Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project

Obviously it is very hard to be a stand-up comic. It requires good material, immense courage, and perfect timing. The ability to improvise may be very important. John Landis says Don Rickles, who is now 81 but still performing with amazing vigor, is not a comic but a performance artist. In fact, he does not tell jokes. He also does not use prepared material. He is a Jewish comic, though. He identifies himself as Jewish. He uses his schtick--he insults people--and he works with what comes up. National origin, weight, looks, a bad hairpiece, anything is fair game. Why do people love it?

This is what veteran filmmaker ('Animal House', 'The Blues Brothers'; Michael Jackson's 'Thriller') John Landis aims to tell us.He isn't looking for flaws, secret sorrows, bad relationships. He has told the press Rickles hasn't any of those. Landis has been a friend and admirer of Rickles for decades; he was an eighteen-year-old gofer on the set of 'Kelly's Heroes' in the Seventies when he first met the man. (Rickles has been in a lot of movies and TV shows and the film documents that.) This is an affectionate portrait. And it works. It's impossible to walk away from it without liking Rickles and wearing a smile.

Some of the speakers: Debbie Reynolds, Chris Rock, Martin Scosese, Joan Rivers, Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg, Sidney Poitier, Ernest Borgnine (he and Rickles played 'The Odd Couple' on Broadway), Roseanne, Bob Newhart, Carl Reiner, and many others--all admirers.

There are segments of a 2006 Las Vegas performance, and it is this, of course, that best shows what Rickles does and how good he is at it, but this is not a concert film. It's the story of the working life and an affectionate portrait of a man who, it seems, has practiced his trade of being "the king of insults" for 48 years and yet made no enemies?

How has he done that? The simplest answer is, Because he's good. He pulls out the worst clichés: a man says he's German and he goose-steps on stage. He makes you laugh in spite of yourself. In the end you may realize it's really good-natured stuff. It clears the air. Joan Rivers, Landis has said (Aaron Hills retells the story in the Village Voice) once recounted how a Florida judge came backstage where they were both performing and invited Rickles to play golf with him and Rickles replied, "Listen: One, I'm leaving town. Two, you're a putz. You're loud, obnoxious, incredibly boring, and I wouldn't play golf with you because I don't live here and you couldn't fix a ticket. No." But, Landis says, Hills left out the most important part: the judge loved it. He laughed uproariously.

Such an exchange makes one--it made the judge--into a figment of the imagination, the wild imagination--of a very funny man. It is an honor to be insulted by such a comic genius. Rickles has the good material, the immense courage, and the perfect timing. And they have never left him.

He also has been married for thirty years, has two sons, and is loved. He is, Landis said, in a long monologue at the NYFF press Q&A, a great "schmearer" (Yiddish term for tipping): everywhere he goes he passes out bills so when he comes back, he's more than welcome. But this isn't a payoff; it's niceness.

The film also shows some clips of Dean Martin roasts. Rickles obviously is the king of the roast--a gathering, among friends, where someone is honored by being affectionately insulted by everyone. The insults show they're friends. In a sense, by insulting his audiences at shows in big rooms at Vegas or Miami or Indian casinos, he's showing them they're friends; he's establishing trust. Otherwise, obviously, it would just be ugly.

One of the side benefits of the film is its portrait of Las Vegas. Extraordinarly, all the entertainers who performed when the town was run by the mafia are nostalgic for those days--when, they say, everyone was treated very well.

Again, the NYFF is not a venue for great documentaries. This is a very good-looking, neatly edited film. It will be shown on HBO. It is not a milestone in the art of documentary. John Landis was very entertaining at the press Q&A. He loves this subject.

A New York Film Festival 2007 official selection.

Don Rickles, for 55 years, has found ways to turn even the most awful and bigoted subject into hilarity. Revered by comics of the younger generation, Rickles has managed to somehow stay the biggest secret in the comic business (at least for those of us under the age of 40!). There are comics by the dozens who imitate Rickles' style, from the yelling and personal attacks to his "disdain for sensitivity." He will make fun of your ethnicity, your weight, your hair, your clothes, your money, your wife...it will be incredibly offensive, and it will be hilarious. To say I was thrilled to discover that Mr. Warmth was being made is an enormous understatement.

Mr. Warmth: the Don Rickles Project, is a story about a man who has become famous by insulting those around him, which, as comedian after comedian mentions in the film, is perhaps the hardest thing to do. His genius lies in the availability of material; every night, his audience changes, and so every night, so does the act. Don Rickles is an insult-improv- comedian. It is simply marvelous to watch.

John Landis does not attempt to stuff Rickles' humor down our throats. It is bad enough that I spent the last two paragraphs telling you how funny this man is; the film would be pointless without some tape to augment the tale. From a Las Vegas appearance in 2006 (at the age of 80) Rickles begins his show by going out into the audience and picking out some favorites.

"Christ look at the front row, I'm working a state home for Christ-sake! Go home and die!" "Who let the Chinaman in here? 40 million Jews, I got a chink sitting in the goddamn front!" "Are you a queer?" "Chinese? Philippino? Japanese! 3 years in the jungle looking for your father!"

Out of context, the man sounds like a bigoted ass. Yet people laugh. Why? Why do they laugh? Why has this man been so successful for so long? This question, more than anything else, seems to be the point of Mr. Warmth.

While it seems improper for me to answer this myself (the documentary does such a superb job of it), I did find several flaws in its creation. Mr. Warmth, for all of the sparkle of its main character, got far too sidetracked in certain spots, and relied far too heavily on the interviews of other comedians. 5-6 minutes without Don threw me off track, and while the information was interesting, it was not quite relevant. Furthermore, I honestly wished John Landis could've found someone, a celebrity, who found Rickles' humor to be insulting and racist (Pat Boone, if he were still alive). It would've provided some much needed contrast to a documentary that comes off as one sided. These are the only flaws preventing me from giving this film a 10.

I would highly recommend Mr. Warmth, whether or not you are already a fan of Don Rickles. In a world full of PC comics whose idea of being "racy" is to use the f-word, Rickles is the only man carrying on the legacy of Lenny Bruce, George Carlin and Redd Foxx. He knows know boundaries, and his lack of respect for our stuck-up attitudes makes us laugh every time. May you live forever Don, because there will be no one like you again.

"Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project" is an engaging documentary: a portrait of a consummate entertainer who always remained true to who he was. It's directed by filmmaker John Landis ("Animal House", "The Blues Brothers", "An American Werewolf in London"), who was an 18-year-old production assistant on "Kelly's Heroes", the WWII actioner that co-starred Rickles. Here, Landis creates what is essentially a feature-length love letter to the master of the comedic insult.

Essential points about Rickles are conveyed: this was a comic who operated without a filter. He also didn't work from a script, and was often at his best when riffing; picking out audience members and finding something with which he could tease them. As singer Steve Lawrence points out, he could tell just about any sort of ethnic joke, and get away with it, because the bottom line is that he got people to laugh.

Mostly, the project is assembled from many testimonials from contemporaries and admirers of Mr. Rickles, and we get to see some of his famous TV moments. 'Tonight Show' legend Johnny Carson confronting Rickles over Carsons' broken cigarette box - while Rickles is trying to shoot his own program in the building - is particularly hysterical.

Only after the halfway point does this briefly turn into a more traditional "I was born in..." sort of life story, and the project loses some momentum in the final third by taking too much time to discuss the evolution of Las Vegas. Some of the editing is a little abrupt; one would like to see an interviewee finish their thought before Landis moves on to the next one.

But it remains pleasant to watch, with brief bits about popular Rickles roles (like the voice of Mr. Potato Head in the "Toy Story" franchise), and a generous dose of laughs. We also learn that one sure way to Mr. Rickles' heart was to ask after his family, whom he loved dearly. (An interesting anecdote is that he was first intrigued by future wife Barbara when she proved to be resistant to his shtick. And he took that as a challenge!)

Even for a decade after this film came out, Rickles was still performing with his trademark energy and biting wit.

Seven out of 10.

Loving documentary about comedian Don Rickles from director John Landis. Part biography, part tribute by past and contemporary entertainers, and also a dissection about why Rickles racist and seemingly mean-spirited schtick goes over so well with audiences. For anyone familiar with Rickles, the film doesn't really cover any new ground, but the best part of the film is the interviews with the people who worked with him in Las Vegas back in the Rat Pack days. Sadly there aren't so many of them still alive, but there are chats with the likes of Bob Newhart, Steve Lawrence, Ed McMahon, Debbie Reynolds, Jack Carter, Joan Rivers, Keely Smith, Tom and Dick Smothers, and Frankie Avalon. It's their behind the scenes stories from back in the day that I found most interesting and wish the film had focused more on, although it is also somewhat interesting to hear younger generations of comedians commenting on Rickles' influence (Richard Lewis, Chris Rock, Sarah Silverman, Whoopie Goldberg, Robin Williams, Rosanne Barr, Dave Attell, Christopher Guest, Billy Crystal, Penn Jillette, Bobby Slayton, George Lopez, Jay Leno, Jimmy Kimmel, Harry Shearer, Bob Saget) or hearing actors and filmmakers he's worked with share stories (Harry Dean Stanton, Clint Eastwood, Robert De Niro, Sidney Poitier, Martin Scorsese, Ernest Borgnine, Carl Reiner, Roger Corman, James Caan, John Lasseter, John Stamos). Overall, this is worth watching for fans of Rickles, but is not really insightful enough to draw in a wider unfamiliar audience.

If you love the humor of Don Rickles, then this film is for you! It consists of lots of clips from candid interviews with the man, his friends, Hollywood folks who love him as well as clips from his stand- up routine and TV/movie appearances. It's everything Rickles you'd ever want to see or know. You learn about his wife, his mother, his old beloved agent, his friend Harry, his buddy Bob Newhart, Johnny Carson and much much. Throughout, Rickles is naturally very abrasive and silly and you get a bit of a feel as to what it was like in the days of old Vegas. It's all very well assembled and the people making the film obviously had great respect and love for the guy. And, amazingly, years after this was made, Rickles is STILL on the road entertaining folks! Well worth seeing.