The AP and LATimes is reporting the Marilyn was found dead last night by her daughter. This news hit me harder than I would of thought. As I think back to the times when Behind the Green Door was released my mind fills with wonderful memories, a few embarrassing ones, and even a bit of hero worship.
The movie was a scandal in it's day. It faced countless lawsuits, thousands of rants from pulpits across the World, and maybe one of the top selling VHS/Beta movies ever sold. Millions of schoolboys figuratively lost their virginity to Marilyns acting. Millions of Women and Girls learned that women could enjoy sex in more than one way, missionary, without the shame their mothers, fathers and the Church. While she wasn't the first porn star by a long shot, she was ground-breaking for being a part of the movie that went more mainstream than any Blue Movie before it.
Marilyn is credited with many firsts in her life. She is said to have been one of the first porn stars to shave, to have her genitals pierced, and maybe even the first porn star to run for the Office of Vice President.
I remember fondly the day a older woman took me to see the movie. I was young and while not a virgin, she told me I needed to learn a few things. Boy did I ever lesson a few lessons from Marilyn and her crew. I won't go into the days following that movie except to say they are some of the best days of life. Behind the Green Door came out the same yr as Deep Throat and in some ways cleared the way for Deep Throat. It came out months before Annie showed her prowess and help generate the ticket sales it enjoyed. I have found one review that is clean enough for work as long you don't follow the link, that explains the impact that BGD as more of a Art film than hardcore porn. While it did have it's moments of shock, like a 7 min. money shot, it would be considered mild by todays standards.
Behind The Green Door is a sensual intimate play including experimental lines in parts. The sex scenes are very explicit but mostly much too abstract to have pornographic character in a narrower sense. The higher aim of this extraordinary film is to combine eroticism with social criticism. Bear in mind that in 1975, racism in America was more marked than today and that having sex with black men and women was deemed to be scandalous from most of the white American population. Also the sexuality of woman was still faced with its liberation. This film attends to both topics in a simple but much elaborated way.
http://erotic-hq.com/behind_the_green_door.htm
Link not safe around work or children.
I don't want this to turn into a diary on porn. I just wanted to say my thank yous to someone who had such a great effect on me and the society we live in.