I am the Walrus: Deep Throat star Harry Reems' 1976 mug shot

I was two years old when the obscenity laws applied by a loaded Nixon Senate convicted Harry Reems, the male star of Deep Throat, of the crime of "conspiracy to transport obscenity across state lines" in a court in Memphis, Tennessee. According to Inside Deep Throat, Reems was the fall guy for a witch-hunt in which the champions of pre-neo-liberal morality saw their chance to begin applying their moral certainties to a population.

The era seems far away now, but its repercussions are as close as your VCR. It was "a heck of a time," as Johnny Carson jokes in the first minutes of the documentary, when "judges could watch Deep Throat but weren't allowed to listen to the tapes." Carson was referring to the other Deep Throat tapes, of course - the Watergate Deep Throat being second only in fame and importance to the one that played to huge audiences in Times Square.

The rhetoric from Deep Throat's detractors is more than instructive, in a historical sense. Ample airtime is given to the moral furore from both sides, both the retro footage and present-day interviews with Larry Parrish - the larger-than-life federal prosecutor responsible for ultimately indicting Deep Throat's star - and '70s-era second-wave feminists like Gloria Steinem are given a chance to recap their impassioned opposition. All this seems strange, or at least writ large, in an age where Internet porn and DVD rentals have pretty much answered the pressing questions hardcore porn was asking of the populace in the 1970s.

But the real pleasure of Inside Deep Throat, beyond the anthropological value of the snippets of footage from the original film (so much bush! such weird tits!), lies in the skillful and entertaining making-of stories Grazer's team digs up. Jerry Damiano, the New Jersey hairdresser-cum-director responsible for Deep Throat and others (The Devil in Miss Jones, for one), funded his movie with $25,000 of mob money, wrote the script in a weekend, and changed the rhetoric of the First Amendment forever in America. His film made $600-million, becoming the most profitable film in cinema history. Not only that, he had the wherewithal to cut a real woman's cum face with rockets taking off, and his genius coined a line of dialogue that, truly, is emblematic of women's sexuality in the 20th century: "Do you want to get off, or do you want to wreck a city?"

Damiano today is a wrinkly Florida family man with pants pulled up to there. By his own admission, Deep Throat was a lark - a badly made blue movie inspired by his discovery of Linda Lovelace's absent gag reflex. Deep Throat was a silly, witty, nudgy movie about a woman who finds that she can't get off from the old in-'n'-out because her clitoris is found to be in the back of her throat. It boasts a boring opening sequence, bad acting, out-of-focus shots, and bad jokes (a woman, astride a male mouth on a kitchen counter, brandishes an unlit cigarette: "Mind if I smoke while you're eating?"). But it pushes you to ask: What more could one want?

Inside Deep Throat
 
 

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This film is not about Deep Throat     Sure, there are the corny jokes, the innuendo, and of course, the deep throat scene (you knew that was...erm...coming...sigh), but this film is beyond that. It's about a phenomenon - a phenom that changed the way North America views sex, pornography, censorship, and feminism. Deep Throat changed America. Stop laughing, shaking your head - it's true! After Deep Throat, the government tried to shut down 'lewd' and 'vulgar' behaviour, and tried to keep it from the screens - but it was too powerful. The streets were filled with people who proclaied their rights to watch the 'filth' if they wanted to - and these people weren't just shady perverts, protest-hungry college students and freeloving hippies, they were the middle class, the bourgeois, the suburban, the housewives and businessmen, older ladies and middle-age soccer moms - they were suburban middle America, and they were hungry to take part in this wave of comercial sexuality. America had been repressed for forty years and they needed to LET IT OUT! The downside is that the phenomenon won. And one thing led to another, and somewhere along the way it lost its edge and we lost the sensual, leaving us with the sexual alone. The explicit, the clinical, the self-stimulating - we have it all on the click of the satellite remote, the DVD player, the internet - butthere's no love in it any more. Deep Throat was hokey. It was crap. But it celebrated sex in a FUN way. And the 70s porn industry loved the body, it loved being sexy, it loved sultriness and sexuality. All you have to do is look at the art-house softcoe films of the era - Emmanuelle, Camillle 3000, etc - to see this. Feminists were split - some loved the sexual freedom, others hated the exploitation - but everyone agreed that it was all RELEVANT. In a way, Deep Throat opened doors that desperately needed to be opened, but in a way it ruined what could have been beautiful. We won the right, but lost the passion.
Ben Kalman	{7 votes}	March 9th, 2005
Blurring of the genres in the 70's     The most striking aspect of this movie is that Damiano (producer of Deep Throat) truly believed that the future of film consisted of a blurring of the conventional and porn industries. He contends that his films were artistic endeavours which reflected society. In a way, porn or no porn, he was right. Grazer goes to talk about the world-changing effects of Deep Throats' launch and backlash and there is no debating that fact. He does a fantastic job of showing how the media hype snowballed and legislators got their hands dirty. According to prosecutor Parrish, he was scarred for life because of the content of the film. Can he really be serious? This film is very amusing because of the way the producers, actors, and collaborators of Deeep Throat seem to relive their crusading days. As a 20-something, it just makes you wonder what it must have been like to live in such a pre-liberal society. Damiano seemed to have been a visionary seeing the blurring of the two genres but surely, a line has to be drawn. Over 30 years, I think that an invisible line has been drawn and the industries have seperated very well. Thank you to the Hour for offering this movie as an auction. :)
Marguerite Ryan	{44 votes}	February 18th, 2005
Deep Thoughts     Deep Throat, the film that went from being everyone`s dirty little secret to a mainstream cultural phenomenon and back again, now gets the documentary once-over and it couldn`t have come (pardon the pun) at a better time. Truth to be told, I never saw the original but from the excerpts that I`ve seen, nor would I. Pretty heady, though cheesy material, what with the all-too-realistic body types. Somehow I can`t help but feel that it`s not nearly escapist enough, though I concede that at the time, it certainly shredded some taboos and whetted the appetite of a public ravenous for titillation. Nice to see a slick, thoughtful, inspired treatise on a monster money-making film that, for better or worse, launched the porn industry and, in so doing, forever altered our perspective on all things sexual.
Mark St Pierre	{36 votes}	February 18th, 2005
Take It In!     And once you take it in, man you gonna laugh! Why? Because it's funny. Then again, it's not all funny, some folks got hurt, some folks lost out. This documentary has it all: sex, gangsters, moviemakers (oh, excuse me, filmmakers), politicians, cultural observers, oh la la, and loads of funny commentary. What's kind of cool is how the issue of Deep Throat and the politics are front and center today, and the gang that wanted to squelch it, make an example of it in moral terms, for poilitical gain, are still around making the same old speeches. Yet no matter what, human life, a part of nature itself, carries on and surmounts all moralistic and political opposition. Abortion becomes legal, marriage rights become more equal, and freedom of expression becomes big business. Some of the funnier things: Dennis Hopper's narration is almost too over the top, he stays just on this side of manageable for taking it all too seriously; the insane idea that hard core porn and regular filmic storytelling would merge, and the sillier notion that the fact they didn't is an accident of fate or because of political meddling; the guys who made Deep Throat. Some of the ugly stuff: the fucking mob making all that money and screwing the players! and the government mob making all that political gain and screwing the players! I was glad to see that Harry Reems did okay, sad to see that Linda got fucked over by those against her and for her alike. In the end we get a glimpse of the modern porn industry. It sucks. I've seen other documentaries. The humilation that gets done these days is vomitous. Amateur stuff seems to be okay, everybody consenting and then inviting the viewer along for the ride. Deep Throat? The movie itself seems so naive, so guilt-ridden in its defiance. But hey, they had hair. It's nice to see nudity in an era when women still had hair. I think I'll go watch Boxcar Bertha now. Barbara Hershey is HOT! And she had hair back then, yum...
Thomas Bauer	{29 votes}	February 18th, 2005
The History of Porn in America     This movie is real proof that history repeats itself. "Deep Throat" was made at a time when our world was going through a lot of important changes. This documentary goes much deeper than the making of one movie. It talks about National power struggles and dictating how one countries population should think and feel. It shows the depths of corruption and hypocrisy of the Republican government. "Deep Throat" did open up the floodgates of pornography and perversion into the marketplace. It also popularized it by making it so taboo. The same way that illegal drugs are more popular simply because they are illegal. In today's society the same type of moral majority are in power and would love to control our rights and freedoms more, in a very fascist way. The movie also shows us how the industry has changed today and how much money and power it has. Harry Reems was made a scapegoat but even though he never went to prison he ended up in a prison of his own creation. The parallels between Nixon's' America and Bush's' are so subtle yet so important I don't even know if it was the filmmakers' intention. This movie is actually a history lesson of the sexual revolution of America. It is also how our perception of porn changed from dirty to art and then finally to sleaze. I recommend this movie for anyone who wants to know how we got to where we are today when it comes to sex.
Jeffrey Bordoff	{22 votes}	February 18th, 2005
Oscar for best documentary?     Simply forget it. Those wishing for Inside Deep Throat to be even remotely considered for Oscar contention can absolutely forget about it. Having returned from the movie premiere it will not be that the movie lacked in content or entertainment but due to the sheer fact that what made the classic porn flick the most lucrative movie of all time will be this documentary's downfall. If Americans recently voted a Republican in Dubbya due to morale values what will they think of this highly sinful controversial thing? Inside Deep Throat shows us how this movie literally rocked the entertainment world to its very core and caused an uproar that was hard to ignore. We see that any publicity - good or bad - only augments the growing interest in something and Deep Throat's notoriety is explained in great detail throughout this moive. Sure, it's MTV-ish in many ways with rapid images but it keeps the movie-goer interested at all times and avoids the traps normally found in these types of movies. It tackles many issues such as the Linda Lovelace's right and fall from stardom, the feminist movementm rise of the porn industry to what it is today, the Mafia's role in all this, etc. Lots of territory to cover all at once and this documentary puts it all into context and then some. Highly entertaining, informative and gosh we see some smut too. What more can you ask for?
Ronny Pangia	{18 votes}	February 17th, 2005
Harder / Faster     Maybe I'll go see this for it's pop culture value, otherwise I wouldn't be able to keep up with the current trends / buzz-talk, whatever. More importantly I must say I am surprised this can play at Cinema Du Parc yet Vincent Gallo's "Brown Bunny" is forbidden, because Chloe Sevigny gets a little fresh with the driector. Am I the only one who wants to see this? anyone a fan of Buffalo 66 ??
Jesse Stacey		March 28th, 2005
The Internet has changed things     Maybe we can't indentify with movies like this, because we no longer have to go to theater's to get our jolly's. 1st the VCR changed that, and now we don't even have to be embarrased at the video store anymore, because we can download things on the internet, and there is no need to have a blushing clerk hand you your change. Adult theater's don't exist much anymore because there is no need for them. But that wasn't the case in the 1970's. So if you watch this film, put yourself in the frame of mind to get the references. This was just after the 60's. Heck, it was as close to the sqeaky clean 50's as we are now to the 80's. Imagine what a culture shock this must have been! This was a very interesting doc, well worth seeing!
Eric Wilson	{1 vote}	March 3rd, 2005
The Return of Linda...     I never did get to see the original and was always curious about the movie. I was a teenager at the time of all the Linda Lovelace hype. Then I was a bit in awe and green about the porn industry and everything surrounding it. Now I don't see what all the hype was about, although I must admit, I am still curious to one day see the movie. For this one, I think I will wait for the video and form an opinion in the comfort of my own home.
Joyce Stemkowsky	{4 votes}	February 20th, 2005
Waste of money and waste of time!     I am glad I did not get tickets for this movie. The thought of having to sit through one of these movies would really bother me. Even if it was a documantary. I agree that Porn movies no longer have to be seen on the big screen . It was always the same crowd that filled those theaters . They would watch while jerking themselves I herd. Now a days these same people can rent or buy their little entertainment and do what ever they have to do in the privacy of their home. But who wants to know all this and who wants to get into the subject of porn unless you have too, because the jerk is using children for this or is out rapping women all over the town. Anybody who really needs porn movies to feel good should seek medical help. There is nothing educational in Deep Throat , it is not entertaining either. But hey yes look with $25,000 they made 600 million and will probably make alot more. But they won't get a penny from me!
Maria Cecillia Silva	{2 votes}	February 20th, 2005
Old porn is not cool, ok     This is just sad. Who gives a toss about some old smut movie? I can watch Blue Nuit if that's the case. I've heard of this movie, I think everybody has, but this is sort of like those old black and white Tv shows. Everyone's heard of it but do you really go out of your way to see it? I don't care what this movie means because as far as I'm concerned this is ancient history.
Vladimir Joseph	{3 votes}	February 19th, 2005
Controversy Again ?     The original film was a big controversy when it first came out in 1972. It was the first movie of its kind. The mafia put up the $25,000 it cost to make the movie and pocketed then the 600 million dollar profit. The actors never saw a dime of the profits. Linda Locelace died a poor woman a couple of years ago. Now they made a documentary of the original film and people talk about controversy again. I find this funny. There is very much sexualty everywhere on TV and in publicity and so much things have changed in the last 30 years, like emancipation, women movement, the pill etc. So I don't see this controversial.
Dirk Wagner	{3 votes}	February 19th, 2005
Film Review 101/Inside Deep Throat     1972's "Deep Throat" sucks. Or is that blows? Well, either way, it's bad beyond the telling...and yet it is considered one of the more important films of the 70's. No, not because of what it is but because of what it represents to every major talking head out there from Camille Paglia to Larry Flynt. Ah, there's nothing like smut to get the people talking. This movie opened the doors wide open and supposedly we are either more liberated or damned because of it. Look, porn is something you watch, not something you talk about. Porn is that handy pressure valve when you can't get laid. I've already stated my position on this movie elsewhere so I see no reason in repeating myself other than saying that I've got better things to do than indulge these talking heads on this prehistoric porn. They say that we're more sexually liberated and that porn is no longer some dirty little secret and yet if you scan most of the papers you'll barely find a hint that we even have adult cinemas in this city. Sure, no one in their right mind would ever enter one without a yellow bio-suit but if we really were so liberated and all that jazz you'd think that the local press would list these adult movies as any other and yet they don't. Understandable yes but don't tell me times have changed all that much. On a basic level we are still a society of prudes.
Pedro Eggers	{18 votes}	February 19th, 2005
Soft Porn     Deep Throat was a film that received high cinematic achievements when it came out in theatres. Deep Throat caused a lot of controversy and politicians were very upset. This film was the first mainstream pornographic film to come out. I went to the premiere at Cinema Du Parc last Thursday and I found the documentary film very interesting. The thing that I found most interesting about the film was that it was made with mob money that cost only $25,000 to make and it has grossed up to 600 million dollars to date, which I find is a cinematic achievement. I have to rent this film again when it comes out on DVD because it is one of the best films that I have ever seen.
Carmela Sicurella	{4 votes}	February 19th, 2005
Open wide now...     After seeing the premiere last night, I realized how important it is to see the "other side" of the roots of the porn industry. I must admit that before going in, I was kind of hoping to be bombarded with a "load" (couldn't help myself) of erotic scenes. Instead, this documentary provides a sometimes disturbing glimpse into how it affected the lives of those who were involved in it. I had no idea how controversial porn was back in the seventies. It's surprising that it was illegal during such changing times. The swinging seventies. So I thought... You'll be entertained by the hilarious footage: "sex ed" films of the time, ridiculous political and religious views and, most of all, interviews with the flamboyant characters who were involved with Deep Throat. There's an added bonus to this film : some very groovy music of the time.
Claudia Melchiorre	{2 votes}	February 18th, 2005
Long, long time ago?     I just saw Deep Throat yesterday and the first thing my friends and I said when we got out of the theatre was "Can you believe this happened not so long ago?" Two years before my parents got married actually. Hard to think that the world has changed so much and that most people, at that time, were so misinformed about sexuality. Also hard to believe that a porn movie would bring so many people to the theatres. Surprising and educational, Deep Throat is a very well made lesson of recent history.
Andrée-Anne Lambert	{4 votes}	February 18th, 2005
Some Good 1970 Memories     a bunch of were living in Vancouver, B.C. in the early 1970's and would go across the border to Blaine ,Wash. to drink beer on a Sunday afternoon. we were in our early and mid- twenties. Point Roberts was also a Sunday trip. anyway, we all went as a group of guys and gals to see " DEEPTHROAT " in Blaine one afternoon. Besides the porno-watching thrill we had, there was also the cavalier , worldly, and sophisticated attitude we threw around at all our friends excluded from the "trip across the border" ................The innocent memory of it all still brings a smile.
Bunny Stoik	{3 votes}	February 17th, 2005
Never Learning     Deep Throat is the same story we've seen in the Superbowl a year ago with Janet Jackson. It's the same story we've seen this year with godaddy.com. Moral integrists are giving these events publicity they would never have dreamed of. In a country were violence is allowed to be showed to mass audiance, a little skin make these guys go wild. They didn't learn a little in 30 some years. I bet GoDaddy.com was really happy to see it spot banned from the Superbowl as most people having access to the internet have been looking at it. The government can not win this battle by trying to ban such a movie. They only give it more visibility.
Nicolas Gauthier	{3 votes}	February 17th, 2005
Inside the rhetoric of moral gag-reflex -     ..while the 21st century has been thus far the opening shots of hypocrisy and lies and denials that the very obsolete social structures are crumbling - there remains a vital point that melora koepka's review missed: that the same zeitgeist of social and political repressions that occurred during the seventies has been re-designed to fit the 21st century - that with the blessed arrival of accessible porn on dvd and the internet that a witch-hunt continues against sensuality and the basic right for any individual to pursue levels of personal happiness that brings fulfillment as witnessed in the absolute waste of politicians in north america to 'ban' same-sex marriage: ..and i am sure that inside deep throat will become the catalyst for sanctimonious minds to cry foul and how linda lovelace spent the last years prior to her death by auto accident crying foul against the movie claiming every type of violation of her personal rights (..which of course brings the baggage of feminists crying foul about how porn degrades women and reduces them to objects only..) however with this all place on the front - the essence of inside deep throat reveals how given the epoch of change and changes to the cultural and social structures that those un-willing to go with the flow will incite and instigate the feeble minded masses to condemn an act that doesn't have the global impact of ..say.. a military take over of a volitale region of the world or the simple fact that change requires the sacrifice of s0-called 'morals' dictated by the constant propaganda of the church-state that continues to determine what's 'right' and 'moral': with all of the rhetoric about pornography being debasing to women and the obvious sensationalising of pornography itself - pornography remains difficult for many simply because pornography challenges the mind to consider for instance why depiction of a blow job becomes 'wrong' but depiction of dead bodies on the news should be considered 'right' -
Gary Womac	{5 votes}	February 17th, 2005
Deep throat     I saw the premiere last Thursday at Cinema du Parc and it was very boring because there was too much talking and not many scenes of the original movie. I don't think that the movie will be a success in the few weeks because of that.
Chantal Avon	{1 vote}	February 18th, 2005
The Media's interests     Its amazing how much time goes forward and still some might think that things are changing, but they are really staying very much the same. I mean, why else would movies about Nixon and "Deep throat" be gaining and regaining popularity, year after year! Its like we are celebrating the anniversaries of these horrendous scandals...only in North America huh? N-E-hoo, I was kinda interested in seeing this deep throat business, but the fact that I got knocked out of the bidding, and wasn't too clear on how to augment my bid, I took as a sign, I might check out the video, or wait until it shows up on TMN. Thanx anyways though Hour.ca for the chance.
Dawn Manhertz	{3 votes}	February 17th, 2005

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