Lenny

DURATION
1h 51m
RATED
Unrated
GENRE
Drama
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MoviesLenny

Adapted by Julian Barry from his own Broadway play, Lenny manages to be both brutally frank and highly romanticized in detailing the short life and career of influential, controversial stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce. The chronology hops, skips and jumps between Lenny (Dustin Hoffman) in his prime and the burned-out, strung-out performer who, in the twilight of his life, used his nightclub act to pour out his personal frustrations at great, boring length. We watch as up-and-coming comic Bruce courts his Shiksa goddess, a stripper named Honey (Valerie Perrine). With family responsibilities, Lenny is encouraged to do a safe, conformist act, but he can't do it. Constantly in trouble for flouting obscenity laws, Lenny develops a near-messianic complex, which fuels both his comedy genius and his talent for self-destruction. Worn out by a lifetime of tilting at Establishment windmills, Lenny Bruce died of a drug overdose in 1966. Director Bob Fosse chose to film Lenny in black-and-white, giving the film the texture of a documentary. Though a film as verbally graphic as Lenny could not have been made when the real Lenny Bruce was alive, audiences in 1974 responded, to the tune of an $11 million gross.~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

GENRE: Drama, Biopic
MPAA RATING: No Rating
RUN TIME: 1h 51m
RELEASE DATE: November 10, 1974
STARRING: Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine, Jan Miner, Stanley Beck, John DiSanti
DIRECTOR(S): Bob Fosse
PRODUCER(S): Marvin Worth
WRITER(S): Julian Barry
STUDIO:

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