Hard to believe this was written by and starring the man who would set comedy on its ear, Lenny Bruce. It’s awful. There’s not even a hint of the brilliance to come. Honey Bruce appears and is billed as Honey Harlow. This isn’t a comedy, just a really bad attempt at a crime film.
Umberto Scalli runs a dance hall. Sailors on leave come in, buy tickets to dance with the girls and usually get rolled. Scalli’s helped out by Vincent (Lenny Bruce) a knife wielding, comic book reading psycho, a dimwit called Icepick and a bouncer named Bert who doesn’t say a word.
A merchant marine brings Scalli some diamonds and gets five grand. When he leaves the office Scalli tells Rose (Honey Bruce) to give him a mickey. The sailor catches on and tries to burn her with a cigarette. Vincent comes over, knife in hand and stabs him to death. No one seems to notice.
Meanwhile at Customs an officer is assigned to go undercover at Scalli’s. Icepick recognizes him but is convinced he had a narrow escape from the ship they were both on and doesn’t have a clue that he’s a Customs Officer.
Into the office walks a man who says he was rolled for eight hundred bucks. He threatens to shut the joint down. Vincent takes care of that. His body count for the night is now two. Then Scalli and Vincent get the money from Lois. She didn’t tell Scalli about what she did. Lois gets sent home in one piece and warned not to do it again….without giving Scalli his cut.
Now it’s party time. Scalli’s old partner Victor Pappas has been released from prison after eleven years. He’s the only one who knows where a half million in gold is hidden. The party’s over when Vincent goes nuts because Rose was told to play up to Pappas.
Even diehard Lenny fans will regret seeing this. I know I did.
