In light of controversial pornographer and First Amendment advocate, Larry Flynt's death, it seems as good as any a time to look back on the 1996 biopic, The People vs Larry Flynt. Does it still hold up after a quarter of a century? Yes. In fact, it's a truly underrated paean to the importance of The First Amendment. It's also a blistering slam at American culture of the 70s and 80s. Is it a shameless whitewash of the real Flynt?--you betcha. But, I judge films on their merits in and of themselves, not whether they're historically accurate.

Milos Forman really knocks it out of the park. It's well paced and still gripping after all these years. The performances are stellar from Harrelson on down. The writing is excellent seamlessly oscillating between drama and humor. And this is easily the best of the four Alexander/Karaszewski biopic quadrilogy (Ed Wood; The People vs Larry Flynt; Man on the Moon; Big Eyes).

Give it a watch if you haven't seen it in a long time (or at all), give it a spin. It's one of the best films of the 1990s. (It sure as hell couldn't be made today.)

Just watched the DVD tonight after hearing the news of his death, first time I'd seen the movie since projecting it in the theater. Holds up reasonably well but free speech and smut are topics that have always interested me. The DVD looks pretty bad on modern equipment, but has some interesting extras including easter eggs which show clips from messages he made while running for president in 1984- couldn't have been any worse than Trump.

If you mean because Milos Forman is dead, I agree. I could see HBO or Netflix making this today, though.

The scene where Larry (Woody) shows the montage of porn images mixed with war images and asked which one should be "offensive" is a alarmingly simple and convincing argument about American values.

Edited to add: I specifically like the line where he says "Don't complain to me, complain to the maker". Such a great comeback to the overly religious types who look down on nudity and porn. Does anyone know if that's a real Larry Flynt quote, or if it was just written in?

It’s on either Netflix or Amazon prime and I just recently rewatched it. Very well done. Great performances from Harrelson and Ed Norton. Courtney Love gives her only great performance.

This is available on Blu-ray though kind of pricey at $22

Definitely a standout from the 90s. The performances are all great. I remember watching it and thinking Courtney Love had a real future as a legitimate actress. So much for that ...

She played herself in the movie, but she still great job. She also did a pretty good job in Man on the Moon which was another quirky biopic directed by Forman and wrtten by the Charles/Karaszewski duo.

I saw PVLF once way back when, maybe on LD? Or on an early DVD release. It was a rental and it was a good movie, but not one I would care to revisit. I do remember their being a nude scene with Courtney Love and that's when she was at her hottest.

I've never seen Man on the Moon.

Man on the Moon is good, but not because of her.

It is indeed a good movie. It's insane that it hasn't gotten a Blu ray release after all these years. (but that's a different thread)

FUCK THIS COURT

It's been quite some time since I've seen this movie, but I remember enjoying it. As mentioned by others, there were a number of excellent performances.

Probably my favorite Harrelson performance out of all his wonderful performances.

I also miss Milos Forman.


Though, to be honest, I thought Man on the Moon was shit.

I'm also not a Man on the Moon fan, though I do love the music from it.

For me that's a close one between Larry Flynt and Out of the Furnace.