User Reviews

****SPOILERS**** Worth watching only for the film having the legendary stand-up comedian Lenny Bruce as the knife wielding wise cracking and cold blooded hood Vinny in what was to be Bruce's only movie role. And what a part it is! Bruce plays sleazy dance-hall operator Umberto Scalli's right-hand man whom as "Vince the Knife" keeps things in line in his joint by slicing up anyone, man woman and even pet, with his trusty switch-blade who gets out of line. Bruce for his part has trouble keeping a straight face even though he was the one who wrote the screenplay to this turkey that his utterly brainless unintentionally funny dialogue,"So I killed a guy! Does that makes me a criminal!" comes from.

The movie has to do with Scalli using his dance-hall as a cover in smuggling stolen goods, mostly uncut diamonds, into the country by seamen who come there to get plastered and friendly with the young women who work there. There's the usual rivalry between Bruce or Vinny with his boss Umberto over who's running the place that leads to the enviable explosion at the very end of the film. Bruce does his best to stay focused on his part as Vinny by knifing a couple of customers who get out of line in demanding their money back, that was lifted from them by their dance partners, that's so outrageous that it takes a while for you to realize, in how phony them being murdered was, that they actually were killed!

Knowing that there's no good going on in Scalli's dance-hall the US Customs Department has undercover Agent Edson go there looking for action as a seaman trying to get contraband into the country and using Scalli to fence it. It doesn't take much for Edson to get invited to this exclusive party being thrown by Scalli for just released hood Victor Pappas who spent 11 years in the can and hid $250,000.00 in gold before he was arrested. At the party we get to be entertained by Lenny Bruce's real life mom Sally Marr as dance-hall hostess Maxine who does a great version of the "Charleston". There's also at the party this really drunk and obnoxious looking character Punchy, with a phony combination Swedish and Irish accent, doing something called the "Tahitian Love Dance" that's interrupted when Bruce, or Vinny, spots Pappas getting a little friendly with his wife in real life and in the movie Honey, Honey Friedman Bruce. It's then that the action in the movie that up to that point was almost non-existent really starts to picks up with the you know what finally hitting the fan at full blast! This gives Bruce the chance he's been waiting for throughout the entire movie to get himself killed off so he can finally get himself out of being in it before it destroys his acting career!

P.S As things turned out "Dance Hall Racket" was the only film Lenny Bruce was ever in which convinced him that acting wasn't exactly his cup of tea. Going into doing stand-up comedy Bruce ended up being busted by the police and court system for his off color jokes and dialogue that despite his popularity he ended up broke and in debt living off the charity of his friends and admirers and becoming hooked on hard drugs. The end of the road for Lenny Bruce came on the evening of August 3, 1966 when he was found dead in his motel bathroom from an overdose of heroin that seemed to be more suicidal then accidental on Lenny's part!

Taking a look at a poll being held on IMDbs Classic Film board for the best movies of 1963,I noticed a fellow IMDber mention that they were interested in seeing stand up comedian Lenny Bruce's one & only movie.Taking a look around online,I was pleased to discover that the flick had come out on DVD as a double bill with Joe Sarno's (surviving) debut,which led to me getting ready to see Bruce cause a racket.

The plot:

Talking to a newspaper reporter,a police captain begins giving details on a case that they are currently investigating-

Learning that a gangster who has kept his mouth shut (partly thanks to his tongue getting chopped off!) over where he has hidden a stash of stolen diamonds,is to be released,local leading gangster/dance hall owner Umberto Scalli tells all of his workers that they must put on a special show,so that he can find out where the diamonds are hidden.Following every order given by his boss,"Ice-Pick" Vincent keeps the girls in line whilst killing any clients who try and steal cash from the dance hall.Expecting Scalli to stick by his side,Vincent soon finds out that it is murder on the dance floor.

View on the film:

Filmed before he had settled on the stand up stage,the screenplay by writer/co-star Lenny Bruce (whose wife & mum also appear!) takes a sharp satirical shot at the dead end pit stops that he was working at,and also gives the title a Film Noir sheen.Sliding the title close to reality,Bruce paints a blunt picture of the dance hall as a place where everyone from the gangsters to the strippers can get pushed aside for some cold hard cash,which gives the title a chance to go down a very good Film Noir route,as Vincent discovers that loyalty means nothing.

Despite the print sadly jumping when moments where the strippers show some skin have been cut,director Phil Tucker does very well at building a seedy atmosphere,where every killing that Vincent makes for Scalli ending in a raw short,sharp,shot,as "Ice Pick" Vincent chills the dance.

The taxi dancers in this dance hall racket get their clients drunk and rip them off, and then have to turn over most of their take to crooked boss Timothy Farrell. If not, they deal with his henchman (Lenny Bruce) or the mentally challenged Ice Pick (an unnamed actor playing that not too challenging role), and in one case, one of the out of control drunk clients ends up dead. The law is seen surrounding the premises for the chance to storm in, but that's a minor plot point in this sleazy extremely low budget film that is of historical interest for Bruce's presence, as well as wife Honey Harlowe who plays one of the working girls. There are a few touching moments, such as a big hearted client who comes in for drinks and buys tickets but never dances with anyone. His dream, to one day have the whole place to himself to dance with any girl, is an impossible dream. Not really hideous, but nothing here to praise either.