American Playboy: The Hugh Hefner Story

After I started watching this documentary I realized that I've had the completely wrong perception of Playboy my whole life, i.e. if I'm to believe everything depicted in this documentary. I've only browsed through Playboy magazine a few times in my life, and I never read any of the articles in it ;-) Though I've always been fascinated by the life of Hugh Hefner, though from a purely sexual perspective. After watching the first 4 episodes of this series though, I'm even more fascinated and impressed by this man as I had no idea he was such a visionary and innovative entrepreneur and that he had such a nag for surrounding himself with talented people. Further, the documentary gives the distinct impression that he was anti-establishment, an equal opportunity employer, had an open door policy, was a great boss, was surprisingly respectful of women (even though at the same time he was obviously exploiting them too), was color blind and, even though indirectly and possibly unintended, he supported for the civil rights of blacks by ignoring the fact that the southern states didn't want to air his Playboy Penthouse TV show because he had a lot of black entertainers on this show. It's almost too good to be true. And as mentioned I have only seen 4 episodes so far, but I kind of doubt the tone is going to sway again Hefner. Lastly, I liked the acting and the occasional switching back to real Hefner footage.

This is exceptional! Without a doubt, one of the most captivating "documentaries" I've seen.

It splices original footage of Hugh, relevant people from the time, interviews with celebrities and significant historical events in with an acted story to really bring the story to life

And WHAT a story! High wasn't just an incredibly successful man, he pushed for all sorts of societal changes, most notably civil rights (!!) in the 60s, and was a marketing and brand genius.

The Playboy bunny costume was the first licensed uniform ever and the Bunny logo is said to be one of the most iconic of all time.

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I highly recommend this. Very intriguing story. I don't think Hugh was a drug trafficker or user but I would have loved to been a fly on the wall at all of his parties. I want to watch it again.

I had an annual subscription to Playboy while I was in Grad School. That is saying something as I could barely afford food but loved this publication as a sweet indulgence. This series was intriguing, beguiling and fascinating.

Hef experienced extreme heart break when he found out his first love was cheating on him and then proceeded to insure his future relationships would never encounter such betrayal, what a supreme hypocrite!!

The history of the magazine and subsequent enterprises were detailed with interest and the many challenges and frustrations with first amendment rights are commendable.

The women were stunning, kind, and most of all very supportive of the Playboy brand. So even if Gloria Steinem revealed the seedy side of being a Bunny it was parlayed as an exploitation journalist which I feel was extremely unfair.

No doubt this is a controversial subject to both men and women but I found when I accepted this foray into pornography it actually helped my marriage, so I cannot complain.

High recommend for fans of First Amendment rights, gorgeous naked women, and of course those in-depth interviews. No comparison to what is available online these dayz!

Fascinating and riveting. As much as this presentation covers it still just scratches the surface, so there are any number of things that are not touched on, but what there is gives us an overview of his superlative career. There is a bit of hagiography going on so we see Hef only in the best light. There are things here that have expanded my knowledge and corrected some misunderstandings. Watching this I realize how deeply influenced I have been by Hugh Hefner and his empire. Sex IS good. War IS bad. We are all human under the skin: all races, nationalities, religions, sexes and sexual orientations. It isn't such a bad idea to let loose and enjoy life once in a while and have a good time.

I liked the structure, the mix of documentary footage and dramatizations slipping from one to the other as two different ways to tell the story

I realized how much I used to really love the illustrations in the magazine. Some of the best artwork and artists ever, in the past.