50+ Years Later I Realize That 1972–1975 Were My Most Educational Years
If you were to ask my daughter what my number one passion is, she would probably go into the spill about it had better be her but honestly, she would more than likely tell you about my love affair with documentary films and what an impact they have had on my life.
Over the weekend, or at least after my Crimson Tide eeked out a win over the Texas Longhorns (20–19…Bama fans ain’t used to that but a win is a win!) I decided to watch a documentary that I had shelved for a particular reason.
The Watergate Scandal was the documentary and the reason I had shelved it was because I was frightened…no, I was afraid very afraid of the rabbit hole I was about to dive into…
Here is what I gleaned from those years and what it along with these other iconic movies of that same time period taught me.
The Birth of The Summer Blockbuster, Pornographic Films With Plots, and Lying to The Bitter End!
As the birth of ‘doing whatever it takes to get the dirt’ was unfolding in the highest office of the land, The Oval Office, there was another entirely unrelated issue gaining traction in the pornographic film industry.
The movie ‘Deep-Throat’ spurred just as much controversy as did the Watergate scandal, according to which documentary you watch!
The one I watched on the subject of the movie…(no I did not watch the actual movie…I did that when I was 15!) crowned this movie as the king of the Golden Era of Porno 1969–1984.
It was a porno with a plot (a contradiction in terms…I know) but its ultimate fascination with a curious American audience is still being studied by psychology professors across the globe.
But it was ultimately the parallel drawn by the Washington Post editor Howard Simons to use the film’s title, ‘Deep-Throat’ as a code name for his confidential informant of just what happened that fateful night in the prestigious Watergate Hotel in Washington DC.
Perhaps he was thinking, “I wonder how deep this actually goes?” Cheap shot…I know.
That only added to the mystique behind the iconic porno movie that had been reviewed by movie critic icon Roger Ebert and was even finding its way into mainstream American movie theaters!
Smut and politics are everyday fares in 2022…don’t you think?
Que The Mechanical Shark!
It was the Watergate/Deep-Throat scandal that confused me as a 10-year-old and now fascinates me as a 58-year-old!
Nixon was a helluva liar, wasn’t he?
“Your honor, I cannot tell a lie…Tricky Dick taught me everything I know…I am not a murderer!”
I’m sure that some desperate criminal has used the ‘Tricky Dick’ defense already!
While out in the backlots of Universal Studios in Hollywood, Steven Spielberg was doing two things…
- Using the movie ‘Jaws’ to instill fear of going to the beach in each one of us
- And, discovering the power behind releasing ‘The Summer Blockbuster Movies’ that is still to this day being used!
!972 to 1975 taught me everything I need to know to get through life.
“Freaky girls are everywhere, cover your ass and lie to avoid any discovery of your misconduct, and if all else fails…cue the mechanical shark to eat the fucker!”
‘Nuff Said!
