Inside Deep Throat

This riveting cultural history of the film that took the US porn scene mainstream is also a provocative exploration of exploitation and shifting gender values.

Gerard Damiano’s low-budget 1972 porn film Deep Throat struck a chord with the American populace. Intended as a fringe peepshow entertainment it became a crossover cultural success – even a talking point amongst middle class professionals. It attracted the ire of moral guardians, faced criminal action and saw its star, Linda Lovelace, initially vilified then held up as an example of the porn film industry’s exploitation of women. Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato’s compelling film charts the film’s production, chronicling the lives of the key players and offers an impressive account of the film’s history in the aftermath of its initial success. Juggling the attitudes to sex at the time of the film’s release with more recent attitudes to and evaluations of pornography, Inside Deep Throat is both thought-provoking and hugely entertaining.