Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone (2007) User Reviews

I Found an American Hero In a Very Unlikely Place

[madcardinal · 8/10 · 9 April 2011]

An important movie for anyone who cares about the United States, especially those who care about the preservation of our civil liberties. "Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone" does an excellent job of showing that the man is much more than the grand pooh-bah of American porn. As Flynt points out, the U.S. Constitution gives him the right to be offensive.

Personally, I don't care for any of the Hustler product line, whether we're talking magazines, photographs, videos or whatever. I do have a begrudging respect for some of the socio-political cartoons, because they tell the bald truth to the charlatans and extremists who so richly deserve a serving of comeuppance.

For me, the visual arts (sculpture, painting, serious photography and film-making) are much more rewarding means of expressing the eros pulsating through humanity. The arts are also much better at drawing on the aquifer of spirituality from which most eros springs. And in a truly free society, the arts have every right and even an obligation to portray this aspect of human existence.

The odd thing is, even in supposedly free nations, freedom of expression and freedom of the arts are bullied, hounded and censored by those who harbor a totalitarian, fascist or pharisaical impulse. There's always a good measure of sophistry involved and some great-sounding, concocted pretext for trampling our hard-won freedoms to a pulp: "protecting the children"; "preserving decency"; "respect for law and order." Sounds so noble; doesn't it? But listen closely, and you will hear the guardians of purity pulling up the plungers on three syringes as they draw up the sodium thiopental, pancuronium bromide and potassium chloride into the syringe barrels, and you will hear your precious Constitutional freedoms struggling to spit out the gag and bust the straps on the gurney. This is where porn-hound Larry Flynt comes into the picture as critically important.

Why is Flynt important? In effect, he is the guard dog defending every American's freedom of expression. In pivotal moments in U.S. history, he has been the only American with enough moral fiber to: 1) Fight for the freedom of the press to accurately cover what's taking place on the battlefield during wartime; 2) Expose deliberate fabrications and lies concocted by the U.S. Department of Defense in a major news story; and 3) Challenge and prevail over a law which would have made it a jail-able offense to create drawings or illustrations based on pure fantasy (talk about protecting all of us from the would-be thought police!). By being such a bulldog, he protects all of our freedoms. You can get the particulars from this interesting film (the outtakes are important too).

As a believer in Jesus and a supporter of what is best in the Christian spiritual message, I found it disappointing that the movie kind of glossed over his religious conversion and his later falling away from this experience. It would have been valuable to see this aspect of his life covered in more depth. On the whole, this movie is an excellent portrayal of a crude, patriotic and feisty American who possesses an authentic love for his country and a deep love of freedom. Be aware this film does contain some sexually oriented nudity.

Not What You Might Expect

[Seamus2829 · 10/10 · 26 October 2007]

As the heading line proclaims, I walked into this,expecting it to be a diatribe on porn. Silly me. What I got was a top flight documentary about a man who stood for freedom of the press,as well as an advocate for free speech. Yep,you guessed it:Larry Flynt,the publisher of Hustler (the anti Playboy). Early on,the doc does explain Flynts early salad days as a club owner,who decided to start a news letter on the girls he hired in the club. The news letter turned into a magazine for adults, specializing in graphic photographs of unclad attractive women in provocative poses. As to be expected,the 'zine did get both it's pros,as well as just as many cons. Flynt went on to be the outspoken voice against censorship (despite an assassination attempt in 1978, which left him paralyzed from the waste down). He also went on to take on the conservative religious/political right (there is plenty of video footage of his case against Jerry Falwell). He now tours the country as a well spoken orator,speaking out against George W.Bush,and other ilk of his kind. I would well recommend this to free speech advocates,as well as anybody who appreciates the documentary form.

Good

[Michael_Elliott · 2 December 2008]

Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone (2007)

*** (out of 4)

Documentary covering the career of Hustler creator Larry Flynt starts off very good but slowly turns into yet another anti-Bush piece. The film starts off with Flynt discussing various aspects of his life ranging from his fight for freedom of speech to Jerry Falwell and the death of his wife due to AIDS. If you've seen The People vs. Larry Flynt then most of the topics here are going to be familiar but Flynt's story is so American that you can't help but be entertained by his battle for the right to be obscene. Flynt is also interesting to listen to and that's true here as he reflects on earlier moments of his life. I've always gotten a kick out of his battles with Falwell and the film has various interview clips from their past. It's also worth noting that Flynt still gets emotional when discussing the death of his wife. Sadly the second half of the film deals with Flynt's opinion on George Bush, which is obviously negative. There's no problem with pointing this out but the documentary is just beating a horse that has been dead for many years now.

One Honest Man

[Gavno · 9/10 · 4 January 2024]

I think that Larry Flynt, the Pornographer, was a despicable scumbag. A man who exploited sexuality for a profit. And Flynt himself would probably agree with that assessment of himself and the magazine he created.

But there's clearly much MORE to Larry Flynt than that.

He was honest about that. But in being honest, he challenged others, including those who hold political and economic power in our nation, to do the SAME about themselves. But they won't... they're afraid to tell the truth about themselves

In an odd way, his fight to be free to be a pornographer led him to also become a gutsy and tireless champion of the First Amendment. And that's a lot more than the political frauds in office can ever claim to be.

In a way, the dirt bag that was Larry Flynt was admirable. He could have backed off in his resistance to censorship; he could have toned down the magazine some and continued to reap profits without having to go to jail and spend far too much of his life in courtrooms... but he didn't. He challenged America to LIVE UP to the principles that it loudly professes to support, but is too chicken to support beyond mere lip service.

And that, in a nutshell, is one way that a dirt bag pornographer earns himself the title of American Patriot.

Tom Laughlin, the actor who portrayed the character Billy Jack, once said in an interview that Billy Jack was about the ONLY hero that our young people could admire and believe in. Billy was honest, brave, and tough.

Maybe right next to Billy Jack we should place an angry man in a gold plated wheelchair whose name is Larry Flynt.

Don't sell the man short; there's much MORE there than a short, casual look would reveal. And this film gives us the opportunity to look into that complex individual.