The Jerk

Carl Reiner directs Steve Martin (who co-wrote the script with Carl Gottlieb) in this gag-laden comedy about an idiotic white man, raised by a poor family of black sharecroppers, who doesn't realize he's not black. Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin) is told the horrible truth when he finds himself ...more

Steve Martin became famous for being goofy. As the majority of '70s comedians were reveling in the newly discovered freedom to make explicit commentaries on society and politics (Richard Pryor, George Carlin), Martin became a sensation simply because he had happy feet and wore an arrow through his head. He was not a silly man, but he had an appreciation for the absurd, not unlike the members of Monty Python. Before evolving into a formidable writer (Roxanne, L.A. Story, Bowfinger, and +Picasso ...more