This trip down memory lane seems to have no agenda and treats principals on both sides of the conflict with respect.
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
No matter how far you think it will go, it keeps probing deeper, until it turns your perceptions inside out.
The movie is pornographic. The documentary about the movie is pornographic. Is the review of the documentary pornographic?
The documentary has no great overriding argument it wants to make -- neither about the politicians-turned-censors who thought the world was coming to an end nor about those who saw Deep Throat as the apotheosis of American liberty.
The movie uses new and old interviews and newsreel footage to remember a time when porn was brand-new.
If you haven't seen the iconic Deep Throat, it hardly seems necessary after seeing the documentary.
Makes a diverting case for Deep Throat as more than just a shadowy cinematic footnote.
Fenton and Barbato also place Deep Throat firmly in the context of a turbulent time, when making a sex movie was an act of rebellion (however Quixotic), rather than a mercenary grab for the goodies.
Balanced enough to serve as a cautionary tale that cuts in several directions at once.
Eager to tell one story, Inside Deep Throat neglects the more compelling story within it.
A funny and largely fascinating take on one of the film industry's milestone productions.
Colorfully entertaining, sexually explicit and occasionally insightful.
Inside Deep Throat may boogie across this scorched terrain to an assortment of period pop songs, but it never lets you forget that that there were a lot of people who got burned.
The film leaves no doubt that the movie was an important cultural lynchpin in the '70s, but its import beyond those crazy, heady days may have been swept away by the home video revolution.
An entertaining and moderately informative documentary by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato.
Informative and wickedly entertaining. If you're into "hot button" freedom-of-expression issues, this is a must see!
Smart, high-minded documentary about stupid, low-minded filmmaking has delusions of gravity, but still satisfies.
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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