When we talk about the world of pornography in the 1970s, we certainly think of some films that are very well known from the “porn-chic” era. One of those films would beBehind the Green Door” in 1972. At first, it was released before the famous “Deep Throat”, which I already wrote about here for the Blog and at the time, pornography was a big deal in the theater and this film along with “Deep Throat” is living proof of this, the film was made on a budget of $60,000 and would go on to gross over $25 million dollars, including the video release.
The story
“Behind the Green Door” (Behind the Green Door 1972), in short, was the first hardcore pornographic film, considered one of the greatest successes in the genre, alongside Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones, widely distributed in the United States. Created by brothers Artie and Jim Mitchell in San Francisco, it raised over $25 million and led to several obscenity lawsuits, especially in the American South.
The film starred actress and model Marilyn Briggs (Marilyn Chambers), who was already known for her work as a model. In the film, a young woman, played by Chambers, is kidnapped and taken to an underground sex club, and as a result is forced to perform various sexual acts with multiple partners. Likewise, the film generated a lot of controversy, largely because of the interracial sex scene between Chambers, who was white, and African-American actor Johnny Keyes.
The film
Trailer:
The film “Behind the Green door” is very simple as it is basically the story of Gloria who is kidnapped and taken to a theater where there is a massive orgy going on. From there, she is forced to participate in the activities that take place in front of a watching audience. That might seem extremely strange nowadays. But actually there were movie theaters like this all over New York City in the 70’s, in Brazil it came much later where people would go watch and participate in things just like in the movie.
video film
Some critics say that, in fact, the real selling point of this film, when compared to other porn films, is the merit of being very well done. In contrast to something like “Deep Throat”, this one actually has very slick camera work and presentation. However, considering that this one does not have the history (which Deep Throat proudly displays) that most “golden age” porn movies have. I think the movie, “Behind the Green Door” is an essential viewing for fans of old-school pornography, or even porn aficionados. grindhouse*, like me. And a lot of that has to do with its relevance for today.
*Just to clarify, grindhouse: They were the most unpopular movie houses, where the focus was not on showing the actor’s new film as it is in fashion in Hollywood, but showing things that were normally in the taste of the owner of the room, usually movies ” exploitation”. Quentin Tarantino…. 🤣
Incidentally, the films shown normally contained themes such as explicit sex, violence, oddities, perversions, extraordinary fights, cars, powerful blacks, evil women, etc. Sometimes porn films were only shown, for example. Classics of the genre like “Deep Throat” e “Behind the Green Door” had their cult in these establishments.
The state appeals court ruled that “Behind the Green Door”, was degrading to sex.
In Atlanta, prosecutors charged Paris Adult Theater owner Claude Davis Ballew with a misdemeanor charge for showing a lewd film. Furthermore, in the Fulton County Criminal Court, the jury of five selected to hear the case found Ballew guilty. The Georgia Court of Appeals upheld his conviction, finding that the film violated Miller vs. California (1973).
Footage from KRON-TV News from June 6, 1973 with brief footage from a press conference by actress Marilyn Chambers (1952-2009), who is responding to local criticism in Hayward about her film “Behind the Green Door”, produced in San Francisco by Artie and Jim Mitchell. However, she says, “I have a 1st Amendment right to free speech, and my performance is very important to me. My film has never been considered obscene by any court in the United States or anywhere else in the world. I recently showed it at Cannes. 🇧🇷
I hope you like the old-school world!
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