Three on a Couch

Last updated
Three on a Couch
3onacouch.jpg
Directed by Jerry Lewis
Screenplay byBob Ross
Samuel A. Taylor
Story by Arne Sultan
Marvin Worth
Produced byJerry Lewis
StarringJerry Lewis
Janet Leigh
Mary Ann Mobley
Gila Golan
Leslie Parrish
James Best
Cinematography W. Wallace Kelley
Edited byRussel Wiles
Music byLouis Brown
Color process Pathécolor
Production
company
Distributed by Columbia Pictures
Release date
  • March 1966 (1966-03)
Running time
109 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2,875,000 (est. US/ Canada rentals) [1]
464,995 admissions (France) [2]

Three on a Couch is a 1966 American comedy film directed by Jerry Lewis and starring Jerry Lewis and Janet Leigh.

Contents

Plot

Christopher Pride wants to marry his girlfriend, Dr. Elizabeth Acord. However, she is too involved with her patients and she doesn't think that she would be able to leave them to live in Paris for a year. Pride decides to solve her patients' problems after finding out that most of them are merely despondent after having relationships go bad. Therefore, he decides to "date" these women, without Acord's knowledge, and give them back their self-esteem so that they will be less dependent on their doctor.

Pride adopts a separate persona for each woman, targeted to be their ideal partner. Ringo Raintree the millionaire cowboy woos a Anna Jacque, a French patient. For southern belle Mary Lou Mauve he becomes Rutherford the zoologist (and Ruther's twin sister, Heather) and for passionate athlete Susan he becomes Warren, also an athlete.

The film comes to a climax when all the women, including the psychiatrist, assemble at a party with Pride present. He quickly switches from one character to the next depending on which woman is present.

Cast

Production

This was the first film that Lewis made for Columbia after ending a 17-year long association with Paramount Pictures. This is also the first film that Lewis directed in which he did not receive a screenwriting credit. Three on a Couch was listed in the 1978 book The Fifty Worst Films of All Time . [3] It was filmed from September 13 - December 1, 1965, it was released on July 7, 1966.

Comedians Buddy Lester and Fritz Feld have cameos. Janet Leigh previously co-starred with Lewis and Dean Martin in Living It Up (1954).

Reception

The film was included in the 1978 book, The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and How They Got That Way) , by Harry Medved, Randy Dreyfuss, and Michael Medved. [4]

Home media

Three on a Couch was released on DVD in a Jerry Lewis Triple Feature collection with Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River , and Hook, Line & Sinker on January 16, 2018 [5] and own its own on December 8, 2019.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Golden Turkey Awards</i> 1980 book about bad movies

The Golden Turkey Awards is a 1980 book by film critic Michael Medved and his brother Harry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Janet Leigh</span> American actress (1927–2004)

Jeanette Helen Morrison, known professionally as Janet Leigh, was an American actress. Her career spanned over five decades. Raised in Stockton, California, by working-class parents, Leigh was discovered at 18 by actress Norma Shearer, who helped her secure a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

<i>A Hard Days Night</i> (film) 1964 British-American musical comedy film

A Hard Day's Night is a 1964 musical comedy film directed by Richard Lester and starring the English rock band the Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—during the height of Beatlemania. It was written by Alun Owen and originally released by United Artists. The film portrays 36 hours in the lives of the group as they prepare for a television performance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Ann Mobley</span> American actress (1937–2014)

Mary Ann Mobley was an American actress, television personality, and Miss America 1959.

<i>The Nutty Professor</i> (1963 film) 1963 film by Jerry Lewis

The Nutty Professor is a 1963 American science fiction comedy film directed, co-written by, and starring Jerry Lewis. The film also co-stars Stella Stevens, Del Moore, Kathleen Freeman, Howard Morris, and Elvia Allman. The score was composed by Walter Scharf. A parody of Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novella Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, it follows bullied scientist Julius Kelp as he creates a serum that transforms him into a handsome man, which he subsequently uses under his alter ego Buddy Love.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Schell</span> American actor (born 1931)

Ronald Ralph Schell is an American actor and stand-up comedian. He appeared on the May 28, 1959, episode of the TV quiz show You Bet Your Life, hosted by Groucho Marx. Schell demonstrated a comic barrage of beatnik jive talk. As a stand-up comedian, he first developed his act at the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco, California. Schell is probably best known for his 1960s television role as Duke Slater in Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.

<i>Inchon</i> (film) 1981 film directed by Terence Young

Inchon is a 1981 epic war film about the Battle of Inchon, considered to be the turning point of the Korean War. Directed by Terence Young and financed by Unification movement founder Sun Myung Moon, the film stars Laurence Olivier as General Douglas MacArthur, who led the United States' surprise amphibious landing at Incheon, South Korea in 1950, alongside Jacqueline Bisset, Ben Gazzara, Toshiro Mifune and Richard Roundtree.

<i>Spinout</i> (film) 1966 film by Norman Taurog

Spinout is a 1966 American musical comedy film starring Elvis Presley as the lead singer of a band and part-time race car driver. The film was #57 on the year-end list of the top-grossing films of 1966. It was titled California Holiday in the UK.

<i>Hardly Working</i> 1980 film by Jerry Lewis

Hardly Working is a 1980 American comedy film directed by, co-written by and starring Jerry Lewis and Susan Oliver, filmed in 1979, released in Europe in 1980 and then in the United States on April 3, 1981 through 20th Century Fox. This film marks the final theatrical release for Oliver, as the rest of her career only featured on several television movies and series, before her death in 1990.

<i>Visit to a Small Planet</i> 1960 film by Norman Taurog

Visit to a Small Planet is a 1960 American black-and-white science fiction comedy film directed by Norman Taurog and starring Jerry Lewis, Joan Blackman, Earl Holliman, and Fred Clark. Distributed by Paramount Pictures, it was produced by Hal B. Wallis.

<i>The Errand Boy</i> 1961 film by Jerry Lewis

The Errand Boy is a 1961 American comedy film directed by, co-written by and starring Jerry Lewis.

<i>The Patsy</i> (1964 film) 1964 film

The Patsy is a 1964 American comedy film directed by and starring Jerry Lewis. It was released on August 12, 1964, by Paramount Pictures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buddy Lester</span> American actor and comedian (1915–2002)

Buddy Lester was an American actor and comedian who portrayed dozens of character roles in films and television. Although known for his appearances in Jerry Lewis’ comedy films, he was also regularly seen on popular television shows in the 1960s and 1970s. As a comedian, he was a fixture on the international nightclub circuit for several decades and was the younger brother of comedian Jerry Lester.

<i>New Moon</i> (1940 film) 1940 film by Robert Zigler Leonard, W. S. Van Dyke

New Moon is a 1940 American musical film released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and directed by Robert Z. Leonard, with uncredited direction by W. S. Van Dyke.

The King's Pirate is a 1967 American pirate film directed by Don Weis and starring Doug McClure, Jill St. John and Guy Stockwell. It is a remake of the 1952 film Against All Flags.

<i>Walking My Baby Back Home</i> (film) 1953 film

Walking My Baby Back Home is a 1953 American musical comedy film directed by Lloyd Bacon and starring Donald O'Connor, Janet Leigh, and Buddy Hackett. It was Hackett's film debut.

<i>Take It Big</i> 1944 film by Frank McDonald

Take It Big is a 1944 American comedy film directed by Frank McDonald and written by Howard J. Green and Joe Bigelow. The film stars Jack Haley, Harriet Hilliard, Mary Beth Hughes, Richard Lane, Arline Judge and Fritz Feld. Also featured is Hilliard's husband in real life, bandleader Ozzie Nelson.

<i>Twilight on the Rio Grande</i> 1947 film by Frank McDonald

Twilight on the Rio Grande is a 1947 American Western film directed by Frank McDonald, written by Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E. McGowan, and starring Gene Autry, Sterling Holloway, Adele Mara, Bob Steele, Charles Evans and Martin Garralaga. It was released on April 1, 1947, by Republic Pictures.

<i>Ever Since Venus</i> 1944 film directed by Arthur Dreifuss

Ever Since Venus is a 1944 American comedy directed by Arthur Dreifuss, in his first effort for Columbia Pictures, and stars Ina Ray Hutton, Hugh Herbert, Ann Savage, and Billy Gilbert. It was Hutton's first major film role; she had become famous for her all-female band during the 1930s, which had been the inspiration for the band in Billy Wilder's 1959 film, Some Like It Hot.

<i>How to Smuggle a Hernia Across the Border</i> 1949 American film

How to Smuggle the Hernia Across the Border is a 1949 American short comedy film directed by Jerry Lewis and starring Jerry Lewis, Janet Leigh, and Tony Curtis. The film was not released commercially. The film is based on a funny story by Dean Martin's wartime personal problems with hernia.

References

  1. "Big Rental Pictures of 1966", Variety, 4 January 1967 p 8
  2. Box office information for film in France at Box Office Story
  3. "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (And how they got that way)". Archived from the original on 2012-01-29. Retrieved 2013-07-20.
  4. Medved, Harry (1978). The Fifty Worst Movies of All Time (and how They Got that Way) (First ed.). Angus & Robertson. p. 288. ISBN   9780207958915 . Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  5. "Jerry Lewis Triple Feature: Jerry Lewis, Janet Leigh, Terry-Thomas, Peter Lawford, Anne Francis, Mary Ann Mobley, Various: Movies & TV". Amazon. Retrieved 2018-02-16.