Main Cast: Jerry Lewis, Glenda Farrell, Everett Sloane, Karen Sharpe, Kathleen Freeman
Release Year: 1964
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
Plot
In this comedy classic, Jerry Lewis plays Jerome Littlefield, an orderly in a mental hospital in this slapstick situation comedy that makes full use of Lewis's patented brand of screwball comedy. Dr. Jean Howard (Glenda Farrell) is the exasperated head of the sanitarium who almost becomes a patient after the antics of the frantic employee. Jerome takes on the symptoms of most of his patients and helps Susan Andrews (Susan Oliver) go from a woman considering suicide to an alluring woman of sensual confidence. When talkative patient Alice Pearce relates her maladies to Jerry, he hilariously has psychosomatic symptoms that mirror those of the woman. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
Review
This hilarious Jerry Lewis vehicle is one of his all-time classics. The major reason for this is the skillful work of writer/director Frank Tashlin: no other filmmaker could use the many gifts of Lewis as skillfully as he could. Tashlin's script plays not only to Lewis's skills for mugging and slapstick but also weaves in a surprising amount of drama that brings out his underrated gift for pathos. Lewis rises to the challenge of this script with a performance that covers the gamut from rubber-faced antics to surprisingly understated expressions of adult emotion, often within the same scene. Tashlin also gets great performances from the rest of the cast: Susan Oliver delivers a genuinely intense and dramatic performance as the troubled girl the hero pines for, Kathleen Freeman makes an excellent comedic foil for Lewis as his constantly agitated supervisor and Everett Sloane is amusing as a sleazy administrator who gets his comeuppance. Best of all, Tashlin's direction of The Disorderly Orderly is truly inventive: he gives the film a snazzy pace and a bright, "pop" color scheme that suits the manic approach of its star. More importantly, he uses the language of film to choreograph the gags in unique, visually expressive ways. Highlights in that area include a silent argument played out with subtitles and the masterfully choreographed finale, which orchestrates a chase between two ambulances in a manner that is thrilling and hilariously destructive all at once. In short, anyone with an interest in Jerry Lewis's work needs to see The Disorderly Orderly. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Tambi Larsen - Art Director, Hal Pereira - Art Director, Edith Head - Costume Designer, Frank Tashlin - Director, Russell Wiles - Editor, John M. Woodcock - Editor, Joseph Lilley - Composer (Music Score), W. Wallace Kelley - Cinematographer, Paul Jones - Producer, Jerry Lewis - Producer, Ray Moyer - Set Designer, Sam Comer - Set Designer, Farciot Edouart - Special Effects, John P. Fulton - Special Effects, Paul K. Lerpae - Special Effects, Ed Haas - Screen Story, Norm Liebmann - Screen Story, Frank Tashlin - Screenwriter, Nora Liebmann - Short Story Author
The Disorderly Orderly (1964) is a Paramount Picturesfeature film starring Jerry Lewis in a story about a clumsy hospital orderly with a psychosomatic problem. The film was produced by Paul Jones with a screenplay by the film's director Frank Tashlin based upon a story by Norm Liebermann and Ed Haas. The Disorderly Orderly was filmed at the Greystone Park and Mansion in Beverly Hills, California with costumes designed by Edith Head and its title song rendered by Sammy Davis, Jr.. The film was released to DVD October 2004.
Jerome Littlefield (Jerry Lewis) is an orderly at the Whitestone Sanitarium and Hospital who suffers from "neurotic identification empathy" - a psychosomatic problem that causes him to suffer the symptoms of others and interferes with his ability to function effectively on the job. His unwitting propensity for slapstick-style mayhem sorely tries the patience of Dr. Howard (Glenda Farrell) and Nurse Higgins (Kathleen Freeman). When his high school crush Susan Andrews (Susan Oliver) is admitted to the hospital after a suicide attempt, Jerome gradually comes to the realization that his problem is a result of his years-long obsession with her. While he fails to establish a romatic relationship with Susan, he does lift her spirits, thus banishing any thought of suicide and giving her the will to live. The comic climax follows with a runaway gurney being chased by several ambulances and the destruction of ceiling-high grocery store canned goods displays. The film ends with Littlefield cured of his problem, reunited with his girlfriend Julie (Karen Sharpe), and looking forward to pursuing his medical school dreams. Alice Pearce, Barbara Nichols, and Jack E. Leonard play patients while Everett Sloane portrays a psychiatrist.
Reception
While Howard Thompson of the New York Times (December 24, 1964) liked a few comedic bits and praised some secondary performers, he generally panned The Disorderly Orderly writing, "[The film] runs dry at the end of the first third — like a juiceless watermelon — and splits open, with about the same results."[1]
