LOS ANGELES—In its initial 1972 release, Deep Throat played at the landmark Pussycat Theater in West Hollywood. Fifty years later, the film was revived at an anniversary screening Friday night at the upscale Laemmle Royal Theater, some seven miles west on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Introducing the film, Dr. Block welcomed “porno chic sexual revolutionaries” and referred to the film as a cultural touchstone that transcended its audience. “Our dad always dreamed about making movies in Hollywood,” Christar Damiano said before asking how many in the audience had seen the movie already and marveling that 10 was “the highest number ever.”
“People have very strong feelings about this film who have never even seen it,” Damiano Jr. added. “That’s why we always ask how many people have. It got couples and women into a movie theater to see adult content. Fifty years ago, that was very, very new. Now, 50 years later, it’s as novel as it was in 1972.”
The print was bright and clean, with clear sound. Some of the elements were surprising to a contemporary audience, including undisguised commercial products and recognizable songs, and the Damianos added some showmanship by walking through the audience with bubble shooters as a song played on the soundtrack with a refrain line that said “blowing bubbles.”
After the film, Dr. Block moderated a panel with the Damianos, Herschel Savage and Nina Hartley. Hartley pointed out she had never seen the film before, and she loved the humor, the music, and the emphasis on cunnilingus, and mentioned some elements that would not be acceptable today, including play-acting rape (which she referred to as “the R-word”). Savage lamented that he had gotten into the adult industry too late to get in on Deep Throat, but he did work with Gerard Damiano on The Satisfiers of Alpha Blue. “One thing I remember about [Damiano] is how much he really cared. He really wanted something special. He did that in the film we did. I’m glad you brought [Deep Throat] back. It was a real breakthrough.” Dr. Block mentioned that some members of mainstream Hollywood defended Deep Throat, including Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty.
Damiano Jr. reminisced about being on the set with his father. “We always knew what he did, even when we were small children. We knew he was a filmmaker. We weren’t allowed to see his films, we knew they were for grown-ups. We were on the set of Deep Throat. My sister was six and I was seven.” Damiano Jr. said he and his sister “loved” playing with Harry Reems, who they called “Uncle Herbie.” He also said that Linda Lovelace and her husband/manager Chuck Traynor didn’t socialize with the rest of the crew off-set, and apparently Traynor beat up Lovelace at their hotel one night because he was jealous of her rapport with Reems. To get Traynor off the set, director Damiano sent him across town to get more film stock while he shot her scene with Reems. Damiano Jr. also refuted the contention that Lovelace was abused on set: “When she got on the set, she was treated like a star.”
The Deep Throat tour continues later this week with performances at Oasis in San Francisco on June 8 and The New Parkway in Oakland on June 11.
