I suppose there must have been some occasion in the past when I was as emotionally affected by a film as I have been now by Lenny. But I cannot remember when. Lenny, I can say for sure, has moved me deeply….

The film's structure is daringly reminiscent of [Orson Welles's] Citizen Kane…. Bob Fosse's direction, however, goes its own realistic way, inviting no comparison with Welles but maybe renewing appreciation of the [Peter] Bogdanovich influence through the decision to shoot in black-and-white…. For Lenny has leanings towards such organised effects are carefully restrained, and yet the pervading realism is allied quite often to stunning examples of composition and lighting, as when spotlights blaze towards the lens through the smoky dimness of a nightclub, throwing the foreground figure of Lenny into silhouette….

If Lenny is presented contentiously as 'the conscience of America' he is also drawn in human...