So, Martin & Lewis came out near the end of the slapstick comedy era. They were the last of the great classic comedians, that grew out of vaudeville and kept the sub-genre of the slapstick comedy alive for 50 years. In the silent era of film, you had the likes of, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd. In the 1930s and 40s, it was names like, Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, The Three Stooges and Abbott and Costello, who reigned as kings on the slapstick stage. Martin and Lewis would debut in the movie theaters in 1949 and dominated the 1950s. But, by 1956 (oddly enough the same year that Abbott and Costello broke up), Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis called it quits. This left the decaying bones of the slapstick sub-genre to low-budget films, mostly made by the aged Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis' solo career and a small resurgence of new comedians on television, that kept the sub-genre alive until its untimely death in the 1970s.
This film is a textbook example of what a great Martin and Lewis film looked like. Dean and Jerry were huge in the 1950s. They had crowds show up to their Atlantic City, New Jersey shows, like Elvis was in town. They were big in the movies and on television. This film follows the same formula, that the old Abbott and Costello war films were like. The difference with this one was the Korean War was going on and it was a different attitude in the 1950s. They weren't trying to sell war bonds, so much as, just make a comedy about basic training and war games. Dean (as Chick Allen), is a corporal in the Army, who is part of the para-troopers and also used to do a nightclub act back in the states. In a desperation move to put on a great show, he asks for the assistance of his old fellow performer, Jerry (as Hap Smith), which unfortunately ends in Hap getting pulled into training camp and becoming, accidently, a para-trooper himself. It is hilarious watching Hap, who has no business being near the Army, get through this film without getting himself killed. Dean throws in some great songs and this film is a classic in a sub-genre still at its peak.
7.3 (C+ MyGrade) = 7 IMDB.
