By Jonas Leijonhufvud
Arizona Daily Wildcat
January 16, 1997

Porno Patriots

Move over Citizen Kane (roll over in your grave Orson Welles) America has been given a new icon for freedom and capitalism: Larry Flynt, the publisher of Hustler magazine. He is the subject of "The People vs. Larry Flynt," a smart and eccentric film that asks us to view one of America's biggest smut peddlers as a great champion of free expression.

In and out of courts and prisons for the better part of his career, the self-made porn king spent millions of dollars of his personal fortune defending the right to publish anything from Paparazzi pictures of Jacqueline Onasis in the nude to a parody liquor ad claiming that TV evangelist Jerry Falwell lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse. Flynt's efforts would eventually lead to a precedent-setting Supreme Court case in 1987. The film, which stars a fiery Woody Harrelson as the controversial porn publisher, also focuses on the unconventional relationship between Flynt and his bisexual ex-stripper wife Althea, uncannily portrayed by Courtney Love. The film's intelligent dialogue, excellent acting, and outrageous story line, makes up for its spotty presentation of Flynt's many legal battles.

"The People vs. Larry Flynt" opens with a glimpse of little Larry Flynt peddling moonshine with his kid brother in rural Kentucky. An old drunk slowly pays two dollars for a jug of liquor and shuffles off to a ramshackle cabin. Twenty years later, in the mid-70s, the pace has changed to that of loud go-go music. The adult Flynt (Harrelson) has by this time used his capitalist zeal to become the proprietor of several strip clubs in Cincinnati, Ohio. It is in one of these establishments that he meets his future wife Althea Leasure (Love), a bisexual stripper whose ambition and sex drive is a perfect match for Flynt. Outspoken and sharp, she helps Flynt as he creates a national magazine out of the Hustler Newsletter, a cheap nudie publication originally created to promote the clubs. After a shaky start the magazine soon becomes a big money maker. It quickly defines itself as Playboy's evil twin, publishing raunchy cartoons and creating a new, more direct, approach to the female anatomy. Flynt is soon involved in an obscenity charge brought on by a local anti-porn group which includes financier Charles Keating, Jr. (James Cromwell). The case draws the attention of Isaacman, a civil liberties lawyer, deftly played by Edward Norton, who will eventually follow him all the way to the Supreme Court. When a would-be assassin's bullet confines the Porn King to a gold plated wheelchair his legal crusade gains mad vigor. We watch as Larry Flynt throws oranges at a judge, wears an American flag diaper to court, and has his fines paid in dollar bills delivered in garbage bags by hookers. It's great fun, but the court cases are often disjointed and hard to follow.

The movie is held together by the supporting actors however. They both outshine Woody Harrelson who, although good, is never quite smutty enough -never his character enough. Courtney Love and Edward Norton are their characters' heart and soul. Director Milos Forman ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," "Amadeus") has said that he chose Love to play the part of Althea because "she doesn't act". It's true. She delivers and interjects her lines as she might in real life, providing great chemistry between her and Harrelson.

The script to "The People vs. Larry Flynt" was written by Larry Karaszewski and Scott Alexander, the writing team behind "Ed Wood." It's great that they are basing drama on the lives of these unsung heroes of American history and culture. But whether it's due to the writers, or to the director, the film does not show the true vulgarity of Hustler or its publisher. The magazine had a period when it, for example, published a staged picture of several murdered women strewn, naked, bloody, and contorted, around the feet of a fully dressed male. The film's claim that true liberty can only exist in a country where even the smuttiest porn goes uncensored, is undermined by its unwillingness to portray the true extent of the smut in question. Perhaps the film's favorable view of its subject is related to Larry Flynt's personal involvement in the film. He allowed Woody Harrelson to move into his house for an extended period, and was even allotted a small role in the film itself. (The first judge to appear in the film, Judge Morrissey, is played by the smut-monger himself. As a result Flynt was allowed to sentence "himself" to 25 years in prison.)

Despite the film's emphasis on pornography, Larry Flynt's famous 1987 Supreme Court case involved no naked ladies. It concerned the lawsuit by TV evangelist Jerry Falwell against Hustler for publishing that Falwell lost his virginity to his mother in an outhouse. The writing was deemed to be legitimate parody of a public figure, since no reasonable person would interpret it as fact. Although the profundity of this film has been exaggerated by many critics, "The People vs. Larry Flynt" remains a smart, unique film that raises some interesting questions about porn and the First Amendment. It also explores a self-made American icon who is as much a part of this country as Henry Ford or William Randolph Hearst. Bring your sense of humor and at least half your brain.