Name: Linda Lovelace
Lived: 10 January 1949 – 22 April 2002
Film dates: 1970 to 1980
Film made in 2013
Ten years ago the actress Julie K. Smith was active on Facebook. I often spoke
with her. She read my blog, and she commented on my reviews of her films. She
recommended the film "Lovelace" to me. She said that it had Oscar written all
over it. I'd missed the film in the cinema, but I bought it on DVD as soon as
possible, based on Julie's recommendation. No, it didn't win any Academy
Awards, and it wasn't even nominated. To be honest, I didn't expect it to win
any awards. It's not the sort of film that finds recognition.
The film is based on Linda's autobiography, written in 1980, but
many of the people mentioned in the book claims that she's lying. Her
publisher asked her to take a lie detector test. She passed, but there are
ways of beating the machine. When I was at university one of my professors, an
ardent opponent of lie detectors, gave his class instructions on how to beat
the machine. I still remember everything, just in case I ever have to take a
test.
The film is shown in two halves. In the first half we see Linda as the world
saw her. It was a glamorous life, and she was envied by all. In the
second half her story begins again, and we're shown what really happened
behind closed doors.
Linda Boreman was born in New York in 1949. After an unwanted pregnancy her
family moved to Florida to get her away from temptation. She married a man
called Chuck Traynor. In his own words, he owned a restaurant which sold
good food and had beautiful waitresses. That was a euphemism for a titty bar.
Linda didn't approve, so she stayed away from the restaurant and never asked
Chuck about it.
Chuck was always in debt. He had connections in the pornography industry, so
he got her a role in a film. He didn't even tell her what she was auditioning
for. She thought it was a serious film, but it was actually the
infamous movie "Deep Throat". This made her famous, bringing her together with
film stars and other celebrities. She even became friends with Hugh Hefner,
who's played by James Franco in this film.
That's a handsome young Hef. Did he really look so good?
In the second half of the film we see what the first half omitted. Linda was
never happy with her husband. Chuck raped her on her wedding night. Is that at
all possible? Evidently, yes. He had sex with her in a way that hurt her, and
he didn't listen when she repeatedly told him to stop. Adding insult to
injury, the next morning he was enthusiastic about how good it was. In the
following months and years he often beat her.
The casting for "Deep Throat" was more than just reading lines. Chuck told her
she had to sleep with four men from the film studio. When she refused, he held
a gun to her head and threatened to kill her if she didn't go through with it.
Linda made the film, doing everything that was expected of her.
When it was finished, she was credited as Linda Lovelace. She never picked the
name for herself. It was given to her by the film producers, and they didn't
even consult her.
Linda was ripped off. The film made over $30 million at the box office, and
another $500 million in video sales. She was paid $1250, and she didn't even
receive that, because Chuck took it to pay off his debts. She was asked to
film a sequel, but she refused. "Deep Throat" was the beginning and end of her
film career.
If you check IMDB, you'll see that she made another two films, "Deep Throat 2"
and "Linda Lovelace for President". That's where different stories are told.
Linda claims that these two films were patched together from unused footage
for "Deep Throat". The film producers contradict this. 40 years later it's
impossible to be certain, but my gut feeling tells me to believe Linda's
words.
While watching the first half of the film I thought to myself that I ought to
watch "Deep Throat". It's a gap in the education of a serious film fan. After
watching the second half I said No on principle. I don't want to watch any
film that a woman is forced into against her will.
Today Linda Lovelace is still considered to be the most famous porn star of
all time. That's remarkable, considering she was only a porn star for 17 days.
Success Rate: - 4.4
 |
Order from Amazon.com |
| Order from Amazon.co.uk | |
| Order from Amazon.de |
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tick the box "Notify me" to receive notification of replies.