Deep Throat is an American pornographic
movie released in the summer of 1972, written and directed by Gerard Damiano (listed in the credits as "Jerry Gerard") and starring Linda Lovelace (the pseudonym of Linda Susan Boreman).
Description and plot
A sexually frustrated woman (Linda Lovelace, credited as playing "Herself") asks her friend Helen (played by Dolly Sharp) for advice on how to achieve orgasm. After a sex party did not provide any help, Helen
recommends that Linda visit a doctor (played by Harry
Reems). The doctor discovers that Linda's clitoris is located in her throat; she then goes on to work as a therapist for the doctor and performs a particular technique of
oral sex—thereafter known as "deep throat"—on
various men, until she finds the one to marry. Meanwhile, the doctor has sex with his blonde
nurse (played by Carol Connors). The movie ends
with the line "The End. And Deep Throat to you all."
The movie, 61 minutes long, is intended to be funny with highly corny dialogues and songs,
fireworks going off and bells ringing during
orgasm.
The various explicit scenes of oral, anal and
vaginal sex acts led to an X rating by the
MPAA film rating system.
Porno chic and pop culture influence
On June 5, 1972, the movie received a glowing review by
Al Goldstein in his Screw magazine. Only two
full-length (and lesser known) heterosexual hardcore porn movies had been released
previously in the U.S.: Mona in 1970 and School Girl
in 1971. Together with the gay-themed Boys in the
Sand, released in December, 1971, and Behind the Green Door
which was also released n 1972 and widely shown in mainstream theatres, Deep Throat started a brief period of
"porno chic" when it was considered cool in some circles to go see porn movies, even in mixed
company. Several mainstream celebrities were seen watching Deep Throat, including Truman
Capote, Jack Nicholson and Johnny Carson.
The phenomenon was described and the movie reviewed in an influential 5 page article in The New York Times[1].
Unlike Behind the Green Door, Deep Throat's fame does not
primarily root from its explicitness but from the fact that it set some of the main conventions of modern pornography: a synopsis
made up of different segments of graphic sex, attached with a minimal plot.
The movie's title became a pop culture reference, most notably when then-Washington
Post managing editor Howard Simons chose "Deep Throat" as the pseudonym for a Watergate informant, many years later revealed to be
W. Mark Felt.
Several writers have conjectured that Douglas Adams chose the name of the
Deep Thought supercomputer in the science
fiction comedy The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (1978)
as a parody on the movie's title. Adams himself said only, "The name is a fairly obvious joke..." [citation needed]
Production and revenue
The scenes involving Linda Lovelace were shot in Miami over 6 days in January 1972;
the scenes involving Carol Connors were shot in New York City.
The movie was produced by Louis "Butchie" Peraino (listed in the credits as "Lou Perry"), with most of the production cost of
$22,500 coming from his father Anthony Peraino and his uncle Joe "The Whale" Peraino,
both members of the Colombo crime family. Damiano, who had rights to one-third of
the profits, received a pay-off of $25,000 and was forced out by the Perainos shortly after the movie's success had become
apparent.[1] The Mafia would put pressure
on theatre owners, generally demanding 50% of all proceeds and sending out spies or "checkers" to verify ticket sale numbers by
counting members in the audience.
Estimates of total revenue have varied widely. One FBI source
suggests $100 million, but numbers as high as $600 million have also been cited, which would make the movie the most profitable
of all time. Michael Hiltzik of the Los Angeles Times argues for a lower
number, pointing out that the movie was banned in half the U.S., and may only have been shown in one theatre in each of a few
large cities. With a ticket price of $2.05, box-office takings of $600 million would require every man, woman and child in the
U.S. to have seen it one-and-a-half times. (Ticket prices in New York City were $5 however.[1]) Since there was no mass VCR market until around 1977, video-tape sales
cannot have contributed to revenue, although Super-8 cine sales may have brought some
revenue during the mid-1970s.
Roger Ebert, the popular movie critic, did have some comments about the movie's total
gross when he reviewed Inside Deep Throat, a documentary film about the movie. Ebert explains that in the 1970s when Deep Throat was made and
released, most of the porn theaters were owned by the mob and they probably "inflated box office receipts as a way of laundering
income from drugs and prostitution," so in fact Deep Throat did not really gross $600 million, even though that was
the box office tally...
Linda Boreman's allegations
In her first two biographies, Linda Lovelace characterizes making the film as a liberating experience; in her third and fourth
biographies (written after making the acquaintance of Andrea Dworkin), she charges that
she did not consent to many of the depicted sexual acts and that she was coerced to perform by her abusive husband
Chuck Traynor who received $1250 for her acting. She also claimed she was hypnotized by Traynor, who brandished handguns and rifles to control her every move.
In 1986, she testified before the Meese Commission that,
"Virtually every time someone watches that movie, they're watching me being raped." And in the Toronto Sun on March 20, 1981 she said
that, "It is a crime that movie is still showing; there was a gun to my head the entire time." While the other people present on
the set did not support the gun charge, both Traynor and Damiano confirmed in interviews that Traynor was extremely controlling
towards Boreman and also hit her on occasion. In the documentary Inside Deep Throat (see above) it is claimed that bruises
are visible on Boreman's body in the movie.
Obscenity litigation
In various communities in the U.S., the movie was shown to juries to determine whether it was obscene; the outcomes varied widely and the movie was banned in numerous locations. After a jury in
New York in 1972 had found the movie not to be obscene, prosecutors decided to charge a
corporation with obscenity in order to avoid a jury trial.[1] The movie was eventually found obscene in New York.
In 1976, there was a series of federal cases in Memphis, Tennessee, where over 60 individuals and companies, including the Perainos and actor Harry Reems, were
indicted for conspiracy to distribute obscenity across state lines. Damiano and
Lovelace were granted immunity in exchange for testimony. The Hon. Harry W. Wellford was the Federal District Court judge that
heard the case. The trials ended in convictions.
This was the first time that an actor had been prosecuted by the federal government on obscenity charges. (Lenny Bruce had been prosecuted in the 1960s by local authorities.) Reems became a cause célèbre and received considerable support from Hollywood circles. On appeal, he was represented
by Alan Dershowitz, and his conviction was overturned: the Miller test had been applied in his case even though the alleged conspiracy happened in 1972 and the Miller
decision occurred in 1973, thus being an ex post facto prosecution. The Perainos and
some other major players connected to organized crime received short prison sentences.
In 1995, while in Las Vegas for an obscenity trial, Louis Peraino met and befriended Raymond Pistol, a local adult club owner,
and sold Pistol rights to his entire library including Deep Throat.
In the UK, the movie was banned upon release, and the ban was upheld by the courts 10
years later. The DVD of the movie was finally given an R18 rating in 2000 which allowed
it to be sold in licensed sex shops in the UK.[2]
Soundtrack
Supposedly the film was cut with the music in mind, making the 'thrust' in the scenes 'flow' with the music[1].
The original soundtrack was released by Trunk Records in 1972. Few copies exist today and when on the market, they have been
seen to sell for as much as US$300. The tracks are groovy and contemporary, both instrumental and with vocals. Every second track
or so is lyrics from the movie (indicated with "" in the list below). All artists are unknown. A remixed and remastered CD and LP
version is now available from Light in the Attic Records (see links).
Original track list:
- Introducing Linda Lovelace
- "Mind if I smoke while you're eating?"
- Blowing' Bubbles
- "A Lot of little tingles"
- Love is Strange
- "A nice joint like you..."
- "You have no tinkler!"
- Deep Throat
- "I wanna be your slave"
- "My love is like a big blonde afro (Jah-ron-o-mo)"
- Nurse Lovelace
- I'd Like To Teach You All To Screw (It's The Real Thing)
- Nurse About the House
- "I got Blue Cross"
- Old Dr. Young
- Masked Marvel
Sequels
- Deep Throat Part II was written and directed by Joseph W. Sarno and again
featured Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems. Shot in the
New York City area in February 1973, it was released in February 1974 with an MPAA "R" rating and was a conspicuous box office flop. Although attributed to
Damiano Films, Deep Throat director Gerard
Damiano was not involved with its production. The film was, however, produced by Deep Throat producer Louis "Butchie" Peraino, founder of Bryanston Distribution, which
distributed the film in the U. S. The existing U. S. version of the film available on DVD is bowdlerized to the point where the film contains virtually no sexual content; an Italian DVD release,
however, retains the film's original softcore sex scenes. It has long been claimed that Deep
Throat Part II was originally shot with the intention of releasing it as a hardcore feature and that hardcore sequences shot for the film were stolen while the film was in
post-production. Director Joe Sarno has insisted in interviews, however, that only soft-core sex material was photographed for
the original release. The film contains an original soundtrack featuring music written by, among others, former members of
Jay and the Americans.
- Deep Throat II (1987), along with the subsequent DT sequels, have different actors and directors and, despite the
title, are not "sequels" to Deep Throat.
- Deep Throat 3 (1989) starred Peter North.
- Deep Throat 4 (1990), 5 (1991), and 6 (1992) were directed by Ron
Jeremy.
References
External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Further reading
- Legs McNeil, Jennifer Osborne and Peter Pavia: The Other Hollywood: The Uncensored Oral History of the Porn Film
Industry. Regan Books 2005. ISBN 0-06-009659-4
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