So there I am, anxiously waiting for the movie to begin. I’ve waited years to see this film and it was about to happen. I’m feeling giddy as the theater lights begin to dim. The screen turns to black and those famous words, “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. . .” appear on screen, followed by John Williams’s thunderous Star Wars theme. As a Star Wars fan from day one, I wasn’t going to miss Episode Three. On May 25, 1977, Star Wars revolutionized the movie industry, pioneering the way movies are made and marketed and changed the way we saw movies.

Five years earlier, on June 11, 1972, another revolution in movies took place, albeit with a much more controversial manner. Like Star Wars, the historical and social importance of Deep Throat wouldn’t be known for years later. Unlike Star Wars, Deep Throat would usher in the birth of the modern adult entertainment industry, pioneering the way adult movies are made and become the most profitable movie of all time.

Recently, I had the opportunity to view Deep Throat for the first time. With the interest generated from the documentary, Inside Deep Throat, Deep Throat has become porn chic again, capturing a new generation of audiences and revised nostalgia of 70s porn. When it was released, it became a pop-culture phenomenon, invoking the ire of the Nixon administration and raised the issue of morality, sexual politics, freedom of speech and other contemporary issues of the day. One could argue that if it weren’t for Deep Throat, the adult industry we know today would be an entirely different beast.

But how did Deep Throat, a film with a budget of $25,000 in which the main character discovers her clitoris is located in her throat—hence the title “Deep Throat”—become this $600 million phenomenon? Timing for one, as Deep Throat was the perfect complement to the artistic, political and social climate of the early 70s. Two, word-of-mouth as it became a badge to watch Deep Throat in theaters. Suddenly, watching an adult film became the thing for celebrities and everyday people to do. The film’s controversy was another factor. At a time when our most basic freedoms were in jeopardy in pre-Watergate America, buying a ticket to see a “dirty” movie became a statement, virtually giving the finger to the so-called moral authority.

“The reason why Deep Throat became a huge phenomenon were the obscenity trials,” says Paul Interlandi from Arrow Productions, of which Ray Pistol is the president and currently owns the rights to Deep Throat. “When the people of New York found out that they couldn’t see this film, that the government was going to take it away and ban it, they came in from all the houses. The lines were going around the block with people waiting to get in to see Deep Throat because they wanted to catch the film that was going to be banned before it was actually banned. Word-of-mouth and everybody have got to see what everyone else saw.

“A lot of people say it was involved in the acceleration of the sexual revolution,” Interlandi continues. “I think it was just a matter of good timing for them and the revolution was already under way and this kind of threw sex into society’s face. Of course, the conservative parts of the country were busy trying to put it down and 13 different obscenity trials put against them over the next 10-12 years. The really, really important part to American society about Deep Throat is that it’s the film that set all the rules and precedents for being able to view adult entertainment. It started a dialogue in this country about what is acceptable to watch and view. It also started the adult video revolution and adult film revolution. Deep Throat sold 3 million VHS before 1995.”

It’s unclear if Deep Throat director Gerard Damiano knew what sort of stir his film would bring. What is known is that his simple film would achieve infamy, notoriety and help change the sexual thinking and practices of people. Most shockingly, it confirmed that women actually enjoy sex, especially oral sex! Its principal stars, Linda Lovelace and Harry Reems, would become counterculture icons and the targets of investigation. In fact, it was Reems who would be charged with conspiracy to transport obscenity across state lines. Lovelace and Damiano would eventually cooperate and plea bargain with authorities in exchange for testifying against Reems.

Reems would be found guilty in 1976 for conspiracy until various civil liberties groups and Hollywood celebrities such as Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty rallied to his side, eventually overturning his conviction. However, the financiers of Deep Throat, the Pirano Brothers, ended up doing ten years in prison for their silly, campy film that would, in part, define the “me generation.” ”And they spent half of the six hundred million dollars in attorney fees fighting all these charges,” explains Interlandi. “So, a lot of people paid a lot of personal price for this film.”

I was surprised to learn that there really wasn’t an adult industry that existed prior to Deep Throat’s release. Before 1972, porn was hard to find and had to have an educational bent to them or risked being banned. Usually labeled as marital aids, it featured a man and woman who would stand naked across from each other before engaging in various sexual positions. Imagine watching instructional videos you watched in health class.

“The porn industry before Deep Throat was something called a loops industry,” says Interlandi. “Basically, most porn—motion-picture porn—were loops where they would take film and they would connect the two ends together, and they would play through a projector in an unending circle. What they would do is they would have a door in front of the screen that you would put quarters in and then the door would lift up for . . . usually one minute because the average male would take two minutes to ejaculate. Then the door would shut before you have an orgasm and then you’re standing around finding another quarter. So they had that down and they would make a lot of money from that.

“Gerard Damiano had a vision that pornography could be more than a short little loop, which is essentially a scene. Before Deep Throat, pornography was not motion pictures. Pornography was just loops. So this is the first film ever done that is a film with a beginning, middle and end. It tells a story. This is the first feature film that’s pornography. It’s very historic for that fact. This is the film that was the model for every other pornographic film ever made afterwards. They saw this film and they started improving, refining, making [it] better. And today we have the adult film industry, based from this film. Shortly thereafter, Behind the Green Door came out. Then Damiano came out with Devil In Miss Jones. Those three films started the whole thing.”

The Wrath of Nixon

It seemed inevitable that the release of Deep Throat would become the target of the US government considering the conservative climate at the time. Intent on cleaning up what they regarded as filth, legal action was instigated by all levels of government to clamp down on Deep Throat and the porn industry. The administration was successful in banning the film from being shown in 23 states. It also charged theater owners and distributors with a variety of offenses. However, the government was unsuccessful in making an example of Harry Reems by charging him with conspiracy and intimidating anyone who considered making adult films. And in most cases, charges were later dropped on those same theater owners and distributors who handled Deep Throat.

There are two ironies in all this. In an attempt to put an end to pornography, what the Nixon administration do was give Deep Throat the PR it needed, essentially giving birth to the estimated $10 billion industry it has become today. Deep Throat would also lead to the downfall of the Nixon administration. Released on the same month of the Watergate break-in, Deep Throat was the code-name for the most famous source in investigative journalism. Today, we now know “Deep Throat” was W. Mark Felt, the #2 man in the FBI at the time who lead the FBI’s investigation into the Watergate break-in. “Personally, I think [he] is an American hero that turned Nixon in,” says Interlandi. “I think he’s an American hero.”

Deep Throat : Art or Not?

Deep Throat has been described as a sensually erotic tale to a weak work of cinema. The story of a girl who enjoys sex, especially oral sex, but has never climaxed, then discovers her clitoris has been hiding in the back of her throat all along seems like a ridiculous premise. What’s important to remember is that Damiano was just making a simple sex film. Eventually, Damiano’s films got better and the plots were fine-tuned later on. But it would be unfair to compare those early 70s films, particularly Deep Throat, with today’s porn.

I can certainly appreciate the work and the eroticism in Deep Throat. Remember, in 1972, porn was a relatively new thing to the masses that had come out to view Deep Throat. “In 1972, nobody had seen a porno,” explains Interlandi. “Forget [that] you’ve seen 5,000 porno’s. You got to look at it like you’ve never seen a porno in your life before. That’s what the experience was like for the people who came in and saw Deep Throat for the first time. They’ve never seen a porno. So you can’t really compare it to another porno. Is it the best film in the planet? Well, it’s a goofy little story. But, it’s entertaining and she can really swallow a dick good and there’s some fun scenes in it. There’s some good comedy. You’ll laugh a number of times when you watch the film.”

As for Interlandi’s take on adult films today he continues, “I think we lost our moral compass we used to have in the 70s. The moral compass we had in the 70s was pornography was part of the sexual revolution, which was closely tied into the swinging community. The two groups separated in the 90s. Then it became more about making money in the pornography world. Then we went into something I like to call ‘spectacle pornography’ instead of erotic pornography. It’s not erotic at all. We’ve had this tremendous resurgence, interest in classic films because they have stories. You can watch them more than once. You just don’t masturbate to them once and then throw them away. People are learning to appreciate that now. We just shipped 10,000 Deep Throats last month. Not too many new films can say they’ve shipped 10,000 pieces, especially not at 10 bucks.”

Linda Lovelace: From Porn Diva to Anti-Porn Crusader

No discussion about Deep Throat would be complete without talking about Linda Lovelace at length. The girl who would become porn’s first superstar with a knack for “deep throating,” Linda Lovelace was a suburban girl from Long Island who grew up as Linda Boreman and dreamed of becoming a flight attendant. When Damiano found out about her unique ability, he decided to feature the act as the film’s centerpiece and constructing the film around it.

But, it was really her life outside the set that was most intriguing. Lovelace, who died three years ago from injuries sustained in a car accident, has claimed that whenever you see her having sex onscreen you were actually watching her being raped at gunpoint. She claimed her husband at the time, Chuck Traynor, would beat her for years, forcing her to make porn. Even down to the clothes she wore were all at his command.

No one denies that Traynor had a mild violent streak but neither does anyone claim to have ever seen guns on the set of Deep Throat or any other film Lovelace starred in. In the 80s, she allied with the feminist organization Women Against Pornography. But, deep into middle-age and broke, she returned to porn magazines, apparently accepting her legacy as a porn pioneer.

At the end of the newly restored Deep Throat is an interview with porn actor Eric Edwards, one of the few men to have worked with Lovelace onscreen. The interview, conducted by Interlandi, dismisses Lovelace’s claim that she was under duress or forced to perform in these films at gunpoint. “The other thing is,” according to Interlandi, “her and her husband were swingers. So they go to clubs and party with people, and it’s going to be different because you’re getting a paycheck? It’s just not plausible to me. I just don’t think he needed a gun. According to Eric Edwards, she enjoyed herself. She would call him. [And] she enjoyed working with him.”

Deep Throat’s Legacy

Since I’m not a sociologist or a porn historian, I am in no position to explain what the impact of Deep Throat was to American culture or what it did for the porn industry. What I will say is this: Deep Throat opened many doors for the adult industry to strive and in many ways, opened the dialogue about sex and sexuality in America. Whether you believe it was a positive or negative effect, you have the right to your opinion. I wasn’t around when Deep Throat was originally released, but as the saying goes, “You had to be there,” and I wish I were. But, I’m living in the now and I can’t help but wonder what porn would be like today if it weren’t for Damiano’s vision, the price people paid for this low-budget campy sex film or even the government’s crackdown on pornography which made Deep Throat more of a phenomenon than it probably deserved to be.

Where would Jenna Jameson, Tera Patrick or anyone working in front of or behind the scenes in the adult industry be today? I have a feeling there would be an industry but years away from becoming mainstream. But as far as adult has come since 1972, will there be another adult film that could have as big an impact on the times today as Deep Throat had? Interlandi optimistically says, “I dream of it!”