Inside Deep Throat: Movie & DVD Review (2005)

(Originally published 2005)

Forget "Titanic." According to the entertaining documentary "Inside Deep Throat," the most financially successful movie of all time turns out to be the 1972 porn film "Deep Throat," in which Linda Lovelace became a star for reasons she’d sooner like to forget.

The production was financed by the mafia, always there when you need them most, which makes this one of the most defining and corrupt of American success stories.

From Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, this provocative documentary comes from Universal Studios and it wears its NC-17 rating like a badge. It makes Chloe Sevigny’s performance in "The Brown Bunny" look like kiddie time. Sort of.

Moments are just as graphic as you might expect, but if put into a historical context — the movie pushed porn into the mainstream, with suburban couples attending screenings of the film in droves — it’s nevertheless a worthwhile subject.

There will be the temptation to dismiss "Deep Throat" as trash, which it certainly is on one level, but trash has always been pop culture’s gem; here, it shines. Gore Vidal, Camille Paglia, Norman Mailer, Dr. Ruth, John Waters, Hugh Hefner and Helen Gurley Brown, among a host of others, go to sound lengths to illustrate and defend a film whose storied history continues to deepen. Rated NC-17.

Grade: B+