Inside Deep Throat Page #8

for merely playing a part.

And Harry Reems

faced five years in jail.

(Tony Bill)

It did not bode well

for the future

of any kind of aesthetic

or artistic expression

in this country,

in any of the arts,

much less this poor guy

who, you know,

suddenly finds himself

being made a scapegoat.

All in the interest of

a basically moral crusade.

(Alan Dershowitz)

What was behind

the case in Memphis

was the religious right.

This is the first

real incarnation

of trying to apply

their conception of morality

to all of America.

(Hopper)

In response,

Hollywood was quick

to mobilize and defend

Harry Reems,

positioning itself as

an opposing cultural force.

[all chattering]

(reporter)

Professionals in the arts

may not find Deep Throat,

as such,

a piece of art

worth defending.

But they are worried about

the threat of

being arrested later on

for what

they write or act in today.

It's a censorship issue.

My overall concern

is the basic, uh, infringement

on the rights

of the First Amendment.

That's probably why

I came to his defense,

knowing that

Beatty and Nicholson did.

That's how

I make all my decisions.

I said,

"Alan, am--am--am l

gonna be convicted?

"Am I going to do

prison time?"

And his response was:

"lf the Republicans

are reelected,

you're going to jail.

If the Democrats are elected,

you're going to be set free."

(Hopper)

While Harry fought for

his freedom,

the architect of

the moral crusade

in the first place

was no longer in office

to savor his triumph.

I shall resign the Presidency

effective at noon tomorrow.

##[More More More

by Andrea True playing]

(Hopper)

And his undoing

had also been Deep Throat,

the nickname for

the secret Watergate source.

(Bernstein)

There's an expression

in journalism

called "deep background"

which means that

the information cannot be used

in the newspaper

with any kind of

hint of attribution.

Deep Throat, deep background.

You know, it's sort of a...

# But if you want to know

how I really feel #

(Hopper)

Its national nightmare over,

the nation got down.

# Get the action goin' #

# How do you like it?

How do you like it? #

The time was right

for a porno star

to be a pop star.

Who would have

ever thought?

# How do you like it? #

(True)

More, more, more.

How do you like it,

how do you like it?

# How do you like it? ##

That's it. That's all of it.

It gets repeated

and repeated and repeated.

It means nothing.

##[Keep It Coming Love

by K.C. and The Sunshine Band

playing]

# Keep it coming, love #

# Don't stop it now,

don't stop it, no #

# Don't stop it now,

don't stop #

# Keep it coming, love,

Keep it coming, love #

# Don't stop it now,

don't stop it, no #

# Don't stop it now,

don't stop it #

# Don't let

your well run dry #

# Don't stop it now #

# Keep it coming, love ##

(Walter Cronkite)

A year ago,

a Memphis federal court

convicted actor Harry Reems

on obscenity charges

in connection with his role

in the film Deep Throat.

Today, a US District Judge

in Memphis overturned

that conviction,

saying that

the actor's activities

took place before

the 1973 Supreme Court

obscenity ruling.

(Reems)

Now that my name

was--was pretty recognizable,

I moved to LA,

thinking that

certainly somebody

would come along and say:

"Well,

there's a sellable name."

Allan Carr had produced

and directed films,

uh, for Paramount.

And he called me one day

and said,

"I'd like you

to play the role

of the high school coach

in the movie Grease. "

I was excited that

I was given an opportunity.

Then about two

or three weeks

before principal

photography began,

Paramount Pictures

removed me from the cast.

That they didn't feel

as though I belonged

in a mainstream

motion picture.

And the lights went on

for me.

I had branded myself

and, uh, given myself

a certain stigma.

I just started

to drink every night,

Iooking for an escape,

Iooking for a little bit

of lightheartedness.

And, you know,

it just led me into

a terrible, terrible disease

of alcoholism

and drug addiction.

What are you doin'?

An antidote.

I'm mixing an antidote.

(Reems)

I remember

the last movies I was on,

I couldn't even walk.

I mean, literally,

they had to carry me to a seat

and I'd shoot

the whole motion picture

sitting in a seat,

delivering lines, drunk.

I was so drunk

and so drugged up at the time

that I couldn't do

sex scenes.

Oh, my head.

They'd carry me off the set

and somebody would get me home

and I'd drink some more

and they'd pick me up

and take me back the next day.

It's all a blur.

It's all a blur.

I lost my home.

I lost my career.

I lost my friends,

and ended up, literally,

panhandling in the streets

on Sunset Boulevard.

(Hopper)

Harry's personal defeat

in the face of

his First Amendment triumph

reflected the way

society was changing.

(woman)

Get lost!

(all)

Freedom! Freedom!

(Paglia)

Culture took

a reactionary turn

after what seemed like

we were on, uh, heading

toward a climax of

the sexual revolution

that we never

actually, uh, attained.

[all chanting]

(Dershowitz)

In the 1970s,

the worst censors

in the country

suddenly became the feminists.

[all shouting]

(woman 1)

The so-called

sexual revolution

in this country

has not been liberating

for women.

(woman 2)

It's the way that pornography

invades the popular culture...

(woman 3)

It's becoming increasingly

socially acceptable.

[all chattering]

(Brownmiller)

The role that

you have selected for women

is degrading to women

because you choose to see

women as sex objects

not as full human beings.

Well, obviously--

Hold on. The day that--

[audience applauding]

Obviously--

I haven't finished.

The day that you are willing

to come out here

with a cottontail

attached to your rear end...

[audience applauding]

(Hefner)

When the women's movement

began to attack sex in general

and men in general,

[laughs]

I was--

I was at a loss for words

because these were

our partners

in a revolution

to really change

uh, sexual values.

(Hefner)

I'm more in sympathy

than perhaps, uh, you know,

the girls realize--

(Brownmiller)

Women.

I'm sorry.

Yes. I'm 35.

(Hefner)

Than the ladies realize.

I use "girls" referring to

women of all ages.

(Brownmiller)

You should stop.

If you want to

be called a boy.

I see. Okay. Um...

[audience laughing]

The idea was

to convince people

that there were good, sound,

feminist, humanitarian reasons

to be against pornography.

(Hopper)

Women Against Pornography

found a surprising ally

in America's most famous

porn star; Linda Lovelace,

who had retired

from the spotlight

and was now

a mother and housewife.

(Donahue)

Linda Lovelace is, uh, here.

The book is titled,

uh, Ordeal.

And I'll tell you,

this book is a very, uh,

explicit recounting

of what happened to you.

I felt it was important to let

everything out

that happened to me.

I literally became a prisoner

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