The Nutty Professor (1963)

Since I am going to review all the “Ocean” movies every Friday of this month, I thought it would be appropriate to review all “The Nutty Professor” movies every Monday, since I can’t talk about Dean Martin and leave out his comedy partner, Jerry Lewis. With that said, let’s get started today with the 1963 Jerry Lewis classic, “The Nutty Professor.”

An online blogger by the name of “garv” started his review out by saying, “Jerry Lewis must have driven the studio bosses to drink when he announced that he wanted to tamper with his proven formula for The Nutty Professor.” For the first time in his career, Lewis decided to put aside the “nine-year-old” character, creating a completely new character with a different voice, different posture, and different look. The film was different too. “Garv” also noted, “Instead of a loosely connected group of blackout gags, The Nutty Professor featured a storyline that was both more coherent and more adult than anything Lewis had previously directed.”

Lewis plays Julius Kelp, a buck-toothed, near-sighted, accident-prone science professor. Kelp is in love with Stella Purdy, played by Stella Stevens, a shapely undergraduate, but he is too nervous to say anything to her. After being humiliated by a bully, played by Med Flory, in front of Stella and the rest of his class, the professor decides to muscle up, but physical exercise fails to change him physically. His only other choice is science, and before you can think up “Jekyll and Hyde,” Kelp invents a science potion that changes the chemistry professor into Buddy Love, a self-satisfied, bad-mannered narcissus. Despite his bad behavior, Buddy makes Stella fall head over heels and becomes the idol of the naïve set, who love him for his singing, swinging, and swilling. Of course, the make-believe can only last so long.

Over the years, “The Nutty Professor” has become Lewis’ most adored movie, but few critics have noted the major role that alcohol plays in the narrative. Once the professor changes into Buddy Love, he becomes a humongous jerk, leading to two of the best-remembered scenes in the history of covered cinema. The first happens after the professor’s first transformation into Buddy Love. “Garv” mentioned, “Kelp’s newly released alter ego makes a beeline for the local watering hole, The Purple Pit, a popular hangout for Stella and the other college students (most of who appear to be in their mid-forties).” Buddy jumps right into ordering a drink, the “Alaskan Polar Bear Heater,” a drink of near-death power. After saying the drink’s recipe to the Purple Pit’s bartender, played by Buddy Lester, he allows the bartender to taste the dangerous beverage. The bartender finds the creation appetizing, but then freezes in place as if hit by Medusa. “Garv” noted, “Buddy is unfazed and has no qualms about downing the rest of the cocktail.”

“The Nutty Professor” also has the best hangover scene in any movie. “Garv” put it as, “Showing up late for class, wearing tinted glasses, Professor Kelp suffers the aftermath of Buddy’s bacchanalia.” Lewis intensifies every sound in the scene to let the audience to experience what the character is going through. As he closes the classroom door, the coming with slam sounds like a cannon shot. Chalk scratching against the blackboard sounds like the scraping of metal upon metal. Finally, liquid dripping into a test tube sounds like the beating of a kettle drum mixed with the crashing of waves upon the shore. It is an inspired scene – the best in the whole movie.

While “The Nutty Professor” isn’t the funniest film that Jerry Lewis was in, it’s probably his best film ever. Like all the movies directed by Lewis, the jokes are uneven and the story once in a while falls into silly corniness. At the same time, Jerry’s talents as a filmmaker were never shown to greater effect. From the strange transformation scene to the amazing close-ups that show Stella Stevens at her most beautiful, this film is a candy-colored delight.

Thank you for joining in on my first installment on “The Nutty Professor series.” Stay tuned this Friday for my review on the first “Ocean’s Trilogy” directed by Steven Soderbergh.