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.
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
Things get fresher, funnier and, inevitably, more poignant when we meet the people involved in the making of the movie.
Plays like a giddy prance through the minefield of the last three decades of American sex and politics.
If their new film never quite makes the case that one dirty movie set off the culture war that rages across America today, it is a highly entertaining and informative look back.
This lively, if maddeningly reductive documentary examines the influence of the low-budget 1972 film Deep Throat.
The doc is longer on historical interest than original insights or analysis.
A fast and loose documentary that grabs you in the moment but leaves a distinct emptiness the morning after.
Funny and fascinating, Inside Deep Throat illuminates the dusty and dark corners where major aspects of American culture converged.
Exquisitely crafted, fast moving indictment of American prudery and prurience.
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
Beneath these cartoon floats marches a parade of greedy goodfellas, scheming exhibitors, idiot politicians, swanning celebs, and frothing religious fundamentalists.
The filmmakers’ attempts to link Deep Throat’s lasting impact to every sexually charged facet of contemporary American life reaches too far.
a piquant and incisive sociological treatise on the societal attitudes towards sex and sexuality and how those attitudes haven’t changed much even with the sexual revolution
A grown-up and eminently entertaining reflection of where we were in 1972 - and how one little porno flick caused such an astonishing uproar.
Besides fresh and funny insights from the likes of Norman Mailer and John Waters, it shows how little censorship politics have changed from Nixon to Bush.
Tracking down everyone possible involved in making the film, a raft of intellectual commentators and key participants in the lengthy legal battles, the filmmakers successfully place Deep Throat in the context of its time.
The salient point here is that Deep Throat can be seen as one of the first battles of the culture wars that still divide this nation.
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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