The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.The story of acerbic 1960s comic Lenny Bruce, whose groundbreaking, no-holds-barred style and social commentary was often deemed by the Establishment as too obscene for the public.
- Nominated for 6 Oscars
- 7 wins & 17 nominations total
- Girl
- (as Kathie Witt)
- Hawaiian Judge
- (as Monroe Meyers)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe scene in which Lenny Bruce does his act in a raincoat, near the movie's end, came from a Lenny Bruce show that a student tape-recorded and sent to Dustin Hoffman. Bruce's lines are directly from the tape.
- GoofsDuring the movie's opening monologue, Lenny says that it's 1964 and then references Jerry Lewis's MDA Telethon, which debuted in 1966.
- Quotes
Lenny Bruce: What's the worst thing you can say to anybody? ''Fuck you, mister!'' That's really weird, because if l wanted to hurt you, l should say, ''Unfuck you, mister'' Because ''fuck you'' is really nice, man.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Precious Images (1986)
And the use of black and white was great. The movie did give Lenny the appreciation that he deserved, mainly by showing his troubled personal life and his troubles with the law. The movie portrayed the trouble and basically harassment that Lenny went through when he voiced his observations of society, which were true, but weren't quite ready to be heard yet. The only fault (if at all) of the film is that it didn't quite show Lenny's genius in what he did. It definitely showed his potential but not quite his brilliance. But this might be because it was a biography of sorts of his life which included his personal and public life. I suppose if the movie just focused on his comedic talents; than his genius would have been obvious, but that wasn't the focus of the film. All in all this is an excellent movie in what it attempted to do. It accomplished what it set out to do and that's what counts.
- hypnopaedia
- Jun 12, 2001
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $8,427,866
- Runtime1 hour 51 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.85 : 1