MIAMI, Fla. — When the FBI investigated the landmark 1972 porno movie "Deep Throat,” the case touched the highest levels of the bureau.
The documents newly released to The Associated Press reveal the bureau’s sprawling and ultimately vain attempt to stop the spread of a movie some saw as the victory of a cultural and sexual revolution and others saw as simply decadent.
Agents seized copies of the movie, had negatives analyzed in labs and interviewed everyone from actors and producers to messengers who delivered reels to theaters.
The papers released this month are among 498 pages from the FBI file on Gerard Damiano, who directed the movie.
On various entries in the file, a checklist of top FBI brass appears in the top right corner, with initials next to some names. One of those listed is W. Mark Felt, the FBI second-in-command whose "Deep Throat” alias as a Watergate informant came from the movie’s title. None of the markings indicate Felt read the materials on the movie whose name became synonymous with his role in bringing down President Richard Nixon.
Felt got the nickname because he leaked information about Nixon administration corruption on "deep background” to reporter Bob Woodward. He died in December.
The file includes memos from the agency’s top men at the time — L. Patrick Gray, William Ruckelshaus and Clarence Kelley.
by the associated press
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