First Time Ever I Saw Deep Throat

Wakefield Poole
Director, Boys in the Sand

I got the pre-publicity stuff on it and all the things and I thought well this I want to go see.  And I went like the second day it was running. Outside of the theater when I arrived there were quite a few people, I don't remember how many, but I know that there was quite a line.  In fact I was almost afraid I wouldn't get into the screening that I was standing in line for.  It was a lot of men and a few women, and basically they were in suits.  I went in the afternoon, so it consisted of people who got off from work. 

But it was very quiet in the line. I'd stood in line for many things, like for My Fair Lady when it first opened, and it was a party. But this wasn't a party.  Everyone was sort of, I think, a little uptight having to stand in a line.  And there were cameras all around, people with cameras and you didn't know whether they were professional cameras or private cameras. I think people were a little uptight about being photographed in the line, so a lot of people faced the wall of the theater, as opposed to facing the street.

I was very surprised by the film.  It wasn't at all what I expected.  It was much more fun and not as sensual as I thought it would be, for some reason.  But I went to see it and, as I said, I stood in line with the crowds and it was quite an experience. 

Erica Jong
Author, Fear of Flying

There was a screening in some psychoanalyst's apartment and everybody watched and smoked dope, yeah. I always thought it was ridiculous, if you want to know the truth.  I know the clitoris is not in the throat.  You know, I was not pre-med at Barnard.  I couldn't dissect the fetal pig.  I got a D in zoology and I became a writer. I thought it was quite absurd.  And I had nothing but contempt for Deep Throat.  You know, I was a kid who was reading the great novels of Tolstoy and people like that.  I was not really interested in this crap.

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