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Movie poster: Thank You Mask Man (1971)
🎬 Movie

Thank You Mask Man

1971 · 7 min Western Animation Comedy
4.8 / 10 · TMDB

This short animation set to Lenny Bruce's live monologue tells how the Lone Ranger hooks up with Tonto. With Bruce doing all the voices, this animation begins with local folks upset at the Lone Ranger because he won't stay around to be thanked after a good deed. So, he stays and finds he likes hearing "Thank you mask man." When their attention starts to shift elsewhere, he shocks and disgusts the townspeople with a final request. According to the cartoon’s producer John Magnuson, at early showings of this, gay audiences were upset by its apparent “fag-bashing”. And it’s true, part of the fun of the piece is just crying out “Masked man’s a fag”, scandalising and defacing the image of this all-American hero. But it’s within the larger context of Bruce’s analysis of heroism, and that the towns people reject the Masked Man is because of their prejudices, not because Bruce is asking us to endorse them. (from: http://ukjarry.blogspot.de/2010/01/352-lenny-bruce-thank-you-mask-man.html)

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📋 Film Details

Year 1971
Country United States of America
Genre Western, Animation, Comedy
Director John Magnuson
Runtime 7 min.
Rating TMDB: 4.8/10 (20 votes)

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🎬 MovieFinder's Take

The animation constructs itself around Lenny Bruce's raw, live monologue, a one-man vocal performance that drives the entire narrative. It relies on the stark contrast between its simple, almost naive visual style and the provocative, adult themes, exploring the vanity and need for validation that can hide behind a hero's public mask.

What lingers after viewing is the unsettling blur between outright mockery and sharp social critique. The piece leaves a bitter aftertaste about society's fickle process of building up and tearing down its icons. — MovieFinder Editorial

Director: John Magnuson

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Watch attentively, ideally with a small group ready for post-viewing discussion of its paradoxical punchline.

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