This is one of my popular comedies. It’s not for everyone, as you must understand Martin’s unusual style of humor. That having been said, the DVD is poor.
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The transfer is decent, although could have been cleaned up more. Luckily, it’s at least anamorphic widescreen. The sound, while hardly sounding like 5.1, collected sounds decent, as i doubt surround sound was on the mind of film makers in 1979. Seriously, it’s not Star Wars.
Extras? Fugetaboudit! NO commentary. NO making-of. NO interviews. Honest one delected scene, trailer, and a stupid ukelele lesson.
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The WORST section! There are scenes missing! Perhaps this version of the film is exactly as it was released in the theaters, but i’m too young to know. However, every time i’ve seen it on television, there were scenes not point to in this release…such as the several different people requesting donations from the rich Navin Johnson. In this, you only glean the Mexican priest. Where’s the guy who needs original seat covers on his plane? That scene was classic!
You know, this is the SECOND release of this film on DVD, and they call it an “Anniversary Edition.” If they’re going to give it a name like that, they could at least include the slice of the movie with extra scenes added abet in. Maybe the commentary and a simple 15-minute making-of is asking too great, but at least give us the material that’s already in the can.
Surreal to the point of silliness, “The Jerk” captured the atmosphere of comedy perfectly in the 70’s. Before Robin Williams broke through to a larger audience on the tall and itsy-bitsy mask, Steve Martin was THE JERK. As dense as a brick, Martin doesn’t so distinguished as act like a jerk as become one. Opening like a variation on all those Hollywood tales where the hero of our tale is down on his luck but soon to be redeemed (of course, this IS a comedy so it’s unlikely he’ll net the redemption we examine because, well, that wouldn’t be amusing), Navin Johnson (Martin) mentions at the beginning that he was “born a abominable shadowy child”. Adopted by a bad African-American family living in poverty, Navin is disturbed to examine that not only is he adopted but he’s always going to be Caucasian and have absolutely no rhythm. Navin discovers he does have rhythm after all (”praise the Lord!”) when he listens to a radio playing dance music from the time. Navin eats his Twinkies, learns the incompatibility between sh-t and Shinola and hits the road hoping to be rich. Armed with the advice his family gives him (”God bless the working man…and remember never trust whitey!”) . He hitchhikes getting his first slip which takes him to the raze of a fence getting about twenty feet away from home. Needless to say, life is more than an adventure for Nathan and his dog Shithead; it’s a vocation.
Receiving a very nice transfer, “The Jerk” looks typical of a film from the leisurely 70’s with noticeable film grain and while the colors aren’t quite as quick-witted as I would have plan, they’re acceptable. This is the first widescreen presentation for the film so that’s something to be thankful for. There’s quite a bit of analog debris in the get of dirt (in fact it looks as if this is exactly the same transfer as the previous edition) . The 5.1 remastered Dolby Digital Surround Sound mix has nice presence but (not surprisingly) it doesn’t spend the format particularly well.
In addition to the recent production notes from the previous edition and theatrical trailer we also obtain 1 extra and 1 featuring footage lop from the film. “The Lost Filmstrips of Father Carlos Las Vegas De Cordova” is a “continuation” of the film within a film where we search for Martin play various characters doing things like verbally abusing a plant, dressing a bulldog in a clown suit as the audience cheers and takes pets in a bizarre parody of cock fighting. It’s really footage that was nick from that sequence. “Learn to Play `Tonight You Belong to Me’” includes sections where you can learn to tune a ukulele (something I’ve been dying to learn), play it, play along with the Ukulele Gal and, finally, play along with the jerk himself. It’s bizarre to say the least. The last bit is impartial a scene from “The Jerk” where Navin serenades his sweetheart at the beach.
No commentary track from Martin or Reiner. Honestly, you’d reflect they were embarrassed by this film! Or, maybe they weren’t asked to do it or wanted too grand money. While an improvement on the current edition of the film, that improved is cramped at best. The featurettes are beneficial diversions but the valid reason to find “The Jerk” is that this is the first time it’s been presented in widescreen. The image quality could have been cleaned up quite a bitas there’s quite a bit of analog debris that appears early on in the film. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this unless you’re dying to have the widescreen version of this classic comedy.
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Adam Vazquez