A loose remake of Preston Sturges' wonderful The Miracle of Morgan's Creek, Rock-a-Bye Baby is safe entertainment for the Jerry Lewis fans. Here he plays Clayton Poole, a small town guy whose childhood sweetheart, Carla Naples (Marilyn Maxwell) is now a big film star. When she finds she is pregnant, the problems it will cause her career prompts her to coerce Clayton into looking after what turns out to be triplets! Much prat-falling and high energy chaos ensues.As befitting the Tashlin/Lewis combination, it's all very cartoonish in visual presentation. Narratively outside of Lewis' mad-cap rearing of the babies, there's a running thread of Carla's sister, Sandra (Connie Stevens), being hopelessly in love with Clayton - who of course has no idea, while the sentimental strings are pulled as Clayton fights to not lose the kids to a shifty legal guardian.The musical numbers start to grate on the nerves after a bit, with them feeling like attempts to show off something that isn't there, and the running time is too long to sustain this type of comedy. But once a Lewis fan then always a Lewis fan, with that in mind Rock-a- Bye Baby still has enough fun and frothery to make it above average entertainment. 6.5/10
... View MoreThe babies were absolutely adorable, I couldn't stop looking at them throughout especially while the other characters were talking! I loved how they were so many songs in this too, they were quite surprising though. I never seen a movie that features songs coming right out of the blue before. My favorite songs in this were: Dormi-Dormi-Dormi (Sleep- Sleep-Sleep), Rock-a-Bye Baby and The Land of La-La-La. They really gave you a good feeling by swaying your head and boogie the night away! I was surprised to have seen the little boy who played Jerry Lewis' younger self, I actually didn't know that was Gary Lewis aka his son! He honestly doesn't look like his father at all! I found it funny that he had the ring on his left index finger like Jerry Lewis normally wears. He was a great little boy and of course, he was just gorgeous!This movie gives you goosebumps, watch it!
... View MoreI am a fan of Jerry Lewis' early movies so when I shared this movie with my 11 and 5 year old grandsons, I was tickled to death when they laughed themselves silly watching it! They loved it from the first scenes with the runaway fire hose to the ending where Jerry makes those wild and crazy faces! I wish there were movies like this today (other than animated ones) that you could go see as a family. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to share as many movies like this with them as we can, because otherwise they won't get the chance to see genuine hilarity. Comedians and writers of today think dirty language and bathroom humor are funny. Who needs that? This is one of my favorite Lewis movies.
... View MoreI've read the preceding comments and they pretty much tell the story of why this is a classic Jerry Lewis film. However, I think one of the reasons I love this one so much is that it also captures a feel for what life was like growing up in the fifties (as I did). In many ways it typifies the fifties mindset, but also exemplifies the entertainment of the period. Things were so much more family-oriented. Sex wasn't non-existence in films, but it was more often handled tastefully. Language was wholesome and the humor didn't depend on "shock" (such as the name of Navin Johnson's dog in The Jerk).I find the segment in Hill Valley of the fifties in Back to the Future especially enjoyable as Robert Zemeckis does a great job of re-creating the era. Watching Rock a Bye Baby, which is authentically of the era confirms that. (In fact, the court house and town square in both of these films appear to have a striking similarity to one another.)Although the story owes a lot to The Miracle of Morgan's Creek as inspiration (and even gives Preston Sturges credit), it really has its own unique flavor as well. Like a son who bears a resemblance to his father but also has his own personality. In many ways I think that Frank Tashlin has improved upon it. The subplot with the sister and its resolution are wonderful additions.Over all I think it is a great film and can't wait till it's available on DVD (Is anybody listening?).
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