Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River

Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River
Directed by	Jerry Paris
Written by	Max Wilk
Produced by	Walter Shenson
Starring	Jerry Lewis Terry-Thomas Jacqueline Pearce Bernard Cribbins Patricia Routledge
Cinematography	Otto Heller
Edited by	Bill Lenny
Music by	David Whitaker
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	12 July 1968
Running time	99 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Box office	$1,100,000 (US/ Canada) 316,754 admissions (France)

Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River is a British-made comedy film produced by Walter Shenson starring Jerry Lewis and was released on 12 July 1968 by Columbia Pictures. It was based on Max Wilk's novel of the same name with the original Connecticut locale moved to Swinging London and Portugal.

Plot

George Lester (Jerry Lewis) is an American living in Britain. His passion is get-rich-quick schemes, and they have caused financial and personal grief for him and his wife, Pamela, (Jacqueline Pearce) who is considering divorce if he continues with them.

Willy Homer (Terry-Thomas) is a conman who plans to help George raise some quick cash by selling plans for a drill to a group of Arabs. The plans, which were stolen, are smuggled to Lisbon with help from his accomplice, Fred Davies (Bernard Cribbins). As they are about to trade the plans they realise that they are being double-crossed. A series of chases follow, and eventually the plans are revealed to be worthless to everyone.

Distraught, George finds comfort in his wife and promises to never embark on any more 'get-rich-quick' schemes. That is, until Willy shows up at his door with another one!

Cast

• Jerry Lewis as George Lester
• Terry-Thomas as H. William Homer
• Jacqueline Pearce as Pamela Lester
• Bernard Cribbins as Fred Davies
• Patricia Routledge as Lucille Beatty
• Nicholas Parsons as Dudley Heath
• Michael Bates as Dr. Spink
• Colin Gordon as Mr. Hartford
• John Bluthal as Dr. Pinto
• Sandra Caron as Pinto's Nurse
• Margaret Nolan as Spink's Nurse
• Harold Goodwin as Six-Eyes Wiener
• John Barrard as Zebra Man
• Nike Arrighi as Portuguese Waitress
• Al Mancini as Portuguese Chauffeur
• Alexandra Dane as Masseuse
• Molly Peters as Heath's Secretary

Production

It was filmed between 15 May and 30 June 1967 and the director, Jerry Paris, has a cameo as the umpire at a baseball game.

This is Lewis' final film before the MPAA's film-rating system went in effect.

Home media

The film was released on DVD on 8 July 2003.

External links

• Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the River at IMDb
• Review of Don't Raise the Bridge, Lower the Water at Jerry-Lewis.info