After 16 films with actor/singer Dean Martin, comedian Joseph Levitch, alias Jerry Lewis (then aged 30), thankfully decided to go it alone.
New York policeman Mike Damon (Darren McGavin) tries to befriend eccentric youth Sidney L Pythias (Lewis) who’s in the company of thugs. Much impressed, Sidney trains as a cop himself but has a hard time proving himself as a rookie.
Lewis is unusually restrained, the story logical and the laughs quite frequent. Don McGuire’s direction is generally effective, making it one of the better films by Lewis, whose indulgence has wrecked many a movie.
After Hollywood or Bust (1956), this was to have been the next vehicle for Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin but Dino did not want to be seen on screen in a police uniform and refused to do the film. So this film became Lewis’ first solo effort.
Sidney L Pythias
Jerry Lewis Mike Damon
Darren McGavin Martha Henshaw
Martha Hyer Monk
Robert Ivers Police Captain Riley
Horace McMahon Artie
Richard Bakalyan Harry
Joe Corey Patricia
Mary Webster Mr Herman
Milton Frome Mr Crow
Jefferson Searles
Director
Don McGuire
Video
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