Inside Deep Throat - DVD Review

Baw, chicka, bow waw. Sometimes, there is no better job than that of a movie reviewer. The day has come that I get - I mean have to review porn. And not just any porn, we're talking porn with Bill Maher, Hugh Hefner and Dr. Ruth. Hmmm, it appears Inside Deep Throat is a documentary about the 30-year-old porn flick named Deep Throat.

At least I assumed it was just a porn flick, not a pornography "film." But it turns out it was much more than even that. This was a movement toward sexuality becoming mainstream. After all, this is a film made for $25,000, that went on to gross $600 million. On top of that, it was banned in 23 states.

Inside Deep Throat does exactly what a documentary should. It showcases the events surrounding the making of Deep Throat, as well as the social impact it had after the release. There are interviews with the major players involved in the making of the film about the cultural impact of the moment - for example, director Gerard Damiano talks about how he thought Deep Throat was the beginning of Hollywood and porn being blended into one.

Accidental lead actor Harry Reems (paid $250) discusses his abilities as an actor and even though Linda Lovelace (paid $1,200) passed away a few years ago, she is documented throughout the decades. Interspersed with the people who made the film is archival footage of the events that surrounded the release as well as interviews from Hefner, Norman Mailer, John Waters and a host of others, all narrated together by Dennis Hopper.

The documentary doesn't pick sides in telling this story even when it would be easy to attack the right wing government for getting involved. Led by President Nixon's desire to curb obscenity in this nation, Deep Throat was attacked. Representative Larry Parrish did the attacking, and even though he said it was nothing personal, the documentary captures the animosity he has toward porn. Old footage of Hefner is shown on a talk show making the mistake of calling a feminist a girl and you don't know whether to feel sorry for him or disappointed. Though it was really interesting to note that Hefner and others were saddened by the feminist movement against porn.

The extras are too numerous to count, but a little short on content. Each featurette is typically less than four minutes long, ranging from educational (additional trial information) to the absurd ("Harry Reem's Athletic Club"). Most of the footage seems that it was originally going to be part of the film but was cut from length. It doesn't have the "deleted scenes" feel though, it's a step up. There are two commentary tracks (one from unused interviews and the other from the makers of the doc) and also a featurette called "The Last Word for Now," which includes some funny moments from Maher and interviews from Richard Dreyfuss and others that appeared in the film.

Inside Deep Throat goes from sex to courtroom drama to politics covering almost all angles of the film's history. The NC-17 rating is due to watching Lovelace show off her talent (the porn film was named after her abilities) and other shots of male genitalia, though not much footage from Deep Throat is used. Today the porn industry is about making money, not about remembering the porn roots. Whether the government caused the commotion of Deep Throat is up to the individual to decide, but from the interviews with Damiano, you can tell Deep Throat was art to him and he was happier when porn was a movie theater experience instead of just on the internet.