Posted in: Movies | Tagged: dean martin, jerry lewis, Mel Brooks, Stella Stevens, The Nutty Professor, woody allen

Lauren Looks Back: "The Nutty Professor (1963)" is an American Classic

Published Mon, 23 Mar 2020 16:55:49 -0500

Jerry Lewis's The Nutty Professor is 1963 parody of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is an American Classic. Revolving around a bumbling Professor Julius Kelp (Jerry Lewis), and his love interest, Stella Purdy (Stella Stevens).

The movie is a real delight, and while some jokes and gags are horribly outdated, it's still a fun watch. The characters are the real delight though. As stated earlier, Kelp is a lovable, bumbling professor. He's clearly smart but painfully socially awkward. Stella Purdy — Kelp's love interest — is the opposite. She's calm, cool, and collected. It's clear she likes the awkward Kelp, even maybe feeling a bit sorry for him. But Kelp clearly doesn't feel good enough, so he concocts a potion to make him "cool". Buddy Love is thus born.

Buddy Love is everything Kelp isn't. Many view Love as being inspired by Dean Martin, Lewis' long time comedic partner. It stands to reason that at this time Lewis and Martin weren't thrilled with each other. Lewis has denied that Love was inspired by Marin, but rather by every obnoxious, self-important asshole. I also can't ignore the fact that Kelp inspired Professor Frink from The Simpsons, one of my favorite characters.

The colors of the movie are also nothing short of beautiful. Since this is set in the '60s, it wasn't exactly a surprise to see some psychedelic colors — especially in the scene where Kelp turns into Love. This scene in prior Jekyll and Hyde films is shot to be horrifying, but that's not the case here. While it is still scary, it's not without its humor. The splashes of color through the scene don't make it any more light-hearted, but it does make it more visually impressive. Lewis' transformation scene is also impressive given the era of this film. At one point he even resembles a traditional Hyde. The cinematography in this specific scene is impressive and shows that Lewis had a real eye for capturing emotion. He knew how to tell a story.

This movie also came out at a particularly interesting time. With World War II safely in America's rearview mirror, but still close enough for most people to recall. Anti-Jewish sentiment was still around. Yet Lewis was intensely popular. When he and Martin were together, they commanded, and drew, crowds that rivaled what The Beatles drew. Lewis was an integral person in Jewish assimilation in America. He was successful in showing that Jews are no different than everyone else. In this specific movie, Kelp was a bumbling yet lovable professor. He even got the blond-haired blue-eyed girl in the end.

Comedy was also thought of as a defense mechanism in a post-Holocaust world. Aside from Lewis, you had Mel Brooks and Woody Allen who were doing similar things with their movies. The Nutty Professor was a hit — but fans liked it for reasons Lewis didn't intend for. People adored the Love character. After all, he was what men wanted to be and women wanted to be with. Kelp, on the other hand, was "dweeby" and "weird", something a lot of people view Jews as. At the end of the day, Kelp still wins the girl and showed that you have to like yourself, but that might have gone over the viewer's heads.

Have you seen The Nutty Professor? Have a hot take you want to share with us? Let us know in the comments below!

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