Inside Deep Throat
What was Deep Throat?
A historic piece of of
groundbreaking cinema that broke taboos and briefly made pornography not
only acceptable, but even kind of fashionable?
A cheap, poorly made amateur
film that just happened to become the most profitable film ever?
Proof of the moral bankruptcy of the American public? Turns out the
answer is all of the above, depending on who you talk to.
It's funny looking back at
the turmoil caused by the release of Deep Throat in the 1970s.
At the same time it is kind of scary, because this documentary makes an
effective argument for the fact that Deep Throat was not only a
breakthrough for the forces of free speech, but more importantly it was a
catalyst for the political hold that the religious right has taken on the
United States. Deep Throat was the first film that truly
rallied the forces of "morality" to impose their ideals upon others.
I still remember, as a small
child, a very short period of time when X-rated films were playing in first
run theaters. After a few phenomenons like Throat, The Devil In
Miss Jones and Behind the Green Door, the fad quickly faded out
with long-forgotten films like Naked Came the Stranger and Linda
Lovelace For President. In fact, this final film is touched upon
here, making it look like it was an even worse film than... well, Deep
Throat.
Actually, Deep Throat
was not the first amendment triumph that its supporters suggested. Nor
was it the evil, demoralizing piece of filth that its detractors claimed.
All it was is a really rather poorly-made film that by some odd series of
circumstances happened to be the right film at the right time to start
kick-start a phenomenon. It somehow made pornography, for a short time
in the sex and drugs 70s, rather chic.
A series of talking heads
like Hugh Hefner, Helen Gurley Brown, Norman Mailer and Camille Paglia
pontificate on the importance of Deep Throat as a cultural force, but
they all seem to be missing the point. Much more nuance is taken from
the people who worked on the film, a series of older, somewhat eccentric and
cynical people who made a little film for $25,000 that ended up grossing
$600,000,000, and yet none of them made any serious money from it.
Instead all the money went
to their mob backers while many of the people behind it had their lives
ruined in one way or another. Harry Reems, who was part of the crew
before being hired to star in the film for $250, was actually indicted on
obscenity charges and came close to spending five years in jail before the
ruling was overturned. Still, Reems was never able to translate his
notoriety to legitimate work, eventually becoming an alcoholic and drug
addict. Now he is a born-again Christian and a Real Estate broker.
Star Linda Lovelace's story
was even more tragic, she was a lost soul who floated from one cause to
another – from pro-porn to anti back to pro – just because she craved
acceptance. This film sort of skirts some of Lovelace's tragic life,
they only touch upon her abusive relationship with boyfriend Chuck Traynor
who introduced her to adult films and they also quickly skirt past her 2002
death in an alcohol-related automobile accident.
In the end, the most
interesting thing that Inside Deep Throat uncovers is the naivety of
the people who were responsible for the film. They really felt they
were at the head of a revolution that would change forever both adult and
mainstream films. When director Gerard Damiano complains about the
cheesy state of pornography today, explaining that he could never do it
because it is just a series of sex scenes without any pretense to a story or
production values, you realize that in his own way he does see himself as an
artist to this day.
(2/05)
Jay
S. Jacobs
Copyright ©2005
PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: September 16, 2005.
