A frogman on a line

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title A frogman on a line
Original title The Big Mouth
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1967
length 107 minutes
Age rating FSK 12 nf
Rod
Director Jerry Lewis
script Jerry Lewis
Bill Richmond
production Jerry Lewis
music Harry R. Betts
camera W. Wallace Kelley
Ernest Laszlo
cut Russel Wiles
occupation

A Frogman on the Hook (Original title: The Big Mouth ) is an American crime comedy from 1967 directed by Jerry Lewis , who was also responsible for the production, worked on the book and plays the lead role. Further leading roles are occupied by Harold J. Stone and Susan Bay .

The film is based on a story by Bill Richmond.

action

When the accountant Gerald Clamson pursues his hobby, fishing, on a beautiful summer day in San Diego, he is drawn into the dispute between two rival gangster gangs. Instead of a fish, Gerald has a frogman on the hook who mumbles something about stolen diamonds, gives Gerald further information about their whereabouts, and points out a nearby hotel before some men apparently want to kill him. Unfortunately, the accountant looks very much like this frogman. To protect himself, Gerald then disguises himself with glasses, an old tweed suit and puts on the accent of a rich eccentric.

So Gerald goes to look for the hotel suggested by the frogman. Apparently the diver belonged to a gang that stole diamonds from another gang, namely the Fancher gang and its leader Thor. So he comes across the "Hilton Inn" and meets the stewardess Suzie, with whom he falls in love. He also met Bambi there, a pale blonde beauty who pretends to be the hotel's HR manager, but who actually belongs to Thor's gang. She takes care of forwarding the stolen diamonds. As Gerald discovers, Fong, an Asian man who runs a pearl shop at Sea World amusement park, seems to be a leader in the whole affair.

But where in the hotel are there references to the diamond hiding place that the frogman told about. Finding that out is not easy, as Gerald has to deal with loads of questionable characters. He also has to be careful with the hotel manager, Hodges, who gets on his tracks and threatens to see through his double identity. So it happens that both Gerald, who always disguises himself, and his girlfriend Suzie are rushed back and forth through the city. Gerald, however, does not lose sight of his plan to find the diamond hiding place, despite all the adversities. When the police intervened, at times you didn't even know who was fighting on whose side.

In the end, however, Gerald and Suzie escape the terrible chaos without having found the diamonds. A huge surprise awaits them, however, just as they want to kiss at the point where it all began, the rival gang members move up again, but not only them, but also the frogman, who was believed dead, suddenly emerges from the water in front of them and the pursuers are already rushing at him and Gerald and Suzie have finally their peace.

Production notes

Filming took place in San Diego , including the sequences at Sea World , and additional recordings were made in the Los Angeles area and in the Columbia studio . It is a Jerry Lewis production by Columbia Pictures . For Jerry Lewis, it was his 36th film as an actor and his eighth as a director. Lewis himself said of this film that it was "fun" and "a great time in his life". However, one believes that “a project is far bigger” “than it really is while one is in it”. According to Jerry Lewis' biographers James Neibaur and Ted Okuda, this film was a deliberate return to Jerry's wild and crazy comic roots. The film is a satirical view of spy films of the past such as the James Bond films. Originally intended original film titles were Mind Your Own Business or Ready, Set, Die . The title was then changed again at the last minute. Susan Bay, who plays the female lead, is the cousin of the director Michael Bay and the future wife of Leonard Nimoy. It was one of her first film roles. Charlie Callas made his film debut here. Lewis had taken him under his wing because he thought a lot of him. Although the film grossed more than the previous three films by Jerry Lewis, it was still considered a disappointment. Photographer Ernest Laszlo took over the camera after Wallace Kelley fell ill.

The film premiered on June 21, 1967 in Saint Louis and was released in cinemas in the USA on July 12, 1967. In the Federal Republic of Germany it started on September 7, 1967, in Austria it also started in September 1967.

criticism

For the lexicon of international films, it was an "entertaining grotesque series by and with Jerry Lewis".

Cinema was of the opinion: "Brazen and stupid versus well-behaved and honest, the film wrestles a lot of comical moments from this contrast." The assessment led to the conclusion: "Even with a fishing rod, Jerry catches points"

Kino.de spoke of a "very entertaining comedy", focused on the performance of Jerry Lewis and wrote that "the comedian here once again shines in one of his best roles - a double role".

In the New York Times there was talk of a "tired and exaggerated" film, for the dead stretches, but there are also "moments of real creative brilliance". In the box-office magazine , it was felt that this film Lewis' best film since his film The Nutty Professor is ". Hollywood Reporter spoke of an "uneventful film that is on average not very funny and disappointing". Shawn Levy described the film as "an odd mix of know-how and amateurism" and James Neibaur and Ted Okuda called it a "great old-style film" that was "better than most of Lewis' films."

Dennis Schwartz was not very impressed by the film and spoke, among other things, of "stale jokes that are usually not funny" and an "easy story that got too long". At least "it is enough for one or two giggles".

The Protestant film observer comes up with both praise and criticism : “Despite technical skills and some good ideas, weaker than the last Lewis films. Even Lewis fans of the younger age groups (12+) hardly recommendable. "

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Jeremy Arnold: The Big Mouth (1967) - Articles. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  2. ↑ The Big Mouth (1967) - Misc Notes. In: Turner Classic Movies . Retrieved October 30, 2019 .
  3. ↑ A frogman on the hook. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed October 30, 2019 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  4. ↑ A frogman on the hook. In: Cinema . Hubert Burda Media , accessed on October 30, 2019 .
  5. ^ A frogman on the hook kino.de. Retrieved August 22, 2015.
  6. ↑ Dennis Schwartz: The Big Mouth In: Ozus 'World Movie Reviews' (English).
  7. ↑ Evangelical Press Association, Munich, Review No. 394/1967