Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project

I would love to hear Don Rickles. George Carlin, Richard Pryor and Robin Williams take on our current cancel culture. Gotta believe they wouldn't cave.

"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.

My favorite comedian. If you like comedy, or just finding out about interesting people, you should watch this

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