"The most conceptual of Lewis' films … a masterpiece of a cinema of embarrassment that Lewis made his special domain and to which he alone holds the secrets." – Senses of Cinema

Originally entitled ‘Son of Bellboy', Lewis' fifth feature as director once again finds him playing a hapless bellhop named Stanley, only this time – following the filmmaker's obsession with duality that blossomed in The Nutty Professor – he bears an uncanny resemblance to a famous comedian who recently perished in a plane crash. Not content to let death get in the way of show business, the late comedian's unscrupulous managers adopt Stanley as their puppet and set about grooming him for the spotlight, which proves hilariously harder than they imagined.

A keen student of Frank Tashlin, Lewis embraces his mentor's affectionate deconstruction of the Hollywood studio system, skewering fame's artificial constructs while celebrating the craftsmanship behind the art of moviemaking. From Stanley's brilliantly disastrous nightclub debut to an exquisitely calibrated vase gag that ranks among Lewis' greatest, The Patsy is the director/star at the peak of his early form.

With the great Peter Lorre, in his final film appearance, and an endless stream of cameos from the likes of Ed Sullivan, Hedda Hopper and George Raft.

"The most fully achieved of Lewis' films." – Chris Fujiwara, Contemporary Film Directors: Jerry Lewis

Print courtesy of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences