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IMDb > Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998)

Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth (1998) More at IMDbPro »


Overview

User Rating:
8.3/10   309 votes
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Director:
Robert B. Weide
Writer:
Robert B. Weide (writer)
Contact:
View company contact information for Lenny Bruce: Swear to Tell the Truth on IMDbPro.
Release Date:
21 October 1998 (USA) more
Tagline:
In 1948, Lenny Bruce was just another comic who couldn't get arrested. By 1961, all that would change.
Awards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 1 win & 1 nomination more
User Comments:
This film should be an episode of "American Masters" on PBS more

Cast

  (in credits order) (complete, awaiting verification)

Robert De Niro ... Himself / Narrator (voice)

Steve Allen ... Himself
Honey Bruce Friedman ... Herself
Kitty Bruce ... Herself
Lenny Bruce ... Himself (archive footage)
JoJo D'Amore ... Himself
John Dolan ... Himself
Martin Garbus ... Himself
Jackie Gayle ... Himself
Nat Hentoff ... Himself
Paul Krassner ... Himself
Richard Kuh ... Himself
Sally Marr ... Herself
Frankie Ray ... Himself
Maynard Sloate ... Himself
Jack Sobel ... Himself
Howard Solomon ... Himself
Lotus Weinstock ... Herself
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Directed by
Robert B. Weide 
 
Writing credits
(in alphabetical order)
Robert B. Weide  writer

Produced by
Sheila Nevins .... executive producer
Anthony Radziwill .... supervising producer
Robert B. Weide .... producer
 
Cinematography by
Biff Bracht 
 
Film Editing by
Geof Bartz 
Claire Scanlon (recut)
Robert B. Weide 
 
Production Management
Ruth Hawryluk .... post-production supervisor
Cory Nahoum .... post-production supervisor
 
Sound Department
Grant Maxwell .... sound re-recording mixer
Tony Pipitone .... sound editor
 
Music Department
Spring Aspers .... music supervisor: Deluxe Entertainment
 

Production CompaniesDistributorsOther Companies
  • Sync Sound  sound editorial and mixing facilities
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Additional Details

Runtime:
100 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Sound Mix:
Stereo

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
This Oscar-nominated documentary was 12 years in the making. more
Movie Connections:
Features Dance Hall Racket (1953) more
Soundtrack:
Theme from 'A Summer Place' more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
2 out of 2 people found the following comment useful:-
This film should be an episode of "American Masters" on PBS, 13 September 2004
Author: peter-m-koch from NYC, NY, USA

if it isn't, already, and, along with the "Lenny Bruce Performance Film", may become known as the definitive video overview of the life and work of this iconic, visionary, controversial and seminal American artist, satirist and comedian.

Perhaps the one important event in Bruce's life, overlooked by, or perhaps deliberately excluded from, the film, is the near-fatal injury suffered by Bruce's wife, Honey, in a car accident.

It would have been good to see interviewed in the film, people that knew Bruce, that were heard in Larry Josephson's "Modern Times" radio documentary, "Lenny Bruce Remembered", such as Orin Keepnews, Sid Mark, Mort Sahl, Jean Shepherd, Albert Goldman, and Sherman Block, but I suppose one cannot have everything, and it IS Bob Weide's film, not Larry Josephson's. We DO hear from Bruce's mother, wife, and last girlfriend, Lotus Weinstock, in the film, as we do in the radio documentary.

It also would have been good to see and hear Bob Dylan talk about the real-life incident he mentions in his song "Lenny Bruce" :

"I rode with him, in a taxi once, only a mile and a half, seemed like it took a couple of months"

if indeed that did happen, but perhaps that was between the two of them only.

I will close by quoting from the end of Bruce's autobiography. I think the words are Dick Schaap's :

"Finally, one last four-letter word concerning Lenny Bruce : Dead. At forty. That's obscene."

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