The Patsy

Released Jun 11, 1964

1 hr. 41 min.

Comedy

List

82%

11 Reviews

Tomatometer

63%

1,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

Eccentric bellhop Stanley Belt (Jerry Lewis) is recruited unexpectedly by the comedy team of a recently deceased entertainer. Stanley struggles to become a song-and-dance man as the team -- including producer Caryl (Everett Sloane), writer Chic (Phil Harris) and assistant Ellen (Ina Balin) -- grooms him to become a star. But as the date of a high-stakes appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show grows near, they begin to fear that the only astonishing thing about Stanley is his utter lack of talent.

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Audience Member

Jerry Lewis returns as Stanley the bellhop in this quasi-sequel to The Bellboy that is called The Patsy. It's about a star comedian who died in an awful plane crash (clip was taken from the Spencer Tracy film The Mountain) and his comedy writers are digging at the bottom of the barrel to find someone to fill his shoes. That's where Stanley the bellboy (Jerry Lewis) comes in. While the film can make you laugh a couple of times and you can enjoy the impressive performance from the beautiful Ina Balin, the film is still not good. I didn't like the writing, editing, visuals, and so much more. The Patsy is a very disappointing film.

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This one has an impossibly long and boring opening sequence with Jerry Lewis stumbling into the picture a little too late and predictably, but this is Lewis' funniest film--rated purely by how hard I laughed at it the first time I saw it as an adult. The first time I saw him badly lip sync "I Lost My Heart at a Drive-In Movie" I laughed so hard I cried. I watched it just now and it is the craziest, manic, weirdo thing. He hits all these chipmunk notes while doing almost kids' party clown tricks--playing his tie--emphasizing he can be right in sync when mimicking strings, but can't hit the vocal track to save his life. Jerry Lewis was such an interesting performer, director, dancer, and musician, you can't watch his films in a sensical way or you'll get lost. This one is pretty easy to follow, although it's interesting to see what scenes he let run way too long. We have such short attention spans compared to when Lewis was creating, some directors/editors were ahead of their time in knowing what material to cut to keep films moving, Lewis really wasn't. Jerry Lewis was definitely the most schizophrenic comedic actor we have on film, as even Jonathan Winters couldn't touch the layers of Jerry he was working with. There are certain interviews with "Business Jerry" where he talks about "Director Jerry" having to work with that silly monkey "Actor Jerry", and you can tell he parsed out his personalities as a way to cope with them all. The scariest is when he's younger and talking about how "Clown Jerry" on screen would never hurt anyone, insinuating "Business Jerry" is not a nice guy, and "Business Jerry" is on file doing lots of those not nice interviews. The "Business Jerry" interviews are hilarious because they are so serious, and the poop that comes out of his mouth is shocking, probably because it is so coldly truthful.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Spectacularly unfunny. There's a lot of mugging, odd noises, cliche prat falls. Didnt laugh once. I thought Lewis was supposed to be a legend. Some scenes get bogged down in following Lewis around doing numerous prat falls that just aren't funny

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

02/03/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Shameless mugging by Lewis makes one wonder what the French see in all of this.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

OK sequel of sorts to Lewis' 1960 hit 'the bellboy'

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

01/21/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I quite enjoyed this Jerry Lewis film, which has a lot of relevance today, in the era of reality shows and manufactured stars. Several good character actors, such as Peter Lorre in his final role, and comedians round out the cast, as the team that's going to make this nobody into a star, and Ina Balin's quite good as the team member who ends up falling in love with the patsy and refusing to give up on him like the others do. Recommended.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Jerry Lewis

Director

Jerry Lewis

Stanley Belt

Ina Balin

Ellen Betz

Everett Sloane

Caryl Fergusson

Phil Harris

Chic Wymore

Keenan Wynn

Harry Silver

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Eric Henderson

Slant Magazine

The Patsy reflects a genuine affection for the artisans and jacks-of-all-trades that make careers like Lewis's possible.

Rated: 4/4

Oct 23, 2004

Full Review

A.S. Hamrah

n+1

...it makes people watching it break things, the way his handlers drop cups and overturn bottles watching him in disbelief at his one-of-a-kind incompetence.

Nov 29, 2018

Full Review

Fernando F. Croce

CinePassion

Who is Jerry Lewis, and why is he funny when he's serious and serious when he's funny?

Sep 25, 2009

Full Review

Dennis Schwartz

Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews

Jerry follows along the comedy lines of Chaplin, but with far less good results.

Rated: C+

Aug 2, 2007

Full Review

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Rated: 3/5

Jun 11, 2005

Full Review

Steve Crum

Kansas City Kansan

Jerry Lewis romp has its rib tickles.

Rated: 3/5

Jan 4, 2005

Full Review

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Synopsis

Eccentric bellhop Stanley Belt (Jerry Lewis) is recruited unexpectedly by the comedy team of a recently deceased entertainer. Stanley struggles to become a song-and-dance man as the team -- including producer Caryl (Everett Sloane), writer Chic (Phil Harris) and assistant Ellen (Ina Balin) -- grooms him to become a star. But as the date of a high-stakes appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show grows near, they begin to fear that the only astonishing thing about Stanley is his utter lack of talent.

Director: Jerry Lewis
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Comedy
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jun 11, 1964, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 10, 2016

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