Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel (2009) on Netflix

Plot summary

The documentary traces the life of Hugh Hefner, the founder of Playboy magazine. A Northwestern University graduate, he set out to publish a men's magazine, and the first issue carried a photograph of Marilyn Monroe; it sold 52,000 copies, and circulation reached five million by 1955. Hefner backed social causes, speaking against the country's repressive sexual laws and supporting civil rights. His television show, Playboy After Dark, gave left-wing and African-American entertainers a rare outlet, and his clubs were popular for more than two decades. In the 1960s critics labeled him a smut merchant, and the women's movement attacked the magazine for objectifying women. Interviews and archive clips cover his fights with federal authorities, religious conservatives and radical feminists.