Starring
Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Marjie Miller, Patricia "Pat"
Crowley, Richard Haydn, Robert Strauss, Gerald Mohr, Sheldon Leonard.
Sirected by George Marshall. (1953, 100 min).
When we were kids, my little sister used to love
watching old movies from the 50s & 60s whenever they aired on Channel
12, Portland's local station. Her favorites were comedies
and musicals, so there was always a soft spot in her heart for those
featuring Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis, which were often a
combination of both. As someone just discovering movie monsters and
rock music, I couldn't stand these movies.
Decades
later, I've developed an even bigger affection for classic movies
than my sister ever did. However, I've still can't sit through a
Jerry Lewis movie without having a seizure.
Like Adam Sandler today, 90 minutes of Lewis' constant screeching &
mugging is just too much to take. It's like scorching your throat
with shot after shot of straight vodka rather than mixing it with
some orange juice so it goes down smoother.
Dean
Martin is the orange juice that makes the movies they did together
far more enjoyable than Lewis' star vehicles. None of them are
masterpieces, nor is Martin himself a great actor, but his laid-back
persona renders films like Money from Home at-least watchable.
 |
| "Dammit, Jerry, I told you...only foil hats will keep the aliens out of your head." |
Money
from Home was their first color film together and the only one
originally shown in 3-D (though there's no discernible use of the
then-fledgling gimmick). Martin plays, "Honeytalk" Nelson,
a down-on-his-luck gambler indebted to a local gangster and forced to
fix an upcoming horse race. Lewis is Virgil, Nelson's animal-loving cousin
who's duped into helping make certain the horse that's favored to win
is unable to compete. But the job is complicated when Nelson falls in
love with the horse's owner, while Virgil becomes smitten by a
veterinarian.
Of
course, like all their other films together, the plot is perfunctory.
Martin croons a few tunes while wooing Marjie Miller. Lewis is given ample
opportunities to display his brand of buffoonery. Fans may beg to differ, but since he's not the whole
show here, his schtick isn't quite as grating as it would be when calling all the
shots in his future films. Besides, Martin demonstrates he's capable
of being slyly amusing himself, something people tend to forget when
these two team up. Revisiting this film, I was constantly reminded
how important (and unappreciated) Martin was to their creative
success. As for this film, I also have to admit that gangster Jumbo
Schneider and his crew of thugs are pretty damned funny, too.
Though
certainly far from a classic, Money from Home is a silly
and affable nostalgia trip for people like my sister, who grew up on
this stuff. That it's available on Blu-Ray for the first time will be
of keen interest to them.
EXTRA
KIBBLES
None
KITTY CONSENSUS:
NOT BAD...FOR MARTIN & LEWIS LOVERS
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