Lenny

Lenny Bruce, scrounging for laughs in the lowest dives, in a complex relationship with Honey, the sleazy stripper whom he married, and which dissolved into sordid self-destruction for both, was a folk hero of his time. Now saint, now sadist, now prophet, now punk, Lenny’s character was elusive, shaping itself into the form desired by the beholder. At times this film takes on the ‘cinema-verite’ style with interviews of major figures in Lenny’s life and flashback sequences to nightclub routines and events in the distant past. This tense, dynamic film fuses disparate time frames to produce an emotionally charged but never one-sided characterisation of Lenny Bruce. Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine are excellent in their roles as the ill-fated Lenny and Honey.