Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River

Product Description It’s one of Jerry Lewis’s zaniest films, filled with the hilarious antics for which he’s famous! Jerry (Boeing, Boeing) plays George Lester, an American in London, whose grandiose schemes constantly get him into trouble. His first outrageous plan turns his wife’s ancestral palace into a Chinese disco, an idea she hardly appreciates. Forced to raise money to restore the mansion, George unveils an even crazier scheme with the help of his friend, William Homer (Terry-Thomas, I’m All Right Jack), to sell stolen plans for an electronic oil drill. George smuggles the plans into Lisbon where he is supposed to make the big deal, but then learns the plans are phony! He promises his wife he'll finally settle down, but wait – he has just one more idea! Amazon.com The opening sequence of Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River has a bowler-hatted Jerry Lewis mischievously striding (in his oddly graceful, loose-hipped way) along the streets of London. The spontaneous business he creates is, alas, the last bit of freshness in the movie, which quickly reverts to a painfully labored plot. Jerry is in Swinging London (wrap your mind around that), an entrepreneur who spends the entire film trying to make up to his estranged British wife for turning her family estate into a Chinese restaurant-discotheque. The story also involves Arab oil barons, Portuguese automobiles, and a philandering dentist. Lewis didn't direct himself in this one, which accounts for the off pacing and total lack of good visual gags. It was 1968, and his rapid decline from creative excellence (see The Ladies Man and The Nutty Professor) and box-office potency was already into its skid. --Robert Horton