Local Hero

Park City, Utah, realtor Harry Reems is a "a self-proclaimed homebody who lives at the end of a quiet cul-de-sac," says the town's paper, The Park Record. But the quiet cul-de-sac might not be so quiet when the Sundance film festival starts up later this month and it's discovered that the homebody realtor is THAT Harry Reems, the one who starred with Linda Lovelace in the porn flick Deep Throat. Reems will be seen with Helen Gurley Brown, Norman Mailer, John Waters, and scores of other luminaries reliving the controversy surrounding that, um, seminal film when the documentary Inside Deep Throat from World of Wonder and Imagine makes a splash at Sundance on the 21st. Reems is not dreading being back in the spotlight; after nearly two decades of staying away from the press, the former Herb Stryker, is ready to tell his story.

[Deep Throat] was banned in many towns across the country and sparked a Scopes-like court case testing the country’s obscenity laws. According to Inside Deep Throat’s filmmakers, Reems was the star defendant during the ensuing trial in Memphis. “He is really the hero of the story. Harry Reems was charged with distributing obscene material. He is the only actor ever charged that way. . . ,” said Barbato.