"Inside Deep Throat" DVD Review

In late 2007, photos started appearing of Britney Spears sans underwear. Close-up shots of her very private parts were widely available - not on erotic or porno website or videos, but on tabloid television shows and websites. It was another example of a "celeb gone wild," a phenomena that gained a foothold with the sex tape antics of Paris Hilton and Kim Kardashian, and culminated with the likes of Screech from "Saved By The Bell" having his own secret tape. These events were hardly shocking to anyone; a few eye rolls by the most conservative observers and chuckles from the rest of us were all that resulted, until they were largely forgotten by the public, who had moved on to the next gossip item.

"Inside Deep Throat," a documentary by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, tells the story of a very different time, not so long ago - 1972. This was the year that Gerard Damiano, a little known and relative newcomer to the adult film business, wrote and directed "Deep Throat," starring Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems, for $25,000. This film, about a woman (Lovelace) whose clitoris is located in her throat (with the upshot being that there was only one way she could ever be satisfied sexually...), ended up becoming the most profitable film in history, and one of the most controversial. It would ruin the lives of its stars, who were never able to parlay their immense stardom from the movie into a "legitimate" film career, eventually resulting in a deep downward spiral for them both.

However, the documentary is less about "Deep Throat" itself (the story of the making of the film occupies about 15 minutes of the entire film), than the changing sexual mores of American society. Interviews with established film directors like Wes Craven reveal that many future star directors cut their teeth in the movie industry making porn films; the nascent adult film industry acted as a kind of summer internship for these directors. Whereas today, the proliferation of the internet and DVDs has turned the adult film industry into a multi-million dollar enterprise with its own version of the Oscars, in the early 70's it was still fairly taboo and underground.

"Deep Throat" was the first of these films to really go mainstream. Opening in theatres nationwide, "Deep Throat" saw audiences far different than the normal "perverts and freaks" that attended most stag films. Middle class men and women, as well as Hollywood celebrities and hipsters, watched the film in droves, ultimately sending the box office earnings into the hundreds of millions, making it one of the most successful films of all time. Despite (or perhaps because of) its popularity, the film quickly found itself being banned in many communities, and the subject of several obscenity court cases. In addition, it found other problems, namely its funding by mob sources and protests by religious and (later) feminist groups (who had, ironically, been part of the sexual revolution of the 1960s).

"Inside Deep Throat" follows all of these controversies with a keen eye, never losing its sense of humor or the gravity of what the "Deep Throat" meant to changing attitudes on sex in America. The film, rated NC-17, is obviously not for kids - it shows several scenes from the original film, and it's not called "Deep Throat" for nothing. Breasts, penises, fellatio - all are featured in various scenes. But, far from being a straight documentary on the making of a porn film, "Inside Deep Throat" is a fascinating sociological piece about how America went from a culture that shunned overt sexuality to one in which "sex sells." And as an added bonus, the DVD features several deleted scenes and "where are they now?" looks at the films stars. "Inside Deep Throat" is easily one of the most fascinating documentaries you will encounter.