''The Big Mouth'' is a 1967 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

produced, directed, co-written, and starring

Jerry Lewis Jerry Lewis (born Joseph Levitch; March 16, 1926 – August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, filmmaker and humanitarian. As his contributions to comedy and charity made him a global figure in popular culture, pop culture ...

. It was filmed in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

and features

Frank De Vol Frank Denny De Vol (September 20, 1911 – October 27, 1999) was an American actor, and using the name De Vol was an arranger and composer. As a composer he was nominated for four Academy Awards. Early life and career De Vol was born in Mounds ...

as an onscreen narrator.

Plot

Gerald Clamson is a bank examiner who loves fishing on his annual two-week holiday. Unfortunately, one day at the ocean he reels in Syd Valentine, an injured gangster in a scuba diving suit. Syd tells Gerald about diamonds he has stolen from the other gangsters and hands him a map. Gerald escapes as frogmen from a yacht machine-gun the beach. They swim ashore, locate Syd and gun him down. Their leader Thor ensures Syd's demise by firing a torpedo from his yacht that goes ashore, blowing a crater into the beach. As the police ignore Gerald's story, Gerald heads to the Hilton Inn in San Diego where Syd claimed the diamonds were hidden. There he meets Suzie Cartwright, an airline stewardess. While searching for the diamonds, he needs to avoid the hotel staff after inadvertently hurting the manager. Gerald disguises himself as a character similar to Professor Julius Kelp from '' The Nutty Professor'', while trying to stay one step ahead of the other gangsters who are on his tail, as well as the hotel detectives led by the manager—all the while courting Suzie. As each of the gangsters see Gerald, an identical lookalike to the deceased Syd, they have nervous breakdowns; one imagining himself a dog, one turning into a Larry Fine lookalike, the other becoming a stutterer. The one man Gerald meets who believes him, and identifies himself as an FBI special agent, turns out to be an escapee from an insane asylum. The movie climaxes in a chase through

Sea World San Diego SeaWorld San Diego is an animal theme park, oceanarium, outside aquarium and marine mammal park, in San Diego, California, United States, inside Mission Bay Park. It is owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment. SeaWorld San D ...

, where Gerald is pursued by Thor's mob, a rival group of gangsters who had made a deal with Syd to buy his diamonds, and a group of Chinese who smuggle the diamonds disguised as plastic pearls. Gerald disguises himself as a

Kabuki is a classical form of Japanese dance- drama. Kabuki theatre is known for its heavily-stylised performances, the often-glamorous costumes worn by performers, and for the elaborate make-up worn by some of its performers. Kabuki is thought ...

dancer but is pursued until Suzie rescues him by flying by with a helicopter and dropping a rope ladder that Gerald escapes on. They return to the Pacific Ocean, where Syd reappears. The rival gangsters chase Syd into the ocean, and Gerald and Suzie walk away, deeply in love. The diamonds are never located. The final scene shows the narrator, Bogart, facing the camera and solemnly announcing that the tale is true—then the camera pulls back as De Vol turns and walks away on the breakwater where the beginning and ending action had taken place. De Vol is wearing all of a business suit except trousers, and he is carrying a briefcase.

Cast

as Gerald Clamson / Syd Valentine *

Harold J. Stone Harold J. Stone (born Harold Hochstein, March 3, 1913November 18, 2005) was an American stage, radio, film, and television character actor. Early life and stage career Stone was born to a Jewish acting family. At age six, Stone debuted on stage ...

as Thor *

Susan Bay Susan Linda Bay Nimoy (born March 16, 1943) is an American actress and director. Among her television appearances, she portrayed Admiral Rollman in two episodes of the television series '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'': "Past Prologue" in the fi ...

as Suzie Cartwright *

Buddy Lester Buddy Lester (born William Goldberg, January 16, 1915 – October 4, 2002) was an American actor and comedian who portrayed dozens of character roles in films and television. Although known for his appearances in Jerry Lewis’ comedy films, he w ...

as Studs * Del Moore as Mr. Hodges *

Paul Lambert Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-ol ...

as Moxie *

Jeannine Riley Jeannine Brooke Riley (born October 1, 1940) is an American actress. Early years The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Riley, she was born in Fresno, California, and moved with her family to Madera, California, after her father left the Army. She ...

as Bambi Berman * Leonard Stone as Fong *

Charlie Callas Charlie Callas (born Charles Callias; December 20, 1924 – January 27, 2011) was an American actor and comedian. He was most commonly known for his work with Mel Brooks, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin, and his many stand-up appearances on tele ...

as Rex *

as Bogart (as Frank DeVol) * Vern Rowe as Gunner * David Lipp as Lizard * Vincent Van Lynn as Fancher * Mike Mahoney as Detective #1 * Walter Kray as Detective #2 * John Nolen as F.B.I. Agent * Eddie Ryder as Specs

Production

''The Big Mouth'' was filmed from December 5, 1966 to February 28, 1967 in the newly built Hilton San Diego hotel at Mission Bay and marked the film debut of

after he met Lewis on a chat show as well as a cameo by Colonel Harland Sanders.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film holds a 40% rating based on 5 reviews, with an average rating of 4.65/10.

References

External links