This has always been my favorite of the Martin & Lewis films. It just all comes together, and whether you prefer Dean (as I do) or Jerry, there's something for everyone.

The film starts at the Paramount Theater in New York, where actual footage of the crowds outside the Paramount to see Martin & Lewis is used. Here it's Anthony & Miller -- a vaudeville team, whose rise to stardom we see in flashback. The boys open with one of their best duo-numbers -- "What Would You Do Without Me". From there we see Dean as the young man who gets away from the fishing business his father runs in San Francisco. We also meet Jerry, a sad sack who loses one job after another. Dean comes home and meets Jerry, who is engaged to Dean's sister. A party ensues and Dean sings one of his signature songs -- "That's Amore". It's a delightful production number in his parent's Italian restaurant. Troubles begin when Dean enters a local golf tournament...and begins rubbing elbows with the upper class, while Jerry (as caddy) is relegated into the background. Meanwhile, at a country club affair, Dean sings one of his best movie ballads to date -- "You're The Right One" -- to his love interest -- Donna Reed (surprisingly, this film followed her performance in "From Here To Eternity"). Will Dean break training for love? Will Jerry survive a visit to a baronial estate? Will the estate survive Jerry being a waiter? And then it comes down to the big golf tournament! Will Dean win? No...but he and Jerry will begin their life in show business. It's all great fun.

Dean Martin is very comfortable here, and why not...he was Italian (as the role called for) and played golf. Jerry Lewis was what Jerry Lewis always was, but here does it pretty pleasantly. Donna Reed is fine as the love interest. Joseph Calleia as Dean's papa is fine, as are the rest of the supporting cast.

Highly recommended as one of Martin & Lewis' early films.

"The Caddy" is one of more than a dozen comedy films that Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis made together. Their pairing made them both famous in films. This has the usual mayhem that Jerry's Harvey Miller causes or gets into. In one scene in the department store in which he works, he trips, slides, rolls on a coaster table, and clumsily stumbles around and smashes numerous merchandise displays. This scenario includes toppling and breaking several shelves of chinaware and dishes (no doubt, this was not expensive stuff for props). This could very well have established some sort of record for breakage in a comedy film.

Dean sings a few songs, including the debut of a song that would be a major hit and become his signature song for years, "That's Amore." Harry Warren wrote the music and Jack Brooks wrote the lyrics for the song specifically for this film. The song was nominated for a 1953 academy award. Although it didn't win, it was a smash hit with audiences and rose to No. 2 on the Billboard charts that year.

As the title alludes, the film centers a lot around the sport of golf. Jerry gets in some of the best humor there. With legendary golfers Ben Hogan and Sam Snead, there's also some very good golf shots.

This isn't the best of their pairings, but it will entertain folks who like this sort of comedy. I don't recall thinking Jerry was that funny when I watched his films as a kid and later on TV. His later solo movies, when he wasn't such a loud, complaining goofball, had more spontaneous humor, I thought.

Anyway, fans of the two will enjoy this film, and maybe some in the younger audiences will still find it quite funny. Golfers will enjoy seeing the famous pros on the course with the Dean and Jerry.

Joe Anthony (Dean Martin) and Harvey Miller, Jr (Jerry Lewis) are a star humor team. A friend recounts their story to a reporter. Harvey's father is a champion golfer. Harvey could be a great golfer but he can't perform in front of a crowd. When both Harvey and girlfriend Lisa (Barbara Bates) get fired for leaving work to see a golf tournament, Lisa gets him to work as a golf instructor. Lisa's brother Joe becomes his first client. Joe is a natural and starts playing in tournaments with Harvey as his caddy. He falls for socialite Kathy Taylor (Donna Reed).

This is generally fun. It is sad to hear that Martin and Lewis had already started splitting during this film. It doesn't really show on the screen although they aren't always together. Lewis is hamming it up while Martin is suaving it up. It's not the funniest but the guys are working hard. The misunderstanding is stupid but those are often the case in this type of movie. This is a fair Martin and Lewis film.