{"id":1172,"date":"2006-06-19T15:18:12","date_gmt":"2006-06-19T22:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1172"},"modified":"2021-01-16T23:30:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-17T06:30:21","slug":"lenny-bruce-performance-film-the-1967","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1172","title":{"rendered":"Lenny Bruce Performance Film, The (1967)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;I am not a comedian&#8230; I am Lenny Bruce.&#8221; <\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Lenny-Bruce-Poster.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Lenny-Bruce-Poster-213x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"213\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-44433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Lenny-Bruce-Poster-213x300.jpg 213w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Lenny-Bruce-Poster-91x128.jpg 91w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Lenny-Bruce-Poster.jpg 355w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 213px) 100vw, 213px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nLenny Bruce debunks the obscenity charges made against him in New York City. <\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stand-Up Comedy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary&#8217;s Review:<\/strong><br \/>\nPeary notes that Lenny Bruce&#8217;s second-to-last live performance &#8212; &#8220;filmed in San Francisco in August of 1965 in San Francisco, the one place in the states where he could get bookings&#8221; &#8212; is crudely shot (the director &#8220;keeps a nervous camera focused on Bruce at all times&#8221;) and only intermittently funny (&#8220;one wishes his material were a bit stronger&#8221;). Nonetheless, Bruce still manages to come across as both highly intelligent and naturally witty; it&#8217;s easy to catch glimpses of his genius through the haze of his (legitimate) obsession with the &#8220;politics of obscenity&#8221;. As Peary writes, Bruce was &#8220;a comedian who relied on his intelligence and natural wit rather than a memorized set of irrelevant jokes,&#8221; and it&#8217;s clear he &#8220;seems amused by life&#8217;s sad ironies.&#8221; Most enjoyable for me was seeing what a master Bruce was at voice characterizations &#8212; watch how easily and convincingly he&#8217;s able to switch from character to character during his running jokes. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bruce&#8217;s improvisatory discussion of the obscenity charges made against him<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Charges.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Charges.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1176\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>The skewering &#8220;How the Jew and the Negro Got Into Show Business&#8221; schtick (much less offensive than it sounds)<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Bruce.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/Bruce.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1175\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<li>If you&#8217;re renting the DVD, don&#8217;t miss the oddly hilarious short &#8220;Thank You Mask Man&#8221;, in which one of Bruce&#8217;s most famous running jokes is set to animation<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/MaskMan.JPG\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/06\/MaskMan.JPG\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1174\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nYes. As Lenny Bruce&#8217;s only live performance preserved on film, it holds a special place in cultural history. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Categories<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Historically Relevant<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Links:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/imdb.com\/title\/tt0070302\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/digitalwatch\/lennybruc.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;I am not a comedian&#8230; I am Lenny Bruce.&#8221; Synopsis: Lenny Bruce debunks the obscenity charges made against him in New York City. Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Stand-Up Comedy Response to Peary&#8217;s Review: Peary notes that Lenny Bruce&#8217;s second-to-last live performance &#8212; &#8220;filmed in San Francisco in August of 1965 in San Francisco, the one place in the states where he could get bookings&#8221; &#8212; is crudely shot (the director &#8220;keeps a nervous camera focused on Bruce at all&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=1172\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1172"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63852,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1172\/revisions\/63852"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}