Undescribable Perfection

The Worst Film Ever

For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

A Masterpiece!

It seems everyone that has so far reviewed this short film absolutely loved it and so my review is the odd-ball. It isn't that I found THANK YOU MASK MAN offensive that I only gave it a score of 2. Sure, the Lone Ranger in this short is into homosexuality and bestiality--and I am sure this will turn a few heads. My reasons for giving it a 2 are because I just didn't enjoy the cartoon--it wasn't that funny and the animation quality was poor. I think the reason I didn't find the cartoon funny or subversive is that times have changed. What was controversial in 1971 is passé today--or at least well on its way. With "South Park" and "Robot Chicken" on television (and not even pay cable), talking about these topics is a common thing. Since it no longer has shock value, I must look at the humor itself--is there anything about the film that is remotely funny other than shocking and dirty words? Well, in my opinion, no. Lenny Bruce's stream of consciousness rapid rambling just seemed deadly flat and uninteresting.Perhaps some might enjoy this because it's a stroll down memory lane. In other words, it either reminds them of Lenny Bruce or it reminds them of watching this "bad film" with friends. Well, that's fine. But if you simply look at it for what it is today, it just doesn't hold up over time.

Usually most (controversial) cartoons are done in Hollywood and they are made by such as Disney, Warner Brothers, MGM, Universal and Paramount and the make fun of Japanese and black people. This one is an independent film and it makes fun of homosexuals. This short subject is the earliest form of "Stanimation" (basically it is a cartoon, in which the soundtrack is nothing but a stand-up comedy act) before Comedy Central's "Shorties watching Shorties". If I am making a Top 11 list of controversial cartoons, this would be number one. The rest will be all Hollywood-made. Be surprised who made this cartoon. Could you guess? Jeff Hale. Now what's he known for, apart from playing Auggie Ben Doggie in "Hardware Wars" (1977)? Give up? He is known for doing the Ringmaster segments, the Typewriter guy skits and the Pinball Machine sequences from "Sesame Street". I bet you are all surprised now by the time you are done reading this comment.Bottom line: Not suitable for children.Not rated: but a PG-13 would do fine due to all the language and sexual references going on.

Thank You Mask Man is featured as a bonus on the DVD of the Lenny Bruce performance film, and I was very glad I watched it. It reminded me of what I saw once in a Carlin special from the 80s where he put in little animated bits that all visualized his bits. That this comes more than a few years before that is impressive, but more so that it actually works to fit the riff-style comedy that Bruce excelled at. This is basically drawn like, well, basics- the comic-strip characters could've been taken out of any newspaper or other, and it's all crude to the point of not having to focus as much on it. Perhaps most of the strengths, aside from the curious, off-kilter nature of the drawings, do spring out of the material, as a story of a bunch of people having to deal with a 'masked man' on a horse. It happens to be a good Bruce bit on its own, but then the curious thing does happen that towards the end of the film- when the townspeople then all taunt Masked Man to be gay- the comedy and the look of the film do totally gel somehow. That Bruce is also behind a good part of the style of the picture himself probably explains how some of the same inspired dementia in this story in particular (one with an absurdity to it but also some truth sprinkled around) merges with simplistically weird animation. It's probably not one of my favorites ever, to be sure, but I had a lot of fun watching it, as a crazy little anecdote given life and still kicking more than forty years later.

I first saw this Lenny Bruce skit on video when I was in college(20 years ago)....Actually never thought I'd see it again, but I was fortunate to get my hands on a VHS copy! Lenny was a pure genius and the Lone Ranger skit is so damn funny...Just thinking about the idea of the Lone Ranger being gay is enough to make you laugh..LOL.Too bad that people in the 60's were so uptight....They had the "Leave it to Beaver" family mentality....So of course, they couldn't accept outlandish humor like this! If Lenny were around doing comedy TODAY, he'd be a big hit!You can find this gem at the END of the Lenny Bruce Performance Film, which is hard, but not impossible to find.... Amazon.com has several sellers offering it as well.I think I better transfer this to DVD...just in case the VHS tape breaks!!