Farewell, Deep Throat? So long, Miss Jones'? Could it be that the lust affair is over? Within the past year, two hard-core flicks (Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones) were among the nation's top-grossing films and porno stars like Linda Lovelace (Throat) and Marilyn Chambers (Behind the Green Door) became nationally-known figures. Today, hard-core movie houses are half empty. "Business is only 60% of what it was last year," says Porno Producer David Friedman, president of the Adult Film Association.
The recent Supreme Court decisions toughened local prosecution of pornography, and the FBI now has 90 full-time agents monitoring interstate shipments of film. The real trouble, however, is neither cops nor courts but boredom—the intrinsic tedium in the medium since hard-core hit the screen. "A hard-core film today is as strictly constructed as a medieval morality play," Friedman complains. "There are just so many positions you can film."
There are approximately 730 hardcore theaters in the U.S., and about 1 million regular patrons. To make big money, porno films must lure larger audiences. But, says Friedman, "the millions who saw Deep Throat and Green Door have now seen a dirty picture. They belong to the one-time-only club."
Attempts to retreat into softcore, like Deep Throat II, in which the explicit scenes are all off-camera, have failed. Nor have "religious" novelties like Not Just Another Woman, in which Porno Circuit Star Tina Russell plays a nun, or Him, about a homosexual with graphic Christ fantasies, provoked any big box office response. The thrill, it seems, is gone.