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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :- Gets Me Every Time!, 27 December 2003 Author: Meg H from United States
This movie is one of my all time favorites! Every time I see it I catch something new I hadn't seen before, and, even after watching it so many times, it never ceases to set me into a fit of laughter! Future viewers: Ignore all that junk about it being dated, etc.! Watch this movie and decide for yourself- JL is awesome, and you WON'T be disappointed!
11 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :- No Plot! Just Humor. ;), 2 September 2002 Author: robeykr from Warminster, PA
No Plot -- The film starts with this proclamation. This film is definitely one of Jerry Lewis' best of his carrier. Filmed during the height of his movie output in the 1960's, this film is comedy unto its own sake. The gags just don't stop -- you aren't given a moment to relax, because it's all so funny, you can't stop laughing. The NO PLOT aspect only helps, as the audience is free to concentrate on the moment. I still burst into laughter when the hotel manager is called by the airport to inform him 'HE WHAT!?' Yes, this film is dated by today's standard, but that should come as no surprise. This film was the product of a different era -- and a different society. The change in our society was what made him decide to briefly retire from film in the '70s. The standards of humor just changed. And performers had to change with it. But film is permanent. It is set in celluloid. It can be re-edited, but what would be the point? For anyone who can appreciate 'the artist' for his art, this film still can be enjoyed. For anyone who can look at past films for nostalgia, this film can be enjoyed. It's called comedy -- 'nuff said.
9 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :- dated? (minor spoiler), 20 March 2001 Author: Sergeiii from Fribourg, Switzerland
*** This comment may contain spoilers ***
It is with productions like "The Bellboy" that Jerry Lewis earned more and more hostility in the States and made his eventual reputation in Europe (i.e France, of course). This movie is stuck in a continental divide, but also in a temporal one. I have no idea whether Lewis did actually grasp the ideas of surrealism or the absurd movement at the time, but it looks pretty much so. The man somehow managed to mix his usual desperately anarchic slapstick routines with a very clear sense of not making the innate tragedy of the matter an issue at all - only to disclaim at the end that the character shown in the picture might be your neigbour. The achievement here is that Lewis behaves like a lost circus clown throughout the major feature film - never allowing himself to get halfway sentimental or plot-oriented. He is illogic, destructive and spastic; and he makes the whole movie obey his zany rules, thus saving the Sennett/Roach school into a time when people were heavily reflecting on the opportunities of physical humour. Maybe it took the MelBrookses, the Abraham-Zuckers and the Farrellys to make that kind of unromantic comedy truly popular again way later, but here's someone who tried in 1960. Today, it looks like Jim Carrey taking over a Bunuel movie - and that's as silly as it gets.
8 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- Jerry Lewis the true genius of comedy, 28 July 2005 Author: Petri Pelkonen (petri_pelkonen@hotmail.com) from Finland
Jerry Lewis produced, wrote and directed The Bellboy in 1960, in four weeks at the Fountainbleau Hotel in Miami Beach, where he was performing at the time.The movie has no plot, it just shows us Stanley the bellboy getting in many hilarious situations.Stanley doesn't speak, he doesn't say a word until at the end of the movie.Lewis shows us some incredible silent comedy, great physical comedy in a way only Jerry can do.And what he does with his face! Marvelous, just marvelous! In this movie Jerry makes also a visit as himself.You can't help yourself laughing when the star arrives with a whole bunch of people.An other great comedian, Milton Berle can be seen there.And Stan Laurel.Well, not quite.Jerry wanted Stan to be in the movie, he sent him the script and Stan did make a few minor changes to it.He deleted one entire scene because it was too mean-spirited.So Stan did have something to do with the picture, but he wasn't seen in it.That's too bad, since Mr Laurel is also one of my favorite comics.But there is Bill Richmond as Stan Laurel look-alike.Mr Lewis will receive next September the Governors award for his charity work.He is the chairman of Muscular Dystrophy Association.Good for you, Jerry!You do deserve all the best in the world.I bought the DVD yesterday and I sure am glad I did.It may not be the most traditional Jerry Lewis movie, but it still works, works like a charm.After 45 years it still does.
7 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :- JERRY'S BEST, 5 August 2001 Author: MHochee from new jersey
Out of the Jerry Lewis movies I have seen, this is his best in my opinion. Excellent slapstick and sight gags. This movie will NEVER BE DATED. My favorite bit is where he has to answer the phones although there are many other great ones. GRADE: B+
8 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :- Why don't you talk boy. "Because you never asked me too", 23 October 2002 Author: tonycj92 from St Catharines, Ontario
This movie is hilarious I like every little sketch there is some more than others but this is still a very funny especially in the limited time Jerry Lewis had and the limited money. I couldn't expect more from this movie the I'm told it was made because Jerry Lewis wouldn't let Cinderfella out until Christmas So he made this little movie too. And I'm very happy that he did 9/10.
4 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :- Not-bad Jerry Lewis comedy, 5 September 2006 Author: moonspinner55 from redlands, ca
Jerry Lewis wrote, produced, directed and stars in this collection of skits centering around a put-upon bellhop at a Miami Beach hotel. Having just completed "Cinderfella" for a mid-year release, Lewis suggested to Paramount Pictures that they hold off showing that film until Christmas and gave them this one in its place (put together in near record time!). Short and relatively painless, the film benefits from sharp black-and-white cinematography and a snazzy locale. Lewis, making his directorial debut, smoothly segues from one sight-gag to the next, and his low-key performance is actually one of his best. ** from ****
7 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :- I really thought I'd really die watching it, 16 August 2003 Author: matthank from North
This movie is solid gags. No plot and JL is very open about that....only gags or what they used to call 'blackouts'. I have simply never laughed so hard as when I watched this movie. But as for the scene where he loses it by the elevators, you may or may not like it (French?) but it nearly caused me to have an early death. Tape it, rent it or buy it, but if you have come this far, watch it!
5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :- A Silly Collection of Gags, 4 June 2007 Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
In Miami Beach, the mute bellboy Stanley (Jerry Lewis) works at the luxurious Fontainebleau Hotel. In spite of being a serviceable and friendly employee, the clumsy Stanley gets successively into trouble with his mistakes."The Bellboy" is a silly collection of gags written, produced and directed by the lead star Jerry Lewis. There are some funny and non-sense jokes, like for example when Stanley meets the guest Jerry Lewis or when he removes the engine of a Volkswagen, and a great homage to Stan Laurel. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "O Mensageiro Trapalhão" ("The Clumsy Bellboy")
1 out of 1 people found the following comment useful :- Non-stop gags, 3 July 2008 Author: AdnanZ
"The Bellboy" unapologetically states in an introductory scene that it has no plot or story and is made purely for fun. "The Bellboy" really is seventy minutes of nothing but sight gags, some hilarious, some clever, and some disappointing."The Bellboy" was Jerry Lewis' first film as director and is just as divisive as you would expect it to be, with some consistently claiming it is one of the great physical comedies, up there with Tati et al and others reacting to it the way one is sadly expected to react to a Jerry Lewis comedy nowadays. I personally think "The Bellboy" displays a lot of talent from Lewis as director, with some attempts at surrealism being surprisingly successful. Lewis also works the sight gags into the film beautifully, not ignoring one inch of the frame when composing the gags, one of the many reasons I suspect I hated this film when I first saw it on VHS.Still, "The Bellboy" is far from Lewis' funniest or best film (see an unfairly maligned favorite of mine, "The Disorderly Orderly" for the former, and "The Nutty Professor" for the latter) and has its fair share of misses as well as hits with the gags. In addition the lack of structure the film has is occasionally distracting.I won't comment on Lewis as a person or on his personal beliefs, but he makes me laugh which is really what matters in a filmmaker. Moreover, "The Bellboy" is surprisingly well-directed and more inventive than you might expect, but I'll leave it to the Europeans to explain to you why it's a great film as opposed to a good one, because I can't see the reason in that.7/10
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