The Nutty Professor (1963) *** (out of 4) Professor Kelp (Jerry Lewis) is a giant nerd of a man who is quite weak, gets picked on by even his students and overall he's just nothing to write home about. He decides that enough is enough to he creates a potion and tries it on himself. This turns the nerdy Kelp into the irresistible and cool Buddy Love (Lewis) but pretty soon Kelp learns there's more to a personality than just looks.THE NUTTY PROFESSOR is perhaps the best known and most loved of all of Jerry Lewis comedies that he made after his break-up with Dean Martin. The film has remained a popular film over the decades and it even go ta much loved remake, which I personally think is a mini masterpiece. I first watched this movie a few days after seeing the remake and I thought that this was rather weak in comparison. With that said, after going back and giving the film a second viewing it's easy to see why so many people love it. This version of THE NUTTY PROFESSOR deserves the strong reputation that it has built up over the years.There's no question that the majority of the credit must go to Lewis. Not only did he create two great characters but his strength as an actor pulled both parts off. We all knew he could play someone like Kelp as he had been playing nerds throughout his career but he really brought some warmth and heart to this character unlike any better. Even the Love character is perfectly played by the actor who proved he could play it "straight" and mean. I'm not sure if this character was a wink towards Martin but it was fun. Stella Stevens is also quite easy on the eyes and makes for a good love interest. Richard Kiel makes a quick appearance here and is also memorable.There are many great laughs throughout the entire film and it's really a wonder more people hadn't tries to play the whole Jekyll and Hyde thing. Lewis was apparently very fond of the story as well as the various film versions and it's easy to see why. Lewis manages to take the two roles and turn them into something really special and there's no question that he gets a great number of laughs during the early portion of the film. I do think the film runs out of gas towards the end and the music numbers at the end do stop the film in its tracks. Still, THE NUTTY PROFESSOR has become a classic and it's easy to see why.

The movie deals with a nutty profession who is ill treated and ignored by everyone. He develops an alter ego by his own experiments. He develops a chemical that makes him charming, handsome and egoistic.Jerry Lewis proves his ability in writing, directing and acting. The nutty professor is present in most of us. We are shy and feeling neglected in the society at some point. Our face is the problem; A "mask" could solve this problem. That is the case in most of super heroes in the comics.The movie is really entertaining, funny and makes you think deeper at times. Performance of the actors, camera, music etc are all outstanding. The movie is very colorful. Compared to the year of release, it is definitely a master piece.Highly recommended!

I grew up on Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis during the 1950s, Martin was the straight man, and excellent crooner, while Lewis was the silly comic. I remember when we learned that Martin and Lewis were breaking up their team and most of us could not understand that. Why would they break up their act.As an adult I now understand that, after a while you just want to do something different. And they both had that opportunity.In this movie Jerry Lewis is a Chemistry professor, Professor Julius Kelp. He is typically nerdy, with prominent buck teeth and poor eyesight. In his spare time he experiments and discovers a potion that has amazing properties. When he drinks the elixir he becomes Buddy Love, with a personality quite the opposite of the nerdy Kelp. He is a pianist and lounge singer, a snappy dresser, is abrasive to everyone, but somehow managed to catch the attention of a pretty girl.That pretty girl is a 20-something Stella Stevens as Stella Purdy. She was indelibly attracted to Buddy Love, and even she couldn't understand why. She also happened to be a student in his Chemistry class.(As an aside, I once had a boss who in the 1950s married his college English professor, so the idea of appropriate student/professor relationships is not far-fetched.) So the fun in the movie is seeing the nerdy professor with the nerdy Jerry Lewis nasal voice becoming the suave Buddy Love with the golden baritone voice, and without the prominent buck teeth. The problem was, the elixir only lasted a short time, and sometimes Buddy returned to being Kelp on-stage, and actor Lewis handles the voice changes superbly.A fun Jerry Lewis comedy. SPOILERS: In the end when Buddy changes to Kelp on-stage, he relents and explains himself. Later Stella consoles him, and says she would rather be the wife of a professor instead, making Kelp happy. But his gregarious dad has decided to sell the elixir, $1.00 a pop, to those who wanted to be a different person. Starting with the professors students in class!

Amusing and spasmodic comedy with the genius comic Jerry Lewis by relinquishing creative control and concentrating on the humor more than the fright , skilfully combining the entertainment with the amusement . To improve his social life, a nerdish , mild-mannered professor (Jerry Lewis who wrote seven scripts for the film by himself and two with Bill Richmond) drinks a potion that temporarily turns him into the handsome , but obnoxious, Buddy Love , a wicked impersonation of his old pal (though Lewis has repeatedly denied is a Dean Martin parody , but the proof is quite strong) .Enjoyable film with characters genuine and sympathetic , it is plenty of humor , tongue-in-cheek , side-splitting sight gags and amusement . Jerry Lewis is top-notch playing a double role as the timid , meek professor turned into a dashing debonair , slim playboy type with an irresistible attraction . It was widely believed at the time that the Nutty Professor's sleazy alter ego, Buddy Love, was a satirical swipe at Jerry Lewis's longtime partner, Dean Martin . The picture results to be a parody and comic variation based on the classic novel ¨Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde¨ by Robert Louis Stevenson . According to one of the trailers for this film, Jerry Lewis urges you to see this picture from the beginning, on penalty of losing your popcorn privileges , this spoofs Alfred Hitchcock's dictum that Psycho had to be seen from the beginning and his insistence that no latecomers be seated . In the co-starring role stands out Stella Stevens , surely the most gorgeous girl any professor ever had . Furthermore , watch rapidly to Henry Gibson in his film debut , Richard Kiel , Celeste Yarnall , and William Smith . The motion picture was produced by , directed by , and starred by Jerry Lewis , at his best . Colorful and shimmer cinematography in Technicolor by Walter Kelley . Catching musical score by Walter Scharf , including various songs sung by Jerry Lewis and special intervention of Les Brown orchestra directed by Les Brown . It's remade in 1996 as ¨Nutty professor¨ by Tom Shadyac with Jada Pinkett Smith and Edddie Murphy who takes a swig of his own secret formula and is transformed into the suave buddy ; and its sequel (2000) by Peter Segal again with Eddie Murphy and Janet Jackson .