This biopic about shock comedian Lenny Bruce was Bob Fosse's followup to his well-received 1972 film "Cabaret." I'm pretty sure that "Lenny" was a financial bomb, and I'm not surprised. It's a relentlessly depressing and ugly film, despite the stylish polish Fosse gives it. Anyone who has seen Fosse's last film, "Star 80," knows just how nihilistic this director could be, and "Lenny" shows evidence of that.

It is a fascinating film though, in its own way. Fosse uses a documentary-like approach, complete with black and white photography and a narrative device in which we see Bruce's long-suffering love (played heartbreakingly by Valerie Perrine, Lex Luthor's bikini-clad girlfriend in "Superman" [1978]) telling Bruce's story to a filmmaker while the actual events themselves are played out as flashbacks. Fosse was fond of this confessional type of storytelling and would use it again in "All That Jazz" (1979). Dustin Hoffman is simply sensational as Bruce; he utterly disappears into this caustic character until no trace of Hoffman the actor is left. Technically, everything about the film is highly accomplished, but it's so desolately grim as to be off putting.

Grade: B+

I have a friend who strongly recommended I see "Lenny". Now, after seeing the film I understand why he suggested it--Lenny Bruce in this film sounded much like my friend! Both are huge proponents of the First Amendment (as am I) and both felt that words alone are harmless. So, for that I am thankful that I saw the film and now I can see where my friend got his strange sensibilities!

As far as the film goes, I STILL feel quite ambivalent about it several hours after finishing it. While I liked the film technically and appreciate that the film does not whitewash the man, it's also a rather unpleasant film about a guy who I am not even sure I care for one way or the other. I appreciate his pushing the limits of free speech, I just didn't think he was funny--and having seen his HORRIBLE film he wrote and acted in during his early career ("Dance Hall Racket") didn't help! I much more appreciated his insights into society but his jokes left me pretty flat. BUT, this is not really the purpose of the film. Even if you don't think he was funny, it's an interesting portrait of a very self-destructive man as well as the times he lived in and it's rather unflinching in its portrayal.

By the way, if you do see "Lenny", understand that even today it's a rather adult film--even over three decades later. There is a lot of nudity and the language is understandably rough. So, don't watch it with your mother-in-law or Father Jenkins!

Lenny Bruce remains a figure of controversy even today. Some see him as a harbinger of things to come, the ancestor of comedians like Andrew Dice Clay or even the Animal House fraternity of comic actors. Some see him as a rather self indulgent sort who got gratification out of writing on bathroom walls. Whatever he was he probably never deserved the kind of attention he got from law enforcement. But that's always a problem, they never know when to just ignore. As for Bruce he certainly never hit prime time when he was alive.

But his character was the subject of a fascinating biographical film just simply entitled Lenny. And he was lucky in that he got an actor as good as Dustin Hoffman to play him. It got Hoffman one of his several nominations for Best Actor. Hoffman was so good that he certainly has a second career as a blue comedian if the acting gig goes south.

Lenny was also the breakout performance vehicle for Valerie Perrine in the role of Lenny Bruce's drug addicted wife. Perrine got an Oscar nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category. Down the cast list is Gary Morton, best known as Lucille Ball's second husband and he plays an established comedian based on Milton Berle.

Berle in real life could work blue if had to and did on occasions when the all seeing public eye wasn't necessarily tuned in. I remember that Buddy Hackett who was one of the funniest men that ever lived in club dates was positively filthy. But you paid to see him perform live at some nightclub for that, you sure didn't see him in The Music Man doing his nightclub act. Or on the Ed Sullivan Show.

Lenny Bruce never made those distinctions between Ed Sullivan and some sleazy nightclub. There's no more Ed Sullivan type variety shows. You do now have comedy clubs where Bruce would probably be more than welcome with his material.

Lenny Bruce thanks to the film Lenny now has a permanent place in our culture. It's also part of Dustin Hoffman's enduring legacy to film.