BRIEF
“Larry Flynt for President” chronicles the wild ride of the Hustler Magazine publisher's campaign for president in 1983. It is the story of the quintessential outsider who fought to expose hypocrisy and bigotry which, ultimately, nearly cost him his life. Though he did not win against Ronald Reagan, the free speech battles he fought during his run ultimately changed the Constitution by expanding the First Amendment to include satire and parody. The Supreme Court win effectively allowed comedians, cartoonists and any of us to critique those in power without fear of retribution. Told through never-before-seen footage, the film unfolds as an epic with plot twists stranger than fiction, dialogue more outrageous than parody and a love story between two outcasts, who in the end, couldn’t have been more American.
SYNOPSIS
Raised in poverty in the hills of Kentucky with only an eighth grade education, Larry Flynt built a multi-million dollar pornography empire during the 70s and 80s with the explicit Hustler magazine as its cornerstone. A staunch advocate for the First Amendment, Flynt frequently butted heads with the so-called moral majority and found himself embroiled in fierce legal battles that he fought with theatrical flair, thumbing his nose at a system he viewed as hypocritical and corrupt. After a gunman’s bullet left him paralyzed from the waist down in 1978, Flynt resurfaced in 1983 to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination. His platform, he said, was simple: “Every ounce of energy that I can muster will be devoted toward moving the massive repressive hand of government from the crotch of the American people.” This riveting film from director Nadia Szold assembles never-before-seen footage captured in 1983 by a film crew documenting Flynt’s unlikely bid for the White House. Chronicling Flynt’s campaign—ran from his gold-plated wheelchair with his devoted wife Althea by his side—Larry Flynt for President stands as a fascinating record of one of America’s most controversial defenders of free speech. – Tribeca Film Festival Program
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
I once asked Larry Flynt whether he believed there were any limitations to freedom of speech. He answered in the affirmative. “Hate speech should not be protected speech.” Today we are embroiled in a whole new slew of thorny issues surrounding freedom of speech. Some groups use the First Amendment to cloak their hate speech. When speech is meant to incite violence or harm a group or person, Flynt drew the line. For all his tastelessness and vulgarity, Larry Flynt punched up. He made fun of politicians and moral leaders. And it was the result of this “punching up” that led to the Supreme Court win that ultimately changed the Constitution by expanding the First Amendment to include satire and parody as protected speech. Fortunately we live in a country where we can make fun of people in power. We don’t have to hide it or fear any legal repercussions. Sometimes it is the people on the fringes of society who, because of legal fights they take on, end up defining, and in some cases expanding, our freedoms. In a speech given during his campaign for President of the United States in 1983 Flynt stated, “There can never be peace on earth until we learn to respect people’s right to exist. You pay a price for everything. And the price you pay to live in a free society is toleration. You must tolerate things that you don’t necessarily like.” There has been an icy push-back on toleration of late. People fear a misstep outside the accepted norm could ruin their lives. There is something constrictive and dangerous in that. Cancel culture and self-censorship because fear of retribution are not signs of a healthy democracy, and certainly not signs of toleration. So, you offend! The cost of censorship is higher. Just as it is impossible to learn when there is shame, fear has a chilling effect on thinking as well. It silences who knows what possible flights of thought an uncensored mind is capable of. Language and thought go hand in hand. And there has to be freedom of speech for there to be freedom of thought. The poet Ocean Vuong said it best, “The future is not in our hands, it’s in our mouths.” Larry’s expansive punk attitude might just be an antidote for an uptight age. And while much of the culture wars Flynt fought during the 70’s and 80’s have been resolved and mainstream attitudes towards sex and nudity have evolved thanks to sex and bodypositivity from all corners, ideological conformity still poses a threat to any possibility for robust debate of a liberal society.
