Product Details

• Actors: Jack Albertson, Norman Alden, Ina Balin, John Carradine, Hans Conried
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment
• VHS Release Date: August 17, 1994
• Run Time: 101 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B0000039I5
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #285,694 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Jerry Lewis Manipulated, Again, June 8, 2005

By 

Lonnie E. Holder "The Review's the Thing" (Columbus, Indiana, United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Patsy (DVD)

When a star comedian dies his team decides to replace him. Jerry Lewis is the fortunate, or unfortunate, victim. We see the team, which includes Ellen Betz (Ina Balin), Harry Silver (Keenan Wynn), Morgan Heywood (Peter Lorre), and Bruce Alden (John Carradine), among others, attempt to transform Stanley Belt (Lewis) from a bumbling bellboy to a comedian.

There is a tie-in to another Lewis movie. In 1960 Lewis starred in "The Bellboy," where he played Stanley. However, I thought that the bellboy in the earlier movie was much more confident and capable than the bellboy in this later movie.

There are portions of this movie that I thought were funny. There were even portions that I found touching. However, in comparison to many of Jerry Lewis's other movie; I thought this movie was less funny. Sometimes the attempts at humor fell flat for me. However, I will also note that this movie is quite popular with fans of Jerry Lewis.

If you like only some of Jerry Lewis's movies, you may find this one too tedious to be enjoyable. If you are a fan of Jerry Lewis, likely you will find this movie to be humorous. However, Jerry Lewis had many other films that were better and funnier.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thoughtful, reflexive and funny, May 29, 2004

By 

"mythologue" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Patsy [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The Patsy, Lewis' fifth film as a director and one of his best, can be considered as a semi-sequel to both The Bellboy (his first) and The Errand Boy (his third). Like its two predecessors, it features a confrontation between a complete outsider (always played by Lewis) and a lavish, illusionistic and mercantile milieu. As in all of his films, the interplay between 'Lewis the artist' (a natural performer whose inventiveness knows no bounds) and 'Lewis the star' (has more swagger, aggressiveness and self-confidence but far less freedom) is central here. It takes place in a single character (named Stanley as in The Bellboy) whose road to stardom is as unexpected and multi-layered as Morty's was in The Errand Boy. In many ways, the artist-star conflict is resolved in the postmodern conclusion: Lewis' choice to equal Stanley with himself - and The Patsy's world with 'reality' - implies that the true star-artist is finally made possible. Some of the movie's set pieces - Stanley's first appearance, the singing lesson, the silent flashback, the failed stand-up performance - are among the most effective of Lewis' filmography, seamlessly weaving together the sophisticated and the grotesque. A very impressive film from an underrated filmmaker.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Underrated Jerry, September 12, 2011

By 

Scott T. Rivers (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Patsy (DVD)

Director Jerry Lewis' cynical, reflexive look at show-biz phoniness has grown in stature during the past 20 years. "The Patsy" (1964) features several hilarious routines from the King of Crazy - interspersed with some excruciatingly painful moments. A stronger-than-usual cast includes Ina Balin, Everett Sloane, Phil Harris, Keenan Wynn and Peter Lorre in his final screen role. Ed Sullivan's outrageous cameo is worth the price of admission. No match for "The Nutty Professor" (1963), yet one of Jerry's most intriguing films.