"The Delicate Delinquent" was originally intended as Martin & Lewis' next project. But they split up. Martin was replaced by Darren McGavin who didn't sing (thank heavens) as Jerry Lewis struck out on his own for the first time.
Jerry plays Sidney Pythias a bumbling janitor of an apartment building. One day he accidently gets mixed up with a gang of delinquents including Monk (Robert Ivers),and Artie Richard Bakalyan) and they all get arrested. Officer Mike Damon (McGavin) has a desire to help delinquents turn their lives around. For this purpose he takes pity on Sidney. He sells his idea to his Captain (Horace McMahon) who reluctantly agrees. Sidney and the others are released and Mike begins to work with Sidney.
Into the picture comes lawyer Martha Henshaw (Martha Hyer) sent by city council to assess the delinquent situation. She and Mike don't hit it off. They quarrel and Sidney walks off accusing them of using him for their own selfish purposes. Mike meanwhile has become attracted to the attractive Martha but she walks away.
Mike goes to Sidney and agrees to help him enroll in the Police Academy with a view to becoming a respected police man. Unbelievably Sidney makes it through the first 12 weeks of the program. For the final week he is assigned to Mike to go on patrol in you guessed it, his own neighborhood. After an unbelievable delivering of a baby by Sidney, he and Mike are called to a heist in which Monk and the gang are involved. During the skuffle with police a shot is fired and Artie is wounded in the leg. Sidney's gun, which he had lost in the fight, is identified as the weapon that fired the shot.
Back at the station with Sidney about to be dropped from the police and charged, Monk steps up and ......................................................................
There's more dramatic scenes in this Lewis film than fans were used to but Jerry comes through and elicits a little pathos along the way. He has time for some comedic moments but they are not as madcap as we had become used to.
Others in the cast are Lewis regular Milton Frome as a crabby apartment resident, Mary Webster as Mary, Sidney's love interest, Jefferson Searles as Mr. Crow a crackpot inventor as well as familiar faces Frank Gorshin as a street punk, Emile Meyer, Don Megowan, and Emory Parnell as various cops and Dave Willock as the recruit with the good memory. Rocky Marciano was supposed to be in there somewhere but I missed him.
Jerry did OK in his first solo effort and would go on to a lengthy list of solo comedies. Dean Martin by the way, did OK too.
Jerry plays Sidney Pythias a bumbling janitor of an apartment building. One day he accidently gets mixed up with a gang of delinquents including Monk (Robert Ivers),and Artie Richard Bakalyan) and they all get arrested. Officer Mike Damon (McGavin) has a desire to help delinquents turn their lives around. For this purpose he takes pity on Sidney. He sells his idea to his Captain (Horace McMahon) who reluctantly agrees. Sidney and the others are released and Mike begins to work with Sidney.
Into the picture comes lawyer Martha Henshaw (Martha Hyer) sent by city council to assess the delinquent situation. She and Mike don't hit it off. They quarrel and Sidney walks off accusing them of using him for their own selfish purposes. Mike meanwhile has become attracted to the attractive Martha but she walks away.
Mike goes to Sidney and agrees to help him enroll in the Police Academy with a view to becoming a respected police man. Unbelievably Sidney makes it through the first 12 weeks of the program. For the final week he is assigned to Mike to go on patrol in you guessed it, his own neighborhood. After an unbelievable delivering of a baby by Sidney, he and Mike are called to a heist in which Monk and the gang are involved. During the skuffle with police a shot is fired and Artie is wounded in the leg. Sidney's gun, which he had lost in the fight, is identified as the weapon that fired the shot.
Back at the station with Sidney about to be dropped from the police and charged, Monk steps up and ......................................................................
There's more dramatic scenes in this Lewis film than fans were used to but Jerry comes through and elicits a little pathos along the way. He has time for some comedic moments but they are not as madcap as we had become used to.
Others in the cast are Lewis regular Milton Frome as a crabby apartment resident, Mary Webster as Mary, Sidney's love interest, Jefferson Searles as Mr. Crow a crackpot inventor as well as familiar faces Frank Gorshin as a street punk, Emile Meyer, Don Megowan, and Emory Parnell as various cops and Dave Willock as the recruit with the good memory. Rocky Marciano was supposed to be in there somewhere but I missed him.
Jerry did OK in his first solo effort and would go on to a lengthy list of solo comedies. Dean Martin by the way, did OK too.