Chuck Lanehart
Editors Note: Caprock Chronicles are edited by Jack Becker, a recently retired Texas Tech Librarian, but he can still be reached at jack.becker@ttu.edu. This weeks article is by frequent contributor to this column, Chuck Lanehart, Lubbock attorney and historian.
During the 1970s, police raided local theaters regularly, confiscated “dirty movies” and arrested owners and managers for displaying obscenity. The raids were front-page news and led to high-profile criminal trials. Lubbock was the setting for the first obscenity jury trial in the United States involving the celebrated movie, “Last Tango in Paris.”
The 1972 French film, starring Marlon Brando and directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, portrays a recently widowed American who begins an anonymous sexual relationship with a young Parisian woman. Tango generated intense international controversy because of its unusual plot and raw portrayal of sexual violence. Brando and Bertolucci were both nominated for Osca