Deep Throat (film) - Obscenity Litigation

Obscenity Litigation

In various communities in the US, 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 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 which were "well within the bounds of normal behavior." A film critic testified the movie had social value because it showed sympathy for female desires, because the script contained humor and because it was filmed "with clarity and lack of grain." Conversely, in response to a claim the film was a spoof of sexual behavior, a New York University professor said, "I do not see how you can spoof fellatio by showing continuous performance of fellatio." On March 1, 1973, Judge Joel J. Tyler ruled Deep Throat to be obscene, issuing his opinion on the film as "this feast of carrion and squalor," "a nadir of decadence" and "a Sodom and Gomorrah gone wild before the fire." Judge Tyler fined Mature Enterprises $100,000, which was later reduced on appeal. The ruling would inadvertently contribute to the film becoming perhaps the most popular X rated movie of all time.

In 1976, there was a series of federal cases in Memphis, Tennessee, where over 60 individuals and companies, including the Perainos and actor Harry Reems, were indicted for conspiracy to distribute obscenity across state lines. Damiano and Lovelace were granted immunity in exchange for testimony. The Hon. Harry W. Wellford was the Federal District Court judge who heard the case. The trials ended in convictions.

This was the first time that an actor had been prosecuted by the federal government on obscenity charges. (Lenny Bruce had been prosecuted in the 1960s by local authorities.) Reems became a cause célèbre and received considerable support from Hollywood circles. On appeal, he was represented by Alan Dershowitz, and his conviction was overturned: the Miller test had been applied in his case. The Perainos and some other major players connected to organized crime received short prison sentences.

In 1995, while in Las Vegas for an obscenity trial, Louis Peraino met and befriended Raymond and Treasure Pistol, local adult club owners, and sold the Pistols the rights to his entire library including Deep Throat.

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.