The Jerk (1979, Carl Reiner)

Steve Martin, grey-haired at 33, is raised by a Black family in Mississippi (mom from Ganja & Hess, dad from Across 110th Street) until one day he hears white music on the radio and goes to St. Louis to find its source. He gets hired by Jackie Mason at a gas station until madman M. Emmet of Blood Simple chases him into a traveling circus, where he’s taken home by the daredevil (Catlin Adams, later a director who discovered Ben Affleck). He meets cornet player Bernadette Peters and they move out west, getting rich off his glasses invention until sued by crosseyed Carl Reiner. Homeless, he tells his story to the movie camera, then is immediately reunited with his family. Not a rapid-fire gag machine, but a few of the jokes are extremely good, including a couple of extended Martin routines: one about the precise math of “days feel longer when we’re together,” and one mopily collecting objects from the house after losing his fortune, leading to the poster image. Steve and Bernadette are…