Lenny (1974)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Melvin W

  
  Lenny Bruce: Did you know that Eleanor Roosevelt gave Lou Gehrig the clap?  "Lenny's Time Has Finally Come." Lenny is a decent biopic of an interesting man. It has its problems though. It is extremely fragmented and poorly paced. Overall it is still well worth a watch… More
  Lenny Bruce: Did you know that Eleanor Roosevelt gave Lou Gehrig the clap?  "Lenny's Time Has Finally Come." Lenny is a decent biopic of an interesting man. It has its problems though. It is extremely fragmented and poorly paced. Overall it is still well worth a watch though, because of an amazing performance from Dustin Hoffman. He plays the controversial comic with great power.  I think I would have liked this movie much more had I not seen Star 80 first. Star 80 and Lenny are pretty much identical structurally, but Star 80 is more involving and more entertaining. Both are made in fragments, with interviews in the middle of scenes to make it feel like a documentary. Both also take a not so glamourous look at a form of media or show business and both end in tragedy.  Lenny is interesting because we get fragments of Lenny's life intermixed with actors playing people he knew giving interviews, and also Lenny doing his stand up routine when he was young and old. As he is old, he stops telling jokes and more or less tells the plot of the movie. He tells about how he got arrested all the time for saying obscene jokes and making obscene gestures. He reads police reports and says why everything he has gotten arrested for is stupid.  Today Lenny doesn't seem all that controversial. If you watch the comics of today side by side Lenny; he would be considered the cleaner comic. This film isn't great, but it is still an interesting look at an interesting man. Fosse would take this structure and make an even better movie later in his career.

• Matthew R

  
  Dustin Hoffman teams up with one of the most tragic figures in modern moviemaking, Bob Fosse, to bring us a biopic of one of the greatest, most influential and most controversial stand-up comedians of our age, Lenny Bruce. First and foremost, Hoffman as Bruce was one of the greatest… More
  Dustin Hoffman teams up with one of the most tragic figures in modern moviemaking, Bob Fosse, to bring us a biopic of one of the greatest, most influential and most controversial stand-up comedians of our age, Lenny Bruce. First and foremost, Hoffman as Bruce was one of the greatest casting decisions of this film. He plays his part with cunning, energy, cynicism and reality, truly taking the trials and tribulations of Bruce to razor-edge effect but also including in great detail and care in appropriately displaying the extent of Bruce's darkness as a person and his many foul actions toward others in his life (friend, foe, and family). Fosse's direction is not perfect, however it is conducted with such an objective point of view in such a documentary style that it is hard to be sucked in by the realism of the film. Julian Barry's screenplay based off his own play is sharp, quick-witted and as honest as the material given. Though the screenplay shirks on much of the material needed to explain the overall controversy of Bruce's career and lifestyle, it makes up in drama and human connection of all others associated with Bruce's life and eventual tragic death. You feel with Bruce as these things happen, but at the same time find many reasons why Bruce is so hard to like (his frequent adultery, excess and harsh drug abuse that dragged many of his family down into the drain with him). A fabulous film that deserves far more recognition than it is given it in contemporary America. Along with George Carlin and Richard Pryor, who would emerge about a decade later observing the same language and hypocrisies of the American attitude and mass media in the world of censorship (large or small), Lenny Bruce is one of the most important influences of the rights of free speech and the American culture as a whole, and this film does him the justice he deserves, though it still could have pushed the envelope even more.

• Spencer S

  
  The lines between fact and fiction blurred again and again, making a point to show Bruce's extreme drug use, profanity, and Bruce's life, as some tawdry jaunt into a life of drugs and court dates, his act the backdrop. Bruce was more than his act, and this is exemplified by… More
  The lines between fact and fiction blurred again and again, making a point to show Bruce's extreme drug use, profanity, and Bruce's life, as some tawdry jaunt into a life of drugs and court dates, his act the backdrop. Bruce was more than his act, and this is exemplified by his emotional scenes with his druggie, stripper wife Honey, and his care and concern for his daughter, Kitty. Throughout the film snippets of Bruce's act are thrown in (performed by Hoffman) to show the influences of his life on his act, speaking out against racism, sexism, and censorship in the 60's, coming off trials on Communism and the X-rating of Midnight Cowboy. Though the performances of Hoffman and Perrine were genuine, heartfelt, and laced with a brand of humor that is realistic and a true portrayal, at times there was frivolity that could have been hampered. Bruce comes off as complex, and that is what he was, so to Hoffman I give considerable kudos.

• Anthony L

  
  A stylish biopic of the mighty Lenny Bruce. Fantastically directed by Fosse and brilliantly portrayed by Hoffman. Valerie Perrine's performance is also fantastic but whenever I see her I just want to shout "MISS TESCHMACHER". Fantastic film!

• Pierluigi P

  
  Biopic of the notorious comedian Lenny Bruce, a man who wasn't afraid of using a coarse vocabulary to raise conciousness over a hypocritical society, and who was sentenced to silence in the most unfair ways. Dustin Hoffman never ceases to amaze me, his versatility and the ability… More
  Biopic of the notorious comedian Lenny Bruce, a man who wasn't afraid of using a coarse vocabulary to raise conciousness over a hypocritical society, and who was sentenced to silence in the most unfair ways. Dustin Hoffman never ceases to amaze me, his versatility and the ability to get beneath every layer and reach the soul of the character. A wonderful film that moved me and genuinely conveyed all the agony and impotence that this honest, outspoken and tremendously talented man must have felt with every infamy and clash he had with justice and life in general. Shot in beautiful black and white.

• Michael G

  
  Lenny is a biopic that feels more like a documentary but seems to dwell on feelings instead of fact. If that makes any sense. The black and white photography is fantastic as is Bob Fosse's direction. Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine were also great even if the story… More
  Lenny is a biopic that feels more like a documentary but seems to dwell on feelings instead of fact. If that makes any sense. The black and white photography is fantastic as is Bob Fosse's direction. Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine were also great even if the story couldn't sit still. I thought it ended kind of abruptly but Bruce left us that way. Definitely essential viewing for any fan of Lenny Bruce's.

• Tim S

  
  Another fantastic performance from Dustin Hoffman.

• Christopher M

  
  I wish I was more familiar with Lenny Bruce before seeing this. For the completely uninitiated, Lenny Bruce is probably the most famous stand-up comic of all time, because he opened the doors for pretty much every comic to come after him. He started doing edgy, risk-taking comedy… More
  I wish I was more familiar with Lenny Bruce before seeing this. For the completely uninitiated, Lenny Bruce is probably the most famous stand-up comic of all time, because he opened the doors for pretty much every comic to come after him. He started doing edgy, risk-taking comedy while nobody else was doing anything remotely unconventional. Uncompromising as he was, he was even arrested several times for things said in his act. 1974's Lenny is a really cleverly constructed biopic starring Dustin Hoffman as Bruce. The film is clever for a number of reasons. For one thing, it's done in black & white and I think that enhances the picture, which uses some really cool lighting tricks and some evocative imagery. But the most interesting thing about it is that it is structured like a documentary. We have the narrative of Lenny's life as he rises in the comedy world and his trials, romances, etc, then we have his stand-up routine (which seems to be a spot-on job done by Hoffman), and then there are interviews with major characters/people in Lenny's life which run throughout. All that business has the potential to become a mess, but because the film is structured exactly as if it was a documentary, it's a clever device that works to great effect. Seeing this made me realize how strong Dustin Hoffman started out his career. Before appearing in Lenny, he had put in brilliant performances in classic films such as The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, and Straw Dogs - and his work in this film only carries on that string of great performances. As well, Valerine Perrine, playing Lenny's wife Honey, was astoundingly good, and heartbreaking. For any fan of either Hoffman or stand-up comedy in general, this is not a film to miss.

• jay n

  
  Gritty and grim but magnificiently acted by Hoffman and Valerie Perrine, its a shame she didn't make the major league of stars, a wonderfully insightful actress.

• Kalel J

  
  With a raw authenticity and a striking establishment of a forgotten icon, Lenny is a film that holds true to it's source and the tonal qualities that were pressed and needed to be presented. Bob Fosse, with a short directorial career, has crafted a gem of a film that has become… More
  With a raw authenticity and a striking establishment of a forgotten icon, Lenny is a film that holds true to it's source and the tonal qualities that were pressed and needed to be presented. Bob Fosse, with a short directorial career, has crafted a gem of a film that has become sadly misplaced in the years, but his work here outshines even the very monoliths of 1974 that had beat this film into submission. Structurally, Lenny is a very rare piece. The film tends to hold an undergarment of a docudrama, through it's usage of direct interviews and lack of musical composition. For most projects, this aspect could have drearily downgraded the film by severely stilting the pacing. Here though, it tends to accompany the soft yet unyielding nature of the visual qualities. At the same time, the film tends to overlay those fabrics with the facade of being a biographical picture that aims to strike with the same maneuvers as it's leading man, a comedian who seemingly ushered in a new age of public acceptance towards the "obscene" and the fight against censorship. Lenny is a film that holds many truisms to it as we listen with an understanding of the comedian's stance on his material. The public of this era sees only provocative obscenities, but the audiences of the later years are able to see the reality in what Lenny Bruce is saying. His harsh comments speak with an integrity and truth that identifies the flaws in the defenses of prejudice's and social acceptances. And through Hoffman's brilliant performance, we are able to see layers to a man who was destined to reach his self-destruction along his followed path; a man who morphed his life with the morphing of his material and critiquing of society and it's people. Through a fine screenplay, Lenny is a film that brings a high volume of laughs, but allows itself to be balanced with a care for the progression of these character's. Hoffman gives inflictions of a true character of ambivalence from the audience. There are many points to question the man's morals, yet his stance is ever so powerful that a strange fade comes into focus between his life and his comedy. We laugh at his jokes, but the personal qualities behind the microphone provoke questions. Valerie Perrine gives the performance of her career as the wife of confusion and need. The real star, however, is director Bob Fosse, who has focused his attention on select film departments to get the most out of this film. A rare feat for the film is that it succeeds in portraying the look, feel, and details of a 1950's America, slowly coming to terms with a generational gap that will shake the societal evolution like never before. The film is picturesque in it's tone - it is serious, but holds an overbearing cynicism and wry smirk that it shares with it's laughter hound. But the cinematography is able to take a further leap through the execution of some astonishing editing, where a vast amount of shots are compiled to add that final layer of visual complexity to an already meaningful film. Tragic and moving, Lenny is a picture that will stay with you for quite a while. Have the patience to stick with it, and the rewards will be reaped. The only downpoint is that at times the film tends to bring some subtle contradictions to the table. Otherwise, this is perfect filmmaking.

• Byron B

  
  There are many black and white movies that still feel very warm. The black and white in this picture is stark, very stark. This adds to the sometimes severe, often unblinkingly unpleasant parts of Bruce's life. The movie is a funny, erotic, disturbing, piercing, impactful… More
  There are many black and white movies that still feel very warm. The black and white in this picture is stark, very stark. This adds to the sometimes severe, often unblinkingly unpleasant parts of Bruce's life. The movie is a funny, erotic, disturbing, piercing, impactful semi-documentary style master work! Here's the question: "What's dirty and what's clean?"

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic][color=darkred]The first rule of any biopic is the movie should give us a very, very good reason why that person's life mattered. "Lenny" does this masterfully. To start out, Dustin Hoffman IS Lenny Bruce(Hoffman is rarely better), the comedian… More
  [font=Century Gothic][color=darkred]The first rule of any biopic is the movie should give us a very, very good reason why that person's life mattered. "Lenny" does this masterfully. To start out, Dustin Hoffman IS Lenny Bruce(Hoffman is rarely better), the comedian who kick started the counter-culture, starting out in 1951 when he was a Catskills lounge comedian and met his future wife and then stripper, Honey(Valerie Perrine, never better) and shows the rise of his career which was followed by arrests for both obscenity(the New York charge was only overturned in the past couple of years!) and drug use. [/color][/font] [font=Century Gothic][color=darkred][/color][/font] [font=Century Gothic][color=darkred]There is an intricate structure of the movie. It is told in flashbacks, which is not unexpected but it starts out with not only fictional interviews of the characters who knew Bruce but from a performance that Hoffman gives as Bruce very late in his career. There are several sequences that are absolutely breathtaking - a standup routine revolving around ethnic slurs and a nine-minute single shot of a performance gone awry. And the black and white cinematography is absolutely beautiful and seedy, at the same time.[/color][/font] [font=Century Gothic][color=#8b0000][/color][/font] [font=Century Gothic][color=#8b0000]I have not had a lot of experience listening to Lenny Bruce perform. I do have one of his CD's but I have never listened to it much. I did read his memoir, "How to Talk Dirty and Influence People" which was about ten years ago, so I do not remember that much about it. My main point of reference is a similarity to the later comedy of Bill Hicks where there is a combination of obscenity and political satire. Bruce's was especially daring because I don't think people were used to listening to that combination in the 50's and early 60's. I certainly think it was rare to joke about the President like that at the time, whereas now it's practically a spectator sport.[/color][/font]

• Brian R

  
  Bob Fosse's take on Lenny Bruce. A masterpiece. Critics should still talk and comment on this film it is one of the best pictures of the seventies I have ever seen and this film is one of Bob Fosse's best and Hoffman's acting best. A true landmark, yes it is.

• Doctor S

  
  Exceptional biopic where I actually learned something about the subject! In true 1970s cinema fashion, Bob Fosse does not attempt to glamorize or mythicize controversial comedian Lenny Bruce as modern Hollywood would. Instead we are shown events detailing the ascent and regression… More
  Exceptional biopic where I actually learned something about the subject! In true 1970s cinema fashion, Bob Fosse does not attempt to glamorize or mythicize controversial comedian Lenny Bruce as modern Hollywood would. Instead we are shown events detailing the ascent and regression of a man who inadvertently challenged authority over freedom of public speech. I was unfamiliar with Bruce's actual act and the film offers many nightclub performances with Dustin Hoffman impressively pulling them off. While it was difficult at first to distance his young appearance from his turn as Benjamin Braddock in 'The Graduate,' once he grows a beard he IS Lenny Bruce. The most comparable comedian I know is George Carlin as both used language as a tool to expose human hypocrisy though humor. With today's abundance of foul-mouthed comics populating TV specials, it's dumbfounding to learn how Bruce faced repeated prosecution and served jail time for merely saying words in public that were deemed objectionable. The film uses an interesting mix of fictionalized interviews and fly-on-the-wall storytelling to relate the influences and pressures within Bruce's life and how they affected his onstage material, much like we see in the first few seasons of TV's 'Seinfeld' 20 years later. The acting and direction make it all seem very real, a favorite scene shows Bruce, his mother, and his agent joking about an offer to play shows at a club at quintuple salary - their interaction is free and easy, an important step in Bruce's career told in a very believable, realistic manner without the staginess that plagues many biopics. An absorbing, informative, and entertaining film.

• Dimitris S

  
  The true masterpiece by Fosse,I can't forget his delightful musicals,regardless of the stout behavior at times like Cabaret,the man had his perfect share on stage.And look at him,he's involved with a comedian.But what a genius brain.Self-destructive and obnoxious for… More
  The true masterpiece by Fosse,I can't forget his delightful musicals,regardless of the stout behavior at times like Cabaret,the man had his perfect share on stage.And look at him,he's involved with a comedian.But what a genius brain.Self-destructive and obnoxious for some.None whatsoever biography can be accurate yet,is it too much to say it's one of the most well-crafted and lust-for-life bio-pics ever made?

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