The reflection of the 1972 adult film “Deep Throat” on American society transcends more than three decades and mirrors the glitzy rise and drug saturated fall of its main starlet, Linda Lovelace, also known as Linda Boreman.

Not knowing entirely of the career path Boreman was headed down, her family and friends were shocked upon discovering she was the driving force behind a sexual reform that sent shockwaves across the United States.

It started when Boreman met a jagged man named Chuck Traynor in Florida. Part of the underground crime scene, Traynor prostituted Boreman for three years prior to the release of the film.

He then moved Boreman to New York and licensed her out to appear in illegal movies shot in run down apartments. But the made his biggest move at a cocktail party.

Establishing connections, the pair crossed paths with director Gerard Damiano at a cocktail party and begin talks to establish a script for what would become “Deep Throat.”

After a six-day film session totaling $25,000 of mob money, the film was banned in 23 states, yet managed to become the top grossing film of all-time with a profit of over 600 million dollars.

For a journey that turned out to be short-lived fame and stardom, Boreman later revealed that she was often forced to complete sex acts at gunpoint, including a film involving bestiality.

In addition, Traynor’s abuse ran rampant and he never let her speak on the phone without being on the other line or even take a shower alone. Their relationship culminated in a roundabout of drug addictions that lead to her arrest in 1974 for possession.

In the midst of “Deep Throat’s” popularity, controversy struck. The “very daring and very courageous” project, as many described it, was bombarded by government demands and police raids.

The Nixon administration created obscenity laws and the FBI held a three year investigation, in which 117 people were prosecuted.

Harry Reems, who starred in the film with Linda Lovelace, was prosecuted and faced jail time for five years.

Reems, who was paid only $250 for his role, was brought to trial for participating in an “immoral revolting obscene act.” Reems was the first actor in history to ever be brought to trial for his role in a film, also noting that no man should get charged for creating art.

Fortunately for Reems, this decision was overturned at the beginning of the following Presidential term when Democrats came into office, and he did not have to go to jail.

Reems realized that he was forever branded as the “Deep Throat” later on when he was passed up for the role of the high school coach in the film “Grease.”

Reems developed a severe drug and alcohol problem and found himself panhandling on Sunset Boulevard, before later becoming a real estate agent in Park City, Utah.

The documentary titled “Inside Deep Throat,” now playing at the Mayan Theatre at 110 Broadway in Denver, depicts this surge of both excitement and heartbreak that “Deep Throat” dealt to the actors, the government and society.

Reggie McDaniel, a Denver film critic for KOA radio, was in the army when “Deep Throat” premiered, but had the opportunity to see the film soon after in San Antonio, Texas.

“It has had a big effect on censorship, the only problem with it is some of them have been good, but most of them have been bad.

It has affected styles, books, films and music, so it has been a wide range effect,” said McDaniel.

He added, “The good effects from the censorship law are that it has made people a little more aware.”

This movie has also had a strong impact on the sex industry and the way in which people view sex.

It was noted in the movie that at the time “Deep Throat” debuted, people walking by the marquee would think, “What is deep throat?” and in this current day, many teenagers do not even consider the so-called “deep throat” to be sex.

Like Hugh Hefner pointed out in the documentary, “When I was a young kid, kids didn’t even know where babies came from.” After “Deep Throat,” he noted, sex came out of the closet.

But the film was more than just a sexual revolution.

McDaniel acknowledged the role of “Deep Throat” in establishing censorship within the movies themselves, as well as the forms that branch into other areas such as television and video games.

“It caused the motion picture industry to set up the MPAA and to do a self-censorship, which is the way I think it should have went anyway,” said McDaniel. “A self-censorship allows people to judge whether they should go to them or not.”

Although McDaniel was fortunate enough to be at an appropriate age to form an opinion, others in attendance at the premiere of “Inside Deep Throat” were oblivious to the undergoing change in the 1970’s due to their young age.

Therefore, April Frame and Lara McKenna put themselves in the shoes of their parents and also adopted some new opinions of their own.

“I don’t think she ever said anything, but I am sure my mom was against censorship, knowing her personality,” said Frame.

McKenna added, “I’m glad that there are stores like Fascinations and if it is some kind of result from Deep Throat, then more power to it.”

When the New York Times released an article by Ralph Blumenthal in 1973, entitled “Porno Chic,” pornography suddenly took on a new meaning.

After its publication, box office seats for “Deep Throat” skyrocketed, with over 700 people a day going to see this film.

During a women’s movement focused mainly against sex and men, pornography lost some of its momentum, especially when Linda Lovelace joined the movement, admitting that her experience in “Deep Throat” was both embarrassing and abusive.

She became “a crusader against pornography” and said that every time someone watched “Deep Throat,” someone was watching her being raped.

Upon Boreman’s move to Denver, she got fired from two jobs when her “Linda Lovelace” persona was unveiled. At that point, Boreman returned to the world she vowed never to go back to. She posed for Playboy at age 51.

In many ways, Boreman’s own return to sexual freedom and pornography manifests the ongoing popularity of the porn industry.

According to 2003 statistics from Family Safe Media, pornography grosses $57 billion a year worldwide and $12 billion a year in the United States. Adult videos alone net $20 billion a year on the global scale.

“Inside Deep Throat” suggested that the popularity of pornographic movies strongly increased when the VCR was released and people were able to view these materials in the privacy of their own homes rather than in a theater.

In the year 1987 VCR movie rentals brought in more money than movie theaters and when VCRs came out on the market, 30-50% of films available for VCRs were hardcore pornography.