Inside Deep Throat

Review by Clint Morris

Definitely not a movie for non-meat eaters, the Brian Grazer produced (how one goes from Ritchie Cunningham to Linda Lovelace is beyond me) documentary chronicling the making-of and explosive aftermath of one of porn's most infamous titles is as informative as it's amusing, plus a little shocking too.

Linda Lovelace could tackle a hot-dog like no other (I can't think of any other way to put it in print without an editor using the backspace to take out that last line), but little did she know her first starring vehicle Deep Throat, would become a bona-fide box office hit.

The film, a porno that had a story, some good cinematography and a big fat gimmick to boot, took the world by storm in the early '70s going on to become one of the highest-grossing films of it's time - and the most profitable independent film in history - but it's success only bought the detractors out of the woodwork.

Suddenly, politicos, lawmen and the feds were concerned with shutting the 'obscene' film down, and in most cases, they succeeded. Having successfully run the film out of New York City theaters, the law turned to the smaller cities, which had acquired prints of the film through backyard channels.

"Deep Throat was less about the joys of oral sex than it was about the freedom to speak out against shame and hypocrisy," says narrator Dennis Hopper, in the film. Okay, a little preachy, but you get the picture.

The film does tend to paint director Gerard Damiano and stars Linda Lovelace (who would later say she was pushed into making the movie, screaming 'Rape'!) and Harry Reems (actually a member of the crew who stepped in at the last minute) as creatively obdurate First Amendment activists. But it succeeds more in telling us how a bunch of nobodies made a mint out of a nearly acceptable porn film, and where that mint ultimately went. Um, that'd be the Mob.

There's been some great documentaries over the last couple of years, and though it feels a little funny to group this one with the likes of Bowling for Columbine, Spellbound and Fahrenheit 911, it's still near as good, and just as enlightening. Come check out the woman with the biggest mouth in history (no, not Roseanne).

In one word: Wow. In two words: See it.

4 out of 5

Inside Deep Throat
Australian release: Thursday the 10th of November, 2005
Cast: Dennis Hopper (narrator), Harry Reems, Linda Lovelace, David Winters, Bill Maher, Camille Paglia, Dick Cavett, Wes Craven, John Waters, Norman Mailer.
Director: Fenton Bailey & Randy Barbato.
Website: Click here.

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