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PLOT:
Flynt is played by Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers) and does a pretty good job of not making us completely hate this "smut peddler". As the strip club scenes open, Larry Flynt's "Hustler" strip clubs are being picketed by God fearing Christians who don't like his type of establishments. I've seen my own share of pickets in front of strip clubs, even in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, so it's not too hard to believe there might be picketers in Ohio in the 70's. Inside, the strip club is apparently only topless, with alcohol. Although I've been to Cleveland, I've never been to any strip clubs in Ohio so I can't verify what the laws are over there or what strip clubs looked like in Ohio in the 70's. The movie makers decided to give it a strong hick country look and feel to it, including country western songs for the dancers to dance to.
I'm not 100% sure, but later, as she walks near the bar, she apparently finds something on the floor and give it to a customer standing nearby. Maybe it was a stray dollar. What a nice waitress she is. That's the kind of friendly club this is. Why, there isn't even a bouncer or security, anywhere to be seen. Old ASSCer RJ would have loved this club. Maybe not the country music, but the laid back friendly atmosphere would have been his cup of tits.
There is one odd thing going on behind the stage. There are 2 topless girls on a swing, going back and forth while the other dancers dance on stage. While I've never seen anything like this, I can imagine that back in Ohio in the 70's, this may have been a great attraction. The dancers on stage sure wouldn't do it for me.
Apparently, it's known that Larry sleeps with a lot of the girls at his clubs. This is relatively realistic and not very different from the Mitchell brothers story. Jimmy tells one of the girls that he liked the way she blew out the candles, implying that she may have done it without using her mouth. Of course, this would be hard to do at a topless club so maybe it was off stage. It's at this point in the movie that Larry decides to make a newsletter to help promote his clubs. Thus the start of his porno magazine empire. When Larry is showing his first copies of his Hustler newsletter to Jimmy, he notices a new dancer on stage named Clamity Jane. See the DANCE SEQUENCE section later for pictures of this scene. Later we learn that her real name is Althea Leasure. Hole front-girl, Courtney Love (Man on the Moon) plays Althea. Larry watches her dance and likes her and tells Jimmy to send her to his office when she gets off the stage.
Next, they are having non-stop sex and Larry has to cry uncle first and Althea complains that men run out of juice, whereas girls can go like the Energizer rabbit. She reveals that she is bisexual and says, "You're not the only person in this club that has had every single woman in this club." Great line. In one line, we receive two real life strip club elements: Bisexual girls, and dancers that go after other dancers. I've known several dancers who always preyed on the new girls, straight or bi.
In a later scene, Larry and Jimmy are watching a photographer take pictures of a girl for the magazine. When the photographer tells the girl that she's got her legs spread too wide, Larry retorts, "A woman's vagina has as much personality as her face." Although this movie is about smut making, there is absolutely no smut on the screen. When the model opens her legs, the view is obstructed by a bed post. As a matter of fact, this is the cleanest smut movie I've ever seen. I guess the MPAA had something to do with that. Apparently, the MPAA stopped the producers from making a poster for the movie which contained a depiction of Larry and a crucifix. How ironic that a movie about censorship to be censored. There is one other notable moment when Flynt tells Althea that he had an epiphany from talking to Ruth Carter Stapleton (evangelist and sister to Jimmy Carter) and he has found Jesus. To this, Althea remarks, "I've had an epiphany once, Larry. My daddy shot my whole family in the head, and I was the only one to identify the bodies. I was sent to a good Christian school full of good Christian nuns who put my face into their pussies with their crucifixes on for 8 goddamn years!" If that doesn't make you into a stripper, nothing will.
MUSIC:
DANCE SEQUENCES:
SUMMARY:
 
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The movie is based on the life of porno magazine empire
king, Larry Flynt, whom, according to the movie, started as a Kentucky moonshine
seller as a kid in the 50's. Later, he and his brother Jimmy open a chain
of strip clubs in Cincinnati, Ohio in the early 70's.
In one of the opening sequences, the waitress gets
tipped on the top of her shorts, then the customer pats her ass several times.
This seems to be the norm at this club, and she walks away happily.
One of the first dancers we see on stage is Alanis
(left). She's really the only decent looking dancer you're going to see on
stage in this movie so enjoy the little bit of flesh you'll see. She does
not go topless in either of the 2 stage scenes that she has. I guess the
customers didn't tip her enough for her to take it off. In fact, none of
the dancers seem to do any floor work or pole work. They just sort of walk
around the stage.
Later, Larry and Jimmy are sitting at one of tables
after closing, talking about money problems the clubs are having. As all
the dancers walk by the table to receive their pay for the night, Larry tells
a girl to expect him in an hour, then another girl in 2 hours.
Larry tells Althea in his office that he thinks that
she is under aged, and that he could lose his liquor license for it. She
tells him that she is just a millimeter from being legal. He tells her to
come back when she is. She replies, "That would be tomorrow morning." She
asks why he hasn't hit on her, and he replies "It's only been 5 minutes."
The next scene shows Jimmy asking about Althea moving
in with Larry already, and we are off to the rest of the story, including
a failed assassination attempt on Flynt, which leaves him in a wheelchair,
drug abuse by both Larry and Althea and Althea contracting AIDS.
