The Delicate Drama
Mark Ebert | Lancaster OH | 03/06/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The "Delicate Delinquent" was originally written for Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin, but it became Jerry's first solo film. The movie is a departure from the slapstick comedy Lewis had done with Martin. I would describe it as a drama with comedy. Jerry plays a young man in a tough city who isn't exactly a "delinquent", but certainly has stopped attempting to live up to his potential. Jerry's speech in the middle of the film is certainly devoid of humor: "When I was a kid I was jerky, now I'm a man, and I'm lonely...I'm a nowhere, a no place." However, a false arrest turns his life around as a police officer takes a special interest in "reforming" him.Dean Martin turned the film down, before the partnership desolved, becuase he didn't want to play a cop, but Lewis turns this black and white story into a personal epic about standing on your own and making a difference (a fitting message for someone who had just launched into a solo career after coming off what was then the biggest act in American history).Yet another Lewis classic that should be on DVD."
Great Solo by Lewis
Mark Ebert | 09/03/1999
(4 out of 5 stars)
"In this endearing comedy, Lewis plays a youth caught between gangster-type friends and the grown-up world. Mike Damon (McGavin) takes a shining to this delinquent and determines to help him become a star citizen. Sydney enrolls in the police academy which sets off a wide array of antics that disrupts the entire school. The Delicate Delinquent is a charming boy-to-man film. A must have for any Jerry Lewis fan."