History Film / TheJerk

* CloudCuckooLander: Navin is extremely naive about how the real world works and remains so throughout his character arc, so his reasoning around and responses to situations are usually [[InsaneTrollLogic strange and illogical to say the least]]. Among the most notable examples is when he starts to put words into a barking dog's mouth and infers that there's a fire in the motel from the barking.

* DancePartyEnding: The film ends showing Navin, Marie, and his family singing and dancing at their home.

* YouKnowImBlackRight: Subverted. Navin, after striking it rich, is talking with several financial advisers who encourage him to invest his newfound wealth in a housing/apartment complex. Once they explain that they specifically plan on making a ''racially segregated'' complex, Navin – who was raised by a black family, and believed himself to be black until fairly recently – proceeds to beat the crap out of all of them with some previously unseen martial arts skills.

* TrophyWife: Navin's boss (Jackie Mason) brings his hot wife to the garage to explain the importance of keeping the place safe. Without such a lucrative business how could he, of all people, get and keep such a woman? He explains that if anything happened to the business she'd leave him in a second. [[GoldDigger She nods in agreement]].

* YouKnowImBlackRight: Subverted. Navin, after striking it rich, is talking to several financial advisers encouraging him to invest his new-found wealth in a housing/apartment complex. Once they explain that they specifically plan on making a ''racially segregated'' complex, an understandably offended Navin, who was raised by a black family and believed himself to be black until fairly recently, proceeds to beat the crap out of all of them with some previously unseen martial arts skills.

** Carl Reiner as celebrity director [[AdamWesting Carl Reiner]], who leads a class-action suit against Navin.

** Carl Reiner [[AsHimself plays himself]] leading a class-action suit against Navin.

* AlterKocker: Mr. Hartounian (he ''is'' played by Creator/JackieMason, after all - though "Hartounian" sounds more like an Armenian name than a Jewish one).

** Carl Reiner plays himself leading a class-action suit against Navin.

The film follows Navin R. Johnson (Martin), a bum, who tells his life story. After finding out that he is not a natural born child of his black parents, Navin decides to leave home and make it for himself in the world. Despite the fact that he is woefully unprepared, Navin manages to land himself a job, escape a decidedly random psychopath (played by Creator/MEmmetWalsh), run away with a traveling carnival, find the woman of his dreams (Creator/BernadettePeters), and hit it rich, before finally losing everything and ending up a bum in the street. Along the way, the film details Navin's interactions with the people and world around him, where his common misunderstandings of every-day situations often [[HilarityEnsues lead to hilarious results]].

The film was remade as a MadeForTVMovie (although billed as a "sequel"), ''The Jerk, Too'', in 1984, starring Mark Blankfield as Navin. It was produced (but not written) by Steve Martin.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_jerk_1979_movie_poster.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"It was never easy for me. I was born a poor black child."'']]

* FelonyMisdemeanor: CAT JUGGLING!!

* BaitAndSwitch: When the lawsuit against Navin is announced, Marie tells him she's not worried about losing all of their money... she's worried about losing all their ''stuff.''

* ConspicuousConsumption: The first thing Navin does after finding out how much he really cashed his check for.
** '''Partially''' averted. It doesn't occur to Navin and Marie to move out of their tiny apartment until their live-in butler and maid suggest it.

** It also turns out that Navin's father is, unexpectedly, a financial wizard who makes millions by investing the funds that Navin was sending home.

* FelonyMisdemeanor: [[ItMakesSenseInContext CAT JUGGLING!!]]

* ItsAllJunk: Navin's boss at the carnival says as much one night about the prizes on display at his weight-guessing booth, noting that Navin has taken in $15 from customers and given out 50 cents' worth of stuff.

** Then, promptly steps in the not-Shinola.

* ShooTheDog: {{Averted}}, as much as Shithead wanted it {{played straight}}.

* BadassFamily: Navin's adopted black family is just really pleasant and likable bunch of people. What makes them even more badass is how they were able to find a way to make their own fortune and create a better life (even if their new house was not very different from their old one).

* AlterKocker: Mr. Hartounian (he ''is'' played by Jackie Mason, after all - though "Hartounian" sounds more like an Armenian name than a Jewish one).

* AlterKocker: Mr. Hartounian (he ''is'' played by Jackie Mason, after all).

* GeniusDitz: Navin lacks common sense, but he knows enough about automobiles to make the Opti-Grab.

* ImprobableWeaponUser: And quite ineffective at that. Navin tries to defend himself against the crazy gunman (who, unknown to Navin, is now restored to sanity and working as a P.I.) by throwing popcorn at him.

* NeverTrustATitle: Navin isn't really a jerk, he's more of a well meaning idiot who unintentionally causes problems for people (he technically is still one, since an older definition for the word means "an annoyingly stupid or foolish person").
* NiceGirl: Marie

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The kind of jerk Navin is, being more the less-common definition of a loser than any he is any kind of a mean or unpleasant guy.

* NeverTrustATitle: Navin isn't really a jerk, he's more of a well meaning idiot who unintentionally causes problems for people.