Trivia for
The Jerk (1979) More at IMDbPro »

• Originally titled "Easy Money".
  
  
• The song that Navin and Marie sing as they walk along the beach, "Tonight You Belong To Me", was a hit in the '50s for sister duet Patience and Prudence.
  
  
• Steve Martin's favorite scene involves M. Emmet Walsh, shooting the cans at the gas station.
  
  
• The mansion shown in the film is the infamous Sheik Al-Fassi mansion in Beverly Hills. The tacky rooms shown in the film were actually shot in the mansion thanks to its cavernous size rooms. The mansion also had its own basement Disco where the dance scene was filmed. The 38-room mansion no longer exists; it was torched by an arsonist in 1980.
  
  
• The tag number for the blue coupe (a Chevrolet Monte Carlo) was J3S 762
  
  
• Bill Murray filmed a cameo that was deleted. On the 15 December 1979 broadcast of "Saturday Night Live", Murray jokingly reviewed 'The Jerk', saying: "I was in the movie but cut out of it. That doesn't influence my opinion. The movie is a dog. There's something missing. I don't know who it is, I can't say."
  
  
• Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.
  
  
• Prior to the film's opening, Martin was delayed in Terre Haute, Indiana. He later recalled this story on "The Tonight Show," calling Terre Haute "No Place." The residents of the city objected to this, and ultimately, Martin was invited back to Terre Haute and was given the key to the city and a tour of the local fertilizer plant. Martin repaid the city by opening "The Jerk" in Terre Haute. However, in one of the trailers for "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid," Martin asks the audience if they'd rather see "Cow Patties over Terre Haute." Also in that film, when Col Kluck throws one switch, it destroys one town in America: Terre Haute, IN.
  
  
• Hartunian's gas station is actually located on the corner of Halstead and Rosemead Blvd in Pasadena, Ca. The gas station has since been torn down and a Carl's Jr. Restaurant has been constructed. In addition, the hill that the shooter is climbing to fire upon the gas station is "Green Hill", which has been developed into a professional office center.
  
  
• When Marie is applying the face mask treatment to the older gentleman, she mentions that it will make the customer look years younger. At that moment his wife exclaims, "ahlevai," which means "I wish" in Hebrew.
  
  
• According to his book "Born Standing Up", Martin's favorite line in the movie is ad libbed. When his character is hitchhiking, a man in a truck stops and asks, "St. Louis?" - to which Martin replies, "No, Navin Johnson."
  
  
• The film's title in Germany was "Reichtum is keine Schande", which translates as "Wealth is no shame".
  
  
• Stanley Kubrick was a big admirer of this film. Stanley would often recite lines from the film to cast and crew on his films and he once invited Steve Martin over so they could play chess.
  
  
• The last cinema feature of Maurice Evans.
  
  

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