Wealth is not a shame

Movie
German title	Wealth is not a shame
Original title	The jerk
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Publishing year	1979
length	94 minutes
Age rating	FSK 12
Rod
Director	Carl Reiner
script	Steve Martin , Carl Gottlieb , Michael Elias
production	David V. Picker , William E. McEuen
music	Jack Elliott
camera	Victor J. Kemper
cut	Bud Molin
occupation
	Steve Martin : Navin R. Johnson; Bernadette Peters : Marie Kimble Johnson; Bill Macy : Stan Fox; M. Emmet Walsh : Madman; Dick O'Neill : Frosty; Jackie Mason : Harry Hartounian; Maurice Evans : Hobart; Mabel King : Mother; Richard Ward : Father; Carl Gottlieb : Iron Balls McGinty; Carl Reiner : Carl Reiner;

Wealth Is No Shame (The Jerk) is a 1979 American comedy film directed by Carl Reiner and the first feature film in which Steve Martin played a leading role.

action

Navin Johnson is the adopted white son of an African American family in the countryside. One day he makes his way to St. Louis . On the way he takes a job as a gas station attendant and on the side repairs a customer's broken glasses with a homemade one. After he happens to be the target of a mad gun fool, he joins a traveling circus . There he met and fell in love with Marie; However, she separates from him because he cannot offer her any financial security. Unexpectedly, Navin became a rich man in one fell swoop through his invention of the so-called "Opti-Grab" glasses holder. He then marries Marie and moves into an extravagant property with her. However, his fortune melted away when the glasses holder became known to have serious side effects and he was brought up with lawsuits for damages .

He ends up as a homeless man in the gutter until he is found by Marie and his adoptive parents. In the meantime, they had invested the money he sent home, so that Navin's livelihood is secured again.

Reviews

Roger Ebert wrote in the Chicago Sun-Times of June 1, 1979 that he didn't find the film particularly funny because it consisted only of bland gags with no real comedy. The lexicon of international films saw an “over-the-top comedy” that caricatured “the American career dream with partly funny, partly clumsy gags”.

The American Film Institute named the film 89th of the 100 Best American Comedies of All Time in 2000 .

Individual evidence

Web links

[1] Review by Roger Ebert

[2] Wealth is not a shame. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed July 1, 2017 .