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Porn Again: Sadness Of "Deep Throat" Revisited (Debbie Schlussel On Why Porn's All Hyped Up Alert)
DebbieSchlussel.com ^ | 02/22/05 | Debbie Schlussel

Posted on 02/28/2005 1:27:01 AM PST by goldstategop

What’s the most significant event in U.S. history? The Declaration of Independence or victory over the Nazis, you might answer.

What’s the greatest event in pop culture? The 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey victory over the Soviets in the Lake Placid Semi-finals, you might say.

Well, you would be wrong. At least, according to “8 Mile” and “24” producer Brian Grazer and his co-horts in the production of “Inside ‘Deep Throat’”.

To them, “Deep Throat,” the notorious porno flick about oral sex, is the greatest moment in U.S. history. At least, you’d think so, if you saw this absurd “documentary” about the making of DT and the “impact” it had on America.

Maybe that’s no surprise, since the other makers of this “documentary” also made a pro-Monica Lewinsky documentary for HBO. How nice that they’ve come full circle in their documentary repertoire on oral sex. Only in America.

The “film” parades a coterie of sagging, mostly-now-irrelevant lefties (Gore Vidal, anyone?) from the ‘70s, throughout its fawning celluloid troll down “Deep Throat” memory lane.

Author Erica Jong, lecturing us about oral sex, hardly comes off as a worldly feminist, when you can’t pay attention to a single annoying pronouncement she utters. How could you, with a giant painting of a naked fat chick sitting spread-eagle, looming obtrusively behind on her office wall? This is feminism? You’ve regressed a long way baby.

Norman Mailer, Dr. Ruth, Jong, Vidal, and the always annoying self-promoter Alan Dershowitz—all of them lecture us about the great free speech service “Deep Throat” performed by showing a giant, in your face Monica-&-Bill-esque servicing scene.

Puh-leeze. You don’t have to be a Constitutional scholar to know this is not what the Founding Fathers were concerned with when they authored the First Amendment.

Uncoincidentally, on the same day this documentary was released, “civil rights” attorney Lynne Stewart was convicted of helping her convicted terrorist client, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (a conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing). While Stewart is not known for representing pornographers, many of her fellow self-anointed “civil rights” bar colleagues, are. Several of those, who in the age of “Deep Throat” were representing the “civil rights” of porn kings, now represent the “civil rights” of Islamic terrorists.

If terrorism and depraved, stupid porn flicks about oral sex are the best examples of free speech worth fighting for, let’s just give up now.

You don’t have to be a prude or moral crusader to get creeped out by this documentary lauding this low-life porn film. The makers of “Deep Throat” were creepy, then. But in old age, they’re not just creepy. They’re sad. They are old and decrepit, without a penny to their names from this porno flick that made $600 million and was distributed by mobsters. The aged producers can barely walk, let alone keep their Sansabelt pants up (for no reason having anything to do with sex).

The endings of all those associated with “Deep Throat” are depressing, fitting rewards for their “contribution” to society.

There’s “filmmaker” Gerard Damiano. He was a sleazy hairdresser with a bad goatee and a bouffant hairdo, when he made “Deep Throat” in 1972. Today, his thinning hair is not so bouffant-ish, and his uneven goatee? The beatnik-era called, and it wants its badly done facial hair back. This pathetic old man can do nothing more than lament that he’s basically broke (the mob made the money on his “investment,” not him). And bitch and moan about how bummed he is that hard-core porn never became a regular basic of general family movie viewing coming out of Hollywood. Gee, whatta tragedy.

“Inside ‘Deep Throat’” footage of Damiano and the other old farts who made the porn “film” gets cheap laughs by showing them swearing. Old men swearing . . . . that might be funny once when they’re comedic actors in a Touchstone film, not real-life, washed-up porn-makers. Here, it’s just a lame crutch for guys whose depressing lives are now spent in G-d’s waiting room and they don’t have much to show for it, except being sleaze bags. Damiano’s granddaughter is a silly fire-dancer, the kind who’d be on Letterman’s “Stupid Human Tricks.”

Nice epitaph: Made a graphic oral sex porno, died penniless (while the film made $600 mill), progeny dances with fire in spandex outfit.

The only man associated with “Deep Throat” who is happy, successful, and alive, today, is Harry Reems, the movie’s co-star. That’s because he’s now Herb Streicher, a born-again Christian in Utah who is selling a positive product in America—real estate.

Linda Lovelace, the film’s star, is dead. She died broke and shriveled in 2002 in a car accident. After first making a “film” in which she has sex with dogs, then starring in “Deep Throat” and assorted other porn flicks, she claimed she’d been forced to make “Deep Throat” at gunpoint—hardly believable. A failed single mother, she got fired from every job, and could barely raise her two kids. Her surviving daughter was offered the starring role in “Deep Throat 7.” A proud legacy.

A Miami theater operator’s wife fears for him during his on-screen interview, believing that 33 years later the flick’s mafia distributors will put a hit out on them.

The rest of “Deep Throat’s” “alumni” met equal misfortune and destitution as a result of their production of this cinematic piece of dung.

But does “Inside ‘Deep Throat’” ask, Gee, why are all of the people associated with this film, broke, depressed, dead, or all three (except the one who found religion)?

No.

Does “Inside ‘Deep Throat’” show us the advent of AIDS and other deadly diseases and cancers brought on by the rampant, joyless behavior spawned by the industry “Deep Throat” helped unleash? Does it mention all the porn stars who’ve been diagnosed with AIDS, some of whom died? The addicts porn created and the families it destroyed?

No.

Instead, the message is: How sad that porn never became part of our mainstream Academy Award-style movies. How sad that porn doesn’t have “clever” plots like the “clever” plot of “Deep Throat” (because that’s why porn patrons watch porn, for the “plot,” right?).

The message is: How sad that at the annual porn industry convention in Vegas, today’s porn stars don’t know who Linda Lovelace is. We’re supposed to be outraged by this, as if it’s the same as a tenth grader not being able to name a Founding Father.

The real sadness is that some tenth graders can’t name a Founding Father of this country, but most know the name Ron Jeremy, a founding father and big name in the world of pornography.

The real sadness is that with such a shortage of good things coming out of Hollywood, they choose make a servile documentary about “Deep Throat.”

And that it’s so “mainstream,” it’s not just for dirty old men in raincoats anymore.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: debbieschlussel; deepthroat; gerarddamiano; herbstreicher; hollywood; lindalovelace; moralcesspool; oralsex; porn; sleaze
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Hollywood IS a moral cesspool. So they will make a documentary about Deep Throat. The culture has been Lewinskied. And no - its not for old men in raincoats anymore. That's sad if you consider a celebration of oral sex the highlight of 70s' American culture. Debbie Schlussel might have rightly added it should have been as passe as disco. Please.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

1 posted on 02/28/2005 1:27:03 AM PST by goldstategop
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To: goldstategop

Mainstream Hollywood is WORSE than the porno industry.

Porn is porn, it's not that complicated. Hollywood twists values to their worst. Even porn stars would admit they're nothing special, while celebrities like Sarandon and Penn won't shut up about national policy. We can hide away porn from kids. It's much harder to explain to them why some G-rated films are really political propoganda, filled with tripe and idiotic lessons. (Any Disney film made after 1989 qualifies in this respect.)


2 posted on 02/28/2005 1:39:38 AM PST by SteveMcKing
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To: SteveMcKing
Ron Jeremy is at least a funny and unpretentious guy. I can't say I approve of his occupation. But he isn't full of it like Hollywood's overpaid stars who spare no opportunity telling the rest of us we need them more than they need us.

(Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News.")

3 posted on 02/28/2005 1:42:31 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop
Will Debbie be promoting this column on Howard Stern later today, as she often does? </sarcasm>
4 posted on 02/28/2005 1:52:14 AM PST by Dont Mention the War (Liberal radio can be summed up in five words: Dead air, um, dead air.)
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To: goldstategop

"If terrorism and depraved, stupid porn flicks about oral sex are the best examples of free speech worth fighting for, let’s just give up now."

I'm sorry, but I fail to see your connection between porn and terrorism. Terrorism is not viewed as a form of free speech. However, porn is a form of expression. You may disagree with that form of expression, but that is why the first amendment exists: to protect the freedom of people to express what not everyone wants to hear. Also, if you really want to argue what the founding fathers meant by the amendments, lets try the 2nd: the right to bear arms. This was meant for men serving in the militia to make and keep the United States free and safe though in recent times, it is interpreted that everyone should be able to carry their gun with them because they "have the right to bear arms." However, I have digressed, By lumping terrorism and porn together simply because they have been represented by the same attorneys is ridiculous. Everyone is entitled to a lawyer to ensure that swift and sound justice is employed in this country.


5 posted on 02/28/2005 1:58:28 AM PST by KLH523
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To: goldstategop
Interesting article. I didn't see the need for Ms. Schlussel to denigrate the "actress" in the movie...Linda, whatever her real name was, denounced the film, and was out of that industry for a long time. Besides, since she is dead, she cannot refute any charges made against her.
6 posted on 02/28/2005 1:59:08 AM PST by Recovering_Democrat (I'm so glad to no longer be associated with the Party of Dependence on Government!)
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To: Dont Mention the War

"Will Debbie be promoting this column on Howard Stern later today, as she often does?"

Debbie does Howard Stern?

Now there's a thought capable of curdling the non-fat dairy substitute in one's coffee. Ewwwww!


7 posted on 02/28/2005 2:27:03 AM PST by GladesGuru
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To: KLH523
Regarding your misguided beliefs on the meaning of the second amendment, do yourself a favor and read The Unabridged Second Amendment . It'll clear things up for you.
8 posted on 02/28/2005 2:52:29 AM PST by PaulJ
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To: KLH523
Sheesh. You pick out one anomaly and denigrate the entire article. Any opinion on the absurdity of lauding a porn movie as an historic event?

You may call porn an expression but in reality its an audio/visual depiction of the human sex act. Sort of like a documentary. Would you rush to legitimize a movie made about someone defecating all over the place? How about bondage and group sex acts? Are they just an expression, too?

9 posted on 02/28/2005 3:23:04 AM PST by raybbr
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To: KLH523

Welcome to Freerepublic. (since 2005-02-24)
You've been here less than a week and your already hijacking our porn threads?


10 posted on 02/28/2005 3:42:30 AM PST by joshhiggins
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To: goldstategop

"Hollywood IS a moral cesspool. So they will make a documentary about Deep Throat."

I was 10 when Deep Throat came out and I remember it making quite a splash. Is it news-worthy now (I think it was back then)? Is it worth a historical reference? Maybe. This documentary isn't something I'd rush out to see. (I prefer a film like Riding Giants, a surf movie, not a porn flick ;) Lumping all of Hollywood behind this Deep Throat work isn't really fair. I'm sure the film industry employs a lot of decent people, both in front of and behind the camera.


11 posted on 02/28/2005 4:10:17 AM PST by Sun Soldier
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To: KLH523

Re Post 5 KLH23 the posters on FR are merely observing that people who want to do away with the 2nd Amendment, relegate the 1st Amendment to clitori in the throat indulge in terrorism and the harboring and protecting of terrorists all have common threads joining them together much like a mutual leftist self admiration society...

...to put is more simply, it seems flies and shxt still are found together and observedly mutually attractive


12 posted on 02/28/2005 4:19:29 AM PST by chemainus
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To: goldstategop

Gee, is it that they dared make a movie called Debbie Does Dallas?


13 posted on 02/28/2005 4:49:35 AM PST by I_dmc
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To: raybbr

Sorry, the movie did make history. For a time, porn became part of our culture, openly discussed and experienced by many. Note - in 2002 dollars, $600 million is 2 and 1/2 billion dollars. Any recent movies make over $2 billion?


14 posted on 02/28/2005 4:55:51 AM PST by I_dmc
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To: goldstategop
Hollywood IS a moral cesspool. So they will make a documentary about Deep Throat.

You know -reading this thread instantly popped into my mind an idea for a title if anyone chose to do a documentary exposing the myths and lies surrounding the 'gay' homosexual deathstyle (aka lifestyle)

The title: Deep Colon

ROTFLMAO

15 posted on 02/28/2005 5:20:39 AM PST by DBeers
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To: goldstategop

Little Nicky was kinda Hollywood Porn. For kids.

Certainly sick and disgusting and deserving of at least an R rating. But it was PG-13.


16 posted on 02/28/2005 5:23:46 AM PST by Duke Nukum (King had to write, to sing the song of Gan. And I had to read. How else could Roland find the Tower?)
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To: goldstategop
Does “Inside ‘Deep Throat’” show us the advent of AIDS and other deadly diseases and cancers brought on by the rampant, joyless behavior spawned by the industry “Deep Throat” helped unleash? Does it mention all the porn stars who’ve been diagnosed with AIDS, some of whom died? The addicts porn created and the families it destroyed?
How they die: the Dead Porn Star Archive. AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, AIDS, dismembered in dumpster, AIDS, overdose, AIDS. . . .
17 posted on 02/28/2005 5:25:50 AM PST by Lee N. Field
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To: KLH523

Walmart sucks, porn is okay. What will your third FR post entail?


18 posted on 02/28/2005 5:25:57 AM PST by DBeers
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To: KLH523
You don't understand the First Amendment.

You won't understand the Second Amendment.

I can't understand why you're posting on this forum.

19 posted on 02/28/2005 5:36:55 AM PST by Max in Utah (By their works you shall know them.)
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ping to self for later pingout.


20 posted on 02/28/2005 5:43:36 AM PST by little jeremiah (Resisting evil is our duty or we are as responsible as those promoting it.)
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