The Worst Film Ever

Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

A very feeble attempt at affirmatie action

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Seeing a complete performance from Lenny Bruce is like watching some Jazz musicians all in one form playing at the peak point at that same period in the 60s. Pretty soon all the fire that was keeping everything going would either fade away or get re-directed elsewhere. Lenny Bruce is part of the former, and this show that is likely the last time Bruce was at least totally coherent on stage, even in the similar form of Jazz. Like that, especially in seeing how he talks in a full one-hour show (as opposed to the bits I've seen on TV or occasionally heard on audio recordings), he goes off on tangents, little side-bars that almost might seem like they're going to no point or something random, but it's all in a structure. This structure that Bruce works in helps likely from keeping him on a loose track for his thoughts to go around. Here and there he does get off point, and a couple of stumbles reminds one of how he wasn't really in his full power of linguistic energy and satirical focus.Yet I wouldn't have wanted to miss a minute of what Bruce had to say on stage, even as he would pop into doing full vocal (if not really physical as his face only shows so much mugging) forms of the people he was referencing. This is possibly the kind of talk and dialog with an audience that might have influenced Richard Pryor. You never really feel like the guy is doing full-on 'bits', not that he doesn't do them but they're not obvious. It's more like if a person might be listening to the other at a bar or over a coffee, it's about as natural as anything. Hence the structure of Bruce's court proceedings- the rougher ones as frank as possible following his only recently over-turned conviction in 64- is always of interest. It's peppered with him sometimes doing the bits that are referred to in the court papers, and through this Bruce doesn't just go off into long-winded rants about the injustices done to him. If anything he approaches it the best way by putting some more jabs into the rot that came out of the 'issues' presented at his trial.But the special isn't only that, and in the last twenty minutes of the show the structure then kind of goes seamlessly into other bits more in tune with people in neighborhoods dealing with things, a little sex, some race, class, etc. There's even a very funny throwback to one of his earlier bits involving the word 'come' and its connotations. In fact, it's hard not to laugh through many parts of the one-hour/one camera shot show, as so much ends up coming through in the unusual flow of Bruce's dialog with the crowd (and with himself in a way) that when the punch-lines come they do work. If it's less than a great show, it's probably due to Bruce's own inhibitions perhaps, as the wear and tear of what had been going on shows as true as much of what he speaks out with. I would take a show like this, however, than more than half of the stand-up comedy on TV today- this is a guy, sometimes obsessively and in a tangent-like fashion, trying to level with those he's talking to.

Lenny Bruce was undoubtly the greatest comedian of all time. He was the first to speak about racism, drugs, sex, religion and other societal subjects on stage. He was part of that generation with Sahl, Kerouac and Ginsberg which had seen the horrors of the war and which according to Lenny, couldn't understand how Blacks were asked to die for their country while not being allowed to use the bathroom in some states. Lenny wondered how could politicians and religious figures fight against "sexual obscenity" while encouraging soldiers to relieve their war efforts in French Brothels. As is typical in Jewish Humor, Lenny Bruce comes up with more questions than answers and defies ignorance and servile attitude. The Performance Film was filmed in San Francisco and is one of the last live shows by Lenny, who died of an overdose a year later. Lenny appears sad and tired in the movie, due to the judiciary and police harassments. Yet, you'll be able to see some of his greatest bits, punctuated by a long farewell to one of his last stages.

I'm a Lenny Bruce fan. I know about Lenny Bruce, and I know about 'The Lenny Bruce Performance Film'. I know the circumstances under which the film was made, and the circumstances of Lenny's life and career at that time. Consequently, my expectations for this performance were low.But from the very start... he's good. Not brilliant... but good. Unfortunately, good is such a come-down for Lenny Bruce. And the performance is not helped by the way it is filmed. Lenny is never seen in full figure, which tends to be the best way to show stand-up. The dim lighting was also as strong as Lenny's eyes could stand.He looks rather chubbier than in his prime, and the trademark sharp suit has been replaced with looser clothes to hide his bulkier body. But THIS IS Lenny Bruce performing on film, and it is because so little of this exists, this this film has the fascination it does.Lenny is working with a document in hand - a transcript of one of his prosecutions - and the bulk of his performance revolves around what this contains... How what he has said and done in nightclubs was misrepresented by the legal system of America.And this main section of his performance works remarkably well. He knows the points he wants to make, he easily find the sections of the transcript he needs, his vocal technique is still very much in evidence, and he is FUNNY.But very soon, we see what is lacking in this Lenny Bruce. The incisive mind may still be there, but the playfulness is gone. While discussing the law, he talks about mime artists losing their "freedom of speech". What an opportunity! He misses what could have been one of the best laughs of the night.But even this adequate performance can't be sustained. The end is heart breaking. An obligation of this performance was that Lenny reproduce some of the classic routines of just a few years earlier... and suddenly he tries.Very sad. He can't do it. He can't reproduce his original passion or delivery of those bits. Maybe he can't remember. One routine lasts a few seconds, before he tries another. Important lines we know should be there are missing. Lenny is clearly in trouble.It is like watching one of those "peace officers" he earlier criticizes for hopelessly trying to portray Lenny Bruce the performer in court. Without the real Lenny Bruce speaking, these famous routines quietly die a death.Eventually the performance dwindles to a close. Lenny goes to a side door, and improvises some lines to passers-by. We can't really hear what he is saying, and it seems embarrassing to try. After a minute or so, the door allows his escape.This was Lenny's next to last nightclub performance. Within a year he will be dead.

I remember watching Fosse's biopic, Lenny, and seeing Hoffman's portrayal of the performance documented on this video, and thinking, how sad, that he went from such brilliance to such self-indulgent, self-serving self-defense. I didn't realize until I started watching the video that this was a recording of THAT performance, and it was interesting to watch from that historical perspective. But taken by itself it's more sad than funny. A great comedian, orator, commentator, oh, hell, just the great Lenny reduced to stumbling through court transcripts and embarrassingly trying to remember bits that he did years before. It's disjointed and often makes little sense; ironically, exactly the charges he levels at the "peace officer" assigned to "recreate" his act for the court and the transcripts made from an inaudible recording of one of his shows. Rent this one for a sense of perspective...as an example of Bruce's work, his art, it's a poor specimen, and will have you alternately feeling sorry for him and annoyed by him more than it will make you laugh or think; and those were the two things that, in his prime, Lenny made us do best.