Living It Up
Living It Up
NR | 15 July 1954 (USA)
Living It Up Trailers

Homer Flagg (Lewis) is a railroad worker in the small town of Desert Hole, New Mexico. One day he finds an abandoned automobile at an old atomic proving ground. His doctor and best friend, Steve Harris (Martin), diagnoses him with radiation poisoning and gives Homer three weeks to live. A reporter for a New York newspaper, hears of Homer's plight and convinces her editor, to provide an all-expenses paid trip to New York.

Reviews
RyothChatty ridiculous rating
ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.
Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.
Married Baby Just intense enough to provide a much-needed diversion, just lightweight enough to make you forget about it soon after it’s over. It’s not exactly “good,” per se, but it does what it sets out to do in terms of putting us on edge, which makes it … successful?
writers_reign This was arguably the first time an Original Screenplay (Nothing Sacred, 1934) had been adapted into a Broadway Musical (Hazel Flagg, 1952) and then the Broadway Musical had been adapted into a film (Living It Up, 1954) It grew progressively weaker in each incarnation and seen today the movie has little to recommend it. Carole Lombard, the original Hazel, was light years better than Helen Gallagher who in turn eclipsed Jerry Lewis. There are four decent songs, a frenetic dance, Sig Ruman phones in his guttural dokktorr - he did it much better in Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie ten years later, Janet Leigh is the love interest, Fred Clark is Fred Clark and that's about it.
tavm Just rewatched this Martin & Lewis movie on YouTube. In this one, Jerry thinks he's dying because he drove in a car labeled "radioactive" in the desert town he's lived in all his life though local doctor Dean knows better after examining him. But because the news reached all the way to New York, an ambitious female reporter (Janet Leigh) there wants to grant Homer Flagg (Lewis' character) his last wish: to visit the Big Apple which Dean agrees to since he's attracted to Leigh. Actually, this marks the first time that Dean & Jerry find themselves competing for the same girl. There's plenty of hilarious scenes and some good Martin numbers though it's a nice surprise to see Lewis himself have a good performance of a love song as well. He's also excellent in a Jitterbug dance number with Sheree North. If there's one sequence that's cringe-worthy, it's when Jerry tries to pass himself off as various specialists especially the one from Hong Kong. Among the supporting cast, Fred Clark is especially good as the cynical publisher Oliver Stone (yeah, you read that right) in his second appearance in an M & L flick. Also nice to see familiar faces like Edward Arnold as the mayer and Grady Sutton as a gift store clerk trying to keep Dean from fooling with his items. And the duet of the boys singing the praises of New York is among the best of their numbers. So on that note, I recommend Living It Up.
jaynay I've seen this movie many times over the last 40 years and I noticed that during the scene where they're bringing all the food "Homer" ordered to the suite, the first waiter to enter the room is Rodney Dangerfield. Unfortunately, he is not listed in the credits and I have submitted this to the IMDb database managers. I'd like someone else to look closely at that scene to make sure I'm not crazy. I know that to add the credit they need some concrete evidence, like a cast list or contract or anecdotal evidence from Rodney himself, who is no longer with us, but I'm pretty sure it's him.As for the film, overall, it's a typical silly Martin/Lewis film. Full of Jerry's mugging and Dean's singing and charm. Some good gags, especially the light bulb bombing of Fred Clark.I give it a 7 of 10.
Petri Pelkonen Jerry Lewis plays a railroad worker Homer Flagg, who think he's dying on radioactive poisoning in three weeks.Dean Martin is his doctor Steve Harris, who tells him that's not the case.A beautiful New York reporter Wally Cook (Janet Leigh) comes to New Mexico wanting to write a series of articles about this "dying" young man.She takes both Homer and the doc to New York.Homer hasn't bothered the lady with the truth, that he's not actually going to die, because he's always wanted to go to NY.And of course the love sick doctor falls for the pretty reporter and so does Homer.The whole city of New York feels pity for the poor Homer. Norman Taurog's Living It Up (1954) is an extremely funny Jerry Lewis movie from the time he still made a team with Dean Martin.It's not only Jerry who makes you laugh hard, also Dean does that trick.Janet Leigh makes a perfect leading lady in the middle of the clown and the playboy.You can find awfully many funny scenes from the movie, like where Jerry pretends he's a doctor from Paris, Wienna and Hong Kong.He also pretends he's Dean's character while Dean is Jerry.Also the scene on the dance floor with Sheree North is pretty amazing.I saw this movie for the first time in seven years yesterday.It sure brought me back.