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Dirty Pictures

2000, Movie, R, 104 mins

DIRTY PICTURES
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This made-for-TV film examines freedom of speech issues through events that occurred in Cincinnati in 1989. Cincinnati museum director Dennis Barrie (James Woods) who decides to display an exhibit of pictures by renowned photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, including several sexually explicit shots. The county sheriff (Craig T. Nelson) and a local watchdog group, People for Community Values, are horrified by such images as a man urinating into another man's mouth and decide to take Barrie to court on obscenity charges. Barrie is threatened by telephone. His children are beaten up in school and his wife nearly divorces him, but he refuses to back down and takes the stand in defense of artistic liberty. After Barrie gives a grandiose inspirational speech to the court, despite the conservative judge's insistance that he simply "answer the question," the jury delivers a verdict of innocent. This film's overt political nature overshadows any real plot or character development, but it includes interviews with real artists and writers that are sufficiently insightful to keep you watching and thinking until the end. leave a comment --Matt Lappin
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Down and Dirty Pictures: Miramax, Sundance, and the Rise of Independent Film
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