Lenny Bruce: Without Tears
Closed CaptioningFred Baker
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Plot Summary
A close friend who prefers to remember the laughs that Lenny Bruce's memory evokes instead of the tears, profiles the outrageous, groundbreaking comic whose iconoclastic material in a conservative era got him into tragic trouble.
Customer Reviews
Comedians today should thank Lenny
If you don't know Lenny Bruce, this will give you an idea how one man opened the door to free speech for being a comedien and died for it. George Carlin, Robin Williams, and many many comics owe alot to Lenny for speaking the truth on stage and felt that what he did was NOT wrong. Lenny had the guts to say it like it is and was constantly busted for it See this documentary. It's got some amazing clips from tv shows he was allowed to be on, like the Steve Allen show, or Hugh Hefners show. He was NOT obscene. But him dying at 40 yrs old IS obscene.
MODERN COMEDY STARTS HERE
This is a really good introduction to the comedy of Lenny Bruce. His style of comedy might take some getting used to because of old movie references and occasional Yiddish idioms, but once you aclimate oneself Lenny was a true pioneer of modern comedy and was not vulgar jst to be vulgar. It can be strange stream of consciousness bits that reflected the atmosphere he was living in at the time, but I cannot say that it is entirely dated, there is still a revelance to his words even if the censorship obstacles he was confronted with have somewhat lifted. The film is a sad testament to a country afraid of WORDS and it would ultimately destroy Lenny. If this review is skimpy on actual content I only do so that one discover the magnificent mind of Lenny Bruce for themselves without being tainted by any other influence. Lenny was a very flawed and contradictory person but it should never detract from the message that he was passing along. I find his imagination amzing at times....some bits are better than others admittedly. Without Lenny laying the ground work there might be no George Carlin or Richard Pryor. Lenny was the original an should never be forgotten even as modern comedy regresses into vulgar pessimism.
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