Lenny Bruce Without Tears (1972)Documentary on the life and death of Lenny Bruce. Director:Fred Baker |
|
| 0Share... |
Lenny Bruce Without Tears (1972)Documentary on the life and death of Lenny Bruce. Director:Fred Baker |
|
| 0Share... |
| Credited cast: | |||
|
|
Lenny Bruce | ... |
Himself /
Various
(archive footage)
|
| Rest of cast listed alphabetically: | |||
| Steve Allen | ... |
Himself /
DJ
(archive footage)
|
|
|
|
Fred Baker | ... |
Narrator
|
|
|
Martin Garbus | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
|
|
|
William Glenesk | ... |
Himself
(archive footage) (as Rev. William Glenesk)
|
|
|
Nat Hentoff | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
|
|
|
Frank Hogan | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
|
|
|
Paul Krassner | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
|
|
|
Malcolm Muggeridge | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
|
| Mort Sahl | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
|
|
|
|
Jean Shepherd | ... |
Himself
(archive footage) (as Jean Shepard)
|
|
|
Kenneth Tynan | ... |
Himself
(archive footage)
|
This documentary tells the story of the rise and fall of Lenny Bruce (1925-1966), hip comedian and bĂȘte noire to the establishment. The film makes the case that Bruce was impoverished and broken by a series of unjust arrests and prosecutions in the 1960s. Clips of Bruce performances, "bits" as he calls them, dominate the film, from Steve Allen's TV show to night-club appearances late in life when he would mine his arrests for material. Malcolm Muggeridge calls Bruce a moralist. A former assistant district attorney from New York in effect apologizes for his part in persecuting Bruce. The bounce and snap of Bruce in the 50s transform into ironic social commentary. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>
As a documentary, this is absolutely awful. It provides little or no insight into the great man's life above that which you can read easily of wikipedia, it is slow moving, badly presented and generally worthless. BUT, and this is a big but, it contains LOADS of original footage of Lenny Bruce performing, and I mean loads. Probably 80% of it is performance footage which cant be seen anywhere else and, unlike most documentaries which cut to a comment every 30 second routine, this shows whole television appearances in their entirety and large sections from his shows, there are several solid 5-10 minute blocks of Lenny performing that you just cant see anywhere else. If you want to learn about Lenny, do some internet research, if you want to see a few prime examples of why he was so great, watch this doc.