deep throat (1972)

[papalovesmambo]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:11pm

if for no other reason, then for the song.

"how far does a girl have to go to untangle her tingle?"

[mattonstage]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:12pm

"Do you mind if I smoke while you eat?" Classic line.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:16pm

Linda Lovelace lived not very far from here. She used to be a common sight in the supermarkets and at the various malls in the area. She died of cancer, if I'm not mistaken.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:17pm

why hasnt this been musicalized yet?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:18pm

Maybe 'cuz it's hard to sing with your mouth full.

[SweMozArt]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:27pm

Well they could ask jay johnson!

[justagirl2]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:28pm

I wanted so badly to rent this last weekend, but no one else wanted to watch it. It's legendary, people!

[Dollypop]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:29pm

And Harry Reems is hot!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/3/07 at 11:42pm

I really respect Harry Reems. Although he became a born again Christian after bottoming out as an alcoholic in a big way, he refuses to disavow his past and in fact, claims to be very proud of his part in sexual liberation. He was a very charming interview in the must see documentary, "Inside Deep Throat" and he still has the mischevious, sexy sparkle in those eyes of his.

Linda Lovelace did not fare very well. She was a real sad case. After disavowing her proud porn past (filled with lots of interviews in which she claimed to love sexual freedom and experimentation) and claiming she was forced into the business by her abusive husband, she became a cause celebre for anti-porn activists Cathering MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin. Even Gloria Steinem got in on the act of condemning porn via Linda Lovelace. Then, when those women were finished using her up, they tossed her aside not unlike the previous abusive relationships in her past.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer, I believe she ended up having a double mastectomy but I could be wrong on that count, and began to discuss her porn past with slightly less distancing and even posed for a soft core magazine called "Leg Show" displaying her famous gams. She blamed the breast cancer on silicone implants, which, again, she said she was forced to have.

The cancer isn't what killed her. She died in a car accident. A sad ending to a story that hinged on every one else in her life having power.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 12:04am

"why hasnt this been musicalized yet?"

Seeing as how "Debbie Does Dallas" was such a hit musical, I can't imagine why.

[justagirl2]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 12:05am

Oh my God, it would be brilliant, though. Can you imagine?

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 12:07am

LOL Margo.

[kjklo]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 12:20am

I seem to recall that at one point she was on a waiting list for a liver transplant.

Agree that she was definitely exploited by the anti-pornography feminists. It reminded me of the way that "Jane Roe" was used by the anti-abortion crowd.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 7:01am

The Mitchell Brothers, who produced Deep Throat, had a wonderfully wicked sense of humour. "Chatterbox", anyone?

[best12bars]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:01am

Maybe they could make a musical out of Lovelace's life in the biz and out of it, her struggles with alleged victimization... kinda like Boogie Nights, but with her real story...

...yeah, it would be a big hit on Broadway...

And then Disney would take over producing, sanitize it a bit, and turn it into "The Little Barmaid."

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 9:42am

Actually, SeanMartin, the Mitchell Brothers didn't have anything to do with Deep Throat. They were the producers of one of the other legendary films of porno chic, Behind the Green Door with Marilyn Chambers.

After Linda Lovelace divorced her abusive husband, Chambers eventually married him. So it is all intertwined.

Gerard Damiano was the director and nominally the producer of Deep Throat. The mafia put up the money.

Lovelace did get a liver transplant, she had contracted hep C as a result of a transfusion she required after a car accident in 1969. She was recuperating from THAT accident in Florida when she met Chuck Traynor, the man who would become the abusive husband.

Linda's is a very fascinating story, way more opera than musical. Would be a fascinating movie but it would be hard for a director to not take a "she was abused and forced into this" or "everything about Deep Throat behind the scenes was perfect and above critique" approach when doing so.

I highly recommend the Inside Deep Throat documentary and also Legs McNeil, the guy who wrote the incredibly readable "Please Shoot Me: The Oral History of Punk" relatively recently published "The Other Hollywood: The Oral History of the Porn Film Industry."

In that book you can read some fascinating accounts of how terrified mainstream Hollywood was by the success of Deep Throat and how Jack Valenti and the ratings administration realized that within a couple of years mainstream stars would be having explicit exin movies as a result and what they did to make sure that notion was derailed.

Updated On: 2/4/07 at 09:42 AM

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 10:42am

i wish Kay Parker, Juliet Anderson & Honey Wilder could've had a sitcom.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 1:43pm

Trivia: Carol Connors, who played the nurse in DEEP THROAT,is the mother of Thora Birch.

last I heard, Harry Reems was a Century 21 real estate agentin some small town somewhere in Utah or Montana or something. They did a little story on him on Entertainent Tonight. All I could think of wasthat if I ever passed through that town I would NOT be able to resist the urge to steal the "Contact Century 21 Agent Harry Reems" sign from the lawn of some house that was for sale.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 2:14pm

Not surprisingly, he actually uses his screen name in his real estate work.

I remember when Thora Birch was just a wee toddler whose screen name was simply "Thora" like "Madonna" when she was on the long-forgotten '80s sitcom Day By Day.

[Jon]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 3:54pm

I have not forgotten "Day By Day". it featured a teenaged Courtney Thorne-Smith.

[The Grovers Corners Yenta]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 5:04pm

DollyPop............Linda Lovelace was married to our nieghbors'son. Remember the Marciano's?

[jimnysf]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 5:31pm

I read her book, "Ordeal". In that book she claimed Sammy Davis, Jr. did to her husband what she did to the men in her famous film. She claimed everyone was all drugged out at the time.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/4/07 at 6:21pm

Yeah, according to Ordeal, there were many celebrities who enjoyed personal demonstrations of Linda's "special talent." Chuck Traynor, Linda's first abusive husband, was also a racist but his desire to get near celebrities over-rode that and at the time Linda Lovelace was his own personal VIP pass.

Linda wrote that Sammy Davis Jr and his swinging wife were enjoying some sexy sexy time when Sammy asked Linda if she'd show him how she did her thing. She assumed Sammy meant upon him, but he clarified that he wanted Linda to teach him on Chuck.

This was one of Linda's great acts of revenge on him. When the book hit the stands, Sammy Davis, Jr refused to "dignify" Linda's claims by responding to them.