There were a load of great standup comedians active at the time anyone of whom would have made a better choice, such as Frank Gorshin who was a great impressionist and wickedly funny too. Hoffman gave a dry as dust performance, which completely let down his legion of countercultural fans. What's more he was too short for the part. At the time, the movie industry had abandoned its tried and true approach, moved its headquarters East from Hollywood, and was producing a series of pretentious and often tasteless pictures, influenced by the European art-house film industry. In a misguided attempt to score with college educated moviegoers, the New York school ignored the proved popular taste of the audience in favor of a phoney attempt to culturally legitimize American movies by making them less commercial and more like their (usually less popular and less well-made) European counterparts.

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.

'Lenny' tells the story of comedian Lenny Bruce, who dared to defy the conventions and use taboo subjects (homosexuality, STDs, drug abuse, etc) in his stand-up routines. Truthfully, I don't know anything about the man; as such, I have no idea of how true the film is to the real Lenny. However, the cinematography is quite good, and Dustin Hoffman is excellent as usual (too bad Lenny Bruce had already died, anyone would be honored to have such a high-level actor portraying them). Valerie Perrine is quite beautiful as his wife.The way Bob Fosse decided to shoot this, though, is what truly caught my attention. He makes the film similar to a documentary, interwoven with flashbacks/flashforwards/flashwhatever of Lenny's life and his stand-up acts (performed finely by Hoffman). The editing is quite masterfully done, with the scenes interweaving perfectly.However, with the comedy the way it is nowadays, 'Lenny' is very dated. In a time where Sacha Baron Cohen, 'Scary Movie' and many other crude comedies are abound, any kind of impact this film's comedic side might have is almost null; no one else will even blink in shock at his subjects at all, though they may still do so at the dramatic side of the film (Lenny Bruce's wasted life).The film stands as a very well directed and acted picture, but with time has lost most of its power. It is a sad story, and the dramatic side still works well enough, but in the end it feels like just another celebrity who lost himself.

Lenny (1974) **** (out of 4) Bob Fosse's masterpiece takes a look at the short life of comic Lenny Bruce (Dustin Hoffman) who would die at the age of forty but not before breaking down certain doors for future comics. The film follows his rise up through the ranks thanks in large part to the controversy that followed him due to the nature of his act. I've always felt that LENNY was one of the best movies of the decade and even after all these years it's still a very sharp, at times funny but mostly sad look at a man who deserved much better than he ever got. There's no doubt in my mind that the film was like the light shining from above on both Fosse and Hoffman as the two were perfectly meant to bring this film to the screen and boy do they really deliver. Fosse's style here wouldn't work with most directors but the way he uses it to get to the emotion and power in the story is quite amazing. The film jumps back and forth through different periods of Bruce's life and the way Fosse uses this to build up the subject is something interesting to watch. Just take a look at a rather innocent scene where Bruce talks his wife into having a threesome with another woman. Just look at how the silence is used and the impact this has for this scene. Hoffman gives one of his greatest performances here, which is saying quite a bit considering how great he was during this period of his career. I thought he really did a remarkable job at not copying the real Lenny Bruce but instead taking him and forming him into this character. I thought Hoffman really gave an incredibly powerful and emotional performance and especially as Bruce begins to crack due to the pressures of the courts and the drugs. Valerie Perrine is also excellent in her role of Bruce's drug addicted wife. The B&W cinematography is some of the greatest you're ever going to see. This is certainly one of the most beautiful films you're ever going to see and especially the way the lighting is even in the simplest scenes. LENNY often gets beaten up by some critics because it's not 100% accurate but I've yet to see any bio pic that is. To me this is clearly one of the best movies of the decade and features one of the greatest performances you're going to see.