The Jerk
Directed by	Carl Reiner
Written by	Steve Martin
Starring	Steve Martin Bernadette Peters Catlin Adams
Released	December 14, 1979
Running time	94 min
Language	English
IMDb profile

The Jerk (1979) is Carl Reiner's rags-to-riches-to-rags film comedy of belated self-discovery. This is Steve Martin's first starring role in a feature film and was also written by him as well. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmet Walsh, Jackie Mason, and Trinidad Silva. Reiner has a cameo appearance and his son Rob Reiner has an uncredited bit part. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (450x675, 89 KB) Summary Original Source: http://images. ... Carl Reiner (born March 20, 1922) is a Jewish-American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. ... Steve Martin (right) with Scooter, on The Muppet Show Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, musician, and composer. ... Steve Martin (right) with Scooter, on The Muppet Show Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, musician, and composer. ... Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters is the stage name of Bernadette Lazarra (born February 28, 1948 in Ozone Park, Queens, New York), an actress and singer. ... December 14 is the 348th day of the year (349th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... This page refers to the year 1979. ... Carl Reiner (born March 20, 1922) is a Jewish-American actor, film director, producer, writer and comedian. ... Comedy is the use of humor in the form of theater, where it simply referred to a play with a happy ending, in contrast to a tragedy. ... Steve Martin (right) with Scooter, on The Muppet Show Stephen Glenn Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American comedian, writer, producer, actor, musician, and composer. ... Bernadette Peters Bernadette Peters is the stage name of Bernadette Lazarra (born February 28, 1948 in Ozone Park, Queens, New York), an actress and singer. ... M Emmet Walsh as the private detective in Blood Simple Michael Emmet Walsh (born March 22, 1935 in Ogdensburg, New York) is an American character actor who has appeared in over 100 film and television productions. ... Jackie Mason (born Jacob Maza on June 9, 1931, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin) is an ordained rabbi and an American stand-up comedian. ... Actor Trinidad Silva Jr. ... Martin Scorsese appears briefly in an uncredited role in this scene from Taxi Driver, the first scene in which Cybill Shepherd appears. ... Rob Reiner as a young man Robert Rob Reiner (born March 6, 1947 in The Bronx, New York) is an American actor, director, producer, and writer. ...

In 2000, readers of Total Film magazine voted The Jerk the 48th greatest comedy film of all time. This article is about the year 2000. ... Total Film, published by Future Publishing, is the United Kingdoms second best-selling film magazine, after the longer-established Empire from Emap. ...

Plot summary

Navin Johnson (Martin) is the adopted white son of black sharecroppers, who grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of the fact of his adoption, then goes into the world to make his fortune. Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. ... White (collection: White people, White race or Whites) is a term used as a group lumping form of ethnic or racial classification of people. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black), is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... Sharecropping is a system of farming in which employee farmers work a parcel of land in return for a fraction of the parcels crops. ...

The characters include a variety of ethnic stereotypes: simple-minded rural blacks, redneck whites, Hispanic con artists, greedy Jews. However, the stereotypes are so blatant that their inclusion in the film could be considered as the filmmakers' ironic comment on the evils of stereotyping. A 19th century childrens book informs its readers that the Dutch are a very industrious race, and that Chinese children are very obedient to their parents. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... It has been suggested that Hispano be merged into this article or section. ... A confidence trick, confidence game, also known as a con, scam, or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ...

An unsuccesful sequel "The Jerk Too" was made for television with Mark Blankfield.

Quotes

• "I was born a poor black child."
  • Navin Johnson

• "There's something about those songs.. They depress me."
  • Navin Johnson, in reference to blues

• "You mean I'm gonna stay this color?"
  • Navin Johnson, when informed that he is adopted

• "Page 73, Johnson, Navin, R.! I'm somebody now! Millions of people look at this book every day! This is the kind of spontaneous publicity, your name in print, that makes people. I'm in print! Things are going to start happening to me now."
  • Navin, after having his name published in the phone book for the first time.

• "He hates these cans!"
  • Navin Johnson, responding to a sniper trying to shoot him and hitting oil cans

The blues is a vocal and instrumental form of music based on a pentatonic scale and a characteristic twelve-bar chord progression. ... Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. ...

External links

• The Jerk at The Internet Movie Database