The Jerk

For other uses, seeJerk (disambiguation).For the dance, seeJerk (dance).

The Jerk
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Carl Reiner
Screenplay by	Steve Martin Carl Gottlieb Michael Elias
Story by	Steve Martin Carl Gottlieb
Produced by	David V. Picker William E. McEuen
Starring	Steve Martin Bernadette Peters Catlin Adams Jackie Mason
Cinematography	Victor J. Kemper
Edited by	Bud Molin Ron Spang
Music by	Jack Elliott
Production company	Aspen Film Society
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	December 14, 1979(1979-12-14)
Running time	95 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$4 million
Box office	$100 million

The Jerkis a 1979 Americancomedy filmdirected byCarl Reinerand written bySteve Martin,Carl Gottlieb,andMichael Elias(from a story by Martin and Gottlieb). This was Martin's first starring role in a feature film. The film also featuresBernadette Peters,M. Emmet Walsh,Catlin Adams,Maurice Evans,andJackie Mason.Critical reviews were mostly positive, andThe Jerkwas a major financial success.

Plot

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

The white adopted son of blacksharecroppersinMississippi,Navin grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of these circumstances. He is unable to dance in rhythm to thespirited folk songsplayed by the family, but finds that he can do so perfectly to achampagne-style songon the radio. Seeing this moment as a calling, he excitedly decides to leave home and travel toSt. 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 intimidatingdaredevil motorcyclist.Later, while operating aminiature railway,he meets acosmetologistnamed Marie Kimble and arranges a date with her. When a jealous Patty interrupts and threatens to rough them up, Marie knocks her unconscious. The two fall in love 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 aprivate 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. Soon, though, Navin is named as defendant in aclass actionlawsuit brought by millions of Opti-Grab users 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 an argument with Marie.

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. Once again Navin dances on the porch to folk songs, this time with perfect rhythm.

Cast

• Steve Martinas Navin R. Johnson
  • Martin also plays Cat Juggler, under the alias Pig Eye Jackson
• Bernadette Petersas Marie Kimble Johnson
• Catlin Adamsas Patty Bernstein
• Mabel Kingas Mother
• Richard Wardas Father
• Dick Anthony Williamsas Taj
• Bill Macyas Stan Fox
• M. Emmet Walshas Madman
• Dick O'Neillas Frosty
• Maurice Evansas Hobart
• Helena Carrollas Hester
• Ren Woodsas Elvira Johnson
• Pepe Sernaas Punk #1
• Sonny TerryandBrownie McGeeas Blues Singers
• Jackie Masonas Harry Hartounian
• David Landsbergas Bank Manager
• Domingo Ambriz as Father De Cordoba
• Richard ForonjyandLenny Montanaas Con Men
• Carl Gottliebas Iron Balls McGinty
• Clete Robertsas Announcer
• Frances E. Williamsas Grandma Johnson

DirectorCarl Reiner,credited as "Carl Reiner, the Celebrity", plays himself. Former Playboy PlaymateSharon Johansenplays Mrs. Hartounian, whileAlfred Dennishas a small role as Irving. In addition there are uncredited appearances by Reiner's sonRob Reineras the truck driver who picks up Navin,Harrison Fordwho interacts with Martin briefly as a circus construction worker, and character actorLarry Hankinbriefly appears as a circus hand.

Production

By 1977, comedianSteve Martinwas experiencing wild success. He wanted to cross over to a film career, believing it promised more longevity.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.Bill McEuen was acquainted withParamount PicturespresidentDavid 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.

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 ofThe Jerk,but Paramount passed on the project after Picker left the studio.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 choseMike Nichols,but Nichols then "bowed out" of the project in 1978. Martin's next choice wasCarl Reiner,famous for his work onThe Dick Van Dyke Show.

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. LikeDostoyevsky'sThe Idiot,but not that. LikeThe Jerk.

Martin wrote the part of "Marie" withBernadette Petersin mind.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.In co-writing the script withCarl GottliebandMichael Elias,their goal was to provide a laugh on each page of the screenplay.

Principal photography took 45 days using 85 locations inGreater Los Angeles,on a $4.6 million budget. This includedMohammed al Fassi's mansion inBeverly Hills,Pasadena,Westlake VillageandDevonshire DownsinNorthridge.In shooting the film, Reiner "ran a joyful set", according to Martin, with the cast and crew eating lunch together each day.Martin's favorite moment of the film, as he detailed in his 2007 memoirBorn 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 inSt. Louis.Unfortunately, much of the audience left during the scene to buy more popcorn.

Deleted scenes

A scene in whichBill Murraywas to have made a cameo was cut from the final film.

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 toGodzilla.

Another scene that was cut featuredGailard Sartainas 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 theSuper Bowllike a MAN, and not some damned BUM! "

The television version features a scene in which a forlorn Navin, trying to forget Marie, spends six hours on theRound Upcarnival 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 an hit, earning over $73 million domestically,(making the movie theeighth highest-grossing of 1979) and $100 million worldwide, having been produced on a relatively low budget of $4 million.

Critical response

Onreview aggregatorRotten 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 Jerkis nothing short of an all-out comedic showcase for Steve Martin. "OnMetacritic,the film received a score of 61 based on 14 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Janet Maslin ofThe New York Timeswrote thatThe 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. "

BBCfilm 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 filmAirplane!Roger EbertofThe Chicago Sun-Timesalso gave the film a mixed review, statingThe Jerkwas "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."

VideoHound's Golden Movie Retrieverreviewed 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 comedianJerry Lewis.

Legacy

The Jerkhas been praised as not only one of Martin's best comedic efforts, but also one of the funniest films ever made. In 2000, readers ofTotal FilmvotedThe Jerkthe 48th greatest comedy film of all time. This film is No. 20 onBravo's100 Funniest Moviesand No. 89 on theAmerican Film InstitutelistAFI's 100 Years...100 Laughs.IGNranked the film as the tenth top comedy film of all time. Premierevoted Steve Martin's performance of Navin Johnson No. 99 on their list, "The 100 Greatest Performances of All Time".A BBC poll of more than 250 critics rated the film as the 99th greatest comedy of all time.

Christiane Kubrickhailed it as one ofStanley Kubrick's favorite films of all time. It led to Kubrick meeting with Martin to discuss working together on his filmEyes Wide Shut.

In a 2015 interview withThe 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.

Sequel

The Jerkhad atelevision filmsequel,The Jerk, Too(1984), starringMark Blankfieldas Navin and co-starringStacey Nelkin.Steve Martin was executive producer, but did not write the screenplay.

References

Sources

• Martin, Steve (2007).Born Standing Up.New York: Scribner.ISBN978-1416553649.

External links

• The JerkatIMDb
• The Jerkat theTCM Movie Database
• The JerkatBox Office Mojo