'Obscene' looks at controversial publisher Barney Rosset
CAPSULE MOVIE REVIEWS
Also reviewed: 'Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story,' 'Still Life,' 'House of Adam.'
Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O'Connor's "Obscene" is as vital, incisive and entertaining as its subject, Barney Rosset, who in his 80s is as witty and impassioned as ever in his defense of the freedom of expression. The founder of Grove Press and the Evergreen Review, those bugaboos of the censorious in the '60s and '70s, once said, "I feel personally there hasn't been a word written or uttered that shouldn't be published." Rosset has spent his life -- and lost a fortune -- in living up to that belief.
Rosset has published thousands of books, including those of five Nobel Prize winners, but he became notorious for publishing "Lady Chatterley's Lover," "Naked Lunch" and "Tropic of Cancer," all of which involved costly but ultimately successful court battles against charges of obscenity. He then distributed the sexually explicit 1967 Swedish film "I Am Curious -- Yellow," which made a fortune, but this time he lost his battle at the U.S. Supreme Court level. Working against him was that Justice William O. Douglas had to recuse himself, for he had contributed an article to an issue of the Evergreen Review, an act that so shocked President Ford that he called for the impeachment of Douglas. A series of calamitous events concluded with Rosset eventually selling Grove under the false impression that he would still be in charge. Yet Rosset is a survivor, admired and bemused by friends and the famous and distinguished writers he has published.
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Kevin Thomas
"Obscene." MPAA rating: Unrated. Running time: 1 hour, 37 minutes. At the Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood, (323) 848-3500.
Atwater: Clever and ruthless
Based on your political bent, "Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story," a head-on analysis of the scrappy, blues-playing young Southerner who helped remake the Republican Party, will evoke blood-spitting rage or resounding awe. Either way, it's a hugely entertaining, efficiently crafted documentary about a ruthless, if undeniably clever, American political force.
Mixing rich news and archival footage along with candid interviews with Atwater's colleagues, friends and foes (including Reagan campaign manager Ed Rollins, conservative columnist Robert Novak, ex-Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and, most memorably, "Bush 41" opponent Michael S. Dukakis), director-cinematographer-editor Stefan Forbes rivetingly, often chillingly, frames our country's not-so-distant political past while informing its polarized present.
