog's barking at his door as a warning of a fire.

Navin finds a job as a gas station attendant, where he attempts to detain some thieves but accidentally destroys a nearby church. Later, a madman chooses his name at random from the telephone book and decides to kill him. As the gunman waits for an opportunity, Navin solders a brace to a customer's eyeglasses to stop them from slipping down his nose. The customer, Stan Fox, is an inventor who promises to try to market the device and split any profits with Navin. The gunman opens fire at Navin but misses, and Navin flees to the grounds of a traveling carnival.

Navin is hired as a weight guesser and is brusquely seduced by Patty Bernstein, an intimidating daredevil motorcyclist. Later, while operating a miniature railway, he meets a cosmetologist named Marie Kimble and arranges a date with her. When a jealous Patty interrupts and starts to beat Navin, Marie easily knocks her unconscious. The two have a romantic night on a beach soon after and live together for about a month. Navin plans to ask Marie to marry him, but before he can, she leaves him because he cannot provide financial security. Devastated, Navin takes Shithead and travels to Los Angeles. There, the gunman who tried to kill him—now sane and working as a private investigator—tracks him down and gives him a letter from Stan requesting a meeting.

Stan has been able to market Navin's device, now branded as the Opti-Grab, and gives him a check for $250,000 as the first installment on his share of the profits. Navin finds and marries Marie, and the two adopt a life of extravagant spending as his wealth continues to grow. However, Navin is soon named as defendant in a class action lawsuit brought by millions of Opti-Grab customers who have become permanently cross-eyed after using the device. Navin loses the suit and is ordered to pay $10 million in damages, leaving him broke, and he storms out into the street after yelling at and blaming Marie. Seeing how callous and superficial they've become, Marie wears her tattered dress from the beach, and regrets requiring Navin to be rich.

Having finished his story, Navin resigns himself to living in poverty, only to be found by his adoptive family, who have brought Marie and Shithead with them. The family has become wealthy by investing the money Navin sent them from time to time, and they take him and Marie home to live in their new house, which is nearly identical to their old shack but larger and sturdier. Once again Navin dances on the porch to folk songs, this time with perfect rhythm.

Cast

Director Carl Reiner, credited as "Carl Reiner, the Celebrity", plays himself. Former Playboy Playmate Sharon Johansen plays Mrs. Hartounian, while Alfred Dennis has a small role as Irving. In addition there are uncredited appearances by Reiner's son Rob Reiner as the truck driver who picks up Navin, Harrison Ford who interacts with Martin briefly as a circus construction worker, and character actor Larry Hankin briefly appears as a circus hand.

Production

By 1977, comedian Steve Martin was experiencing wild success. He wanted to cross over to a film career, believing it promised more longevity. [3] Basing his film proposal on a line from his act — "It wasn't always easy for me; I was born a poor black child" — he fleshed out his ideas into a series of notes he intended to deliver to studios. With confidence in his budding standup career, he imagined it would not be difficult to break into Hollywood. Instead, he found it more difficult than expected. [3] Bill McEuen was acquainted with Paramount Pictures president David Picker, and convinced Picker to sign Martin for a three-year contract at the studio after showing him one of his routines at the Boarding House comedy club in San Francisco. [4]

Martin passed along his notes, which the studio read carefully. It described a series of odd jobs lead character "Steve" would hold in his saga. Martin developed this concept into the first draft of The Jerk, but Paramount passed on the project after Picker left the studio. [5] However, Picker convinced his new employer Universal Studios to sign a distribution deal for the film, which would leave Martin in creative control of the project. Martin was able to pick which director he wanted to work with. Martin initially chose Mike Nichols, but Nichols then "bowed out" of the project in 1978. Martin's next choice was Carl Reiner, famous for his work on The Dick Van Dyke Show . [4] [6]

The duo met constantly, and the film's title grew out of their conversations. Martin recounts in his memoir:

It needs to be something short, yet have the feeling of an epic tale. Like Dostoyevsky's The Idiot , but not that. Like The Jerk. [6]

Martin wrote the part of "Marie" with Bernadette Peters in mind. [7] He adapted several bits of his standup act to fit within the film, such as a monologue in which he emotionally exits a scene, remarking "I don't need anything", but nevertheless picking up each object he passes on his way out. [6] In co-writing the script with Carl Gottlieb and Michael Elias, their goal was to provide a laugh on each page of the screenplay. [8]

Principal photography took 45 days using 85 locations in Greater Los Angeles, on a $4.6 million budget. This included Mohammed al Fassi's mansion in Beverly Hills, Pasadena, Westlake Village and Devonshire Downs in Northridge. [4] In shooting the film, Reiner "ran a joyful set", according to Martin, with the cast and crew eating lunch together each day. [9] Martin's favorite moment of the film, as he detailed in his 2007 memoir Born Standing Up , was the scene in which he and Peters sing "Tonight You Belong to Me". Martin felt the moment was touching, and waited in anticipation at the film's premiere screening in St. Louis. Unfortunately, much of the audience left during the scene to buy more popcorn. [9]

Deleted scenes

A scene in which Bill Murray was to have made a cameo was cut from the final film. [10] [11]

An alternate, comic introduction of Marie (Peters), near the train ride Navin was running at the carnival, was shot. When her nephew takes off on the train, Navin rescues him, and in returning the boy to Marie, has the bill of his engineer's cap pulled down over his eyes so he cannot see the toy village he (Navin) destroys like a lunatic. This scene might have been edited due to a reference to Godzilla.[ citation needed ]

Another scene that was cut featured Gailard Sartain as a Texas oil millionaire who tearfully begs Navin for money to replace the cracked, dried-out leather seats on his private jet. Navin grants his request and he gratefully states: "Now I can fly my friends to the Super Bowl like a MAN, and not some damned BUM!" [12]

The television version features a scene in which a forlorn Navin, trying to forget Marie, spends six hours on the Round Up carnival ride. The boss orders the ride stopped, and Navin is removed by two carnival workers, who sit him down on the ride's stairs. "What are you looking at?", he asks them. "Haven't you seen a man so broken he needed to spin?".

Reception

Box office

The film was a hit, earning over $73 million domestically, [13] (making the movie the eighth highest-grossing of 1979) and $100 million worldwide, having been produced on a relatively low budget of $4 million. [2]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 44 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "Crude, crass, and oh so quotable, The Jerk is nothing short of an all-out comedic showcase for Steve Martin." [14] On Metacritic, the film received a score of 61 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [15]

Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that The Jerk "is by turns funny, vulgar and backhandedly clever, never more so than when it aspires to absolute stupidity. And Mr. Martin, who began his career with an arrow stuck through his head, has since developed a real genius for playing dumb ... Even when it's crude—which is quite a lot of the time—it's not mean-spirited ... Mr. Martin and his co-star, Bernadette Peters, work very sweetly together, even when they sing a duet of 'Tonight You Belong to Me,' carrying sweetness to what could easily have become an intolerable extreme." [16]

BBC film review rated the movie two out of five stars and described the film as an "early watered-down version of the crude comedy the Farrelly Brothers would later take to new extremes" and made references to it having similar themes to the early 1980s parody film Airplane! [17] Roger Ebert of The Chicago Sun-Times also gave the film a mixed review, stating The Jerk was "all gags and very little comedy" and built of "gag situations [which] are milked for one-time laughs. They don't grow out of his character, or contribute to it." [18]

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever reviewed the film for its book and rated the movie as being two and a half stars. The author of the review referred to Steve Martin's silly, exaggerated acting as complementary to the early comedian Jerry Lewis. [19]

Legacy

The Jerk has been praised as not only one of Martin's best comedic efforts, but also one of the funniest films ever made. In 2000, readers of Total Film voted The Jerk the 48th greatest comedy film of all time. This film is No. 20 on Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies [20] and No. 89 on the American Film Institute list AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs. [21] IGN ranked the film as the tenth top comedy film of all time. [22] Premiere voted Steve Martin's performance of Navin Johnson No. 99 on their list, "The 100 Greatest Performances of All Time". [23] A BBC poll of more than 250 critics rated the film as the 99th greatest comedy of all time. [24]

Christiane Kubrick hailed it as one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films of all time. It led to Kubrick meeting with Martin to discuss working together on his film Eyes Wide Shut . [25]

In a 2015 interview with The Hollywood Reporter , Steve Martin was asked if the film would be accepted in this day and age with all of the "heightened racial sensitivity." His response was that he had not watched the movie himself in a very long time, but when he reflects on his experience with making the movie he recalls everyone being treated "with such respect" throughout the filming process. [26]

Sequel

The Jerk had a television film sequel, The Jerk, Too (1984), starring Mark Blankfield as Navin and co-starring Stacey Nelkin. Steve Martin was executive producer, but did not write the screenplay. [27]

Related Research Articles

<i>Barry Lyndon</i> 1975 film by Stanley Kubrick

Barry Lyndon is a 1975 epic historical drama film written, directed, and produced by Stanley Kubrick, based on the 1844 novel The Luck of Barry Lyndon by William Makepeace Thackeray. Narrated by Michael Hordern, and starring Ryan O'Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee, Leonard Rossiter and Hardy Krüger, the film recounts the early exploits and later unravelling of an 18th-century Anglo-Irish rogue and golddigger who marries a rich widow to climb the social ladder and assume her late husband's aristocratic position.

<i>Dr. Strangelove</i> 1964 film directed by Stanley Kubrick

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a 1964 political satire black comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Peter Sellers in three roles, including the title character. The film, financed and released by Columbia Pictures, was a co-production between the United States and the United Kingdom.

<i>Eyes Wide Shut</i> 1999 film by Stanley Kubrick

Eyes Wide Shut is a 1999 erotic mystery psychological drama film directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick. It is based on the 1926 novella Dream Story by Arthur Schnitzler, transferring the story's setting from early twentieth-century Vienna to 1990s New York City. The plot centers on a doctor who is shocked when his wife reveals that she had contemplated having an affair 12 months earlier. He then embarks on a night-long adventure, during which he infiltrates a masked orgy of an unnamed secret society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mel Brooks</span> American actor, comedian, and filmmaker (born 1926)

Melvin James Brooks is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. With a career spanning over seven decades, he is known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad farces and parodies. A recipient of numerous accolades, he is one of 21 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy Award, a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Tony Award. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and the Honorary Academy Award in 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stanley Kubrick</span> American filmmaker (1928–1999)

Stanley Kubrick was an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and photographer. Widely considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, his films were nearly all adaptations of novels or short stories, spanning a number of genres and gaining recognition for their intense attention to detail, innovative cinematography, extensive set design, and dark humor.

<i>When Harry Met Sally...</i> 1989 film by Rob Reiner

When Harry Met Sally... is a 1989 American romantic comedy film directed by Rob Reiner and written by Nora Ephron. Starring Billy Crystal, Meg Ryan, Carrie Fisher, and Bruno Kirby, it follows the title characters from the time they meet in Chicago and share a drive to New York City through twelve years of chance encounters in New York, and addresses the question "Can men and women ever just be friends?"

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Reiner</span> American actor (1922–2020)

Carl Reiner was an American actor, author, comedian, director and screenwriter whose career spanned seven decades. He was the recipient of many awards and honors, including 11 Primetime Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steve Martin</span> American comedian, actor, musician and writer (born 1945)

Stephen Glenn Martin is an American comedian, actor, writer, producer, and musician. Known for his work in comedy films, television, and recording, he has received many accolades, including five Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award and an Honorary Academy Award, in addition to nominations for two Tony Awards. He also received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in 2005, the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, and an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2015. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics. The Guardian named him one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.

<i>Dead Men Dont Wear Plaid</i> 1982 film by Carl Reiner

Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid is a 1982 American neo-noir mystery comedy film directed, co-written by, and co-starring Carl Reiner and co-written by and starring Steve Martin. Co-starring Rachel Ward, the film is both a parody of and a homage to film noir and the pulp detective films of the 1940s. The title refers to Martin's character telling a story about a woman obsessed with plaid in a scene that was ultimately cut from the film.

<i>The Man with Two Brains</i> 1983 film by Carl Reiner

The Man with Two Brains is a 1983 American science fiction black comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Kathleen Turner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bernadette Peters</span> American actress and singer (born 1948)

Bernadette Peters is an American actress and singer. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two, and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.

Shithead is a derogatory term for a person who is ignorant, narrow minded, cruel or unintelligent. It is generally considered to be a vulgar and profane term.

<i>Candyman</i> (1992 film) Film by Bernard Rose

Candyman is a 1992 American gothic supernatural black horror film, written and directed by Bernard Rose and starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, and Vanessa E. Williams. Based on Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden", the film follows a Chicago graduate student completing a thesis on urban legends and folklore, which leads her to the legend of the "Candyman", the ghost of an African-American artist and son of a slave who was murdered in the late 19th century for his relationship with the daughter of a wealthy white man.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Gottlieb</span> American actor

Carl Gottlieb is an American screenwriter, actor, comedian, and executive. He is best known for co-writing the screenplay for Jaws (1975) and its first two sequels, as well as directing the 1981 film Caveman.

<i>Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star</i> 2003 film by Sam Weisman

Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star is a 2003 American comedy film directed by Sam Weisman and starring David Spade, Mary McCormack, Jon Lovitz, Craig Bierko, Alyssa Milano, and Rob Reiner.

<i>All of Me</i> (1984 film) American film by Carl Reiner

All of Me is a 1984 American fantasy comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and starring Steve Martin and Lily Tomlin. This film is based on the unpublished novel Me Two by Edwin Davis. The title song and theme of the movie is the 1931 jazz standard "All of Me".

<i>Pink Cadillac</i> (film) 1989 film by Buddy Van Horn

Pink Cadillac is a 1989 American action comedy film directed by Buddy Van Horn, about a bounty hunter and a group of white supremacists chasing after an innocent woman who tries to outrun everyone in her husband's prized pink Cadillac. The film stars Clint Eastwood and Bernadette Peters, and also has small cameo appearances by Jim Carrey and Bryan Adams.

<i>Pennies from Heaven</i> (1981 film) 1981 film by Herbert Ross

Pennies from Heaven is a 1981 American musical romantic drama film directed by Herbert Ross, based on the 1978 BBC television drama. Dennis Potter adapted his screenplay from the BBC series for American audiences, changing its setting from London and the Forest of Dean to Depression-era Chicago and rural Illinois.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estelle Reiner</span> American actress and singer (1914–2008)

Estelle Reiner was an American actress and singer, described by The New York Times as "matriarch of one of the leading families in American comedy". She was the wife of Carl Reiner and the mother of Rob Reiner.

<i>The Jerk, Too</i> 1984 television film directed by Michael Schultz

The Jerk, Too is a 1984 American made-for-television comedy film starring Mark Blankfield as title character Navin Johnson, in a reworked version of the 1979 Steve Martin film The Jerk. While Martin is credited as "executive producer" of the film, he did not write or appear in the film.

References

    1. ↑ "The Jerk (12)". British Board of Film Classification . January 16, 1980. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved August 8, 2023.
    2. 1 2 3 Brummel, Chris (2008-04-08). The Jerk: That Movie About Hating Cans. BrumBrum via Internet Archive. Retrieved on August 14, 2017.
    3. 1 2 Martin 2007, p. 188.
    4. 1 2 3 "The Jerk". AFI Catalog. Retrieved April 21, 2023.
    5. ↑ Martin 2007, p. 189.
    6. 1 2 3 Martin 2007, p. 190.
    7. ↑ Martin, Frank W. (January 21, 1980). "The Jerk Made Detractors Eat Crow". People . Archived from the original on October 20, 2008.
    8. ↑ Martin 2007, p. 191.
    9. 1 2 Martin 2007, p. 192.
    10. ↑ Locke, Greg W. (August 26, 2011). "The Top 25 Roles Bill Murray Didn't Take". Ze Catalist. Archived from the original on November 25, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
    11. ↑ Evans, Bradford (February 17, 2011). "The Lost Roles of Bill Murray". Splitsider. Archived from the original on May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
    12. ↑ Whitehead, Jeff (September 10, 2013). Gailard Sartain in The Jerk - Lonnie Don McGinty. Archived from the original on February 14, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2020– via YouTube.
    13. ↑ "Box Office Information for The Jerk". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on January 28, 2012. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
    14. ↑ "The Jerk". Rotten Tomatoes . Archived from the original on April 25, 2022. Retrieved January 16, 2024.
    15. ↑ "The Jerk". Metacritic .
    16. ↑ Maslin, Janet (December 14, 1979). "Movie: Steve Martin Stars in 'The Jerk': Birthday Surprise". The New York Times . Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved July 30, 2020.
    17. ↑ Haflidason, Almar (November 21, 2000). "The Jerk (1979)". BBC .
    18. ↑ "The Jerk movie review & film summary (1979) | Roger Ebert".
    19. ↑ Craddock, Jim. "The Jerk". VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever. 2007 ed., Gale, 2006. p. 457.
    20. ↑ "Bravo's 100 Funniest Movies of All Time". Boston.com . 2016. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
    21. ↑ "AFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs" (PDF). American Film Institute. 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 16, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2016.
    22. ↑ "Top 25 Comedies of All-Time, page 16". IGN . March 13, 2012. Archived from the original on March 9, 2013. Retrieved March 13, 2013.
    23. ↑ "100 Greatest Movie Performances of All Time". Première . Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved February 19, 2015– via Filmsite.org.
    24. ↑ "The 100 greatest comedies of all time". BBC. Archived from the original on January 11, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2017.
    25. ↑ Barfield, Charles (July 6, 2018). "Steve Martin Discusses Being Pitched 'Eyes Wide Shut' By Stanley Kubrick". The Playlist. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
    26. ↑ Kilday, Gregg (June 12, 2015). "Steve Martin on Steve Martin: Actor Looks Back at 6 of His Biggest Movies". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved October 28, 2019.
    27. ↑ Davis, Erik (April 2, 2010). "Yes, These Exist: 'Splash Too' and 'The Jerk, Too'". Moviefone . Archived from the original on September 17, 2012. Retrieved May 25, 2012.

    Sources

    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.