It looks like Deep throat is going to be re-released following the recent documentary Inside Deep Throat. The BBC carry the news from Variety:
It is being released to coincide with the documentary Inside Deep Throat, which examines the making of the movie which only cost $25,000 (£13,452).
It went on to gross $600m (£323m) worldwide, largely thanks to its sexually explicit reputation.
This was a landmark movie for a great number of reasons, especially for the controversy surrounding it.
The film, which starred the late Linda Lovelace, was banned in 23 states in 1972 because of its risque content.
Lovelace herself later condemned the movie, saying she was forced to appear in it by her husband and manager.
The film caused such outrage when it was released that co-star Harry Reems was convicted of obscenity in 1976.
A prolific porn star, he faced a potential five-year jail term but the conviction was overturned after the likes of Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty came to his defence.
The UK also banned Deep Throat for 28 years, with it only being passed uncut in 2000.
Oh, one further thing to add, it is the most profitable film in the history of motion pictures!
I’m not sure about this one, although I am all against enforced censorship and banning of movies, there’s something about this story that has enough dubiousness for me that I might not want to see it. By that I mean the story that Lovelace claimed to have been “forced” into making the movie, that’s the part that wouldn’t make me entirely happy about seeing it.
James Russell, you don’t have a clue and I’m not going to waste my energy explaining it to you!
David Flint goes into the whole behind-the-scenes-of-Deep Throat controversy in his book Babylon Blue and notes the following:
1) She was, frankly, long since washed up when she first made the claims in 1980, not having made a movie since 1976 (and not having made a movie for about three years before that). The claims consequently have a whiff of desperately seeking attention.
2) She never said anything about being forced into making the movie in either of her two autobiographies that she wrote (or had ghost-written for her) prior to the one in which she made the claims.
3) No one else has ever substantiated her story. There could be a conspiracy of silence, but if some of the stories, e.g. the one about her having a gun pointed at her while filming a scene to make sure she did it, are true, you’d think someone would’ve come forth by now and said so. The husband was a self-admitted wife-beater, but wasn’t beating her into making the movie.
4) She looks to be having too much fun in the film, and she’s not that good an actress. She’s probably not faking it.
These are Flint’s findings, anyway. I don’t know what the actual truth is, but this sounds as likely as anything. There was some fucked-up stuff happened in the 1970s hardcore industry, but probably not what Linda Lovelace was talking about.
There is, however, still one good reason not to see Deep Throat, namely that, apparently, irrespective of how famous it may be, it’s shit.