Hardly Working

Hardly Working (1980)

The world's funniest funny man is back!

In Jerry Lewis's first film in a decade, he plays Bo Hooper, an unemployed circus clown who can't seem to hold down a job. The film opens with a brief montage of clips from past Lewis movies. He then moves into a succession of jobs that he gets himself fired from including a gas station attendant and a mailman - all with disastrous results.

Date of release
1980-01-30
TMDB
4.5 / 10 (21)
Runtime
1h 31m
Genres
Comedy
Director
Jerry Lewis

Casting

Interesting facts

Hardly Working is a 1980 American comedy film directed by, co-written by and starring Jerry Lewis and Susan Oliver, filmed in 1979, released in Europe in 1980 and then in the United States on April 3, 1981, through 20th Century Fox. This film marks the final theatrical film appearance for Oliver before her death in 1990.

Production

Joseph Proctor set up a production company to produce his first film, based on a Michael Janover script, which Lewis agreed to direct and star in. This was Lewis' "comeback" film, as it was his first released film since 1970's Which Way to the Front?. In between, he filmed The Day the Clown Cried, which, to date, remains unreleased.

Lewis set up a studio-like complex in 23 rooms at the Palm Aire Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and became a joint owner of the production and placed his salary in escrow. He received a co-screenplay credit for his work on the film. As well as Fort Lauderdale, the film was also filmed in Palm Beach, Florida.

Proctor ran into financial difficulties and work on the film was suspended for about six months in 1980 after the production ran out of money, with Lewis himself declaring personal bankruptcy. Because of this, there are many notable continuity issues throughout the film. Proctor left the production and James J. McNamara came in as producer raising $1 million to complete the production.

Looking back on the shoot, Lewis admitted that "the whole experience was a mixed bag". "I have to admit that the awful strain of the past ten years showed in every part of my work," the comedian wrote in Dean and Me: A Love Story. "The movie didn't really hang together, and not so surprisingly, I looked terrible in it." Lewis' future wife, Sandee "Sam" Pitnick, has a cameo as a disco dancer.

Lewis also played the part of the 'Little Ol' Lady' dressed in drag. During the closing credits this part was credited to "Joseph Levitch", which Lewis claimed to be his birth name.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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