Pain and Gain - Part 1

To many, Larry Flynt was nothing but a controversial pornographer responsible for the publication of Hustler magazine. However, he was also a defender of our constitutional right to freedom of speech, the attempted murder victim of a convicted serial killer, and involved in setting legal precedent protecting parody under the First Amendment. His fascinating and proactive life was detailed in Milos Forman’s The People vs. Larry Flynt (1996) starring Woody Harrelson, Courtney Love, and Edward Norton.

Primary Sources:

Flynt, Larry & Ross, Kenneth. Unseemly Man. Dove Books, 1996.

New York Times

Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770 (1984)

Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1998)

CNN

FOX

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From 1972 to 1983 serial killer and bakery owner Robert Hansen abducted, raped, and murdered at least 17 women, many of whom he hunted after releasing them into the wilderness. 13 years after Hansen was apprehended, Scott Walker, with the help of Nicolas Cage and John Cusack, brought this story to the big screen in The Frozen Ground (2013).

Primary Sources: 

Smith, Jack. The Butcher Baker: Life of Serial Killer Robert Christian Hansen. Maplewood Publishing, 2017.

Alaska Department of Public Safety

Crime Library

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In 1992, Mark Whitacre, vice president of a Fortune 500 company, agreed to be an undercover FBI informant to help an investigation into price fixing. In 1998, he was convicted of 46 felonies involving fraud, tax evasion, money laundering, obstruction of justice, and price fixing; sentenced to nine years in federal prison; and ordered to pay $11 million in restitution to his former employer. How accurately did Steven Soderbergh portray these events in his biographical comedy The Informant! (2009), staring Matt Damon?

Primary Sources:

Eichenwald, Kurt. The Informant: A True Story. Broadway, 2009.

Forbes

Re-Entry Success Stories

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Selena was an up-and-coming Tejano star about to break into the mainstream music scene when her life was cut short by the manager of her boutiques and president of her fan club in 1995. Gregory Nava’s Selena (1997), starring Jennifer Lopez, was released just two years later. Get ready to learn why Selena captivated the hearts of many with her stage presence, kind soul, and powerful vocals.

Primary Sources:

Perez, Chris. To Selena, with Love. Celebra, 2013.

A&E American Justice: The Life and Death of Selena

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 New Episodes of Criminal Adaptations season 2 are coming February 13th !

Join our hosts Remi, who spent over a decade working in the film and television industry in Los Angeles, California, and  Ashley,  a clinical psychologist and forensic evaluator in Oregon as they continue discussing some of your favorite movies, and the true crimes stories that inspired them. 

 Coming soon! 

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For our first season finale, we dive deep into the fascinating life of Truman Capote, the man often accredited for popularizing true crime creating the nonfiction fiction genre. The late great Philip Seymour Hoffman earned an Academy Award for his portrayal of the author in Bennett Miller’s Capote (2005). Toby Jones also attempted to capture the author’s persona in Douglas McGrath’s lesser known film Infamous (2006). How do these films compare, and did they accurately portray Truman Capote’s electric personality and fascinating life? This episode will have a different format than our past episodes, but we hope you find it equally as compelling.

Primary Source: 

Clarke, G. Capote: A Biography. Carroll & Graf Publishers (1988).

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Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood captivated the world when it was published in 1966. Richard Brooks adapted the book into a movie under the same name the following year. This week we explore Brooks’s film and discuss how truly it portrayed the 1959 murders of four members of the Clutter family, perpetrated by Richard “Dick” Hickock and Perry Smith.

Primary Source:

Capote, T. In Cold Blood. Random House (1965).

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Everybody polka! This week we discuss Jan Lewan, Grammy nominated polka artist turned Ponzi schemer, and Jack Black’s depiction of him in Maya Forbes’s The Polka King (2017). Was Lewan a contriving money hungry criminal or a man who found himself in too deep? We will let you be the judge.

Primary Sources:

American Greed Podcast: The Polka King Con

PA Times Reader

Daily Beast

Spin

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This week Ashley and Remi discuss Noah Hawley’s Lucy in the Sky (2019), a film loosely inspired by former NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak. Join us as we uncover the details behind the riveting story which dominated headlines. Spoiler: It involves much more than soiled diapers. 

Primary Source:

Moore, K. Star Crossed: The Story of Astronaut Lisa Nowak.University Press of Florida (2020).

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Mark and Dave Shultz were viewed by many as the greatest wrestlers in the world, but their lives and careers would be uprooted less than a decade after they meet an eccentric multi-millionaire, John du Pont. Their story is portrayed in Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher (2014), featuring an all-star cast including Steve Carell, Channing Tatum, and Mark Ruffalo.

Primary Sources:

Schultz, M. Foxcatcher: The True Story of my Brother’s Murder, John du Pont’s Madness, and the Quest for Olympic Gold. The Penguin Group (2014).

Team Foxcatcher (2016)

30 for 30: The Prince of Pennsylvania (2015)

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