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The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)
Rate:
7
Viewed:
5/04, 9/25
9/25:
The People vs. Larry Flynt may be quality, but it has several problems.
To start off with the positives, the performances are well done. Woody Harrelson is great, giving me a hard
time deciding whether he was better in this or Natural Born Killers.
The real Larry Flynt can be seen in the first legal case by playing a judge.
Ironically, Woody Harrelson advertised a $1 million reward to catch JFK's killers, and his father was one of
them behind the fence on the grassy knoll. Meanwhile, Courtney Love got robbed of an Oscar nomination for Best
Supporting Actress. It's probably the only notable achievement of her career besides being married to Kurt
Cobain.
However, the editing is quite bad. Many shots are 80% complete before moving on to the next one. To stay
interested, I followed the writing. The direction is sometimes scattered given that the title is an indication of
a major trial taking up most of the running time which isn't true. Also, it doesn't do a good job of
achieving closure for several people or incidents such as Ruth Carter Stapleton, the assassination attempt
involving Alan Isaacman (really, that was Gene Reeves, Jr., who was shot), and the revelation of the source
in regard to the John DeLorean cocaine bust videotape.
The film also leaves out some facts. For example, Althea was actually Larry Flynt's fourth wife. Prior to
that, he enlisted in the United States Navy for four years and was honorably discharged afterwards. In 1972,
Hustler Newsletter began to be published, but it was done locally before going national
a couple of years later as Hustler. Larry Flynt's assassin Joseph Paul Franklin was found guilty in a
lot of murder cases and then executed in 2013.
All in all, the 1st Amendment issue feels like an excuse to justify the existence of
The People vs. Larry Flynt.