FBI tried in vain to stop 'Deep Throat' film
Bluuuue Rajah
FBI tried in vain to stop 'Deep Throat' film
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090620/ap_en_ce/us_fbi_deep_throat
Matt Sedensky, Associated Press 1 hr 19 mins ago
MIAMI � When the FBI investigated the landmark 1972 porno movie "Deep
Throat," the case touched the highest levels of the FBI, even its
second-in-command W. Mark Felt, the shadowy Watergate informant whose
"Deep Throat" alias was taken from the movie's title.
The FBI documents newly released to The Associated Press reveal the
bureau's sprawling and ultimately vain attempt to stop the spread of a
movie some saw as the victory of a cultural and sexual revolution and
others saw as simply decadent.
Agents seized copies of the movie, had negatives analyzed in labs and
interviewed everyone from actors and producers to messengers who
delivered reels to theaters.
"Today we can't imagine authorities at any level of government � local,
state or federal � being involved in obscenity prosecutions of this
kind," said Mark Weiner, a constitutional law professor and legal
historian at Rutgers-Newark School of Law. "The story of 'Deep Throat'
is the story of the last gasp of the forces lined up against the
cultural and sexual revolution and it is the advent of the entry of
pornography into the mainstream."
The papers are among 498 pages from the FBI file on Gerard Damiano, who
directed the movie and died in October. Released this month following a
Freedom of Information Act request by the AP, they are just a glimpse
into Damiano's roughly 4,800-page file. More than 1,000 additional pages
were withheld under FOIA exemptions and because they duplicated other
material; the balance of the file has not yet been reviewed and
released.
Many parts of the released files are whited out and the FBI's ultimate
targets are unclear, but the seriousness with which the agency treated
the investigation is unquestionable.
The file includes memos between the FBI's top men � L. Patrick Gray,
William Ruckelshaus and Clarence Kelley, successive heads of the agency
after J. Edgar Hoover � and field offices so widespread, it seemed
nearly all of the country's biggest cities were involved.
On various entries in the file, a checklist of top FBI brass appears in
the top right corner, with initials next to some names. One of those
listed is W. Mark Felt, the FBI second-in-command whose "Deep Throat"
alias as a Watergate informant came from the movie's title. None of the
markings indicate he read any of the materials on the movie whose name
became synonymous with his role in bringing down Richard Nixon's
presidency. However, former FBI agents interviewed by the AP after the
documents were released said Felt almost certainly would have been aware
of the huge investigation.
Felt got the double-entendre nickname because he leaked crucial
information about Nixon administration corruption on "deep background"
to Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward. His identity remained a secret
until 2005. He died in December.
While much of the probe centered in New York, where many involved in the
film lived, and Miami, where it was largely shot, agents from Honolulu
to Detroit were involved.
Aside from investigative records tracking subpoenas, interviews,
screenings and shipments of the film, the Damiano file includes various
FBI agents' play-by-play accounts of the movie's plot, and the specific
role of Damiano in the agency's investigation.
The FBI notes Damiano had been "somewhat cooperative," On Aug. 7, 1973,
an assistant U.S. attorney general writes to Kelley, saying Damiano is
being considered for immunity. The memo doesn't specify the crime,
though mentioned throughout the file is the charge of interstate
transportation of obscene material.
Among the areas of the case file whited out is an interview with the
star of the film, who at the time went by the name Linda Lovelace.
"Deep Throat" achieved fame unlike any pornographic film in history and
become the most widely known adult film to reach a general audience. It
was hugely profitable � made for about $25,000 and amassing hundreds of
millions in receipts � and became a cultural buzzword.
Authorities have long said the movie was made with mafia money � and the
FBI has linked the mob with porn over the years � but the file includes
no mention of mob links.
Officials at every level of government tried to stop screenings and
obscenity trials continued for years. But in the end, experts say, it
represents the end of an era in which the government sought to stop the
changing cultural tides.
Eugene Volokh, a law professor at UCLA, said the oddity of the scope of
the investigation into "Deep Throat" is a reflection of very different
times.
"Certainly today, with our broadly socially less restrictive attitude to
most pornography and to sex more broadly it may seem odd that the
government was spending so much effort on something like this," he said.
"But attitudes back then were much different."
Derek Janssen
> FBI tried in vain to stop 'Deep Throat' film
...So, kind of like the way we try in vain to stop YOU, then?
Derek Janssen (wow, it is, like, a cut-and-pasted news story with some
goofy words in its headline--I must, like, respond to it right away, and
such!)
eja...@verizon.net
John Doe
> Bluuuue Rajah wrote:
>> FBI tried in vain to stop 'Deep Throat' film
>
> ...So, kind of like the way we try in vain to stop YOU, then?
Control freak.
>
> Derek Janssen (wow, it is, like, a cut-and-pasted news story with some
> goofy words in its headline--I must, like, respond to it right away, and
> such!)
> ejanss1 verizon.net
>
>
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Bluuuuuue Rajah
news:00ba130d$0$24751$c3e...@news.astraweb.com:
> Derek Janssen <ejanss1 nospam.verizon.net> wrote:
>
>> Bluuuue Rajah wrote:
>
>>> FBI tried in vain to stop 'Deep Throat' film
>>
>> ...So, kind of like the way we try in vain to stop YOU, then?
>
> Control freak.
Just a garden variety psycho. I killfiled him after two posts.