- Larry Flynt: Who is this magazine for, anyway? I mean, you know, it's like if you don't make twenty thousand plus a year - you don't jerk off. Seven million people buyin' it, and nobody's readin' it. Gentlemen, "Playboy" is mocking you.
- Larry Flynt: I think the real obscenity comes from raising our youth to believe that sex is bad and ugly and dirty, and yet it is heroic to go spill guts and blood in the most ghastly manner in the name of humanity.
- Isaacman: You don't see me running around, pissing off everybody we're trying to get to help us.
- Larry Flynt: Yeah, well, you can walk and you can fuck and I'm in this chair! And I got money, okay, and I got money and that gives me the power to shake up this system.
- Isaacman: Well, find somebody else to help you then, because, this is not what I signed on for. I don't even know what we're engaged in anymore, Larry. If you get on that plane, I quit.
- Larry Flynt: Alan, don't be so melodramatic. You don't wanna quit me. I'm your dream client: I'm the most fun, I'm rich and I'm always in trouble.
- [Isaacman on the phone with Flynt]
- Alan Isaacman: Listen, I'm sitting here with the eminently reasonable District Attorney of the state of Georgia.
- [Larry makes an off screen comment on the other end of the line]
- Alan Isaacman: Right. He's very impressed by your conversion, he wants to cut us a plea bargain.
- Larry Flynt: A plea bargain? Because I've found God?
- Isaacman: Larry, listen to me for a second: Don't argue with me on this, ok. Just say yes because I've pulled a lot of strings to make this happen.
- Larry Flynt: Is he sitting there with you?
- Isaacman: Yes, he is.
- Larry Flynt: Would you do me a favor? Just tell that miserable old gray-haired bastard to go fuck himself, we're going to trial.
- Isaacman: Ok, right.
- Larry Flynt: Oh, and praise the lord.
- Alan Isaacman: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, you have heard a lot today, and I'm not gonna go back over it, but you have to go into that room and make some decisions. But before you do, there's something you need to know. I am not trying to suggest that you should like what Larry Flynt does. I don't like what Larry Flynt does, but what I do like is the fact that I live in a country where you and I can make that decision for ourselves. I like the fact that I live in a country where I can pick up Hustler magazine and read it, or throw it in the garbage can if that's where I think it belongs.
- Althea Leasure: The reign of Christian terror is over. We're going back to our roots. We are porn again.
- Blow Dried Jerk: Uh, Mr. Flynt? I don't wanna step on your toes, but things have changed since you were actively running the company. I mean, I look back at the stuff you did in the 70s, and it was, uh, sorta racy and crazy. But the country is different now. Reagan has rebuilt America and the moral majority is gaining power.
- Larry Flynt: You're fired.
- Blow Dried Jerk: Excuse me?
- Larry Flynt: You get the fuck out of my building. Doug, get him out of here. You blow-dried jerk motherfucker. Take him out of here and throw him in the incinerator, cut him to little pieces and feed him to the animals out there. Get out of here!
- Althea: Larry, I don't work at the magazine anymore. People there don't listen to me and they don't talk to me. They're afraid of me and they don't shake my hand... Larry, I went to Dr. Robert and... he told me that I was sick. I mean, sick, sick. I mean, I've got AIDS, Larry.
- Larry Flynt: [frustrated at the photographer] Look, we're not running a flower shop here. We're selling the girl. So stop playing with all the props and pillows and flowers and just shoot the girl.
- Stills Photographer: [to the model during a photo shoot] Let's go for the leg thing spread your legs a little wider.
- Larry Flynt: [Walks up to the model and spreads her legs even wider] There, that's exactly what we want, that's perfect a woman's vagina has just as much personality as her face.
- Stills Photographer: But you can't show the genitalia.
- Larry Flynt: [disappointed, confused] Why not?
- Jimmy Flynt: He's right. Legally, you can't show it.
- Larry Flynt: [to Jimmy] Shut up.
- Larry Flynt: Are you religious man?
- Stills Photographer: Yeah.
- Larry Flynt: You believe God created man?
- Stills Photographer: Yeah.
- Larry Flynt: And God created woman?
- Stills Photographer: Yeah.
- Larry Flynt: Surely the same God created her vagina, and who are you to defy God? Just shoot it.
- Althea: I had an epiphany once, Larry.
- Larry Flynt: What was that?
- Althea: When my daddy shot my entire family in the head and I was the only one to identify the bodies, and I was sent to an orphanage full of good Christian nuns who shoved my face into their pussies with their cruxifixes on for eight goddamn years!
- Isaacman: Larry, thousands of people petition the Supreme Court, OK? Thousands.
- Larry Flynt: Yeah, and our case is as good as any.
- Isaacman: Our case is better than most, you're missing my point, and that is they will never pick you. Because you're a nightmare. They're afraid if they let you in there, you're gonna wear a diaper, or throw oranges at the justices, and they should be, Larry, because in all the times you've gone to the court asking for help, you've never once demonstrated any respect for its institutions and procedures.
- Jerry Falwell: What?
- Roy Grutman: Yeah, Jerry, he's suing you.
- Jerry Falwell: He's suing me? For heaven's sakes, on what grounds?
- Roy Grutman: Well, you xeroxed his ad, and you sent it out in a million fundraiser letters.
- Jerry Falwell: Yeah, so?
- Roy Grutman: But you didn't get his permission. And that's copyright infringement.
- Jerry Falwell: The depth of his depravity sickens me.
- Isaacman: At the heart of the First Amendment is the recognition of the fundamental importance of the free flow of ideas. Freedom to speak one's mind is not only an aspect of an individual liberty, but is essential to the quest for truth and the vitality of society as a whole. In the world of debate about public affairs, many things done with motives that are less than admirable are nonetheless protected by the first amendment.
- Isaacman: [addressing the Supreme Court] Mr. Chief Justice, may it please the court, one of the cherished ideas that we hold in this country is that there should be uninhibited public debate and freedom of speech. Now, the question you have before you today is whether a public' figure's right to protection from emotional distress should outweigh the public interest in allowing every citizen of this country to freely express his views.
- Chief Justice William Rehnquist: But, what was the view expressed in Exhibit A?
- Isaacman: Well, to begin with this is a parody of a known Campari ad.
- Chief Justice William Rehnquist: I understand. Go ahead.
- Isaacman: Okay. Also, and more importantly, it was a satire of a public figure, of Jerry Falwell. Who in this case, was really a prime candidate for such a satire, because he's such an unlikely person to appear in a liquor ad. This is a person we are used to seeing at the pulpit, Bible in hand, preaching with a famously beatific smile on his face.
- [in the audience, the smug-faced Reverend loses his beatific smile]
- Chief Justice William Rehnquist: But, what is the public interest you're describing? That there is some interest in making him look ludicrous?
- Isaacman: Yes. Yes, Your Honor, there is a public interest in making Jerry Falwell look ludicrous, insofar as there is a public interest in having Hustler magazine express the point of view, that Jerry Falwell is full of BS. And, Hustler magazine has every right to express this view! They have the right to say that somebody who has campaigned actively against their magazine, who has told people not to buy it, who has publicly said it poisons the minds of Americans, who in addition has told people that sex out of wedlock is immoral, that they shouldn't drink. Hustler magazine has a First Amendment right, to publicly respond to these comments, by saying that Jerry Falwell is full of BS. It says let's deflate this stuffed shirt and bring him down to our level.Our level, in this case being, admittedly a lower level then most people would like to be brought to.
- [laughter]
- Isaacman: I apologize, I know I'm not supposed to joke, but that's sort of the point.
- Justice Scalia: Mr. Isaacman, the First Amendment is not everything. I mean, it's a very important value, but it's not the only value in our society. What about another value that says good people should be able to enter public life, and public service? The rule you give us says that if you stand for public office, or become a public figure in any way, you cannot protect yourself, or indeed your mother, against a parody of you committing incest with her in an outhouse? Now, do you think that George Washington would have stood for public office if that was the consequence?
- Isaacman: It's interesting you mentioned George Washington, Justice Scalia, because very recently I saw a political cartoon that's over two hundred years old. It depicts George Washington riding on a donkey being led by a man, and the caption suggests this man is leading an ass to Washington
- Justice Scalia: I can handle that, I think George can handle that, but that's a far cry from committing incest with your mother in an outhouse. I mean, there's no line in-between the two?
- Isaacman: No, Justice Scalia, I would say there is no line between the two, because really what you're talking about is a matter of taste, and not law. As you yourself said, I believe in Pope vs. Illinois. It's useless to argue about taste, and even more useless to litigate it, and that is the case here. The jury has already determined for us that this is a matter of taste and not a matter of law, because they've said that there is no libelous speech, that nobody could reasonably believe that Hustler was *actually suggesting* that Jerry Falwell had sex with his mother.
- Justice Thurgood Marshall: So why did Hustler have him and his mother together?
- Isaacman: Hustler puts him and his mother together as an example of literary travesty, if you will.
- Justice Thurgood Marshall: And what public purpose does this serve?
- Isaacman: Well, it serves the same public purpose as having Gary Trudeau say that Reagan has no brain, or that George Bush is a wimp. It let's us look at public figures a little bit differently. We have a long tradition in this country of satiric commentary. Now, if Jerry Falwell can sue, when there has been no libelous speech, purely on the grounds of emotional distress, then so can other public figures. And, imagine if you will, suits against people like Gary Trudeau, and Johnny Carson for what he says on The Tonight Show tonight. Obviously, when people criticize public figure, they're going to experience emotional distress, we all know that. It's the easiest thing in the world to claim, and it's impossible to refute, and that's what makes it a meaningless standard. Really, all it does is allow us to punish unpopular speech, and this country is founded, at least in part, on the firm belief that unpopular speech, is absolutely vital to the health of our nation.
- Simon Leis: Mr. Flynt, can you please turn to page 77? Can you describe to the jury what is on that page, please sir?
- Larry Flynt: It's a picture of Santa Claus.
- Simon Leis: What is Santa Claus doing?
- Larry Flynt: He's talking to Mrs. Claus, and holding in his hand what appears to be a large, erect penis.
- Simon Leis: And could you read the caption underneath that cartoon, please?
- Larry Flynt: "This is what I've got to ho-ho-ho about."
- Simon Leis: Good morning ladies and gentlemen. Before we begin, I must apologize for the unpleasantness of this task. What you are about to see is going to take your breath away. "Hustler" magazine depicts men and women posed together in a lewd and shameful manner. "Hustler" magazine depicts women and women posed together in a lewd and shameful manner. "Hustler" magazine depicts Santa Claus posed in a lewd and shameful manner.
- Alan Isaacman: I'm not trying to convince you to like what Larry Flynt does. I don't like what Larry Flynt does.
- Mantke Clerk: Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you, God?
- Larry Flynt: No.
- Judge Thomas Alva Mantke: No?
- Larry Flynt: Your Honor, I'm an atheist. I can't very well, uh, swear to a God I don't believe exists.
- Judge Thomas Alva Mantke: Mr. Flynt, you are a handful.
- Larry Flynt: I know, Your Honor.
- Larry Flynt: [Walking past protesters protesting outside his strip club] Thank you all for coming. Welcome to my establishment, we welcome Christians in here too.
- Larry Flynt: [looking at the first issue of the Hustler newsletter] What'd you think?
- Jimmy Flynt: How much do they cost?
- Larry Flynt: [shakes his head] Will you forget money for one second! What'd you think?
- Jimmy Flynt: What I think depends on how much they cost.
- Larry Flynt: This is the first Hustler newsletter. It's all for the man on the go and man-about-town. Here's news service and pictures.
- Jimmy Flynt: It's a magazine. How are you going to pay for that?
- Larry Flynt: Don't interrupt me when I'm talking!
- Althea: [Flipping through an issue of Playboy] Her tits look nice
- Larry Flynt: They look nice but they don't look real. I don't understand this magazine fuzzy pictures, articles on I don't know what the hell their talking about
- Althea: [after calculating their profits] take off your pants
- Larry Flynt: [looks up after looking photo negatives with a magnifying glass] Why?
- Althea: [Shows him the total profit amount] Because I've never fucked a millionaire before
- Larry Flynt: [to his parents while showing them around his new mansion during a 4th of July party] Do you know how many rooms I have here?
- Pa Flynt: How many?
- Larry Flynt: Twenty four rooms, do you know who else has twenty four rooms?
- Pa Flynt: The president?
- Larry Flynt: Hugh Hefner
- Isaacman: [Closing statement in the Cincinnati Court] I can exercise my right and not buy Hustler Magazine I like that I have that right I care about it and you should care about it too because we live in a free country we say that a lot but sometimes I think we forget what that really means so listen to it again " we live in a free country" and that is a powerful idea that is a magnificent way to live but there is a price for that freedom which is sometimes we have to tolerate things we don't necessarily like, so go back into that room where you are free to think whatever you want to think about Larry Flynt and Hustler Magazine but then ask yourselves if you want to make that decision for the rest of us because the freedom that everyone in this room enjoys is in a very real way in your hands and if we start throwing up walls against where some of us think is obscene we may very well wake up one morning and realize that walls have been thrown up in all kinds of places we never expected and we can't see anything or do anything and that's not freedom, that is not freedom so be careful, thank you.
- Larry Flynt: [Giving a speech for Americans for Free Press] Murder is illegal but if you take a picture of somebody committing the act of murder they'll put you on the cover of Newsweek, you might even win a Pulitzer Prize and yet sex is legal everybody is "doing it" or everybody wants to be "doing it". Yet if you take a picture of two people in the act of sex or if you take a picture of a woman's naked body and they'll put you in jail. Now I have a message for all you good moral Christian people who are complaining that breasts and vaginas are obscene, but don't complain to me, complain to the manufacturer and Jesus told us not to judge, I know you're going to judge anyway so judge sanely, judge with your eyes open. Politicians and demigods like to say sexually explicit material corrupts the youth of our country yet they lie, cheat, steal and start unholy wars. I think the real obscenity comes from raising our youth to believe that sex is bad and ugly and dirty yet it is growing, To go spill guts and blood in the most ghastly manner in the name of humanity. With all the taboos attached to sex it's no wonder we have the problems we have, it's no wonder why we're angry and violent genocidal.
- Larry Flynt: I wanna appeal the Falwell case.
- Alan Isaacman: This is over. Over!
- Larry Flynt: No, it's not over. We can go higher.
- Alan Isaacman: Higher?
- Larry Flynt: The Supreme Court. Yeah, give them a call.
- Alan Isaacman: It's not that simple, Larry, thousands of people petition the Supreme Court, okay? Thousands.
- Larry Flynt: Yeah, and our case is as good as any.
- Alan Isaacman: Our case is better than most. But you're missing my point, and my point is: they will never pick you. Because you're a nightmare. They're afraid if they let you in there, you're gonna wear a diaper, or throw oranges at the justices. And they should be, Larry. Because in all the times you've gone to the court asking for help, you've never once demonstrated any respect for its institutions and procedures. So as far as they're concerned, you're just a pig.
- Larry Flynt: Yeah, well you always said, and it's the principle: "A pig has the same rights as a president."
- Alan Isaacman: yeah, yeah, yeah... You know, people get tired of a pig.
- Larry Flynt: Bullshit! You're scared, Alan! You're scared! You're letting these guys steamroll all over us!
- Alan Isaacman: Look, it's not just them, Larry, okay? It's me! It's me! I am not taking you! Lawyers dream about a case like this in front of the Supreme Court, they dream of it. And they would probably hear us, if you want the truth. But I am not going with you! I have been giving you my best since back when people were laughing at you. And every time I come in there now, you fuck me with this bullshit circus act! I won't do it again. I can't. I'm not gonna do it in front of the Supreme Court of the United States. Your sentimental speeches and your cornball patriotism, they don't work on me anymore, Larry, because I don't believe you. I don't believe you.
- Larry Flynt: You're my friend, Alan. We're friends. You know, I would love to be remembered for something meaningful.
- Larry Flynt: She ain't bad. She ain't legal either.
- Jimmy Flynt: Yes, she is, I saw her ID.
- Larry Flynt: Look, you stupid briar-hopper, my dog could get an ID... from my goat.
- Isaacman: I have giving you my best since back when people were laughing at you, and every time we come in there now, you fuck me with this bullshit circus act.
- Simon Leis: [Referring to the Santa Claus cartoon while in court] Do you think the founding fathers had a cartoon like this in mind when they wrote the first amendment to our Constitution?
- Larry Flynt: [while on the witness stand] No but I don't think they had Playboy in mind or people either for that matter because I saw a couple of four letter words in there a few weeks back.
- Simon Leis: But isn't a community allowed to set its own standards?
- Larry Flynt: No that's just the disguise for censorship. This country belongs to me just as much it belongs to you, if you don't like Hustler Magazine, don't read it.
- Simon Leis: I don't but what about our innocent children that gaze upon it in our grocery stores?
- Larry Flynt: If a kid gets caught drinking beer in a tavern, we don't ban Budweiser across the nation.
- Georgia Prosecutor: How could you, as a good Christian, defend this filth?
- Larry Flynt: [while on the witness stand] I don't have to. It may be wrong in some people's opinion to portray women the way I have, but it's not illegal. It may not be the smartest thing to have too much to drink, but it's not illegal. Abortion may be more morally "repugnant" right now, but it's not illegal. If you want to change the law, that's another discussion, but our right to decide for ourselves cannot be restricted. George Orwell said," if liberty means anything, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear." America is the strongest country in the world today only because it is the freest country, and if it ever loses its sight on its basic heritage and the principles involved, then we will no longer be free.
- Roy Grutman: Would you please state your full name for the record?
- Larry Flynt: [while on the witness stand, intentionally making a mockery of the court by responding disrespectfully and jokingly] Christopher Columbus Cornwallis, IPQ, Harvey, APU.
- Roy Grutman: That's very interesting, but aren't you also known as Larry Flynt?
- Larry Flynt: AKA Jesus H. Flynt Esquire.
- Roy Grutman: Are you the publisher and Editor in Chief of Hustler Magazine?
- Larry Flynt: I am the publisher of the most tasteless, sleaziest, most disgusting, greatest porn magazine on the face of the earth.
- Roy Grutman: Thank you. Do you have an aversion to organized religion?
- Larry Flynt: [intentionally misunderstanding his question] A virgin?
- Roy Grutman: No, "aversion". You heard me correctly. "Aversion".
- Larry Flynt: You bet your sweet ass I do!
- Roy Grutman: Do you think that gives you the license to mock the leaders of great religious movements?
- Larry Flynt: Goddamn right.
- Roy Grutman: I hold in my hand exhibit B, which is a typed, written script of a Campari ad. When you approved this ad, did you have any specific knowledge that the Reverend Falwell had ever engaged in sexual intercourse with his mother in an outhouse?
- Larry Flynt: No, but I have a photograph of Falwell having fellatio with a sheep.
- Alan Isaacman: [to the judge] Your honor, my client is in a heavily medicated and mentally agitated state. We will stipulate that no such document exists.
- Larry Flynt: [intentionally mispronouncing the preacher's name] I have it and that Mr. Fartwell is a liar.
- Roy Grutman: My client's name is Jerry Falwell. "Jerry Falwell".
- Larry Flynt: [jokingly] That's what I said, Jerry Fartwell.
- Jimmy Flynt: [calculating their profits and expenses] How we doing?
- Larry Flynt: Bad, we're broke.
- Jimmy Flynt: How could we be broke?
- Larry Flynt: These giveaways are killing us. The limousine, the smorgasbord was a stupid idea, and all your buddies are coming in here every night drinking for free.
- Jimmy Flynt: You don't have to bring my friends into this.
- Larry Flynt: There's the secret right there. If we can somehow let people know what great ladies these girls are.
- Jimmy Flynt: You can't advertise that.
- Larry Flynt: [on the microphone, speaking to the patrons inside his strip club] Give a big hand to Alison from Tennessee
- [Jimmy starts clapping to persuade the patrons to clap]
- Larry Flynt: Thank you Jimmy. I don't know if all of you feel the way I do right now, but we deliver the finest ladies in Southern Ohio, don't you think? And now give a warm welcome to Hilary and Melissa, they're here all the way from Paris and London... Kentucky.
- Larry Flynt: I run the Hustler strip clubs I'm sure you've heard of them?
- Old Printer: No.
- Larry Flynt: That's why I need a newsletter I figure we'd run eight ten pages per issue.
- Old Printer: With nothing but nudity pictures?
- Larry Flynt: Yeah, on nice smooth paper like this
- [Points to a sample picture on the wall]
- Larry Flynt: .
- Old Printer: That's called "slick".
- Larry Flynt: Slick yeah.
- Old Printer: But I could get into trouble printing these.
- Larry Flynt: Why?
- Old Printer: Because there are laws you've got to have kind of text like Playboy does.
- Larry Flynt: [in his office] What's your name?
- Althea: [sitting on his couch, Lying] Jane.
- Larry Flynt: We have a policy in this club I have a suspicion that you're not of age
- [showing her the fake ID]
- Larry Flynt: this could cost me my liquor license I'd have to close that shop and fire a lot of people.
- Althea: I am one second one millimeter one second from being legal.
- Larry Flynt: Well, I'd have to ask you to come back when that second and millimeter is up.
- Althea: That'd be tomorrow morning then.
- Larry Flynt: I like the way you dance don't get me wrong.
- Althea: Can I ask you a question?
- Larry Flynt: Shoot.
- Althea: I heard you slept with every single girl in every one of your clubs as sort of a prerequisite I was wondering if that was true
- Larry Flynt: Well it isn't entirely untrue if that's what you mean.
- Althea: I'm curious why you haven't taken a stab at me?
- Larry Flynt: I just met you five minutes ago.
- Althea: It was six. Tick, tick, tick.
- [after having had sex, referring to both of them ejaculating]
- Althea: Come on one more time
- Larry Flynt: [still her legs wrapped around his legs, the zipper to his pants is still open] One more time? Even Superman has his limits.
- Althea: That's the problem with men your batteries run out women's batteries never run out.
- Larry Flynt: [lightly pushes her head backwards] Well, then go fuck a woman then.
- Althea: I do fuck women.
- Larry Flynt: [startled, surprised] Excuse me?
- Althea: You are not the only one in this club that has slept every girl in this club.
- Jimmy Flynt: [Referring to Althea, while eating breakfast] So after one night she's moving in with you?
- Larry Flynt: She had it rough, grew up in an orphanage.
- Trucker: [interrupting their conversation] Hey buddy, are the guy with the sex paper?
- Larry Flynt: I might be.
- Trucker: I love the pictures how do I subscribe?
- Larry Flynt: Where'd you come up on the newsletter?
- Trucker: I found it in the bathroom of a gas station, it came in pretty handy.
- Larry Flynt: I'm glad we can help you out but it's not for subscription.
- 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!