MovieChat Forums > Filthy Gorgeous: The Bob Guccione Story (2014) Discussion > Great Documentary

Great Documentary

posted 10 years ago by oxblood
1 reply | jump to latest

Really good doc that includes great archival footage and pictures. Very thorough history of Bob Guccione, creator and publisher of Penthouse magazine. Good contributions from former employees and some family members. It also talks about his failures like his aborted attempt at opening his own casino in Atlantic City and his production of Caligula.

Guccione was a class act who really pushed the envelope of adult commercial entertainment publications. The articles were as interesting as the women. Unlike Playboy, Penthouse didn't just do fluff pieces with pro athletes and celebrities. PH had social essays, psychological quizzes and political exposes as well as erotic letters from readers.

I admit I boycotted his magazine after the Vanessa Williams issue where he published nude pictures of her and ruined her reign as Miss America. I felt he could have waited a few more months till her tenure was over. After that I never bought another copy of Penthouse and unfortunately as we see in the documentary that's when karma stepped in.

[–] bartgirls 9 years ago

I always admired him, but I have to say I didn't care for how he dressed. His girls were more human, more alive, and you could tell it was all about sex with women who were independent, real, and beautiful. Playboy was more about trying to get a pretty girl next door, get her naked, play house and then go for a shake. Valid but different points of view.

Guccione made terrible investment decisions but it seems he was not fond of money but what to get with it. Somehow I believe the alternative treatments he went on for his cancer accelerated it, but I could be wrong.

Penthouse magazine nowadays is nothing, nothing compared to the incredibly hot issues of the seventies and eighties.