“Larry Flynt: The Right to Be Left Alone” never disputes its subject’s image as a smut peddler.
Nor does Flynt himself.
But viewers of this documentary will find a saga far less devoted to silicone than civics. In abundant archival footage stretching through his long, turbulent career, Flynt makes a persuasive case for himself as a First Amendment champion. And, even more important, he argues passionately for his fellow citizens to defend their constitutional rights.
Early on, he paid dearly for his role as an advocate.
In 1978 in Georgia, during one of many trials for allegedly pandering obscenity, Flynt was shot and paralyzed by someone who didn’t like the magazine he published. He was left paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. When health permitted, he was re-indicted and convicted.
In another brush with the law, Flynt and Hustler magazine were sued by the Rev. Jerry Falwell in a case eventually heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. The justices’ unanimous decision in Flynt’s favor had far-reaching effects, protecting every citizen’s right to satirize public persons.
“We figure that freedom of the press is only important if it’s offensive,” Flynt declares in the film. “If we’re not gonna offend anybody, we don’t need protection of the First Amendment.” A bristling, sometimes disjointed film, “The Right to Be Left Alone” profiles a man you don’t have to like to find worth heeding. And a man you may like more than you might have expected.
Directed by Joan Brooker-Marks, it airs on the IFC channel tonight.
Another show to look out for.
Vern Yip and Cynthia Rowley play nice as judges on “Design Star.” But immediately after Sunday’s season finale of this HGTV series, they’ll butt heads in a contest to make over what’s billed as the ugliest living room in America. Each will have just six hours, with an HGTV carpenter sidekick (Steve Hanneman and James Lunday) and a team of assistants to perform design resuscitation. “Battle of the ‘Design Star’ Judges” is the first in a four-part series of HGTV Summer Showdowns. Among future editions: “Battle of the Sexes,” with designer Lisa LaPorta and carpenter Carmen De La Paz pitted against Carter Oosterhouse and Angelo Surmelis, to do the six-hour rescue on America’s ugliest kitchen.
