Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project

Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project is a 2007 documentary film about stand-up comedian Don Rickles, which was first screened at the 2007 New York Film Festival and then shown on HBO.[2]

Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project
Directed byJohn Landis
Produced byRobert Engelman
John Landis
Mike Richardson
Larry Rickles
CinematographyTom Clancey
Edited byMark L. Levine
Distributed byDark Horse Entertainment
Home Box Office
Release date
  • October 13, 2007 (2007-10-13) (New York Film Festival)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$500,000 (estimated)[1]

The documentary and its producers – Robert Engelman, John Landis, Mike Richardson, and Larry Rickles – earned a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Variety, Music, or Comedy Special in 2008.[2] Don Rickles also won a Primetime Emmy Award for Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program for his appearance in the documentary.[2] The documentary was Sidney Poitier's final film released during his lifetime.[3]

Structure

The film consists of performance clips from throughout Rickles' career interspersed with recent interviews with him. A show at the Stardust Casino in Las Vegas from 2006 is featured most prominently. The film also features some of Rickles' notable television and movie appearances, including his many appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. There are also interviews from several stand up performers and celebrities who have encountered Rickles over the years.

Interviewees

Reception

The film was generally well liked by critics. Much of the praise was directed at Rickles himself for being such an engaging personality. One critic compared Rickles and his sense of humor favorably to the racist comments of Michael Richards and the anti-Semitic statements of Mel Gibson writing:

"While Rickles seems to mock ethnicity, body type, weight, age and all the other stuff that we're not supposed to make fun of, he's actually defusing all of those things. And once they're deflated by humor, they lose, at least for a moment, their potency. What becomes clear in Landis' film is that Rickles is really a softie, a guy who loves humanity and life. The guy they still call Mr. Warmth really is, and that's apparently the worst-kept secret in show business. When Richards lost it at the comedy club, he was spewing pure hate. Rickles wouldn't know hate if it bit him in the butt."[4]

Critics also noted how Landis seemed at least as interested in showcasing Rickles's humor as he did in Rickles' life.[5][6]

References
  1. "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project - Box office / business". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  2. Barnes, Mike (December 6, 2011). "Don Rickles' Only Son Dies at 41, Larry Rickles earned an Emmy Award for a 2007 documentary about his dad". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 20, 2011.
  3. "Sidney Poitier, Oscar-winning actor and Hollywood's first Black movie star, dies at 94". CNN. January 7, 2022. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
  4. Wiegand, David. "Review: How Don Rickles heaps abuse and leaves you laughing." SFGate. 1 December 2007. 23 April 2008.
  5. Scheib, Ronnie. "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project Review." Variety. 13 October 2007. 23 April 2008.
  6. "Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project (2007) - External reviews.". The Internet Movie Database (IMDb). 23 April 2008.
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