Starring
Written By: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Directed By: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Studio: Universal
Buy on Amazon.com link

The only thing better than a porno flick is a classy documentary about a porno flick. Inside Deep Throat delivers everything one could possibly want from a documentary: cussing and screaming, gratuitous nudity, presidents and mobsters, political shenanigans, and a crazy lady who details how semen is good for the skin because it’s “full of babies” and therefore has lots of protein. Now that’s edutainment!

So what is Deep Throat and why are we going inside it? Uh… maybe you shouldn’t ask. Seriously, though, “Deep Throat” was a quickly produced low-budget porno flick that became the central target of crusading anti-smut right-wingers. All the publicity from the anti-porn campaign made everyone sit up and say “Hey… I gotta check this out!” Throw in a New York Times article referring to the flick as “Porno Chic” and you got a whole lot of average non-porn viewing moviegoers lining up across the country to see what’s the big deal. And so the anti-porn people helped make it the highest-grossing porn movie ever. Well, it was back then, anyway. Who knows if it still stands? I don’t remember if they mentioned that. Was I supposed to be paying attention?

Anyway, this documentary takes us back, via Generic 70s Montage, to that magical innocent time when Americans were finally beginning to throw off the shackles of the repressive 17th century Puritans who thought that both sex and the human body were evil and icky. In the years before the magic of home video, the pornographic motion picture was a rare species forced to hide in its natural habitat theaters of ill repute, if you will. But they were beginning to come into prominence and gain the benefits of plot, improved production values and loosened sexual standards even as right-wing moral crusaders led by the great moralist Richard Nixon learned the political power of fighting smut.

We learn about the production of the film and its connections with the Mafia. We get to know some of the characters behind the making of the film. We hear from people on all sides of the controversy, such as the director (who was not targeted by the anti-porn crusaders), the lawyers trying to bring down the porn industry, and a guy whose interview is repeatedly interrupted by his wife yelling things in the background. There’s also the fascinating story of the two official studies conducted about porn. The first was a scientific study done at the request of Nixon that found porn had no harmful effects whatsoever (and Nixon himself quickly supressed the report and convinced the Senate to reject its findings). The second was a non-scientific study relying entirely on one-sided testimony to detail the horrors and evils of porn. Naturally, everybody flaunted the second while conveniently forgetting the first.

Perhaps the most interesting stories are those of the film’s two stars. Harry Reems was targeted by the anti-porn crusaders (unlike the other principal cast and crew) under the theory that if you can take down the star, nobody else will want to star in a porn and thus no more will be made. He was convicted and almost sent to jail, became an alcoholic, then converted to Christianity and became a real estate agent. Linda Lovelace’s story is even stranger. After starring in the film, she gave all sorts of publicity about how great it was and how much she’d enjoyed the experience. Later, she claimed that her boyfriend had hypnotized her and forced her to make the movie, and she joined a feminist anti-porn group. Still later, she decided she might as well make some more money off her fame and posed for a nude photo shoot.

There are quite a few fascinating stories behind the making of that little porn flick, and the documentary keeps everything slick and tight in a 90-minute feature that blows right past. If anything, it leaves me wanting to learn more in-depth details of the stories and events. The DVD does contain some extras that shed a little more light on the subject, but it’s still not as in-depth as it could have been. Still, it is a fascinating feature on its own, and one that raises some interesting questions about the ambiguous morality of pornography.

Features:
The Binghamton Trial: Cliterally Speaking
Beverly Hills: Holly Gets Wood
Quincy House: Poison Ivy League
Princeton: Throat Deep in Suburbs
Cut Throat: Where in the World is Bobby De Salvo
Harry Reems’ Athletic Club
Firedance with Me
Women Against Pornography
Linda’s Exit: What’s the Big Deal?
The Zen of Deep Throat
Linda Does Hollywood
The Legends of Erotica: Remembering Linda
The Last Word for Now
The Tucson Trail: When Gerry Met Annie

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: The guy getting yelled at by his wife during an interview, the grumpy guy that hated the movie and everything about it and cussed a lot during his rantin
Rating: NC-17
Running Time: 90 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: