Behind the Green Door (1972)
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A wealthy socialite is taken against her will to an elite sex club where she is subjected to a series of sexual encounters.
The story
The manager of a diner asks two regular customers to recount a supposedly true story involving a 'green door'. The narrative follows Gloria Saunders, a wealthy San Francisco socialite who arrives at a North Beach hotel for a vacation. She is taken against her will to an elite sex club. While wearing a white dress, she is brought onto a stage through a green door, where she is subjected to various sexual acts by a group of women and a boxer, all while a masked audience watches.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
The film begins with a diner manager asking two customers to tell a story about a 'green door'. The story follows Gloria Saunders, a wealthy San Francisco socialite on vacation at a North Beach hotel. She is abducted and taken to an elite sex club. Appearing on stage in a white dress through a green door, she is sexually assaulted by six women dressed in black. She then has heterosexual sex with an African-American boxer named Johnnie Keyes to a funk soundtrack. Following this, Gloria is mounted on a trapeze contraption and engages in group sex with multiple men while the audience participates in an orgy. The film features a psychedelic sequence with a seven-minute ejaculation. Finally, a narrator carries Gloria off the stage through the green door, and the film ends with them making love alone.
- First release year
- 1972
- Runtime (minutes)
- 72
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Artie Mitchell; Jim Mitchell
- Writers
- Artie Mitchell · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Marilyn Chambers · Gloria Saunders; Johnnie Keyes · Johnnie Keyes
- Genres
- pornographic; hardcore
- Themes
- sexual revolution; interracial sex
- Tone and mood
- psychedelic; hardcore
- Premise and plot tags
- hardcore; interracial sex; orgy
- Source material / true-story basis
- an anonymous short story of the same title
- Content notes
- interracial sex
- Reception
- The film received some positive reviews in mainstream media, though it was criticized for its lack of character development. It was considered one of the 'classic' pictures of the genre and helped launch the 'Golden Age of Porn' and 'porno chic' boom.
- Awards and nominations
- Hall of Fame induction · XRCO Hall of Fame · win
- Production trivia
- The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.; John Cena cited it as his favorite guilty pleasure movie in 2024.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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