kartoon-1 Jerry proves in his first film outing after his infamous parting with his partner Dean Martin that his brand of comedy needs no specific straight man as the whole world is his straight man! Jerry plays a peripheral (read barely in) member of a gang who get into a rumble at his backdoor and he is subsequently arrested along with them. Seeing that he's different from the others, a sympathetic cop (Darren McGavin) takes him under his wing to guide him away from the other gang members and make an upstanding citizen of him. Which of course is a monumental task considering who he has as a charge. Speaking of which, you will get a 'charge' out of this movie.(see my review on Amazon.com)

bkoganbing In his first solo effort without partner Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis did a combination West Side Story and a police academy movie in The Delicate Delinquent. West Side Story was running on Broadway and its popularity and Jerry's would have guaranteed a built in audience.Darren McGavin takes over from Dino and you can almost spot the places songs would have been dropped in. Lewis plays a bumbling young kid who gets accidentally in the middle of a gang rumble between the local Jets and Sharks and is caught in a police dragnet. Personally I'm not sure how anyone could have mistaken Lewis for a juvenile delinquent, but McGavin is in charge of a mentoring program and he picks Lewis as his prototype test case. And monitoring the mentor is Martha Hyer who is from the City Council.Jerry has surprisingly little in the way of raucous comedy routines and concentrates on developing his character. The film proceeds at a leisurely pace in telling the story.Robert Ivers who plays one of Jerry's juvenile delinquent friends has a nice part himself. In the end he actually saves Lewis's career as a budding policeman.The Delicate Delinquent was a nice solo debut for Lewis. He did much better for himself and Paramount Pictures than his old partner did with Ten Thousand Bedrooms.

MartinHafer What's this with the trivia section on IMDb for this film? While I knew that this was Jerry Lewis' first solo effort after his breakup with Dean Martin, I have no idea what this comment in the trivia section means regarding Dean Martin not wanting to wear a police uniform. Did he hate cops or think he looked bad in black or was this just the excuse he gave because he couldn't stand the thought of making another film with Jerry?! I'd love to know more about this.With the absence of Dean Martin, the studio decided to pair Lewis with Darren McGavin. And, since you've never heard of the great comedy team of Martin & McGavin, you can assume the results did not set the world on fire. The choice of films was pretty odd, though, as Jerry was now in his 30s--making him an incredibly old delinquent! And, for the first time, this delinquent got to produce his own film.During an amazingly non-violent rumble, Jerry is accidentally picked up by the police as they think he, too, is one of the punks. The team of cops is led by McGavin--a cop who has been trying for years to rehabilitate these juveniles instead of just locking them up like the Captain recommends. In a rather non-subtle but funny scene, Jerry is thrilled that he is being let go by the police...you just have to see it. But McGavin sees Jerry and decides he can rehabilitate this boy! And, since Jerry is a completely incompetent janitor, McGavin is able to eventually interest him in a career in law enforcement. But the road is long and a lot of stuff happens in the meantime--such as constant run-ins with local hoodlums who delight in harassing him.Along the way, McGavin meets a know-it-all social worker (Martha Hyer). Naturally, they hate each other so you know they'll be in love by the end of the film! Wow, is this lady stupid and annoying! I think her character was very poorly written--no one can be that that opinionated and that clueless! Aside from looking nice, she was a major deficit in the film--possibly due to bad acting or a badly written character or bad direction or all three.So how does this all stack up compared to a typical Martin & Lewis film? Well, it's pretty obvious that the roles were originally written for the team but most of the musical numbers have been removed. While it caught my wife by surprise, Jerry sang one of the songs that Dean would have sung in the film--and did a very nice job. Too often in the early films, he deliberately sang badly and people assumed he couldn't sing. Jerry once again also mugged a lot more for the camera--though less than in many of his previous or later films. However, I also noticed that when he wasn't overacting, Lewis also had some nice scenes where you could see he could actually act--too bad he occasionally chose shtick instead of acting, as I think his acting skills are often under-appreciated (and which weren't as apparent until some of his later non-comedic roles). My wife, who is definitely not a fan, noticed that he was a lot more human in this film--and was very easy to like when he wasn't hamming it up. Surprisingly, she even liked the film--and she's a hard sell indeed. I'd say the film is actually better than most of the Martin & Lewis films, as it's a lot less comedy and more a well-rounded film.By the way, there is a scene towards the beginning where McGavin tries very hard to befriend Lewis. I am sure it played well in 1957, but seen today, it sure looks like McGavin is trying to make a pass at him! You can see what what might be seen by some as a gay subtext a few other times, too. See it for yourself--I am sure you'll see what I mean.

george.schmidt THE DELICATE DELINQUENT (1957) ** Jerry Lewis, Darren McGavin. Rather weak Lewis flick with Jerry as a troubled kid who hooks up with the police force. Noteworthy only because this was his first solo outing after he split with Dean Martin.