That’s My Boy ** (1951, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Eddie Mayehoff, Ruth Hussey, Polly Bergen, John McIntire, Marion Marshall) – Classic Movie Review 9095

Director Hal Walker’s 1951 comedy That’s My Boy is one of the best of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis’s early films, with Lewis as the dumb college weakling ‘Junior’ Jackson, who is such a disappointment to his boastful former sports ace father Jarring Jack Jackson (Eddie Mayehoff), once the greatest player ever at Ridgefield College, that he uses his influence to get Junior on the college football team and hires Bill Baker (Martin) as football coach.

It is a venerable storyline, that is an ancient, much previously used one, but everything comes up relatively fresh, and Mayehoff makes a delightful meal of his part.

That’s My Boy is mostly more mawkish than amusing though, and where are the funny gags?

Also in the cast are Ruth Hussey, Polly Bergen, John McIntire, Marion Marshall, Hugh Sanders, Francis Pierlot, Selmer Jackson, Lillian Randolph, Tom Harmon, Gregg Palmer [Palmer Lee] and Hazel Boyne.

That’s My Boy is directed by Hal Walker, runs 104 minutes, is made by Wallis-Hazen, is released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Cy Howard (original screenplay), is shot in black and white by Lee Garmes, is produced by Hal B Wallis and Cy Howard (associate producer), and is scored by Leigh Harline, with Art Direction by Franz Bachelin and Hal Pereira.

Football great Frank Gifford stands in for Lewis.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9095

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