Jerk 26th Anniversary Edition (1979)

"Some very funny moments...  Leonard MaltinÕs Movie & Video Guide

Editor's Note Navin Johnson, a none-too-bright white boy raised by a family of black sharecroppers, somehow manages to reach adulthood without ever discovering he was adopted. His parents finally tell him the truth on his birthday and, shocked by the news, he decides to head off to the big city to seek his fortune. Although he embarks on his odyssey with Candide-like optimism, Navin soon learns the cruel ways of the world as his crazy invention--a device to stop one's glasses from sliding--leads him from rags to riches and back to rags. Steve Martin is riotous in this no-holds-barred broad slapstick comedy, with Bernadette Peters playing his accepting love interest. Jackie Mason, M. Emmet Walsh, and Bill Macy are excellent in small roles, but the focus is always on Martin, who is at his goofy best in a film loaded with hysterical sight gags and a dog whose name cannot be said on television.

	Bernadette Peters
	Catlin Adams
	Mabel King
	Steve Martin
	Carl Gottlieb - Writer
	Carl Reiner - Director
	David V. Picker - Producer
	Jack Elliott - Musical Score
	Steve Martin - Writer
	Victor J. Kemper - Director of Photography
	William E. McEuen - Producer

"I was born a poor black child."----Navin Johnson (Steve Martin), narrating the story of his life

"He hates these cans!"----Navin, fleeing a madman (M. Emmet Walsh) with a gun

New York Times
"...Martin proves himself -- often hilariously -- to be nobody's fool....Funny, vulgar and backhandedly clever..." 12/14/1979 p.C12

Total Film
"...Martin's first major lead is a wonderfully excessive line-up of physical gags and puerile, sitcom-style set-pieces..." 03/01/2001 p.95

Premiere
"[The film] uses many of the bits Martin was doing in his standup act at the time." 04/01/2004 p.60

Entertainment Weekly
"[Martin] earned leading-man status in this un-PC classic..." 07/29/2005 p.54

VideoHoundÕs Golden Movie Retriever 7 of 10
MartinÕs first starring role, back in his wild and crazy days; his ridiculous misadventures pay tribute to Jerry Lewis movies of the late Õ60s.