Lenny is one of those movies propelled and almost entirely stands on the performance of its lead. Dustin Hoffman does an amazing job bringing the late, great and “controversial” (for his time) Lenny Bruce, deserving of his Academy Award nomination (though he had the unfortunate timing of going against so many greats like Nicholson and Al Pacino and losing to Art Carney). The Twilight Time Blu-ray release is limited in terms of features but the video and audio transfers were both well done.
Lenny
(1974)
REVIEW NAVIGATION
The Movie | Special Features | Video Quality | Audio Quality | Overall
Genre(s): Drama
Twilight Time | R – 111 min. – $29.95 | February 10, 2015
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Bob Fosse Writer(s): Julian Barry (screenplay) Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Valerie Perrine, Jan Miner, Stanley Beck DISC INFO: Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 1.0) |
** Click Here to Purchase Lenny on Blu-ray from Screen Archives **
THE MOVIE
Lenny, director Bob Fosse’s follow-up to his award-winning Cabaret, zeroes in on the controversial real-life comedian, Lenny Bruce (DUSTIN HOFFMAN), best remembered by his mother, wife, friends and colleagues after his drug-induced death. Told in pseudo-documentary style highlighted by Bruce Surtee’s gritty black-and-white cinematography, the film gives us a portrait of the artist as a tortured advocate of liberation, and free-speech martyr.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5
Not a whole lot here but we go get an academic Audio Commentary with Film Historians Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman as well as the film’s Trailer.
VIDEO – 4.0/5
Released by Twilight Time and shown in black & white, Lenny is presented with a 1080p high-definition transfer and in its original 1.85 widescreen aspect ratio. The picture features pretty stark black levels and surprisingly enough, doesn’t show much in the way of dust marks or scratches. The detail level is relatively limited of course but on the whole, it’s a fine transfer.
AUDIO – 4.0/5
The DTS-HD Master Audio Mono track meanwhile is more than serviceable especially for a film that is dialogue-heavy. From the stand-up portions where we the proper mixture and depth (i.e. echoes) to the standard scenes which have crisp dialogue, it makes for a track that perfectly simulates the aural experience for this type of film (that is going on 40 years old).
OVERALL – 3.75/5
Overall, Lenny is one of those movies propelled and almost entirely stands on the performance of its lead. Dustin Hoffman does an amazing job bringing the late, great and “controversial” (for his time) Lenny Bruce, deserving of his Academy Award nomination (though he had the unfortunate timing of going against so many greats like Nicholson and Al Pacino and losing to Art Carney). The Twilight Time Blu-ray release is limited in terms of features but the video and audio transfers were both well done.
Published: 02/22/2015
Check out some more screen caps by going to page 2. Please note, these do contain spoilers.
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