Okay, here's the deal. I've tried with every fiber of my being, to answer a question, and I'm damned if it just don't escape me. There are hundreds of folks in the world that are too damn scary to think about. There are bombers sitting in cabins writing Tolstoy-length missives on how the telly is stealing our grey matter. Guys putting slugs in people on the bus 'cause somebody sneezed too loud. And, lord, let's not even mention those pasty freaks weighing bulk-rate mail. So, that brings us to this: what, by cracky, is everybody's problem with Larry Flynt?

I went to see The People vs. Larry Flynt, and had to muscle my way to the ticket booth through a baker's dozen of ornery women hoisting picket signs. It didn't bug me that two of 'em called me a pervert, but my neckhair bowed up when a couch-sized broad told me that, if I checked in for Larry Flynt, I was proving that I hated women.

Neighbors, I've been married three times. I've got a mama. I've got a sister. I've been on five good dates in the past two months. I don't think hating the opposite sex is my problem. (As the victim of way too much time in divorce court, the argument could be made that I ain't the best judge of character, but I'm hardly a member of the He-Man Woman Hater's Club.) If there's anybody in the world I do hate, it's folks ignorant enough to condemn something they haven't seen for themselves. They would rather let somebody else tell them that a certain movie, book, magazine or classified ad is EVIL, and then operate on what they think the event is about rather than the actuality of the subject.

Well, when I finally got into the theater, I got to see the real truth about the movie The People vs. Larry Flynt. And the truth, my friends, is this: The People vs. Larry Flynt is a great movie, probably the best damn movie of 1996.

Now, everybody and their grandmother is all aflutter about the performance of Courtney Love. I agree that her portrayal of Althea Leasure is remarkable. She has suddenly shown ten times the talent than she ever showed in her Seattle-grunge-bleached-hair-widow-of-a-Rock-Star days. Her performance is stunning to watch, and she deserves all the accolades she is getting.

What I do not accept, though, is the incredible lack of talk about Woody Harrelson. The Woodman is ready for the world, folks. His portrayal of Larry Flynt is phenomenal. He works the role for all of its flamboyance, style, and emotion. He manages to make Flynt, a self-proclaimed "scumbag," a very likeable person. His talents are most visable after an assassin's bullet paralyzes his character from the waist down. From this point on, Harrelson has to depend on his inner talent rather than wild gesturing and strutting. The injuries Flynt suffered left him with nerve damage that affected his voice and muscle control. In showing these infirmaties, Harrelson's voice becomes slurred and stifled, with a realistic rasp, and he deftly adds the definitive jerks and tics of Flynt's condition.

Flynt's mental state deteriorated, both through the pain of his injuries and the drugs used to control that pain. He became manic-depressive, and Harrelson and director Milos Forman pull no punches in making the point that Flynt veered toward insanity at times. The film's focus is on Flynt's many battles with the court system, over charges of pandering, various obscenity statutes, and his famous libel trial against Jerry Falwell and the Christian Coalition. During these various trials, Flynt, perhaps in the throes of his manic stages, acted like a perfect fool, throwing oranges at judges, wearing American flags as diapers, and performing public acts of vulgarity aimed at judges and lawyers . The Falwell case ended up in the Supreme Court, when the argument became a vindication of Flynt and the First Amendment.

I especially like the point made when Flynt hosts a rally for his Americans for a Free Press group. He delivers a speech asking for a definition of obscenity, while, behind him, on a huge screen, images of nude women alternate with images of war. He asks which is more repulsive -- nudity or violence in the news media. In one courtroom scene, Flynt yaps at a district attorney: "Hey! You don't like Hustler magazine? Don't buy it!" Pretty much answers that question for me, huh?

Forget all of the protests, all the anti-porn hype, and make sure you see The People vs. Larry Flynt. It's not a two-hour banquet for the porn industry as some folks would have you think. Instead, it's a look at censorship, obscenity laws, and whether or not anybody has the right to keep you from saying what you've got to say. The film flows from the projector with a steady stream of top-drawer acting, razor-sharp direction, and flawless production values. And here's a big bonus: it makes a point in the process.