Salient Media and Vivendi Visual Entertainment have released the two-disc special edition of director John Landis' documentary, Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, a hilarious celebration of the finest insult comic ever to trod the boards - and a benign failure at getting at the truth of Rickles' source of genius.

Reviews like these always leave me in a bit of a quandary, because I'm not sure what my starting reference point is, concerning the reader and the subject. I grew up on Don Rickles; his "act" is as familiar a pop culture reference to me as The Simpsons and Family Guy are to younger viewers. Rickles' true heyday was in the sixties and seventies, where his variety and late-night talk show appearances were "water cooler moments" before such a term existed. He was ubiquitous then, appearing on sitcoms, in movies (Kelly's Heroes is probably his best known film role), and showing up on myriad television variety shows throughout the 70s. Are younger viewers, though, familiar with his brand of cruel insult humor? I'm not sure, but Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project is an excellent introduction to Rickles' comedy, even if it bends itself into pretzels trying to pin down why he's so funny, and more importantly, why he's still allowed to be funny today.

I write "allowed," because Rickles' Vegas act - which he has always forbidden to be recorded, until old friend Landis changed his mind - is the stuff of humorless P.C. goons' worst nightmares. If you've never seen him before, Rickles' entire oeuvre is based on one simple concept: insult and ridicule everyone, based on the crudest, most base gender, racial, ethnic, and religious stereotypes. And if you're ugly, fat, or wear a toupee on top of that, so much the better, because he's coming for you, and you're not getting off the hook. As the DVD cover accurately states, "No one is safe." Now, how does an 80-year-old Jewish stand-up comedian get away with saying things that, should a lesser mortal utter them, would have them risking their entire fortunes, their standings in the business and entertainment communities, as well as gaining the scorn of the entire country? If you think what Mel Gibson, Michael Richards, and Isaiah Washington said was bad, what till you hear what comes out of Rickles' mouth.

How does Rickles still exist in today's cowardly, crypto-fascist P.C. media world? If you want concrete answers, you won't find them in Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. Landis has stated that the film is a celebration of Rickles' humor, and indeed, you do get to see the Master in action, with paralyzingly funny results. And don't worry if you start to laugh and then go, "Wait; I'm not allowed anymore to find that funny." Celebrities such as Sidney Poitier, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Bob Newhart (Rickles' real-life best friend), and Clint Eastwood are trotted out to tell everyone it's okay to laugh at Rickles' profoundly politically incorrect act. But no one can seem to get at the essence of how Rickles gets away with it all. Analyzing his comedy itself is a meaningless gesture. The old show business cliché still holds: funny is funny, and questioning it, analyzing it, or dissecting it won't give you an answer as to why someone is inherently funny. They just are, and nobody has ever come close in figuring out how to explain such a phenomenon. You certainly won't get such an answer in Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project - nor should you have to.

Where Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project gets potentially interesting is watching and listening to all the celebrities and friends of Don Rickles try to explain away his seemingly obnoxious behavior. Robert De Niro, ever the sphinx, plainly states he thinks he's a good actor (they appeared together in Scorsese's Casino) and that he finds "that kind of humor funny." No explanation, no apology. Sidney Poitier accurately pins down Rickles' "little boy" naughtiness (which delights Poitier), as well as correctly surmising that people go to Rickles' act precisely to be outraged, to go see someone go to the very edge of acceptability in what they say about the human condition. Chris Rock is clearly perplexed at how Rickles gets away with an act that Rock finds alternately offensive and funny (clearly, Rock hasn't thought out Rickles' work in light of his own stand-up routine, where Rock routinely employs racial stereotype jokes without the slightest worry that someone might find it offensive). Robin Williams is, as always, totally incoherent in his thoughts before launching into his decades-old, grindingly unfunny bits we've all seen far too many times (seriously, enough. Just retire). And Whoopi Goldberg (Sam Kinison was right) says he can get away with it because he's so old and cuddly and kind, and that he doesn't really mean any of the things he says.

Which of course is totally wrong. When I'm watching Rickles' act, I have no idea if the man really believes what he says or not. Critics of Rickles' act always point out his "I kid because I love" wrap-up as a sign of insincerity, used to smooth over hurt feelings, but I have no idea how he really feels about what he says - nor do I particularly care, frankly. Rickles' genius comes not only from the fact that he's brutally honest in parroting the stereotypes we all have in our minds (and by "all," I don't just mean "whites," as today's purveyors of P.C. dogma would have us believe), but that he's funny doing them, too. Funny, truly funny, smoothes over everything. We all know, if we're honest enough to admit it, that the funniest jokes and anecdotes and gags in the world are the ones that are the most taboo, the most off-limits, the most disrespectful. It's a liberating experience. Growing up in the 1970s, there was a growing "freedom of humor," if you will, in the mainstream that was brought on by the likes of Rickles, Mel Brooks, Redd Foxx, Norman Lear, Richard Pryor and many others, that unfortunately today, seems particularly onesided - double-standards abound. Someone mentions Richard Pryor in the film, and of course, if you've ever seen Pryor live or listened to his recordings, you know he's searingly honest about the most uncomfortable aspects of modern American society. And, as you also know, he was mad as hell about those aspects. His was not a gentle humor, to say the least.

Rickles tackles the same territory, and while he's never, ever been viewed as a "social critic" as was Pryor (and therefore, not nearly as "legitimate" as Pryor in the eyes of the intelligentsia), there was a ferocity to his assaults that sure as hell looked like real anger. As Eastwood chuckles, "Don has never lost his disdain for sensitivity." Of course, liberal entertainers like Goldberg, Williams, Rock, Sarah Silverman, and Billy Crystal can't just come out and say that what Rickles says out loud is what we all do in our minds - make assumptions and generalizations about people who are different than ourselves - so they make excuses for him here in Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project. He's old; he's a survivor; he loves; he doesn't hate. It's all baloney, and quite amusing, particularly with the hypocritical younger performers who you can tell are genuinely flabbergasted that the boom hasn't dropped yet on Rickles. They're so awash in today's trigger-fingered, touchy "victim society" that they can't just accept the fact that their potential condemnation would ultimately be meaningless to a guy like Rickles; he's going to say what he thinks is funny, and he doesn't care if they or anybody else thinks it's or not. Therefore, allowances and rationalizations based on "age" and "he doesn't really mean what he says" among others must be made for him, in a society today that demands obedience of tongue, or else.

Even more comical is Landis' misguided efforts to have younger performers give viewers the "all clear" to like Rickles (Dave Attell is particularly odious, paying Rickles a left-handed compliment by saying he's a "guilty pleasure," which I'm sure Rickles would answer with a "Dave who?" before launching into viciously cruel bald jokes). Penn Jillette, to his credit, probably comes closest to articulating what Rickles' act is all about. Jillette likens Rickles' work to performance art, with Rickles' obvious, determined need to entertain the audience tempered by his absolute uncompromising attitude. He's going to say what he wants to say, and that's that. Laugh at it or not, it's your choice. And invariably, the butt of Rickles' jokes laugh the hardest. As has been noted by many others, one can take an almost perverse pride in having Rickles fillet you, because a master is doing it.

Rickles himself offers a fleeting, tantalizing clue to why he does what he does (in his act, he mentions that he always made fun of other people, ever since he was a kid), but nothing further is investigated or probed. Again, it's not necessary to know, but he seems like such a complex, fascinating guy, I would have liked at least an attempt to decipher what's going on with this performer. But Landis keeps Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project resolutely surface, and for what it is, that's fine. The main pleasure still comes from seeing Rickles, bent over and shuffling around backstage prior to his performance, suddenly come alive on the stage, moving quickly out into the audience, throwing out hysterically funny jabs at anything that moves, while the audience tries to catch its breath as the laughs deepen and increase. It's an amazing sight, and for that alone, Landis' film works.

The DVD:

The Video:
Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, shot on Hi-Def, has the tell-tale blur at times of a video shoot, but overall, it's an extremely sharp, clear, anamorphically enhanced, 1.78:1 widescreen image.

The Audio:
The Dolby Digital English 2.0 stereo audio mix is just right here, with all insults heard loud and clear. There are no close-captions or subtitles.

The Extras:
A second bonus disc includes outtakes from the original film festival cut of the film, along with flubs and snippets of interviews that didn't make it into the final film. They're of varying appeal. Most of Rickles' stuff is, of course, hysterical (his Anthony Quinn imitation is fall-down funny), and some of the other celebrities have amusing things to say (James Caan tells a story about John Wayne in El Dorado that may be one of the funniest Hollywood anecdotes I've ever heard - Caan is brilliant, as always). But other clips fall flat (not sure why we need to hear about Joan Rivers and her experiences with Lenny Bruce - what does that have to do with Rickles?), so it's a mixed bag. It runs close to an hour.

Final Thoughts:
Don Rickles is going to make fun of you if you're anywhere within his sightline. And he doesn't care what color you are, or about your religion, your sexual preferences, or your waistline - particularly if you're sensitive about any of that. "Political correctness" equals "death" to Don Rickles, and smug, overly self-important, self-satisfied - and hypocritical - purveyors of that dogma should be very afraid of him, and what he represents. That being said, Rickles is one of the funniest stand-up comedians to ever grace a stage, and Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project gives the performer a well-earned, star-studded accolade that's long overdue. It's a mostly surface examination by director John Landis, but the chance to see Rickles in action is worth it. I recommend Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project.