Lenny Bruce in 'Lenny Bruce' (1967)

This is it. The only full blown performance film that Lenny gave his "thumbs up" to before his tragic death in 1966 of a Morphine overdose (and not Heroin as most suspected),at the age of 40 (he would have turned 41,if he had lived until October of that year). What we have here is Lenny,filmed at one of the last night club appearances before his cabaret card was revoked,and he was barred from performing at any venue that sold alcohol,at least in the legal sense (he would perform at college campuses,an appearance at the Fillmore West,with of all unexpected opening acts,Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention, and a few secret club appearances prior to his death). See Lenny as he waxes philosophical about his various drug and obscenity arrests,as well as taking some well intended pot shots at religion,politics,etc. Probably not as bitingly funny as some of his spoken word comedy records for Fantasy,but still worth a look. The film's photography is about the only really minor flaw (the camera seems to be one fixed camera that doesn't move about much---I'm guessing it may have been shot on crude early video,as there doesn't seem to be any edits). As this film is somewhat short,it's usually shown with Bruce's short animated film 'Thank You Masked Man'. Not rated,but contains salty language & sexually charged material that most folk probably wouldn't want junior to hear.

It was heartening to hear-about Lenny Bruce's posthumous-acquittal in 2002, but considering that our rights to free-speech are again directly-imperiled just makes this documentary of circa-1965 Lenny so chilling. Watching this documentary is akin to a snuff-film: you are watching the human-toll inflicted by Police and District Attorneys on a man who was likely the most important public, social-observer of his time. It's true, one can still see moments of Lenny's former-brilliance of only 3-4 years earlier in this performance, but it is dimmed. This document exists if only to instill in young-people, the outrage of what was committed on this great man. It is not entertainment, it is history.This is what makes this--the one full-concert on-film--so disappointing. Not only is it shot-poorly, but copyright-owners have never done anything to locate better-prints; and like all other Lenny-material out there, no attempts at restoration or preservation seem to have been made. I know there is a dearth of Lenny-footage out there, but until the most-recent documentary, "Swear to Tell the Truth", all we have seen is recycled- footage. Archives need to open their doors to make these materials widely-available, this is our history, people.So, since the early-70s, all we have had is this muddy-gem and "Lenny Bruce Without Tears." Bob Fosse's "Lenny" has some great-moments, and surely captures some aspects of Lenny Bruce, but isn't very probing about what made the comedian so daring for his time. I urge anyone out there who has footage of Lenny Bruce to put make it available to the public, because surely, there is much more to be seen. From Playboy's TV-show appearances that have only been shown in fragments, to press-conferences, and even newsreel-footage of shows, it's out there. It's time to re-examine this man's life in minute-detail, and researchers and fans-alike deserve access to more primary-materials. The recent "Let the Buyer Beware" box-set was an excellent-start.

I remember watching Fosse's biopic, Lenny, and seeing Hoffman's portrayal of the performance documented on this video, and thinking, how sad, that he went from such brilliance to such self-indulgent, self-serving self-defense. I didn't realize until I started watching the video that this was a recording of THAT performance, and it was interesting to watch from that historical perspective. But taken by itself it's more sad than funny. A great comedian, orator, commentator, oh, hell, just the great Lenny reduced to stumbling through court transcripts and embarrassingly trying to remember bits that he did years before. It's disjointed and often makes little sense; ironically, exactly the charges he levels at the "peace officer" assigned to "recreate" his act for the court and the transcripts made from an inaudible recording of one of his shows. Rent this one for a sense of perspective...as an example of Bruce's work, his art, it's a poor specimen, and will have you alternately feeling sorry for him and annoyed by him more than it will make you laugh or think; and those were the two things that, in his prime, Lenny made us do best.

This is a great chance to see Lenny performing during his last days. Not as funny or as snappy as his earlier performances, his intensity comes through loud and clear. Filmed in a small intimate club, you get the feeling of what it was like to see him live on stage. The included animated short, "Thank You, Masked Man," is a hilarious take on a popular Bruce stage routine.