1973 Directed by Tony Palmer
This 1973 documentary by the award-winning director Tony Palmer shone a light on the multi-millionaire Hugh Hefner and his Playboy empire. It gave Hefner the opportunity to tell his story and, of course, it offended the usual suspects - Mary Whitehouse, the Daily Express and many more.
Hef left the building last month, in his nineties, and surrounded by blonde Playmates, including his wife Crystal, who was born in the year he turned 60.
In this documentary, Hugh Hefner tells us that his Playboy empire was founded on not just bringing sex, but 'fun' back to America, and alongside the legendary centrefolds and nudity which appeared in his media, there was also political comment, literary input, and much more. Playboy was about culture just as much as smut.
Before the lurid tales of orgies, Viagra, and the parody that Hef turned into of himself, he comes across in the 1970s as an intelligent and astute businessman. Many of us recalled when he died that he had been…
