Who's Minding the Store? (1963)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Frank Tashlin

Writers:

Harry Tugend (story)
Frank Tashlin (writer) ...

Release Date:

28 November 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Norman Phiffier works as a store clerk in a large department store. Clumsy and inept, he can't do anything right. Boy are they in trouble!

Plot Keywords:

Department Store | New York | New York City | Beautiful Woman | Shoplifting

Cast

Jerry Lewis	...	Norman Phiffier
Jill St. John	...	Barbara Tuttle
Ray Walston	...	Mr. Quimby
John McGiver	...	Mr. John P. Tuttle
Agnes Moorehead	...	Mrs. Phoebe Tuttle
Francesca Bellini	...	Shirley Lott
Peggy Mondo	...	Lady wrestler
Nancy Kulp	...	Emily Rothgraber
John Abbott	...	Roberts
Isobel Elsom	...	Hazel, a Dowager
Kathleen Freeman	...	Mrs. Glucksman
Fritz Feld	...	Irving Cahastrophe, the Gourmet Manager
Milton Frome	...	Francois, the Driver
Mary Treen	...	Mattress Customer
Dick Wessel	...	Traffic cop (as Richard Wessel)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

UK:U | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Jerry Lewis Pictures

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Watch carefully as Jerry Lewis mimes typing a letter to the accompaniment of Leroy Anderson's rapid-fire orchestral piece "The Typewriter." Lewis messes up twice, and reacts to his mistakes both times, but keeps going. Apparently, the spontaneity of the performance was more important to Lewis and director Frank Tashlin than an error-free take.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Catalina Caper (#3.4)" (1990)

Soundtrack:

The Typewriter

Clumsy errand boy tries to make good only to make matters worse!

I saw this movie at a Sunday matinee in 1963. The movie was so funny that the mere memory of that movie was enough to get me laughing. And I got sent to the principal's office as a result. So you can say that Jerry Lewis got me in trouble in school!

Jerry Lewis is an incompetant errand boy who is engaged to the store owner's daughter. But to get him out of the daughter's life, the store owner turns the screws on the engagement by assigning him the worst jobs. The store owner then moves him from one department to another, leaving massive chaos and destruction everywhere he goes.

The results are hilarious enough. But the aftermath of his time in the appliance department, alone, is worth watching the movie alone. It left me laughing so hard that I had stomach cramps!

I saw the movie again many years later and it was second childhood all over again.