Great Characters: Navin R. Johnson (“The Jerk”)

It was Steve Martin’s first starring movie role: Navin R. Johnson in the 1979 comedy The Jerk:

Here is the IMDB plot summary:

A complete imbecile struggles to make it through life on his own until a strange invention makes him unbelievably wealthy.

Navin starts out as a “poor black child”:

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“You mean I’m gonna stay this color?” Classic. How much of an imbecile is Navin? How about this side of dialogue:

[Speaking to Marie in bed while she sleeps]
I know we’ve only known each other four weeks and three days, but to me it seems like nine weeks and five days. The first day seemed like a week and the second day seemed like five days. And the third day seemed like a week again and the fourth day seemed like eight days. And the fifth day you went to see your mother and that seemed just like a day, and then you came back and later on the sixth day, in the evening, when we saw each other, that started seeming like two days, so in the evening it seemed like two days spilling over into the next day and that started seeming like four days, so at the end of the sixth day on into the seventh day, it seemed like a total of five days. And the sixth day seemed like a week and a half. I have it written down, but I can show it to you tomorrow if you want to see it.

But perhaps the deepest insight into Navin’s utter idiocy is the memorable “This is all I need” scene:

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Navin exists in a long tradition of Hollywood clown characters, a wide range of comedic characters including Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, the Marx Brothers, and Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. They can be crafty or obtuse, endearing or abrasive, but always the key is this: They are funny. And Navin in The Jerk, written by Steve Martin & Carl Gottlieb & Michael Elias, story by Steve Martin & Carl Gottlieb, directed by veteran comic actor-writer-producer Carl Reiner, is definitely that.

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Navin R. Johnson: A great character.

Any fans of The Jerk?

My 65th birthday tribute to Steve Martin here with lots of rare video clips.

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