Monday, October 19, 2015

"The People Versus Larry Flynt" - Here Comes the Judge

"The People Versus Larry Flynt" was released quite a while ago and it's one of the funniest movies I've ever seen because of the way Flynt hanged Simon Leis and Cincinnati's pretentious conservativism out to dry.  It was a glorious shutdown of priggish pigdog politicians who were manipulating pornography for the sleaziest vote-mongering ever.

Charles Keating was the Grand Poobah of Self-Righteous Cincinnati and Simon Leis was the Enforcer.  They should have stuck to busting Kentucky boys for making moonshine because they were completely out-matched by Larry Flynt.


The reason for writing is something I noticed on watching it again just now.  Judge Morrissey was the stooge overseeing the legal circus and the thing I noticed is Larry Flynt plays him in the movie.  The big comedy part is imagining how much that news must have busted Morrissey's ass when he heard about it.

Larry Flynt made a mockery of those buffoons in the trial and served them up for ridicule across the country but that still wasn't enough and playing Morrissey in the movie is so deliciously evil.  The only thing anyone will ever remember of that unremarkable judge is the way Flynt portrayed him.

Priceless.  I had never noticed that previously.

That's definitely one for the Payback is a Bitch trophy.


There's another Grand Irony in it due to the casting for the role of Simon Leis.  For any gig needing a prick Fascist cop, Simon Leis was your huckleberry.  The one playing him in the movie is James Carville, a notoriously leftist political commentator.  These guys must have been screaming laughing in-between takes for the movie.  The purpose of the movie isn't history but rather further ridicule of those self-important monkey buffoons.


For the real history, this was one of the most important trials there has been regarding freedom of the press, obscenity, etc.  It was a milestone victory for civil liberties.


Bill Pullman's speech to the pilots before going off to fight space aliens in "Independence Day" is one particularly memorable to many people.  The speech Woody Harrelson gives in "The People Versus Larry Flynt" is exceptional as well but it's not so well known.  He asks 'which is more obscene, sex or war?'

He was way ahead of his time because people still don't get it.

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