FOR A GREAT MANY years, from the 1930's thru the 1970's, it was considered to be a great honor to be insulted by Groucho Marx. At personal appearances, while visiting the NY Stock Exchange, dining at some big-time restaurant or just plain everyday living, the ritual of having quick and clever put-downs and humorously tailored barbs hurled at just about everyone became an expected part of life.IT WAS IN the late 1940's that this apparently compulsive behaviour was channeled into a showbiz bonanza. What with the Marx Brothers' run in pictures as a comedy team having ground to a halt in the Post World War II period,with titles such as A NIGHT IN CASABLANCA (United Artists/, 1946) and LOVE HAPPY (United Artists, 1949) there was still a lot of Marxian talent and energy left. Hence, Chico toured with his Big Band, Harpo did the Nightclubs Circuit and Groucho??? SOMEONE CAME UP the brainstorm to harness the insults into a big time broadcasting bonanza. Hence, we had the creation of YOU BET YOUR LIFE; which at one point was simulcast on both NBC Radio and on NBC TV Network. A non-spectacular quiz format was concocted with some rather low budget cash prizes. It was all secondary to just having Groucho's presence good natured giving the business to pairs of contestants.BOTH FATHER TIME and Mother Nature have conspired to take Groucho away from us; but, it was not a passing which was totally without both a legacy and a successor for the masses. A former actor and now outstanding stand-up comic, one Donald Rickles, was there to accept the mantle and carry on.THE ACT THAT has been so successful for "Mr. Warmth" consists of his being rude, obnoxious and insulting to his fans. The key to his successful manipulation of this seemingly repulsive format would appear to have its roots in his nondiscriminatory application to his "victims". In short, he treats (or mistreats) everybody in equally shabby a manner.THE FILM TAKES a careful and complex look at fellow performers, fans and friends; who offer many a different, yet similar a point of view of the master of the insult. Personal anecdotes are related from such a large roster of what could only be described as a Who's Who of Show Business. Each story, which although they are disparate in origin, relates with obviously great authenticity, that the real Mr. Don Rickles is, at heart, a truly sweet guy and a fine individual. He is really nothing like the insult machine that we see on stage.WE HAD THE pleasure of seeing the Rickles Act this past September. It was at the old, but restored Arcada Theatre; which is located here, in Saint Charles, Illinois (Suburban Chicagoland). Following a close to 2 hour presentation on the stage, we found him to be a guy who truly enjoyed his performing for the public. It was our impression that Don would do his show for gratis, he so enjoyed it.IN THE COURSE of viewing MR. WARMTH: THE DON RICKLES PROJECT, we came to the conclusion that this is a very energetic octogenarian; who will never actually retire from the work that he so loves.IF YOU HAVEN'T seen MR. WARMTH, whether or not you are a fan, see it. It will be a great experience and following its ninety or so minutes, you will know the man, as well as the comedian.

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.

More of a tribute to a comedic legend than a true documentary, this John Landis directed love letter to the great Mr. Rickles is pretty good none the less. Consisting of various actors and directors of note giving their (naturally) praise for the beloved comedian, interspersed with clips from his Vegas shows, late show appearances, old films, Friars' Roasts, and home movies with longtime friend, Bob Newhart.While the film does have a very small amount of missteps editing and a few instances where it veers off-topic to ill effect, for the most part it's quite highly enjoyable and hilarious to boot. Any true fan (myself included)of Don will no doubt treasure it and watch it multiple times.So what ya waiting' for? Go check it out on HBO while it's still on, Hockey Puck.

John Landis's new documentary on Don Rickles, Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, works best when focused squarely on its star attraction. Every so often Landis gets distracted in telling (or rather showing other people like Bob Newhart) go on about the glory days of a mob-run Las Vegas, and it starts to loose a little of its focus. And every so often he takes a misstep with the editing. But since comedy is Landis's strong-suit as a director, anyway, it's fitting that his film works best when his subject is given the full-treatment, either in clips of his performances, his old Johnny Carson appearances, or with some of his adulators telling it like it is: he's one of the funniest stand-up comics of his time. And still today he kiss: watching him completely skewer every single race and both sexes in a Vegas audience is dynamite (sometimes you just wait for him to drop his microphone in ironic disgust).Just hearing the man tell stories, or talk about his wonderful (and wonderfully Jewish) mother, or doing lovingly stupid imitations of his wife (the tongue is what clicks it), is entertaining. He's a man who takes his fame completely in stride, but not for granted. He tells of a cruel prank done on the set of Run Silent Run Deep involving him and Clark Gable; he goes overboard as host of the Tonight Show by breaking Carson's box or whatever, and Carson goes right next-door to the set of Rickles's show, where after he apologizes he says "ladies and gentlemen, Johnny Carson!" And then the testimonies themselves bring up laughs (Sarah Silverman comments how Rickles taught her what black people were like living secluded in New Hampshire), even if it's just repeating old Rickles lines. His is a very precise shtick where finding the line and only going across it so much is like an art- you don't want to make it into a totally sensationalist exercise, but the audience still has to have a good time at not only others' expenses, but their own. It's a kind of all-inclusive comedy, be it the schmuck who's 300 pounds and with a dopey wife, or the president, or, of course most brilliantly, Dean Martin.It's not exactly a great documentary, but it's a fine showcase, and the kind of remembrance for one of those old kings of comedy that haven't yet kicked the bucket, like (unfortunately) so many in show-biz have in recent years. 7.5/10