Inside Deep Throat was released on DVD September 20th, 2005. The critically acclaimed documentary took a behind the scenes look at the Controversial early 70's porn film Deep Throat. Harry Reems was one of the stars of the original Deep Throat and he also appears in the Inside Deep Throat documentary. Harry has left the adult film industry alone now and he is a successful real estate agent in Park City, Utah. You can read our review of the Inside Deep Throat DVD here.

Do you think people who have always had access to pornography in their homes will grasp the concept of how big of a deal Deep Throat was when it came out?
Harry Reems-Oh I don't think so. There was so much social change and revolution going on in the 60's and 70's in America that today people are enjoying freedoms that just 30-40 years ago they didn't have. Sometimes when you are born into a free society like that we don't necessarily the struggle we went through to get there.

Here is a question I have. Was it that Deep Throat was a different kind of porn movie because it dealt with oral sex or was it one of the first porn movies to ever be in theaters a lot.
Harry Reems-No, there were many many porn movies made prior to Deep Throat. In 1967 a film came in from Denmark named I Am Curious Yellow. That film was found not to be obscene even though it had hard core sex in it, it was found not to be obscene, it had social redeeming value. It was part of the obscenity statues that for a film to be judged as obscene it must not have any redeeming social value. That was the first porn film that came in and was legally not to be obscene which opened the door for American film makers to start making films, porno films with explicit sex.

What they did for social redeeming value they would bring in a doctor with a white coat who would say, "If you are having problems with oral sex or sexual positions here's how you do it and they would cut to a 30 minute scene. Deep Throat was the first one to come out that actually spoofed those white coaters. Yeah I played the doctor and I played the straight doctor many many times in the educational films so this was a spoof on the early white coaters or educational films or the pretense of education so Deep Throat was the first comedy, it was the first film to not really have any attempt to have social redeeming value. So the word of mouth got around and celebrities got to see it. More importantly different jurisdiction's around town started to see it an put it on trial and that brought more press and more interest. That's really what fueled the phenomenon of Deep Throat was all the legal harassment it had

Was there ever an idea for a true sequel with the original cast?
Harry Reems-No, there was a sequel. It was not hard core. It was soft core porn and it was called Deep Throat Two. It was actually a broader comedy than Deep Throat because it had pie fights at the end. It had a more elaborate setting and a more defined script and a lot more production value than the original Deep Throat had. It was really done as an R rated film to capture people who had not seen the explicit one and maybe they didn't want to see the x rated one.

I read in your bio that you are a successful real estate agent. Do your clients ever recognize you from your adult film past?
Harry Reems-Harry Reems is not my real name. My real name is Herbert Stryker. I was in SAG as Herb Stryker so I would tell the porn producers to not use my real name. The first time I saw Harry Reems was in Deep Throat and from there people wanted to offer me parts as long as they had Harry Reems in the movie. I was conscious to retain the name not to publicize but I didn't want the pretense that I was denying my past and no my clients are members of my small community in Park City, Utah. I own a brokerage named Reems Real Estate and I am one of the top real estate agents in the area.


What are your overall memories about making Deep Throat. Are they good, bad...
Harry Reems-They were fine. I was actually hired to be the lighting director. If you look at the film Deep Throat you will see that Herb Stryker was the lighting director and Harry Reems played the doctor. I wasn't even supposed to act in the movie. The actor they hired in Florida really did a poor job so they threw out his footage and they brought me in because I had been acting for that director many times prior to Deep Throat. He threw the white coat at me and told me to have fun. My memories were fine memories. I had no idea the Mafia was involved in the distribution of the film. Certainly, Linda Lovelace wasn't forced at gunpoint to make the film. It was different in that we didn't film it in a small apartment in New York City. We actually went on location in Florida. That made it a little more different and a little more enjoyable


Since the film was so profitable do you feel that the cast should have been compensated more?
Harry Reems-You sign a contract for a certain amount of money and you get what you get. It's only after you are a star you get bigger money. I have no regrets that I wasn't paid more money or that I didn't have a participation. I did a film in 1982 for 9 days I was paid $120,000 plus 10% of gross off the top ticket and video sales. You have to start somewhere. I made many movies prior to Deep Throat and I used many different names, so Deep Throat thrusted me into the public and it wasn't long before the phone started ringing and I was offered thousands of dollars for a day of work. Everyone starts somewhere.

Listen to an exclusive clip as Harry discusses his life

Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, and Thabiz.com 2005
Dorrie Williams-Wheeler is the author of Be My Sorority Sister Under Pressure and the Unplanned Pregnancy Book for Teens and College Students. She is the founder of Thabiz.com and Imissthe80s.com and writes for the Rap, Teen, and 1980s section at Bellaonline.com. She is an ASCAP member as a writer and a publisher. Please contact Dorrie for advertising inquiries, lyric writing inquiries, reprint rights, paying entertainment jobs, or general comments.
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Interview copyright Dorrie Williams-Wheeler, thabiz.com September 2005.