The Ladies Man (1961) User Reviews (32)

Fun to watch but not really for its entire duration.

[Boba_Fett1138 · 6/10 · 12 January 2011]

On the one hand this is a greatly entertaining, goofy, comedy but on the other its also a bit of a failure.

What the movie fails at is being a consistent one and maintaining a story throughout. It seems that about half way through the film-makers decided to throw the story overboard and to me the second half of the movie did not really felt in tone with its first half. But this might also very well be simply due to the fact that there wasn't much story to work with in the first place. It's an extremely simplistic story, that serves as an excuse to allow Jerry Lewis act crazy and incredibly immature.

And this is what makes the movie still some good lighthearted fun to watch. The comedy is real goofy and slapstick like and it shall most likely please the Jerry Lewis fans. The movie really has some good laughs in it, so as a comedy the movie still delivers, despite of its weaker second half.

Seriously, things don't even make sense anymore in its second half and a couple of different story lines and characters get thrown in, as if it all was a last minute decision. Things get really forced, such as for instance the 'love story' that really came out of nowhere and therefore just never worked out at all.

But no, I don't want to sound too negative about this movie, since it was one that I still enjoyed watching. The movie is a fun one to watch and a true pleasure to look at, due to its nice sets and Jerry Lewis, who was simply perfectly silly and provided the movie with much more fun and entertainment than its script could ever had.

Decent enough, simple entertainment.

6/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

The real bachelor in paradise

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 21 March 2016]

There's not much plot to The Ladies Man. Jerry Lewis plays new college graduate Herbert Heebert who finds his beloved on the day of his graduation in the arms of another. Depressed and somewhat disgusted he starts looking for work vowing never to marry and live a bachelor life.

Bob Hope did a film called Bachelor In Paradise around this time. But what he had was nothing compared to the situation that Lewis winds up with. He answers an advertisement for a handyman and finds it's in a private house that has been converted to a residential hotel for women. Beautiful young woman. Hugh Hefner's Playboy Mansion has nothing on this place. But the only way to keep him from leaving is to make sure that Jerry feels needed.

After that the whole film becomes a series of skits, some better than others, the best being what he does to tough guy Buddy Lester's hat. Running a close second is his bungling during a live broadcast from the house for a television feature. Helen Traubel plays the owner of the house, a former opera star who has turned her place into this residence because she wanted a family, apparently a family of just daughters.

Jerry directed himself and possibly The Ladies Man might have been a real classic if a comedy director had controlled Jerry just a little bit. Still give Jerry Lewis a big A for effort and B+ for results.

One of the best sets ever created for a Hollywood movie!

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 8 September 2016]

Make that 7.5! As might be expected of a Jerry Lewis vehicle, "The Ladies Man" (sic, no apostrophe) is a very broad, slapstick farce. What is not expected, however, is the movie's gorgeous settings and its exquisite color photography. In fact, as might be anticipated, the photography and the sets are far more pleasing than the "comedy". True, the Lewis film starts well with a good (if none too well-timed) gag borrowed from W.C. Fields, and then moves to a well- timed graduation ceremony with Lewis delightfully exploding through the serried ranks of be-gowned graduates. After this delightful intro, we have to wait for near the end of the movie when Lewis arrives in Hollywood to wreck havoc on the brilliant $500,000 set for which the art directors should have won an Academy Award. Incredibly, they were not even nominated! I regard it as the best single set ever created for a motion picture. Also on hand are no less than 31 gorgeously attired ladies, including former child star, Gloria Jean. Needless to say, the dress designer wasn't nominated for an award either. Never mind, at least Gloria and Miss Traubel do get to sing a couple of songs. Like "The Bellboy", this film is episodic and disjointed, but it does have some splendid interludes with George Raft and Harry James (playing themselves). Lewis' direction is much more sure and competent than his previous essays behind the camera. Sure there are still mediocre scenes that he allows to run too long. And worse still, there are scenes so nauseating that they should have been left on the cutting-room floor! Needless to say, as often happens with movies that offer a mixed bag that varies from the sublime to the pits, box-office takings of $3.1 million were somewhat less than the negative cost, and Lewis was never again given a budget of this size to play around with.

Please give credit to this masterpiece

[wong kar lurko · 3 September 2002]

I think it´s time we recognize something that should be said a long time ago: Jerry Lewis is a genius and "Ladies´Man" is his most amazing production. The enormous doll´s house he has created serves perfectly for the development of a succesion of hilarious gags that will make the audience fall from their chairs. Using cranes to shoot the scenes, Lewis obtains beautiful scenes and perfectly timed humor. A band playing lively, walls that move, the partition of the main character in four and lots of beautiful girls complete the picture. Believe me when i say: this man knows what he is doing and it´s about time we accept that he is not just a silly clown; he is a talented and creative filmmaker who took movie techniques to its extremes and gave us both a comic and tragic view of the world we live in. Jerry Lewis is what Godard was to french cinema: an innovator. Let´s adore him.

Jerry was ever an acquired taste

[dave13-1 · 7/10 · 10 January 2012]

Anyway, here Jerry is at something close to his (solo) best as a jilted man who finds himself inadvertently at the beck and call of a house full of movie actress wannabes, and misadventures abound. The house itself was a huge sound stage set with the fourth wall cut away so that the camera could zoom in and around, capturing Lewis' trademark ballets of catastrophe to excellent effect. He really was a marvel at comedic staging and there is some great stuff here. Unfortunately, you also have to take the rest of the Lewis formula too - the sappy romantic sentimentality, the awkward chemistry with his female co-stars and the contrived love sub-plots with girls who ought to have had the good sense to run screaming for the opposite coast as soon as the first catastrophe ended. Honestly are we really supposed to buy the belief that love conquers even Jerry's level of incompetence? Anyway, this movie should be enjoyed for its merits, which are considerable for any fan of comedy cinema, while discreetly closing one eye to its contrivances.

Middle rank Lewis finds him flying solo for laughs, but getting them a plenty.

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 7 July 2010]

Herbert H. Heebert (Jerry Lewis) is broken hearted when he finds his childhood sweetheart with another man. Swearing off women for good he accepts a job at a boarding house run by Helen Wellenmellen (Helen Traubel), unaware that it's a women only house-and it's full of them! Could it be that they can be good for Herbert and he be good for them?

Jerry Lewis stars, co-writes and directs a virtually plot less film that's almost entirely set in one magnificent mansion set. As was the case with many of Lewis' film's, it relies on his character creation to bring in the laughs. Which is the case here, the problem being that his surrounding cast are not of the required standard to fully form the comedy. With the exception of the dependable Kathleen Freeman, nobody else comes forward to raise some laughs or enhance on Jerry's goofing. Thus Lewis has to once again carry the can, which works to a degree, but entering the last third the joke that is Herbert Heebert starts to wear thin and only his hardiest fans will be able to stay with him. There's many musings on the film across various internet sources that delve deep into the piece as some sort of masterpiece of sexual identity, machismo empowerment and etc. I don't see it myself, but maybe that's just because I want a Jerry Lewis movie to make me howl with laughter above all else! And for sure The Ladies Man does do that on occasions; because it ultimately is a comic vehicle for Lewis, as a soloist, that works splendidly. His direction is excellent with the camera work around the house fluid and very involving, while the Technicolor production really sparkles and enhances the rich visuals available around the star of the show--the set! A good but not great film, but Lewis as ever, to us his fans, entertains royally. 6/10

Crazy fun

[leavymusic-2 · 7/10 · 13 April 2021]

The Ladies man has many fun aspects to it. Lewis is in top prime form, the sets are magnificent and the largest internal ones ever built for a film set.

It's colourful, it's frantic and zany and funny, it even has a real lion on set that', Lewis wisely had a real gun in his pocket when doing the scenes with the large cat.

The fact the film doesn't really have a plot and a very thin storyline doesn't matter if you enjoy Jerry Lewis and his many talents.

Similar but not nearly as good as "The Bellboy".

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 8 February 2013]

Jerry Lewis made one of his best solo films in 1960. "The Bellboy" had VERY little plot and consisted of a bazillion little gags all strung together with Jerry working as a bellboy at a fancy hotel. The gags came so rapidly that even the ones that fell flat didn't slow the film down and you can't help but like the movie. A year later, Lewis created a film with some similarities to "The Bellboy" but it just didn't work as well for two main reasons. First, there is a tiny bit more plot--but this was a minor problem. Second, and by far the biggest problem, is Lewis' performance. He is LOUD--L, O, U, D!!!!!! Throughout the film is literally screams about every minute and there is very little subtlety to the film. A few of the characters (such as Miss Wellenmelon) were also incredibly loud--as if screaming or singing in a LOUD voice was funny in and of itself. Now it's not a total loss, as, like the other film, there are so many gags that occasionally they worked--such as the performance by Jerry's mother (you gotta see that one) or 'Baby'. But, again and again, all the momentum is derailed by just going too far--too loud, too unsubtle and just too much. It's a shame, as some things about the film are great and sure could have worked a lot better. For example, the set is about the coolest one I have seen--very similar to a giant doll house. It must have cost a fortune to build this cutout house--and in some of the long shots, it really impresses. Had the film only shown more restraint, it EASILY could have been scored a 7 or higher. A shame, but a wasted opportunity.

My Favorite Lewis Movie

[sarasvati2000 · 10/10 · 30 June 2007]

This is my favorite Jerry Lewis movie. I laugh uproariously every time I see it. The surreal happenings just make the movie for me, like the butterflies. I was so surprised the first time I saw that as a kid. I just laughed and laughed! The lipstick on the painting is another example of the over the top absurdity. My favorite scene is hat scene, made even funnier because you can see Lewis laughing towards the end. He even moves his head when he can't stifle his giggles anymore to hide from the camera. Hilarious!I caught it on TCM today after a morning of studying with a difficult study partner. It made me laugh, and made me feel better. What I like the most is how game all the actresses are to go along with Jerry's ad libbing. They were all pro's. I appreciate that in a movie. Great stuff!

A More Subdued Jerry!

[bsmith5552 · 6/10 · 13 September 2018]

"The Ladies Man" is a pleasant enough little comedy from Jerry Lewis who co-wrote, produced, directed and starred in.

It starts out at Herbert's (Lewis) graduation from college. He is is unceremoniously dumped by his girl friend and becomes despondent vowing to hate all women. And then we are introduced to his parents, father (Kenneth MacDonald) and a ridiculously made up Lewis as his mother. What was he thinking.

Anyway Herbert seeks employment in Hollywood rejecting any jobs that involve contact with females. Then, guess what? He applies for a job at what turns out to be a residence for aspiring female show biz wannabes. Katie (the marvelous Kathleen Freeman) interviews him for the job. Herbert impresses her and is hired as an all round handy man. He meets the "Madam" Miss Wellenmellon Helen Traubel) a retired Opera singer who has throun open her luxurious mansion to the women. Herbert still is not aware that he will be working among a bevy of beauties.

He wakes the next morning and is shocked and tries to leave but is talked out of it. He goes about his duties such as delivering the mail, which affords him the opportunity of meeting the girls face to face, and cleaning up around the place breaking several valuable pieces along the way. He also meets up with guest stars Buddy Lester and George Raft with whom he has hilarious encounters. There is also a TV show which shows up at the house hosted by an Edward R. Morrow wannabe Wetbrook Van Vorlins supposedly to honor Miss Wellenmellen. This gives Herbert and the girls an opportunity to stage a show in her honor (most of which seems to have been cut out.

One of the girls (Pat Stanley) takes pity on Herbert and stands up for him in front of the others as he is trying to leave yet again. An attraction is formed between the two.

Lewis is a little more subdued this time around. Although he still has time for some of his antics, his usual madcap wall to wall humor is gone. There are more dramatic scenes than usual.

A word about the massive set. It is quite the thing. A three story multi-room structure complete with a working elevator. It is decorated mostly in red which makes it look like a high end brothel unfortunately.

The appearance out of nowhere of Harry James and his orchestra is chalked up to Herbert's "imagination". Others in the cast include Jack Kruschen, Doodles Weaver, Fritz Feld and Lewis regular Del Moore playing a TV announcer once again. There are many, many pretty girls in the cast, too many to mention, as well.

The Most Unfunny Movie To Ever Exist

[ssmith-92599 · 1/10 · 16 May 2020]

Don't waste your time. It's the worst attempt at comedy I've ever seen. Not a single thing made me laugh. I think Lewis played the exact same character, using the exact same "gags," in every single one of his movies. No originality or storyline. Garbage.

A Great Jerry Lewis Film!

[JWLJN · 9/10 · 28 August 1999]

For good, clean, family laughs, I highly recommend this film. Skits and cameo appearances fill this delightful entry into the Jerry Lewis film library. An amazing set is the center piece for this film, with lavishly decorated rooms.

the battle of the sexes continues

[lee_eisenberg · 7/10 · 17 February 2007]

On this, what would have been Kathleen Freeman's 88th birthday, I wanted to talk about one of her movies (even though she only has a supporting role): "The Ladies Man". In this one, Jerry Lewis loses his fiancée and moves into a house with a a bunch of women. He spends pretty much the whole movie getting into and out of various wacky situations. Best of all are the scenes involving Baby; they must have liked filming those! OK, so I admit that the idea of a man in a house with many women probably seems a little sexist. But as long as we understand that, the movie's still great. OK in a pinch, although far from the best comedy. Also featuring George Raft in one scene.

Definitely not one of lewis' best

[daviddaphneredding · 3/10 · 27 January 2012]

I am being beneficient and/or munificent to give this movie a three-star rating. While as a boy I started seeing some of his first movies (e.g.-Jumping Jacks and Scared Stiff) and almost never missed a one of his movies all through my teen years, and was always taken with his patented laugh and very amusing antics, this movie was, I felt, a disappointment and a anomaly to most of his movies. While I did like seeing and hearing Harry James and His Orchestra, and while I liked seeing George Raft, the movie was basically a letdown. It was boring: it virtually had no plot and the acting was not of any great quality. If boredom is ever recommendable, this movie would singularly qualify for that. Again, I always liked Jerry Lewis', but this movie is, again, for many reasons, one of his worst.

one of Lewis's best

[monsieurzy · 28 December 2005]

Sure, it's spotty with its gags (what Lewis film isn't?) but it looks fantastic and the gags that work are hilarious...good sight gags with Buddy Lester, some funny surreal stuff (the lipstick on the painting, the butterfly collection and that great white room sequence with Harry James's Band and Miss Cartilage)..Lewis's reactions to "Baby" are a scream...even the opening titles bit with LOOK magazine is funny... ..downsides...well, the ad libbing with Kathleen Freeman doesn't always work and the serious story with Pat Stanley could be excised (for the better), but who cares?...this and Nutty Professor are definitely his best

It is funny

[moatazmohsen78 · 7/10 · 15 June 2008]

Jerry Lewis introduced a funny movie to send laughing for everyone suffer from bored and silly to take our life easy and simple to reach for achievement by his funny situations in this movie which talked about a man worked in a house for girls that each one of them had their story by different cores and explanations.

He refused at first time his work and employee but after that he was familiar with a new position to find himself with every girl as a golden key to solve their problems and to prepare them to face their lives by their hardness with pure spirit and laughing face as his personalities.

In every time he tried to leave this home but girls forbidden him to leave it but at the end girls knew his pure core and brilliant behavior then they promised him to change their way in this life and to be good and honest in their works which will make this house in it,s atmosphere (the spirit of heaven and core of paradise).

Jerry Lewis was a great actor that in Egypt many actor were influenced upon his style as a great comic actors in 1950s and 1960s.

The Ladies' Man

[jboothmillard · 7/10 · 21 June 2013]

I really enjoyed the original version of The Nutty Professor by the star and director I first saw in The King of Comedy, and I was looking forward to another film of his, especially if it featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. Basically Herbert H. Heebert (Jerry Lewis, also directing) is a young man has suffered severe heartbreak when his girlfriend has left him for someone else, and he becomes depressed swearing he will never want romance again. With nothing much else to hope for he finds himself a job working in a large house doing such things as cleaning, delivering mail and other general responsibilities, but he has no idea until they all come out that it is a womens' boarding house. The genteel house is run by Miss Helen N. Wellenmellon (Helen Traubel) who irritates him with the nickname "Herby", he is treated by all of the girls as a helpless servant, and of course his fear of women is getting him down, he tries to escape a couple of time. Young and beautiful Fay (Pat Stanley) is the only one he can really confide in, and she helps him to overcome his fear of women, and after many chaotic and slapstick disasters, including an important woman appearing on television in the house, the girls accept that he may want to leave, but of course Herbert cannot bring himself to do it, being in love as well. Also starring Kathleen Freeman as Katie, George Raft, Harry James, Marty Ingels, Buddy Lester as Willard C. Gainsborough, Hope Holiday as Miss Anxious and Lillian Briggs as Lillian. Lewis is fantastic being the highly nerdy, overly nervous and physically infantile character, it reminds you of the style Jim Carrey would bring in his career, the story is simple enough, but it is for the inventive jokes that the film works so well, all timed well, even the simplest thing like a broken bed is really funny, a great comedy classic. Very good!

Saddle shoes for the win!

[rebeccamary-96038 · 6/10 · 25 September 2020]

Aside from Jerry's shoes, the star of this movie is definitely the set. It's delightful to see the introduction of the girls with their various talents in this dollhouse setting. I enjoyed the cameos as well as Helen Traubel and Kathleen Freeman's performances. These two ladies were wonderful. This is one of the few movies where Jerry doesn't use his man-child voice which is always nice and there were a few scenes that I thought were funny.

On the other hand, the sound quality and camera work weren't great. Despite it's flaws, I think this movie's uniqueness (the set) and occasional funny bits make it deserving to watch if you enjoy old comedies.

Truly Awful

[brucewla · 1/10 · 6 July 2007]

As the reviewer said before me, this just wasn't funny. I had prepared a review of this film after seeing it last week on TCM, but I guess I was too harsh and they didn't post it, but I still want to share my thoughts, so if you all don't mind, I'll try to be kinder and gentler.

I have always been (sort of) a Jerry Lewis fan, in fact when I was a small child, I really loved him, and I think that maybe, when I was maybe 10 or 12 years old, and saw a movie like this, I probably thought it was much funnier, than I do now, as a middle aged person. As I have stated in other reviews, I think that Jerry's films from this time frame where he was in complete control of the production suffered from that, because they focused too much on him, and his antics, and not the story per se. And as I stated, when you compare a film like this to one of the very good ones that were made back then (like the Nutty Professor), it just seems all the more a shame.

Basically Jerry plays his "the little boy that never grew up" character, again, and here he finishes college I think but finds out his girl friend evidently found someone else, so he decides he hates girls now, and runs away west, looking for work, and wouldn't you know it the only job he can find is working at a (get ready for it) women's boarding house, that has, of course about 511 gorgeous girls running around. So for about 2 hours we have: Jerry making noises, Jerry making faces, Jerry destroying things, Jerrry making more faces, Jerry making more noises, etc. In fact, as far as "spoilers," I can't tell you how it ends, because I only made it halfway through.

It was a shame how bad this movie was, truly truly awful.

Jerry with the ladies

[Petey-10 · 10/10 · 18 January 2000]

Herbert H.Heebert is depressed because his girlfriend has left him for someone else.He goes looking for a job and finds one-from a house that is filled with beautiful women.Every guy's dream job.But how can Herbert deal with such a working place, and with all those gorgeous ladies?Jerry Lewis is great as always.He always makes me laugh.He can be a nutty professor or a ladies' man, he's good at whatever he plays.

Good. Not as clever or as funny as Nutty Professor

[Dickinsonsmail · 7/10 · 10 June 2021]

I enjoyed this movie and parts did make me laugh. Jerry Lewis is certainly an acquired taste however. When the movie started, I was worried and thought I would abhor the rest. It opens with a ridiculously over acted and unfunny scene where acts devastated to spot the girl with another guy. It was more cringe inducing than funny. This kind of slapstick might have caused a few laughs back in the 60s but it's almost unbearable to watch now.

That being said, there were parts in the movie I did find funny, as silly as they might have been. The bit with the method acting with the girl slapping him. The man and the hat. George raft. The butterflies flying out. Also, I do love the setting!

To summarise, humour is sometimes a bit forced, slightly outdated but still has its moments and charm.

I'm guessing the script was written around the massive indoor set...

[moonspinner55 · 3/10 · 23 September 2013]

Jerry Lewis co-wrote, produced, directed and stars in this feeble comedy about a nerdy bachelor, jilted by his lady-love, who has sworn off women; looking for work, he unknowingly takes a job in a boarding house full of nubile females. Paramount was very proud of their indoor set (three floors plus a working elevator); indeed, the fanciful way the space is utilized is very clever. However, the loosely-hinged plot of "The Ladies Man" is character-driven--and since there are no actual characters beyond Lewis' schnook, interest in the picture beyond its art direction and set decoration peaks early. Lewis the actor is his own worst enemy whenever he directs himself (when the women are introduced in a room-by-room montage, the sweeping-camera effect is ruined by constant cuts back to Jerry, sleeping with his rump in the air). George Raft turns up in a cameo as himself, dancing under a spotlight with Jerry in his arms; this might have been the film's highlight, but Lewis the director shoots the sequence from so far away we can't tell who's on the dance-floor. A big blunder. *1/2 from ****

Lewis never disappoints!

[Irishchatter · 8/10 · 14 December 2015]

You wouldn't really think Jerry Lewis would be the only guy in a Bachelor hotel with full of girls? Well it seems like the title says it all! I honestly loved seeing him being his usual clumsy old self and of course, he was always the charmer. I honestly would love to have seen his character to have a romantic affectionate for Pat Stanley's character Fay. I suppose he was smitten but couldn't they have at least kissed for just one second?!

I loved the layout of the house, it really is well done but I don't think it's good privacy if you ask me haha! I so want a room like 'the room to avoid', maybe with a band, a dancing man and woman, but not a lot, haha. I really liked that scene where we got to see Jerry Lewis dancing with a strikingly sexy chick, it so wants to make you feel uplifted by it!

I liked it and if you like Jerry Lewis , watch this!

Helen Traubel is a Hidden Gem

[nejoizar · 6/10 · 7 January 2021]

While I do not like this movie much, Helen Traubel's performance deserves all the stars. While she is a legend as one of the best sopranos, if not the best, she deserves much more acclaim regarding her performances as an actor too. What a shame that Rudolf Bing had not renewed her contract at the Met.

Not Jerry's Best

[atlasmb · 3/10 · 20 July 2013]

I like Jerry Lewis and I think some of his work is really good. But when I sat down to watch this movie, I could not get past the first ten minutes or so.

First of all, the production is really, really sloppy. The soundtrack has lapses when there is no sound. The voice track does not match the image. Pieces are edited in without matching the action.

It's okay for Jerry to do his schtick, but the same thing over and over? His verbal nonsequitors get old quickly.

The gags are sometimes plugged into the plot haphazardly.

The resulting film is amateurish. But I do like some of Jerry's work.