Глубокая горло: История одной скандальной картины

1972 film by Gerard Damiano

Deep Throat is a 1972 landmark American pornographic film written and directed by Gerard Damiano, listed in the credits as "Jerry Gerard", and starring Linda Lovelace (Linda Susan Boreman). It is considered the forefront of the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984). One of the first pornographic films to feature a plot, character development, and relatively high production values, Deep Throat earned mainstream attention and launched the "porno chic" trend, although the film was the subject of obscenity trials and banned in some jurisdictions. Lovelace later wrote that she was coerced and sexually assaulted during the production, and that the film is genuine rape pornography.

Linda Lovelace, a sexually frustrated woman, seeks advice from her friend Helen on how to achieve an orgasm. Despite attending a sex party that proves unhelpful, Helen suggests that Linda visit a psychiatrist named Dr. Young. During their sessions, the doctor discovers that Linda's clitoris is located in her throat. With his assistance in developing her oral sex skills, Linda becomes infatuated with Dr. Young and proposes marriage. However, he suggests that she settle for a position as his therapist, utilizing her particular oral technique—henceforth known as "deep throat"—on various men until she finds a suitable husband. Simultaneously, the doctor documents her exploits while engaging in repeated sexual encounters with his nurse. Eventually, Linda meets a man who brings her happiness and agrees to marry him. The movie concludes with the line "The End. And Deep Throat to you all."

The scenes involving Lovelace were shot in North Miami, Florida over six days in January 1972. The interior scenes were shot at a hotel between 123rd and 124th Streets on Biscayne Boulevard, then known as the Voyager Inn. The building was subsequently converted to a dormitory for Johnson & Wales University. The scenes involving Carol Connors were shot in New York City. The movie was produced by Louis "Butchie" Peraino, who was listed in the credits as "Lou Perry". Peraino was the owner of Plymouth Distributing, which he later renamed Arrow Film and Video. The entire production cost of $22,500 (equivalent to $22500.0 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years today), and an additional $25,000 ($25000.0 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years today) for music, was provided by Peraino's father, Anthony Peraino, a member of the Colombo crime family. Gerard Damiano, who had rights to one third of the profits, was reportedly paid a lump sum of $25,000 once the film became popular and was forced out of the partnership.

In a March 1973 column, critic Roger Ebert wrote: "It is all very well and good for Linda Lovelace, the star of the movie, to advocate sexual freedom; but the energy she brings to her role is less awesome than discouraging. If you have to work this hard at sexual freedom, maybe it isn't worth the effort." A review in Variety stated that although the film "doesn't quite live up to its reputation as the Ben Hur of porno pix, it is a superior piece which stands a head above the competition." Al Goldstein wrote a rave review in his Screw magazine, saying "I was never so moved by any theatrical performance since stuttering through my own bar mitzvah."

Deep Throat officially premiered at the World Theater in New York on June 12, 1972, and was advertised in The New York Times under the bowdlerized title Throat. The film's popularity helped launch a brief period of upper middle class interest in explicit pornography referred to by Ralph Blumenthal of The New York Times as "porno chic". Several mainstream celebrities admitted to having seen Deep Throat, including Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma, Truman Capote, Jack Nicholson, Johnny Carson, Spiro Agnew, Frank Sinatra, Philip Dresmann and Louis Derfert. Jimmy McMillan considers it to be his favorite film. The film's title soon became a pop culture reference, most notably when Howard Simons, the then managing editor of The Washington Post, chose it as the code name for a well guarded secret inside informant during the Watergate scandal that plagued the administration of President Richard M. Nixon, who many years later was revealed to be assistant FBI director W. Mark Felt.

Deep Throat grossed $1 million (equivalent to $1.0 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years million today) in its first seven weeks of release in 1972, including a then porn film single screen record of $30,033 ($30033.0 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years today) in its opening week at New York City's New World Theatre. The film made a then record $3 million ($3.0 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years million today) in its first six months of release and was still ranked among the top 10 highest grossing films, as ranked by Variety, 48 weeks after its release. Estimates of the film's total revenues have varied widely: numbers as high as $600 million (equivalent to $0.6 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years billion today) have been cited, which would make Deep Throat one of the highest grossing films of all time. With an average ticket price of $5 ($5.0 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years today), box office takings of $600 million would imply 120 million admissions, an unrealistic figure. Hiltzik was unsatisfied with the directors' response, writing that their method was to "construct a seemingly solid box office figure out of layers and layers of speculation piled upon a foundation of sand". Roger Ebert noted as well in his review of Inside Deep Throat, a 2005 documentary about the film's cultural legacy, that many theaters that screened the film were mob connected enterprises, which probably also "inflated box office receipts as a way of laundering income from drugs and prostitution" and other illegal activities. In 2006, a censored edition of the film was released on DVD for fans of pop culture and those wishing to own a non X rated copy of the infamous movie. Deep Throat was the first film to be inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame.

In her first two biographies, Linda Boreman characterized having made the film as a liberating experience; in her third and fourth biographies, both of which were written after she had come out with her stories of sexual abuse, rape, and forced prostitution in the porn business, she charged that she had not consented to many of the depicted sexual acts and that she had been coerced to perform by her abusive then husband Chuck Traynor, who received $1,250 (equivalent to $1250.0 in 1972 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years today) for her acting. She also claimed that Traynor threatened to kill her, brandishing handguns and rifles to control her. In 1986, she testified before the Meese Commission, "Virtually every time someone watches that movie, they're watching me being raped." In the Toronto Sun on March 20, 1981, she said, "It is a crime that movie is still showing; there was a gun to my head the entire time." While the other people present on the set did not support the gun charge, both Traynor and Damiano confirmed in interviews that Traynor was extremely controlling towards Boreman and also hit her on occasion. In the documentary Inside Deep Throat, it is claimed that bruises are visible on Boreman's body in the movie. These allegations were cited in the UK Government's Rapid Evidence Assessment on "The evidence of harm to adults relating to exposure to extreme pornographic material" as part of its plans to criminalize possession of what it termed "extreme pornography".

In various United States communities, the movie was shown to juries to determine whether it was obscene; the outcomes varied widely and the movie was banned in numerous locations. In August 1972, after a jury in New York City had found the movie not to be obscene, prosecutors decided to charge Mature Enterprises, the company that owned the World Theater, for promotion of obscene material, taking them to trial in December. During the trial, a psychiatrist testified that the film portrayed acts that were "well within the bounds of normal behavior". that determines what constitutes obscenity) was applied in his case. The Federal Bureau of Investigation case known as "Miporn" convicted and sentenced, on April 30, 1977, Michael Cherubino to five months' imprisonment and a fine of $4,000, Anthony Novello to six months' imprisonment, Joseph Peraino to one year's imprisonment and a fine of $10,000 (including a $10,000 fine to his company, Plymouth Distributors Inc.), Louis Peraino to one year's imprisonment and a fine of $10,000 (including a $10,000 fine to each of his two companies, Bryanston Distributors Inc. and Gerard Damiano Productions Inc.), Anthony Battista to four months' imprisonment and a fine of $4,000, Carl Carter to six months' imprisonment and a fine of $6,500, Mel Friedman to nine months' imprisonment and a fine of $7,500, and Mario Desalvo to three months' imprisonment and a fine of $3,500. In 1975, a Sioux Falls, South Dakota jury found the film not obscene. In San Antonio, police seized the movie and its movie projector from a theater several times in the space of two weeks. Herman Hausman, manager of Franklin Art Theater on South Avenue, Syracuse, New York, was charged with second degree obscenity. In the UK, the movie was banned upon release, and the ban was upheld by the courts 10 years later. The uncut DVD of the movie was finally given an R18 rating in 2000, which allowed it to be sold in licensed sex shops in the UK.

Deep Throat was released without a copyright notice. Because Peraino had used four wall distribution for all of Deep Throats releases, that left the potential for the film to be classified as an unpublished work, preventing it from falling into the public domain. Peraino sold the rights to the film to Arrow Productions for home video release (including a copyright notice) at some point prior to 2009. Despite Arrow holding the rights, rival pornography distributor VCX began distributing Deep Throat as retaliation for Arrow's distribution of Debbie Does Dallas and The Devil in Miss Jones, two films VCX asserted were under their copyright. (In the former case, Debbie Does Dallas was determined to be public domain in a 1987 court ruling.) In order to prevent VCX from challenging the copyright on Deep Throat, Arrow Productions agreed in 2011 to voluntarily stop distributing Debbie Does Dallas and The Devil in Miss Jones, thus leaving their copyright status unresolved.

In April 1978, pirate station Lucky 7 in Syracuse, New York illegally aired Deep Throat (and also Behind the Green Door, as well as non pornographic fare such as episodes of Star Trek). The pirates have never been identified. On February 23, 2008, the Netherlands Public Broadcasting corporations VPRO and BNN screened Deep Throat on national television as part of a themed night on the history of pornographic films, and the influence of pornography in youth culture in the Netherlands. Although the film aired after 10 p. m., following a guideline for adult television, and was embedded in a discussion program, several political parties (especially Dutch cabinet member party Christian Union) were clamoring for steps to be taken to prevent airing. The Minister of Education and Media, Ronald Plasterk, declared that he could not and did not want to forbid the airing of the film. The movie was seen by 907,000 viewers.

In December 2014, The Rialto Report, a web site devoted to the history of the so called Golden Age of Porn, made the surprise announcement that the supporting actress billed as Dolly Sharp, who had vanished into obscurity shortly after the release of Deep Throat, was in fact Helen Wood (1935–1998), a former Broadway performer who, as a teenager, had a major role in the 1953 Hollywood musical Give a Girl a Break.

In 2022, which marked the 50th anniversary of the film, the film was restored and re released and several screenings were held. Since all of the principals and the director Damiano have since died, the movie's restoration was overseen by Damiano's children, Christar and Gerard Damiano Jr., in collaboration with Robin Leonardi, the surviving daughter of another adult industry trailblazer, and a contemporary of the original Deep Throat trio, Gloria Leonard.