On L List of Movie Reviews
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Lenny (1974)
Rate:
9
Viewed:
1/21
1/21:
Like Star 80, Lenny follows the same narrative style about a destructive person.
What's impressive about the black-and-white film is the editing. At first, it's rapid and choppy which signifies
Lenny Bruce's life in the fast lane. Then, the pace slows down as he ages. It comes to a standstill during his
final comedy act before dying of drug overdose at age 40.
People will have to be very, very familiar with the history of stand-up comics in the last 75 years, and to know who
Lenny Bruce was and his importance among them, they need to go through Andrew Dice Clay, Sam Kinison, Eddie Murphy, George
Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Rodney Dangerfield. All of these guys shared one trait: they were outrageous.
What makes Lenny Bruce a cut above the rest is that he was far ahead of his time. While watching the movie, I concluded that
he wasn't a funny guy. But there's an important aspect about his skit: he was saying stuff that were obscene during the 50's and 60's and
therefore got outlawed. Hence, Lenny Bruce was a shock comedian which led to his frequent arrests during and after comedy shows.
He was eventually banned from almost all nightclubs in the United States.
Dustin Hoffman gives a top five performance of his career; he's so good that the movie sometimes reminds me of
Midnight Cowboy. Valerie Perrine is also perfect, being there first before Mariel Hemingway when it comes to
telling a life story in front of the camera. Both Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine deserved their Oscar
nominations by melting into their characters. By the way, Sherman Hart is a pseudonym for Milton Berle.
All in all, Lenny is an American tragedy because Lenny Bruce's First Amendment rights failed to protect him.