Deep Throat at 50: the controversial film that pushed porn into the mainstream

‘In America, people are very skittish about talking about anything that has to do with sex’ … a still of Deep Throat. Photograph: Damiani Films

It intrigued celebrities, mortified conservatives, divided feminists and changed pornography forever. Deep Throat, which premiered in New York 50 years ago on Sunday, is probably the most controversial – and profitable – film of all time.

The X-rated movie starred Linda Lovelace as a sexually unfulfilled woman whose long-lost clitoris is found by a doctor buried in her oesophagus, prompting long, surreal and, some would say, boring scenes of fellatio with a series of men.