Wonkette Movie Night: The Jerk

'You mean I'm gonna STAY this color?'

I first watched The Jerk in the movie theater when I was a junior in high school. And I feel like I should add the words “the film” in front of The Jerk otherwise it sounds a bit creepy.

I remember how totally hilarious my friends and I found the movie to be, along with the entire rest of the theater. As I sat down for a rewatch I wondered if it would hold up now that I had just turned 63. I am happy to say it does and to quote Rebecca, “it still slaps!”

The film opens with Navin Johnson sitting on skid row, unshaven and intoxicated, surrounded by trash and other down and out souls. As the camera zooms in, Navin says,

I am *not* a bum. I’m a jerk. I once had wealth, power, and the love of a beautiful woman. Now I only have two things: my friends, and ... uh ... my thermos. Huh? My story? Okay. It was never easy for me. I was born a poor Black child. I remember the days, sittin’ on the porch with my family, singin’ and dancin’ down in Mississippi...

Seeing a silver haired, super white guy start with those lines tells you this is going to be some crazy shit. The story was written by Steve Martin and Carl Gottlieb (who co-wrote the screenplay for Jaws); which itself had sprung from one line in Martin’s stand-up act, “It wasn’t always easy for me; I was born a poor Black child.”

Martin was gaining stardom from his stand-up act and he wanted to translate that success to the movies with a script he had been working on. A story of a young man full of energy and naïveté who ventures out from his childhood home to find himself.

Where he finds himself is in the phone book. Okay for any youngs out there, a phone book is where they took everyone’s contact lists and put them on tissue paper in a big white book. I will admit that the first time I found my name in the phone book I yelled out,

I’m somebody now!

Through a variety of odd jobs Navin discovers the world, love and wealth. But the wealth brings out the jerk. The end of the film brings us back to the beginning, where Navin admits to being a jerk and maybe this discovery will be the thing that helps him find where he truly belonged all along.

There was actually a made for TV sequel in 1984, The Jerk, Too; I’ve included a link if you want to torture yourself.

The Jerk stars Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Carl Reiner, Mabel King, Richard Ward, Bill Macy, Catlin Adams, Jackie Mason, M. Emmett Walsh, and Carl Gottlieb. Directed by Carl Reiner.

The Jerk is available for free on OK RU; free on the Internet Archive with old ads (go to number 38 on the list, FF to 2:57); with subscription on Prime; $3.99 in the usual places.

To make requests and see the movie lists and schedules go to WonkMovie.

The animated short is Candy Apple by Luke Tianxiang Liu. It is one of those that requires a Kleenex alert.

Next week’s Movie Night selection is A Street Cat Named Bob, available for free with ads on YouTube; free with ads on Tubi and Fandango at Home. $3.99 in the usual places. This trailer also requires a Kleenex alert.

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