Steve Martin, once a writer for the Smothers Brothers, became a household name thanks to his comic antics on Saturday Night Live, his sell-out concerts and comedy albums, and the hit single “King Tut.” He had made an appearance in the musical flop Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, but Carl Reiner’s The Jerk was Martin’s first starring role, co-written with Martin to emphasize his unique smart-but-stupid shtick.

Raised by a family of black Mississippi sharecroppers, Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin) has always felt different. (“You mean I’ll always be this color?” he tearfully asks his mother, Mabel King.) Navin sets out to find his own identity, hitchhiking to St. Louis. (He befriends a dog, whose name can’t be repeated on this family site.)

Navin is hired (for $1.10 an hour) by gas station owner Harry Hartounian (Jackie Mason). One day, a businessman named Stan Fox (Bill Macy) arrives with a pair of glasses that keep slipping off his face. Navin attaches a handle and a nose grip to the glasses. Fox is impressed, and promises to split the profits from the invention with Navin some day.

Navin becomes the random target of a crazed madman (M. Emmett Walsh). He hides out from his pursuer in a carnival. There, he becomes the slave of motorcycle queen Patty Bernstein (Catlin Adams). He writes letters to his family announcing that he has found his “special purpose,” which, again, can’t be mentioned here.

Navin meets and falls in love with a beautiful cosmetologist, Marie (Bernadette Peters). She feels she must marry a successful man, so after a brief romance, she walks out on Navin. He drags his dog to Los Angeles.

Stan Fox tracks down Navin to inform him that his invention, now called the Opti-Grab, is selling millions. Navin is a rich man. He finds Marie and marries her. Soon, he is living the high life in a gaudily appointed mansion. Sadly, his quick rise will soon give way to a precipitous fall.

The Jerk was a hit, kicking off a successful screen career for Martin, who proved a natural screen presence. Films like The Man With Two Brains and Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid played off his well-known style, but the serio-comic Pennies from Heaven indicated that Martin had unexpected ambitions. Now a respected playwright, author and painter, Martin’s multi-faceted talent has paid off. From the romantic L.A. Story and Roxanne, to the poignant Shopgirl, to the goofy Bowfinger, Martin has mastered a variety of comic tones.

Tony winner Bernadette Peters won hearts with her sweet but comically committed performance, and her duet, “Tonight You Belong To Me,” with Martin on ukulele and Peters on the cornet, is perhaps the film’s most memorable moment.

In 1984, a sequel-cum-remake, The Jerk, Too, was made for television, starring Mark Blankfield of the comedy show Fridays. A ratings no-show, it has since disappeared.