Larry Flynt

Anyone who saw Milos Forman's Oscar-nominated The People vs. Larry Flynt, will want to see this episode of A&E's Biography series which offers a more honest portrait of the infamous (and litigious) porn king. Born "white trash" in the Kentucky outback, Flynt built a publishing empire with his flagship porn mag Hustler which showed more female genitalia than competitors, as well as sadistic, violent fantasy images of women being raped and dismembered, and vicious parodies such as the Campari liquor ad which suggested that the Reverend Jerry Falwell had sex with his mother in an outhouse (a joke that eventually went all the way to the Supreme Court, from which Flynt emerged victorious). The documentary chronicles Flynt's courtroom antics, his rocky open marriage to Althea Leasure, his bizarre conversion to Christianity, and the unsolved assassination attempt which left the pornmeister paralyzed from the waist down. A good roster of interviewees includes Flynt himself, Gloria Steinem, Andrea Dworkin, Al Goldstein, Alan Isaacman (Flynt's lawyer), Milos Forman, and Flynt's brother Jimmy. Audiences can make up their own minds as to whether Larry Flynt should be remembered as a freedom fighter or a misogynistic, showboating scumbag. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)