Libby Goes 'Inside Deep Throat'

It was the adult film that spurred the golden age of pornography. It remains the single most profitable film ever made-shot for $25,000 and grossing over $600 million. It was banned in 23 states, yet was so popular it inspired the nickname of the Watergate whistleblower that remains anonymous today. The release of "Deep Throat" in 1972 was nothing short of a cultural turning point for the sexual revolution. The lasting impression of this single film, made on a shoestring budget, was monumental in so many ways.

The new documentary "Inside Deep Throat" examines the controversy and aftermath of the landmark porno film. The documentary is somewhat of a landmark film itself being the first documentary to carry an "NC-17" rating, although I felt it was unjustified. Directors Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato do a thorough job at investigation the film's impact, using stock footage, actual clips from the film (hence the NC-17), and tons of interviews with subjects such as Hugh Hefner, John Waters, Camille Paglia, Dr. Ruth, Norman Mailer, Dick Cavett, Bill Maher, Gore Vidal, Charles Keating, Erica Jong, and, most prominently, the film's director Gerald Damiano.

Damiano was an owner of a New York beauty shop when he came up with the idea to make an adult film that dealt specifically with women's sexual pleasure. He found his muse in Linda Lovelace, a policeman's daughter from Florida, who represented his ideal of the girl next door. Lovelace's boyfriend, Chuck Traynor, tipped off Damiano that "Linda gives very good head", so Damiano built the concept of "Deep Throat" around Lovelace's special talent. To this day, Damiano concludes, "I don't think it's a very good movie."

The film became a suprise success in 1972, marking the first time women and high society went to the theaters to see a pornographic movie. Celebrities were often sighted at movie screenings as people crowded the movie houses to catch a glimpse of the film everyone was talking about. Soon enough, the Nixon administration began a crack down on porn, led by Charles Keating, and began by using "Deep Throat" as its model. Police raided screenings in NYC as cameras filmed the busts and the film was eventually banned in 23 states. According to one prosecutor, the film implied that the women in the film were having the wrong kind of orgasm-a clitoral orgasm- and that was obscene. What they should have been upset about was that the film was also implying that a woman's clitoris was in her throat. To this day, many men who've seen the film still believe that's where the clitoris is! Shouldn't this be the crime here? But I digress...

Caught in the middle of all the controversy was actor Harry Reems, who plays the doctor who discovers Lovelace's misplaced clitoris in the film. Reems was actually a Production Assistant (i.e.-the lowest ranked crewmember on the set) who was brought in at last minute to fill the role after the original actor bailed out. Reems was paid only $250 for his appearance, but paid for it the most dearly. Memphis prosecutor Larry Parrish had Reems arrested as an example so "nobody would ever want to make a film like this" again. Despite Hollywood bigwigs coming to his defense, Reems was found guilty on obscenity charges. It was the first time ever in history that an actor was arrested and sent to jail for just appearing in a film. Reems turned to heavy drinking in the late 70's, but is now a born-again Christian.

Linda Lovelace didn't fare much better. Though the film doesn't offer any recent interviews with her, it does include and interviews with her sister Barbara and childhood friend Patsy. Both are clearly embarrassed at Lovelace's rise to fame as a porn star and blame much of it on Chuck Traynor, Linda's boyfriend at the time. After her split with Traynor in 1974, Lovelace later wrote she was forced to do the movie at gunpoint and claimed "When you are watching Deep Throat, you are watching me being raped." Lovelace aligned herself with anti-porn feminists in the late 70's and in one particularly embarrassing clip, Gloria Steinem is shown cutting Linda off mid-sentence during an appearance on the "Tom Snyder Show." After years of losing dead-end jobs once her employers found out who she really was, Lovelace returned to the sex industry in her 50's, posing nude for Leg Show magazine. When she died in 2002, she was penniless.

In fact, none of the actors or crew involved with the film made any money off of it. Damiano made the mistake of forming a partnership with members of the Periano mob family, who funded the majority of the film. Eventually, Damino was forced to sell his half of the partnership and made no money off "Deep Throat". The documentary details the intricate process that was created to calculate profits by sending "counters" to each screening of the film who had to count off with a clicker how many people were in the theater. Several of the film's most telling scenes are with the old-timers who were involved in the film's distribution who still seem somewhat frightened to tell of their involvement with the film.

Eventually, the introduction of the video age is explored and the golden age of porn films was finally put to rest. I couldn't agree more. Even Damiano agrees he sees nothing remotely redeemable about the quality or pornography produced today. "Deep Throat' is a masterpiece compared to today's adult films. Its impact is significant-the shelves of your local adult video store would be bare without its creation, yet none of the "movies" on them can compare to the original.

"Inside Deep Throat" is by far one of the best documentaries I've seen (and that's coming from a documentary filmmaker). Not only is it slick and entertaining, but the amount of research and footage compiled by directors Bailey and Barbato is mind-boggling. Never mind the topic matter, the film's content has a significant educational, cultural, and political impact. It is an absolute must-see for all, especially those who believe we are free from censorship in America. A postscript at the end of the film states, "The laws used to prosecute "Deep Throat" remain unchanged". Memphis prosecutor Parrish then pipes in, "It's these damn terrorists wasting the government's time that prevent us from going after the pornography cases". All I could say to my companion seated next to me, an adult film actor himself, was "Thank God for those damn terrorists!"