Hardly Working (1980) on Netflix
Bo Hooper is a clown left out of work when the circus closes. He moves in with his sister, against her husband Robert's wishes, and takes a string of jobs.
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- Netflix1.4/5
- IMDb4.7/101,027 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes9%
Trailer
Plot summary
The circus that employs Bo Hooper shuts down without warning, and the clown is left without work. He moves into his sister's house, where her husband Robert does not want him, and he looks for a job. The positions he lands, among them gas station attendant and mail carrier, end badly, and havoc follows each one. He is fired from one position after another.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Hardly Working (1980)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Hardly Working ran out of money in 1980 and shut down for about six months while Jerry Lewis declared personal bankruptcy; producer James J. McNamara then raised $1 million to finish it, leaving continuity problems in the film.
- Jerry Lewis turned 23 rooms of the Palm Aire Country Club in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, into a studio complex, became a joint owner of the production and put his own salary in escrow.
- Hardly Working was billed as Jerry Lewis' comeback: his first released film since 1970's Which Way to the Front?, after he had made The Day the Clown Cried, which remains unreleased.
- The clown makeup Jerry Lewis wears in Hardly Working was designed by him for his 1954 film 3 Ring Circus and reused in his 1965 film The Family Jewels.
- Jerry Lewis also played a 'Little Ol' Lady' in drag, and the closing credits billed the part to "Joseph Levitch", which he claimed was his birth name.
- Hardly Working, in which Susan Oliver played Claire Trent, was her final theatrical film appearance; the actress died in 1990.
