The Disorderly Orderly (1964)

When he flunks out of med school, Jerome Littlefield goes to work as an orderly in a private rest home where he wreaks havoc for everyone concerned. Dr. Jean Howard is the exasperated head ... See full summary »

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writers:

Frank Tashlin (screenplay), Norm Liebmann (story)

Stars:

Jerry Lewis, Glenda Farrell, Susan Oliver

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jerry Lewis	...	Jerome Littlefield
Glenda Farrell	...	Dr. Jean Howard
Susan Oliver	...	Susan Andrews
Karen Sharpe	...	Julie Blair
Kathleen Freeman	...	Nurse Maggie Higgins
Everett Sloane	...	Mr. Tuffington
Del Moore	...	Dr. Davenport
Alice Pearce	...	Mrs. Fuzzibee
Milton Frome	...	Board Member
John Macchia	...	Orderly
Jack E. Leonard	...	Fat Jack
Barbara Nichols	...	Miss Marlowe
Muriel Landers	...	Millicent
Frank J. Scannell	...	Milton M. Mealy (as Frank Scannell)

Storyline

When he flunks out of med school, Jerome Littlefield goes to work as an orderly in a private rest home where he wreaks havoc for everyone concerned. Dr. Jean Howard is the exasperated head of the sanitarium who almost becomes a patient after the antics of the frantic employee. When talkative patient Mrs. Fuzzibee happily and continuously relates her maladies to Jerome, he hilariously has psychosomatic symptoms that mirror those of the nutty woman. He discovers that his high school girl of his dreams, Susan Andrews has been brought to the sanitarium after a suicide attempt. He secretly pays for the destitute young woman's stay while helping to restore her confidence and self respect, much to the jealousy of his girlfriend, Julie Blair, a young and pretty nurse who has high hopes of becoming the future Mrs. Littlefield.

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Plot Keywords:

slapstick comedy | hospital | runaway car | car chase | breaking the fourth wall | 

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Taglines:

Jerry's a mad medicine man on the ward-path in a hospital that should have known better!

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

1 February 1965 (Sweden)

Also Known As:

Der Tölpel vom Dienst

Filming Locations:

2700 Laurel Pass Ave./8300 Carmar Place, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Jerry Lewis Productions,York Pictures Corporation

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The nurse's song in French is about the flowers in her garden, while Jerome's continuation of the song, though containing certain recognizable words, is not fluent French.

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Goofs

When Jerome is loading the laundry onto the cart, he throws a bag and it goes over the cart and hits the wall on the other side. When the laundry hits the wall and door, the door and the entire wall shake revealing that it is obviously fake.

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Quotes

Julie Blair: Can you drive an ambulance?
Nurse Higgins: Well, in the Army I drove a tank...

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Connections

References The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

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Soundtracks

The Disorderly Orderly
by Earl Shuman and Leon Carr
Sung by Sammy Davis Jr.
Sammy Davis thru the courtesy of Reprise Records

User Reviews

Not among the comedian's best.

I must admit that I am not a huge fan of Jerry Lewis' comedies. I used to think they were all pretty bad but have recently come to appreciate many of them. However, I really think they are an uneven lot. Some are quite clever and well done--others suffer from one major problem--a lack of subtlety. Jokes are often taken to such extremes and Jerry's reactions are so intense that it loses me. As I said, however, this isn't always true---plus I love him in dramas (I think he actually is great in these). In the case of "The Disorderly Orderly", I tried but just couldn't enjoy the film. Too often, his overreactions just lost me and few of the skits came close to eliciting a chuckle...but nothing more. Additionally, the plot itself made little sense (such as, Why did Miss Blair even like him?!). Very weak. My advice is that if you like this very broad humor, by all means watch it. However, films like "The Bellboy", "The Delicate Delinquent" and "The Ladies Man" are much better and are well worth your time.

UPDATE: I saw this movie again a few days ago at the TCM Classic Movie Cruise. It was introduced by Lewis himself and the audience seemed to love it--with tons of laughs and snickers. Still, despite enjoying seeing Lewis interviewed, I was left feeling that the film was much like "The Bellboy" in that it was very episodic...but unlike "The Bellboy" its jokes fell flat almost every time. Perhaps I'd rate this one a 4 at second viewing...perhaps not. All I know is that I still didn't understand folks' love for this picture.