Dustin Hoffman

Valerie Perrine

Jan Miner

Stanley Beck

Frankie Man

Rashel Novikoff

Gary Morton

Guy Rennie

Michele Yonge

Kathryn Witt

Monroe Myers

John DiSanti

Mickey Gatlin

Martin Begley

Mark Harris

Bob Fosse

Julian Barry

Marvin Worth

Lenny

The part of Honey Bruce was originally offered to Lynda Day George, who turned it down because she was uncomfortable with the nudity and harsh subject matter.

Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce Valerie Perrine as Honey Bruce Jan Miner as Sally Marr Stanley Beck as Artie Silver Rashel Novikoff as Aunt Mema Gary Morton as Sherman Hart Guy Rennie as Jack Goldman Aldo Demeo as Bailiff

Lenny opened at Cinema I in New York City on November 10, 1974, and grossed a house record $14,981 in its first day.

The film jumps between various sections of Lenny Bruce's life, including scenes of when he was 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. Up-and-coming Bruce courts his "Shiksa goddess", a stripper named Honey. With family responsibilities, Lenny is encouraged to do a "safe" act, but he cannot do it. Constantly in trouble for flouting obscenity laws, Lenny develops a near-messianic complex that fuels both his comedy genius and his talent for self-destruction. Worn out by a lifetime of tilting at establishment windmills, Lenny Bruce dies of a morphine overdose in 1966.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 32 reviews. The critical consensus reads: "Dustin Hoffman inhabits Lenny Bruce with nervy energy in Bob Fosse's richly stylized telling of the pioneering comedian's career and downfall." On Metacritic, it has a score of 61 out of 100, based on 9 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Pauline Kael for The New Yorker wrote that the film was "for audiences who want to believe that Lenny Bruce was a saintly gadfly who was martyred for having lived before their time" and mentions it's "well made" but complains that it takes itself so "insufferably seriously." Kael finishes with the acknowledgement that the movie is "black and white earnest" and that the "youth-culture saintliness laid on Lenny Bruce are the ultimate in modern showbiz sentimentality."

One of the less enthusiastic reviews came from Roger Ebert, stating, "Unless we go in convinced that Lenny Bruce was an important performer, the movie doesn't convince us."

In 2012, British film critic Mark Kermode put Hoffman's performance as Lenny Bruce at number eight in a top-ten video of Hoffman's best performances.

Lenny is a 1974 American biographical drama film about the comedian Lenny Bruce, starring Dustin Hoffman and directed by Bob Fosse. The screenplay by Julian Barry is based on his play of the same name.

Lenny (1974)

Movie Stats

Movie Details

Key Crew

Cast Analysis

Cast & Character Intel

Technical Personnel & Crew

Recommended for You

Les amies de ma femme

Princess Jasnenka and the Flying Shoemaker

Get Carter

Barber's Tales

Cool Hand Luke

Blue Hill Avenue

The Night of the Shooting Stars

Red Scorpion

Queen of Katwe

Lenny

La liceale

Case of the Naves Brothers

Stealing Heaven

The Tin Drum

A Cat in Paris

Les amies de ma femme

Princess Jasnenka and the Flying Shoemaker

Get Carter

Barber's Tales

Cool Hand Luke

Blue Hill Avenue

The Night of the Shooting Stars

Red Scorpion

Queen of Katwe

Lenny

La liceale

Case of the Naves Brothers

Stealing Heaven

The Tin Drum

A Cat in Paris

Les amies de ma femme

Princess Jasnenka and the Flying Shoemaker

Get Carter

Barber's Tales

Cool Hand Luke

Blue Hill Avenue

The Night of the Shooting Stars

Red Scorpion

Queen of Katwe

Lenny

La liceale

Case of the Naves Brothers

Stealing Heaven

The Tin Drum

A Cat in Paris