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# ‘Deepthroat’ goes deep into cultural history of sex
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/deepthroat-goes-deep-into-cultural-history-of-sex/
- Published: 2005-02-11T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T06:04:59.000Z
- Author: Dan Dunn
- Tags: Entertainment, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

In June of 1972, “Deep Throat,” a screwy $25,000 skin flick about a fellatio virtuoso with a wildly misplaced sex organ, was released at a theater in midtown Manhattan. Made on the fly in Miami by a group of amateurs led by an erstwhile hairdresser named Gerard Damiano (aka, Jerry Gerard), the film would go on to gross $600 million, turn its star, Linda Lovelace, into an internationally-known sex symbol, and ignite a turbulent ideological war that is still being waged today. Thirty-three years after “Deep Throat” swallowed America, acclaimed documentarians Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato (“The Eyes of Tammy Faye”) offer a provocative, highly entertaining look inside the phenomenon and the indelible impression it made on the cultural landscape. Whichever side of the censorship argument you come down on, you’ll likely find “Inside Deep Throat” illuminating.

In addition to getting the inside scoop straight from the mouths of Damiano, star Harry Reems, and a host of others involved in the making and distribution of the film, Bailey and Barbato enlist provocateurs and pundits such as John Waters, Camille Paglia, Erica Jong, Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal to help bring the chain reaction it caused into focus. Archival footage of a Nixon administration-led witch-hunt that led to Reems being brought up on Federal obscenity charges is bolstered by a telling testimonial from the zealous southern prosecutor who to this day believes “Deep Throat” to be a hideous blight on our society. Dennis Hopper is effective in a sparingly used role as the film’s narrator.

Perhaps most compelling are the stories of the impact the movie had on the lives of the principals. After beating the obscenity rap on appeal (after Nixon was ousted from office) Reems wound up homeless and drug addicted, only to be born again as a real estate salesman in Park City, Utah. After her initial 15 minutes were up, Lovelace became an anti-porn crusader, claiming her experience making the film was tantamount to rape. Years later, broke and in her 50s, she had a change of heart and posed nude for a magazine in the hopes of reviving her career. She died in car accident shortly thereafter. (Rated NC-17, for explicit sexual content. Running time: 90 minutes)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 11, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/021105.pdf?ref=smdp.com)