Buddy Lester Movies

Jerry Lewis' first film in a decade stars the comedian as Bo Hooper, an unemployed circus clown who cannot hold down a job. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide

Kojak (Telly Savalas) investigates when a Greek sailor is murdered just as he disembarks from a freighter. The solution to the crime would seem to be a tiny bit of contraband, smuggled into the country in the dead sailor's best. But what exactly is the smuggled item, and where is it now? Better still, what's the real story on the only eyewitness to the killing? This week's guest cast includes future St. Elsewhere costar Norman Lloyd. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this comedy, a burned out bookkeeper thinks about selling his soul to Satan. His thoughts invoke the presence of a bungling messenger from the devil himself. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

This episode focuses on one of Adam-12's most stalwart supporting players, William Boyett as Sergeant "Mac" MacDonald. While on assignment, Mac knocks down a pedestrian in his squad car. Although Officer Pete Malloy (Martin Milner) testifies that it was an unavoidable accident, Mac is accused of reckless driving by four different eyewitnesses. "Back-Up One L-20" was written by a young Stephen J. Cannell. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Does there exist a sitcom which did NOT include an episode wherein the regulars are forced to wait hand and foot on an unpleasant supporting character in order to avoid a lawsuit? This time around, it is nasty Selma Plout (Elvia Allman) who threatens legal action against Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) when she sustains an injury after falling out of the Shady Rest hammock. Shades of "The Man Who Came to Dinner"...only this time it's a woman and there's no dinner... ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jerry Lewis is aptly cast as The Big Mouth in this production (he also served as producer, director and cowriter). As bad luck would have it, Lewis is the exact double of a notorious gangster. The bad guys who think they've disposed of the gangster are taken aback when they see Jerry strolling about, while several other disreputable characters chase after Lewis in the mistaken assumption that our hero knows the whereabouts of a cache of stolen diamonds. Charlie Callas provides some good moments as a hit man who is so unnerved by Jerry's "resurrection" that he turns into a babbling idiot (so what else is new?) There's also a cute bit involving a Kabuki dance troupe. Overall, however, The Big Mouth suffers from the Curse of Jerry: too much repetition, too many pointless gags (will someone explain why Colonel Sanders makes a guest appearance?) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Toward the end of Jerry Lewis's Paramount studio period, Lewis slapped together this bitter comedy about Hollywood phoniness and fame that has to be the most rancid portrait of the Hollywood star system in the Rat Pack era this side of Clifford Odets. When a famous entertainer suddenly is killed in an airplane crash, his team of flunkies -- producer Caryl Fergusson (Everett Sloane), writer Chic Wymore (Phil Harris), press agent Harry Silver (Keenan Wynn), director Morgan Heywood (Peter Lorre in his final film role), valet Bruce Alden (John Carradine), and secretary Ellen Betz (Ina Balin) -- decide to continue their life style by finding a complete unknown and manufacturing him into a Hollywood star. That unknown turns out to be the nervous and inept bellboy Stanley Belt (Jerry Lewis). They train Stanley to become an over-night singing sensation, and despite a disastrous recording session and a failed nightclub performance, the public relations blitz makes Stanley's recording of "I Lost My Heart in a Drive-In Movie" a smash single. So much so that Stanley is given a shot at appearing on "The Ed Sullivan Show." Expecting the worst, Stanley's management team abandons him right before his performance. But Stanley musters up enough confidence to go on the live program alone and manages to surprise his pessimistic ex-staff. A collection of Hollywood celebrities circa 1964 --George Raft, Ed Wynn, Ed Sullivan, Mel Torme, Rhonda Fleming and Hedda Hopper -- make cameo appearances. High spots include an apocalyptic music lesson with voice teacher Dr. Mule-rrr (Hans Conried), Ed Sullivan performing a bizarre impersonation of himself, and an ending that would make even Jean-Luc Godard blush. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

The 1939 adventure classic Gunga Din is transferred from British India to the American West, courtesy of Frank Sinatra's "Clan." Sinatra, Dean Martin and Peter Lawford play three cavalry officers, always ready for a brawl but willing to die for each other if need be. Sammy Davis Jr. a cavalry bugler who has aspirations of being a combat soldier. The three officers and the bugler take on a Napoleonic Native American chief, who plans to unify all the tribes and kill every white man in sight. Davis does his "Gunga" bit by blowing his bugle and warning the approaching cavalry that they're riding into a trap. About all that isn't pilfered from Gunga Din is the death of the noble bugler; Davis survives being shot up by the Indians with little more than a flesh wound! Sergeants Three also stars another Sinatra crony, Joey Bishop, playing the role originally essayed in Gunga Din by Robert Coote. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

During a Los Angeles Christmas, a group of 82nd Airborne vets assembles under the leadership of gamblin' man Danny Ocean (Frank Sinatra) to rip off four Las Vegas casinos just after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day. Playboy Jimmy Foster (Peter Lawford) joins in the scheme because he's sick of needing his oft-married mother's money, especially now that she's about to wed Duke Santos (Cesar Romero), a self-made man with all sorts of underworld ties. After he receives the news that he could die at any time, newly released convict Anthony Bergdorf (Richard Conte) reluctantly agrees to participate so he can leave some money to his estranged wife and young son. Ocean's own wife, Beatrice (Angie Dickinson), doesn't think much of her husband's promise of a big score to come, but her quiet protests don't dissuade him. With Las Vegas garbage man and fellow vet Josh Howard (Sammy Davis Jr.) and several casino employees among their number, the titular band of thieves have just a few days to get ready for their caper. When Duke Santos, Jimmy's mother, and one of Ocean's discarded paramours all show up in Sin City at the same time as the veterans, the crew's perfect plans face some serious hurdles. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

A worried mother (Grace Albertson) contacts detectives Friday (Jack Webb) and Smith (Ben Alexander) after she finds a hypodermic needle in her teenage son's room. Although the boy sullenly admits that he's shot heroin at least twice in the past few days, he stubbornly refuses to reveal the name of his supplier. The trail of evidence leads to the LA waterfront, where Friday and Smith go undercover as merchant seamen to nab the drug smugglers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide