The Jerk (film)The Jerk (1979) is Carl Reiner's rags-to-riches film comedy of belated self-discovery. Steve Martin stars. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Emmett Walsh, Jackie Mason, and Trinidad Silva. Reiner has a cameo appearance and his son Rob Reiner has an uncredited bit part. Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow.Navin Johnson (Martin) is the adopted white son of black sharecroppers, who grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of the fact of his adoption, then goes into the world to make his fortune. The characters include a variety of ethnic stereotypes: simple-minded rural blacks, redneck whites, Hispanic con men, greedy Jews. However, the stereotypes are so blatant that their inclusion in the film could be considered as the filmmakers' ironic comment on the evils of stereotyping. Quotes"I was born a poor black child." "There's something about that music (in reference to blues music). It depresses me." Navin Johnson, responding to a sniper trying to shoot him and hitting oil cans: "He hates these cans!" This page about movie The Jerk includes information from a Wikipedia article. Additional articles about movie The Jerk News stories about movie The Jerk External links for movie The Jerk Videos for movie The Jerk Wikis about movie The Jerk Discussion Groups about movie The Jerk Blogs about movie The Jerk Images of movie The Jerk |
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Navin Johnson, responding to a sniper trying to shoot him and hitting oil cans: "He hates these cans!". It depresses me.". "There's something about that music (in reference to blues music). "I was born a poor black child.". However, the stereotypes are so blatant that their inclusion in the film could be considered as the filmmakers' ironic comment on the evils of stereotyping. The characters include a variety of ethnic stereotypes: simple-minded rural blacks, redneck whites, Hispanic con men, greedy Jews. Navin Johnson (Martin) is the adopted white son of black sharecroppers, who grows to adulthood naïvely unaware of the fact of his adoption, then goes into the world to make his fortune. Reiner has a cameo appearance and his son Rob Reiner has an uncredited bit part. Emmett Walsh, Jackie Mason, and Trinidad Silva. The film also features Bernadette Peters, M. Steve Martin stars. The Jerk (1979) is Carl Reiner's rags-to-riches film comedy of belated self-discovery. |