The Big Mouth
The Big Mouth | |
---|---|
Directed by | Jerry Lewis |
Screenplay by | Jerry Lewis Bill Richmond |
Story by | Bill Richmond |
Produced by | Jerry Lewis |
Starring | Jerry Lewis |
Narrated by | Frank De Vol |
Cinematography | W. Wallace Kelley |
Edited by | Russel Wiles |
Music by | Harry Betts |
Color process | (as color by Pathé) |
Production company | Jerry Lewis Productions |
Distributed by | Columbia Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 107 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Box office | $2,000,000 (US/Canada)[1] 588,356 admissions (France)[2] |
The Big Mouth is a 1967 American comedy film produced, directed, co-written, and starring Jerry Lewis. It was filmed in San Diego and features Frank De Vol as an onscreen narrator.
Plot
Gerald Clamson is a bank examiner who loves fishing on his annual two-week holiday. Unfortunately, one day at the ocean he reels in Syd Valentine, an injured gangster in a scuba diving suit. Syd tells Gerald about diamonds he has stolen from the other gangsters and hands him a map. Gerald escapes as frogmen from a yacht machine-gun the beach. They swim ashore, locate Syd and gun him down. Their leader Thor ensures Syd's demise by firing a torpedo from his yacht that goes ashore, blowing a crater into the beach.
As the police ignore Gerald's story, Gerald heads to the Hilton Inn in San Diego where Syd claimed the diamonds were hidden. There he meets Suzie Cartwright, an airline stewardess. While searching for the diamonds, he needs to avoid the hotel staff after inadvertently hurting the manager. Gerald disguises himself as a character similar to Professor Julius Kelp from The Nutty Professor, while trying to stay one step ahead of the other gangsters who are on his tail, as well as the hotel detectives led by the manager—all the while courting Suzie. As each of the gangsters see Gerald, an identical lookalike to the deceased Syd, they have nervous breakdowns; one imagining himself a dog, one turning into a Larry Fine lookalike, the other becoming a stutterer. The one man Gerald meets who believes him, and identifies himself as an FBI special agent, turns out to be an escapee from an insane asylum.
The movie climaxes in a chase through
The final scene shows the narrator, Bogart, facing the camera and solemnly announcing that the tale is true—then the camera pulls back as De Vol turns and walks away on the breakwater where the beginning and ending action had taken place. De Vol is wearing all of a business suit except trousers, and he is carrying a briefcase.
Cast
- Jerry Lewis as Gerald Clamson / Syd Valentine
- Harold J. Stone as Thor
- Susan Bay as Suzie Cartwright
- Buddy Lester as Studs
- Del Moore as Mr. Hodges
- Paul Lambert as Moxie
- Jeannine Riley as Bambi Berman
- Leonard Stone as Fong
- Charlie Callas as Rex
- Frank De Vol as Bogart (as Frank DeVol)
- Vern Rowe as Gunner
- David Lipp as Lizard
- Vincent Van Lynn as Fancher
- Mike Mahoney as Detective #1
- Walter Kray as Detective #2
- John Nolen as F.B.I. Agent
- Eddie Ryder as Specs
Production
The Big Mouth was filmed from December 5, 1966 to February 28, 1967 in the newly built Hilton San Diego hotel at
Reception
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 40% rating based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 4.65/10.[4]
See also
References
- rentals accruing to the distributors.
- ^ Soyer, Renaud (8 June 2013). "Jerry Lewis Box Office" (in French). Box Office Story. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- ^ Hevesi, Dennis (January 28, 2011). "Charlie Callas, Zany Comedian, Dies at 83". The New York Times. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- ^ "The Big Mouth". Rotten Tomatoes.
External links
- The Big Mouth at IMDb