The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996)

The story of controversial pornography publisher Larry Flynt, and how he became a defender of free speech.

Director:

Milos Forman

Writers:

Scott Alexander, Larry Karaszewski

Stars:

Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 22 wins & 33 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Woody Harrelson	...	Larry Flynt
Courtney Love	...	Althea Leasure Flynt
Edward Norton	...	Alan Isaacman
Brett Harrelson	...	Jimmy Flynt
Donna Hanover	...	Ruth Carter Stapleton
James Cromwell	...	Charles Keating
Crispin Glover	...	Arlo
Vincent Schiavelli	...	Chester
Miles Chapin	...	Miles
James Carville	...	Simon Leis
Richard Paul	...	Reverend Jerry Falwell
Burt Neuborne	...	Roy Grutman
Jan Tríska	...	The Assassin
Cody Block	...	10-Year-Old Larry
Ryan Post	...	8-Year-Old Jimmy

Storyline

Larry Flynt is the hedonistically obnoxious, but indomitable, publisher of Hustler magazine. The film recounts his struggle to make an honest living publishing his porn magazine and how it changes into a battle to protect the freedom of speech for all people.

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Plot Keywords:

hustler magazine | lawyer | female nudity | female frontal nudity | 1st amendment | 

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Taglines:

You may not like what he does, but are you prepared to give up his right to do it?

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Genres:

Biography | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong sexual material, nudity, language and drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the scene where the reporter for CBS arrives at Larry Flynt's house, the reporter was originally intended to drive there himself. When Norm Macdonald was given the role he informed Milos Foreman he couldn't drive, so they had him exit a taxi instead.

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Goofs

When Larry finds Althea in the bathtub, he pulls her out of the water by the throat. For the rest of the scene you can see her swallow and sometimes wince in pain, even though she's dead.

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Quotes

Larry Flynt: [to his staffers, as they remained silent] What's wrong?
Arlo: The distributer called and unfortunately we had only a twenty five percent sell through
Larry Flynt: Someone want to translate that for me?
Jimmy Flynt: What that means their sending back a hundred fifty thousand copies
Larry Flynt: [slams the champagne bottle into the cake] SHIT!

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Connections

Referenced in The Oprah Winfrey Show: Summer Movie Reviews (1996)

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Soundtracks

Tannhauser Overture
Written by Richard Wagner (uncredited)
Performed by New York Philharmonic
Conducted by Pierre Boulez
Courtesy of Sony Classical
By Arrangement with Sony Music Licensing

User Reviews

Career milestone for Woody Harrelson & Courtney Love

THE PEOPLE VS. LARRY FLYNT (1996) **** Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, Edward Norton, James Carville, James Cromwell, Richard Paul, Crispin Glover, Vincent Schiavelli, Miles Chapin, Brett Harrelson, Donna Hanover, Norm MacDonald. Superb biographical account of smut publisher Larry Flynt (portrayed by Best Actor nominee Harrelson in arguably the role of his career) whose bouts with the courts regarding libel, pornography and ultimately first amendment rights to the freedom of speech are captured like a tempest in a teacup that depicts the rise and near fall of Flynt (who was paralyzed in an assassination attempt) and the uncomparable love affair with his doomed yet dedicated wife, bisexual, drug-addicted and tragically AIDS afflicted wife Althea Leasure (Love in a toweringly brilliant turn at acting that deserves all the recognition she mustered) who stood by her man as she withered away. Funny, insightful, important and some masterful filmmaking overall thanks largely to the cleverly constructed screenplay by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski ("Ed Wood"), costumes by Theodore Pistek and Arianne Phillips, and all too believeable production design by Patricia von Brandenstein. And yes that is real-life Flynt as one of the judges passing sentence and yes it is real-life brother Brett of Woody playing siblings. Kudos to Best Director nominee Milos Forman (who was sorely passed over in the Best Picture nomination as well as practically getting shut out come to mention it) for pulling off a difficult hat trick: making scum respectable.

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

10 January 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

The People vs. Larry Flynt

Filming Locations:

USA

Box Office

Budget:

$36,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$523,295, 29 December 1996

Gross USA:

$20,300,385

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$20,300,385

Company Credits

Production Co:

Columbia Pictures, Filmhaus, Illusion Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1