‘Private Parts’

In Betty Thomas’ tamed yet very funny film version of Howard Stern’s (pictured) autobiographical riff, the 6-foot-5, long-haired shock-jock plays himself as an overcompensating Alvy Singer, Woody Allen on growth drugs. He’s a once-timid Jewish boy from Long Island who was driven into a shell of fantasies by a father who called him a moron and never allowed him to speak. Once Stern broke out of that shell, sometime in the early days of his radio career, according to “Private Parts,” a testosterone-charged id came storming out, guided only by wit and ambition, and the warning went forth: Women and children, get away from the radio! That man is hardly present in this 1997 movie, which might have been called “The People vs. Howard Stern”; the radio star assumes the voice of reason and becomes a champion of free speech, standing his ground against the FCC and hypocritical station bosses who love his ratings but hate how he’s getting them (HBO Saturday at 9 p.m.).