Inside Deep Throat is a 2005 American documentary film about the 1972 pornographic film Deep Throat, at the forefront of the Golden Age of Porn, and its effects on American society.
Content
The film discusses how Deep Throat was distributed to theaters when prints would be hand-delivered and employees would count heads of moviegoers and then collect the cash profits from the theaters. This process was known as sending "checkers and sweepers".
It features scenes from the film, news of the time and interviews, both from archive and recent footage, with director Gerard Damiano, actor Harry Reems, actress Linda Lovelace, Gore Vidal, Larry Flynt, Hugh Hefner, John Waters, Erica Jong, a prosecutor, Reems' defense, Mafia money collectors, and other people involved or just commenting on the film. Much of the material was compiled from approximately 800 hours of interview and archive footage collected by the filmmakers.
Cast
Dennis Hopper
John Waters
Hugh Hefner
Larry Flynt
Annie Sprinkle
Gore Vidal
Gerard Damiano
Dick Cavett
Wes Craven
Bill Maher
Harry Reems
David Winters
Norman Mailer
Erica Jong
Catharine MacKinnon
Camille Paglia
Tony Bill
Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Dr. Ruth)
Archive footage
Linda Lovelace
Francis Ford Coppola
Warren Beatty
Johnny Carson
Bob Hope
Jack Nicholson
Gloria Steinem
New York City Mayor John Lindsay
Production
Narrated by Dennis Hopper, the documentary was written, produced, and directed by Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and produced by Brian Grazer. It is a production of Imagine Entertainment, HBO Documentary Films, and World of Wonder, and distributed by Universal Pictures.
Rating
Inside Deep Throat was rated NC-17 by the Motion Picture Association of America for explicit sexual content; specifically, explicit excerpts from the original film. It was the first film rated NC-17 to be released by Universal since Henry & June in 1990, which was the first film to receive the NC-17 rating.
An edited version received an R rating for "strong sexuality including graphic images, nudity and dialogue".