In the aftermath of a presidential campaign that led to an insurrection, a deadly pandemic, and the emboldenment of racist conspiracy theorists, it can be difficult to remember where this all began. Before his eight years as president, Ronald Reagan was a divorced celebrity aligned with no particular ethics, and in desperate need of a rebrand. With the help of an affiliation with Rev. Jerry Falwell and the so-called moral majority, Reagan shifted the image of the Republican Party, and opened the door for so many terrifying possibilities. The antithesis and the antidote to the hypocritical self-righteousness of Reagan was pornography pioneer and Hustler magazine mogul Larry Flynt, who made history with his 1983 presidential campaign.
Nadia Szold’s documentary Larry Flynt for President catalogues the shocking and inspiring story of Larry Flynt and his fleeting but impactful run for president. Through both the use of archival footage and recent interviews, the film documents one of the first presidential campaigns to be run on a ballot of shock and awe — a political tactic that would go on to be quite popular with the populace. With a borderline socialist agenda and a supreme disdain for the moral superiority of Ronald Reagan, Larry Flynt’s bold-faced acceptance of reality and eschewing of respectability politics was incredible to observe — especially during an era of such stuffy government denialism, i.e. AIDS. The film aims to amplify a small but significant part of our country’s wacky history, and does so with a groovy sense of gratification.
Szold presents us with an intimate look into the wild life of Larry Flynt, from his poverty-stricken childhood in Lakeville, Kentucky to his million-dollar Hustler magazine empire, to his impactful political career, providing us with an in-depth look into not just Flynt’s values, but of the state of the American psyche in the early eighties. While the film does well to detail the imperfections and misgivings of this polarizing public figure, Larry Flynt for President spends a good deal of time expressing the stark contrast between him and Reagan — positioning Flynt as a kind of a hero fighting against the evils of rising conservatism. Though he was criticized for being detrimental to the moral fiber of the American public, Hustler had roughly three million readers each month, a statistic that would suggest that Flynt was simply fulfilling the desires of an already sexually-repressed society. Was it so crazy to think he could take this sense of freedom and satisfaction to the White House?
Larry Flynt for President is a salient portrait of the absurdity of the American political system and one man’s dream of painting the capitol pink: a dream no more obscene than Reagan’s delusions of trickle down economics or the “Just Say No” campaign. Often donned in a “Give Hinckley Another Chance” shirt, Flynt certainly aimed to appall, but he also had a far more reliable moral compass than those who sought to silence him. Szold’s documentary is revelatory and resoundingly entertaining — an educational and exciting rehashing of history that blew my mind and radicalized me even further. If Larry Flynt were on the ballot these days, every young person and bleeding-heart leftist would rally, campaign, and vote for him because he dared to challenge a harmful system that is still very much in place. Flynt believed that “Life should be one big orgasm,” and Larry Flynt for President, much like the man himself, found a way to make even politics pleasurable.
