Themes: Rags To Riches, Death of a Partner, Rise and Fall Stories
Main Cast: James Carville, Brett Harrelson, Burt Neuborne, Richard Paul, Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, James Cromwell, Crispin Glover
Release Year: 1996
Country: US
Run Time: 129 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
"If the First Amendment will protect a scumbag like me, then it'll protect all of you -- 'cause I'm the worst," declares Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt (as played by Woody Harrelson) in the midst of one of his many court cases. Milos Forman's film follows Flynt from his childhood in Kentucky, where he made extra money for his dirt-poor family by selling the moonshine his father brewed, into adulthood as he manages a strip club in Cincinnati. While the club does middling business, the experience changes Flynt's life in two ways: he meets Althea (Courtney Love), an exotic dancer who becomes the love of his life, and he gets the bright idea of starting a magazine to promote the club. Marketed as a crasser, less pretentious alternative to Playboy or Penthouse, Hustler becomes a huge success after Flynt runs a photo series of Jacqueline Onassis sunbathing nude. However, while plenty of people are buying Hustler, there are also plenty of people who don't care for it, including Charles Keating (James Cromwell), leader of a watchdog group called Citizens For Decent Literature. Keating spearheads the first of many legal attacks on the magazine, one of which reaches the Supreme Court as Alan Isaacman (Edward Norton), Flynt's lawyer, debates the finer legal points of bad taste with the justices of the highest court in the land. Meanwhile, Flynt makes a fortune, loses the use of his legs after an attack by a sniper, embraces and than abandons Christianity, and eventually loses Althea, who succumbs to AIDS after a long addiction to drugs. Woody Harrelson's brother Brett Harrelson is well cast as Larry Flynt's brother Jimmy; Larry Flynt appears briefly as a judge who hands down a judgment against Larry Flynt. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Exceptional performances, a sharp script, and sympathetic direction make Milos Forman's The People Vs. Larry Flynt a genuinely engaging, entertaining and unique rags-to-riches story. Woody Harrelson's Flynt is an endearing, irascible troublemaker and unlikely patriot, not the immoral miscreant and lawbreaker his detractors color him to be. Building upon the fine reputation he founded earlier that year in Primal Fear, Edward Norton is exceptional as Flynt's put-upon lawyer; and Courtney Love's natural, unaffected turn as Flynt's dedicated girlfriend adds a necessary dimension to the film. Larry Flynt is by and large a sympathetic, subjective portrayal of the publisher, and as such, Forman and screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski choose to focus on issues of morality and free-speech; as expected, the film drew some criticism for its omission of Flynt's more unsavory traits. ~ Matthew Doberman, All Movie Guide
Donna Hanover; James Carville; Brett Harrelson - Jimmy Flint; Burt Neuborne; Richard Paul - Rev. Jerry Falwell
Credit
Arianne Phillips - Costume Designer, Theodor Pistek - Costume Designer, Milos Forman - Director, Thomas Newman - Composer (Music Score), Ben Nye, Jr. - Makeup, Anastas Michos - Camera Operator, Patrizia Von Brandenstein - Production Designer, Philippe Rousselot - Cinematographer, Michael Hausman - Producer, Oliver Stone - Producer, Janet Yang - Producer, Maria Nay - Set Designer, Scott Alexander - Screenwriter, Larry Karaszewski - Screenwriter
