Bailey and Barbato assemble their material with a sharp eye for detail and bracingly hilarious wit.
Inside Deep Throat (2005)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:117
Fresh:96
Rotten:21
Average Rating:6.9/10
Consensus: A documentary on the film that brought smut mainstream, Inside Deep Throat is gaining praise as an entertaining look at a pop culture milestone. However, some critics say the film could have gone a little deeper into the people involved.
Runtime: 1 hr 32 mins
Genre: Education/General Interest
Synopsis: After focusing on the decadent club scene of the 1980s with their film PARTY MONSTER, filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato travel further back in time for this documentary on the cultural... After focusing on the decadent club scene of the 1980s with their film PARTY MONSTER, filmmakers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato travel further back in time for this documentary on the cultural impact of the '72 movie DEEP THROAT. When director Gerard Damiano unleashed the film--a witty, yet explicit X-Rated movie starring Linda Lovelace as a fellatio-crazed woman with a clitoris located in her throat--audiences flocked to it in droves. The film was a cut above standard adult fare, and attracted an unusually high percentage of female viewers who reveled in seeing a female character attain sexual satisfaction in the male-dominated world of adult films. With the public's interest piqued, controversy followed, and a court case against the movie prompted the government to try to ban the film outright. This only drew more people to it, and its combined box office is estimated at $600 million--an incredible return on the original $25,000 investment. Or was it? Damiano never made a cent from the film, while Lovelace and co-star Harry Reems made $1450 between them. Lovelace complained bitterly about her treatment on the set in her memoir--the appropriately titled ORDEAL--and Reems had to go through his own obscenity trial, during which he succumbed to the temptations of alcohol and narcotics. Damiano and Reems return to talk about their experiences here (Lovelace passed away in 2002), while the indelible impression the film left on a shocked early-'70s society is fleshed out by comments from Hugh Hefner, Germaine Greer, Camille Paglia, and many others. A truly arresting film, INSIDE DEEP THROAT offers a fascinating lesson about how little the world has changed in regard to pornography and censorship in the 33 years that have passed between Damiano's movie and this documentary. [More]
Starring: Gerard Damiano, Harry Reems, Linda Lovelace, John Waters
Starring: Gerard Damiano, Harry Reems, Linda Lovelace, John Waters, Hugh Hefner, Germaine Greer, Camille Paglia, Norman Mailer, Erica Jong
Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Director: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato
Producer: Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Brian Grazer
Studio: Universal Pictures
Reviews for Inside Deep Throat
A sharp documentary that has comedy, tragedy and, yes, a glimpse of Linda Lovelace's party trick.
Interviews with the surviving players, including porn stud Harry Reams ... make for entertaining viewing.
An entertaining moustaches-and-all documentary that tells an engaging story and draws some thought-provoking parallels.
A little Lovelace and a lot of 85 year olds talking about it. It ain’t pretty.
A class act about a crass act. But how come porn persecutors keep turning out to be the biggest criminals in America?
Bailey and Barbato draw a convincing line between the social and political atmosphere of the film and the culture wars of today. The issues are still very much alive.
A revealing and intelligent commentary on America’s obsession with sexual morality.
moves like a bullet, running through its subjects with punch-drunk glee and stitching it all together with a pounding K-Tel Super Hits of the Seventies soundtrack
Provides a lot of background information and period color, while arguing for the film's place as the breakthrough sex movie of all time.
Hugely entertaining, but as its smarmy male-centric title implies, 'Inside Deep Throat' swallows whole the idea that the film was some kind of milestone of free expression.
Inside Deep Throat is pleasurable but may leave you feeling unfulfilled.
A fast and loose documentary that grabs you in the moment but leaves a distinct emptiness the morning after.
Although the film starts out with a clear thesis, by the time its 90 minute running length has expired, it is grasping at themes and topics that are beyond the limited scope of what a superficial documentary can achieve.
The movie is pornographic. The documentary about the movie is pornographic. Is the review of the documentary pornographic?
It's a treasure trove of kicky archival footage-- and a pointed look back at the opening salvo in a culture war that still rages today.
It makes a convincing case that the flick that made Linda Lovelace a household name was a major cultural event.
Latest News for Inside Deep Throat
September 20, 2007:
Anna Faris to Star in Linda Lovelace Deep Throat Biopic
After a string of comedic roles in films such as Just Friends and the Scary Movie series, Anna Faris is ready to get deep. Deep Throat, that is. More...
March 28, 2005:
Courtney Love to Play Linda Lovelance
More...
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