The Jerk poster
Screenplay Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, Michael Elias
Director Carl Reiner

The Jerk

Comedy1979

Tagline: A rags to riches to rags story.

Release Date: 1979-12-14

Duration: 94 minutes

Synopsis

After discovering he's not really black like the rest of his family, likable dimwit Navin Johnson sets off on a hilarious misadventure that takes him from rags to riches and back again. The slaphappy jerk strikes it rich, but life in the fast lane isn't all it's cracked up to be and, in the end, all that really matters to Johnson is his true love.

Casting

  • William Schallert
    Judge M.A. Loring
  • Steve Martin
    Navin R. Johnson
  • Rob Reiner
    Truck Driver Picking Up Navin (uncredited)
  • M. Emmet Walsh
    Madman
  • Bernadette Peters
    Marie Kimble Johnson
  • Carl Reiner
    Self
  • Larry Hankin
    Circus Hand (uncredited)
  • Maurice Evans
    Hobart
  • Carl Gottlieb
    Iron Balls McGinty
  • Howard Hesseman
    Carnival Worker (uncredited)