Behind the Green Door

Behind the Green Door is a 1972 American feature-length pornographic film, widely considered one of the genre's "classic" pictures and one of the films that ushered in The Golden Age of Porn.[2] [3] [4] [5]  Featuring Marilyn Chambers, who became a mainstream celebrity, it was one of the first hardcore films widely released in the United States and the first feature-length film directed by the Mitchell brothers.[6]  It was adapted from an anonymous short story of the same title, which was circulated by means of numerous carbon copies. The story's title makes reference to the 1956 hit song "Green Door".[7]  Though the main focus of the film, Chambers does not have a single word of dialogue in the entire film. The film is possibly the first U.S. feature-length hardcore film to include an interracial sex scene.[8]  The porn industry and viewing public were shocked by the then-taboo spectacle of a white woman having sex with a black man.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Plot  ==Plot[ edit] == A wealthy San Francisco socialite, Gloria Saunders (Chambers), is taken against her will to an elite North Beach sex club and loved "as she's never been loved before". There she engages in lesbian sex with a group of six women, for some reason all dressed in black, before being brought out wearing a white dress on stage through the green door.
 * 2 Impact
 * 2.1 Marilyn Chambers
 * 3 Critical reception
 * 4 Legal troubles
 * 5 Sequel
 * 6 Remake
 * 7 In popular culture
 * 8 Notes
 * 9 References
 * 10 External links

The silent, largely masked audience become increasingly aroused[3]  as her white dress is removed and she is stroked, kissed and given cunnilingus by the women. Her first heterosexual sex is with the African-American boxer Johnny Keyes, accompanied by a jazz soundtrack.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hardcore_9-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-threehundred_10-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[10]  Over 45 minutes, he gives her more cunnilingus and then they have sexual intercourse, while Gloria continues to be stroked by the other women. When she has an orgasm, the sex stops and he is not shown to ejaculate.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Gloria then mounts a trapeze contraption suspended from the ceiling and then engages in vaginal intercourse with one man as she performs oral sex on another and masturbates two others.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-11" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[11]  The audience become further aroused and begin having sex with each other in what becomes an orgy.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-12" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[12]  In a psychedelic key sequence, an ejaculation is shown with semen flying through the air for almost seven minutes. The film features several multicolored,optically printed, slow-motion close-ups of money shots.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hardcore_9-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]  This is the only ejaculation sequence in the film. The narrator then runs from the audience onto the stage and carries Gloria off through the green door.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hardcore_9-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]  The film ends with Gloria and him making love alone.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hardcore_9-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9] ==Impact<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Along with Deep Throat, released the same year, the movie launched the "porno chic" boom<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pennington_7-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7]  and started what is now referred to as the "Golden Age of Porn."<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-threetwenty_2-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[2]  Along with Deep Throat it was the first hardcore porn film to reach a mass mixed-sex audience.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hardcore_9-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]  Prior to Behind the Green Door, most of the Mitchell Brothers' 200 or so films had only been shown in their O'Farrell Theater.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-13" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[13]  Made with a budget of $60,000, it achieved a nationwide theatrical release which earned over $1 million.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-threetwenty_2-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[2] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pennington_7-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7]  The movie ultimately grossed over $50 million<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-14" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[14] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-pornking_15-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[15]  including its video release, which was controlled exclusively by the Mitchells out of their headquarters in the O'Farrell Theatre, San Francisco. It was the one of the biggest box office successes of the 1970s, alongside Deep Throat and The Devil in Miss Jones.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Pennington_7-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[7]  It was even screened at the Cannes Film Festival.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-unknown_6-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6]  After its release, organized crime figures used extortion in an attempt to obtain the rights to the film.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kelly_16-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16] ===Marilyn Chambers<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Chambers was relatively unknown at the time; however, the film made her a star.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kelly_16-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-falk_17-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17]  Immediately prior to the movie's release she was the "Ivory soap girl",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-falk_17-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17]  having modeled for the Ivory Snow soap and detergent packaging holding a baby.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-unknown_6-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kelly_16-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-falk_17-2" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-love_18-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[18]  The brand was sold under the slogan "99 and 44/100's % pure".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-unknown_6-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hardcore_9-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]  The Mitchell brothers saw a publicity opportunity, and distributed press releases describing Chambers as "99 and 44/100's % impure " .<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-unknown_6-4" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6]  After the release of the movie, the advertising industry was scandalized,<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Hardcore_9-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[9]  and Procter & Gamble recalled all Ivory Snow products and advertising materials featuring her, unintentionally adding to the movie's hype. The staid Procter & Gamble subsequently required of all of their advertising agencies that they thoroughly screen the background of any female model employed for print advertisements or commercials. That Chambers's image was so well known from Ivory Snow boosted the film's ticket sales, and led to several jokes on television talk shows.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-love_18-1" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[18]  Critics have since debated whether she was really having orgasms in her scenes or just acting.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-falk_17-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[17] ==Critical reception<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">Upon its release the film received positive reviews in mainstream media.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Kelly_16-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[16]  According to Peter Michelson<sup class="noprint Inline-Template" style="line-height:1;font-size:11.1999998092651px;white-space:nowrap;">[who?]  there is, "a relatively small corpus of pornographic films – e.g., Deep Throat, The Devil in Miss Jones, and Behind the Green Door – that have a minimal but still sufficient artistic interest to distinguish themselves from the rest of the genre",<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-19" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[19]  and the film is "more artful than most smut films".<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-20" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[20]  It was the second film to be inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame, following Deep Throat.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-21" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[21] ==Legal troubles<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">The Supreme Court's 1973 Miller v. California decision adversely affected the mainstream release of porn films, including Behind the Green Door. The Miller decision redefined obscenity from that of “utterly without socially redeeming value” to that that lacks "serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value" and substituted contemporary community standards for national standards, as some prior tests required. Miller continued to hold that obscenity was not protected by the First Amendment, which gave leeway to local judges to seize and destroy prints of films adjudged to violate local community standards.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">When Behind the Green Door opened in Suffolk County, New York in 1973, it was successfully prosecuted, as it was in New York City along with the 1973 porn film The New Comers. In addition to New York, Behind the Green Door was banned in California, Colorado, and Georgia.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-Encyclopedia_of_Censorship_22-0" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[22] ==Sequel<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 1986, the Mitchells made a sequel to this film, Behind the Green Door: the Sequel, directed by cabaret singer Sharon McNight. The movie featured no famous performers, and starred an Elisa Florez who billed herself as Missy Manners (Artie Mitchell's girlfriend at the time and reportedly demanded the role). It was the first safe-sex themed porn film (produced as a response to the 1980s AIDS outbreak in San Francisco.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-unknown_6-5" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6] ) in which all the performers used condoms, birth control, and other protection.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-23" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[23]  It was a critical and commercial disaster and cost the Mitchells hundreds of thousands of dollars.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-24" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[24] <sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-25" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[25]  The O'Farrell Theatre contains a "Green Door Room" which is named for the two movies and was the principal set of the sequel. ==Remake<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == <p style="margin-top:0.5em;line-height:17.9200000762939px;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14.3999996185303px;">In 2012, adult film company Vivid produced a loose remake/reimagining entitled New Behind The Green Door. The updated film stars Brooklyn Lee as the main character Hope, a wealthy young woman drawn into a seedy underworld while on an erotic journey to find her birth mother. The movie also includes footage of the original Behind the Green Door as Hope describes a sexual fantasy that recalls the plot of the 1972 film. Other cast members include: Dana DeArmond, Penny Pax, Bailey Blue, Steven St. Croix and James Deen, with special appearances by original cast member Johnnie Keys and original star Marilyn Chambers' daughter McKenna Taylor. ==In popular culture<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * Footage from the film (none of which includes any nudity) is seen in the movie The Cannonball Run, when Jackie Chan's character watches it in his high-tech car, almost leading to an accident.
 * The production of the movie is dramatized in the movie Rated X starring the brothers Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez as Artie and Jim Mitchell.<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-unknown_6-6" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[6]
 * Appears in Californication episode 3.07
 * In the song "Hooks in You" by Iron Maiden, there is a reference to the movie in the first few lines.
 * Shakin' Stevens got his first number one hit with the song "Green Door", also performed by Frankie Vaughan.
 * On the TV sitcom Maude, the film is mentioned in the season 3 episode "Nostalgia Party" as being notorious for its time; though incorrectly mentioning the year of its release as 1974.
 * American death metal band Dislimb released a song on their 2002 EP, "Bleeding Anxiety", called "Behind the Green Door".
 * Swedish metal band Lake Of Tears released a song on their 2011 album, "Illwill", called "Behind The Green Door".
 * In SAW - A Hardcore XXX Parody, Ron Jeremy claims that he starred in Behind the Green Door
 * Footage from the film is incorporated into Vivid's 2012 re-imagining New Behind The Green Door when the female protagonist Hope describes a sexual fantasy that resembles the plot of the film. The movie can also be seen playing on a TV in one of the characters' house and during an underground orgy.