Starting in Cincinnati back in 1972, brothers Larry (Woody Harrelson) and Jimmy Flynt (Brett Harrelson, Woody’s real brother) run the Hustler Go-Go, a gritty and struggling strip club. Looking for a way to pull in more patrons, Larry starts up a newsletter featuring nude photos of the dancers, which quickly evolves into the explosive phenomenon known as Hustler magazine. The publication achieves massive national notoriety—and a staggering level of success—after printing unauthorized nude photographs of former first lady Jackie Kennedy Onassis.
Amidst this meteoric rise, Larry falls deeply in love with Althea Leasure (Courtney Love), welcoming her into his life and business. But success brings a barrage of fierce opposition. Larry finds himself in the crosshairs of anti-pornography activists and the legal system, steadfastly arguing that while violent acts get glorified, society hypocritically criminalizes the depiction of natural human sexuality. This ideological war leads him to cross paths with a young, idealistic attorney named Alan Isaacman (Edward Norton), who becomes his steadfast legal champion.
The narrative traces decades of tumultuous history. After beating initial obscenity charges, Larry experiences a brief, transformative brush with religion thanks to activist Ruth Carter Stapleton (Donna Hanover), though it ultimately fades as personal tragedy strikes. In 1978, outside a Georgia courthouse, a sniper’s bullet leaves Larry permanently paralyzed from the waist down and wheelchair-bound. Dragged into deep depression and agonizing chronic pain, Larry descends into heavy drug addiction while Althea battles her own demons.
Following successful nerve surgery in 1983, Larry rejuvenates and charges back into the media fray, sparking endless courtroom chaos, like wearing an American flag as a diaper and hurling insults and objects at judges. This unbridled defiance culminates in the landmark legal battle against Reverend Jerry Falwell (Richard Paul) after Hustler publishes a scathing satirical parody advertisement. The conflict ultimately pushes all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court (Hustler Magazine v. Falwell), testing the absolute limits of free speech and First Amendment protection in America, all while Larry deals with the devastating personal loss of Althea to disease and a tragic drowning accident.
This movie is really a character actor dream with James Cromwell, Crispin Glover, Norm McDonald and Vincent Schiavelli in the cast. William J. Morrissey Jr.—the Cincinnati court judge who famously sentenced the real Larry Flynt back in 1977—is played in the film by Flynt himself.
Directed by Miloš Forman, this was an Oscar-nominated movie. On the big night, Larry Flynt was refused an invitation, so Woody Harrelson brought him as his plus one.
Writers Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski also wrote Problem Child, a fact that makes me laugh.
The Arrow Video 4k UHD release of The People vs. Larry Flynt has a reversible sleeve featuring original artwork. It comes with a collectors’ booklet featuring new writing on the film by Miloš Forman expert Andreas Halskov, an archival essay by screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, and an archival Forman interview conducted by director Adam Davidson. Plus, you get two sets of archival audio commentary: one with cast members Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love and Edward Norton and the other with screenwriters Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski. There’s an entire disk of special features, including new interviews with Harrelson, Alexander and Karaszewski; featurettes on Flynt and free speech, Forman on The Charlie Rose Show, deleted scenes, a trailer, TV commercials, image galleries and the original script. You can get it from MVD.
