Lenny Bruce Without Tears (1971)

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Lenny Bruce was a stand-up comic (though he frequently sat down do deliver his monologues) whose work in the early '50s electrified the intellectual community of his time. It is not just that he was foul-mouthed; many contemporaries were that. It was his daring inclusion of political observations… More Lenny Bruce was a stand-up comic (though he frequently sat down do deliver his monologues) whose work in the early '50s electrified the intellectual community of his time. It is not just that he was foul-mouthed; many contemporaries were that. It was his daring inclusion of political observations and social commentary into his act which edified as often as it resulted in gales of wry laughter. As he grew more famous, his big-city, hip decadence, and his political outspokenness led to difficulties with authorities. These troubles included prosecution on obscenity charges. This filmed documentary shows brief excerpts from some of his acts, and features interviews with "eggheads" such as Kenneth Tynan and Malcom Muggeridge. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 25 min.
Directed By: Fred Baker
Genres: Documentary, Comedy

In Theaters: Jul 5, 1972 Wide
On DVD: Feb 22, 2005

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This documentary tells the story of Lenny Bruce with all the filmmaking passion of a PBS nature documentary from the 50s. It is a dull film edited sloppily and with a narrator who is laughably droll. Lenny Bruce was an important comedian, but his humor doesn?t really stand up well… More
This documentary tells the story of Lenny Bruce with all the filmmaking passion of a PBS nature documentary from the 50s. It is a dull film edited sloppily and with a narrator who is laughably droll. Lenny Bruce was an important comedian, but his humor doesn?t really stand up well today, one can see the boldness in the craft, but I?d be lying if I said any of this makes me laugh. Furthermore, most of Bruce?s best material was never recorded, the video footage here is pretty tame. There is better material in the audio recordings which for some reason is accompanied here b strange, often irrelevant stock footage. For a better chronicle of the life of Lenny Bruce check out the 1974 Bob Fosse directed biopic Lenny, which featured Dustin Hoffman recreating much better material that was never recorded.