Introduction: In the following illustrated compilation are some of the most significant films in the history of sex on the screen. The influential film milestones and their memorable sexual/erotic scenes are thoroughly described. Including portrayals of sex and/or nudity, these films were often considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time. The following listing of these influential, memorable and classic sex scenes and films takes into account all of the available surveys of this type of material, and attempts to provide an informed, detailed, unranked, chronological (by film title) grouping of the most influential and groundbreaking films and scenes. Some of the most notorious (or infamous) films are quite mediocre, usually made as an excuse to display nudity or eroticism of a star performer.

See also the multi-part Sexual and Erotic Films in Cinema, The Most Controversial Films of All-Time and the Best and Most Memorable Film Kisses of All Time in Cinematic History.

Key to Icon Symbol:

- Milestone Films With Scenes That Were Especially Notorious, Infamous, Controversial, or Scandalous

Example

Calamity Jane (1953)

The French Line (1953)

After Howard Hughes' earlier conflict with the Production Code over his sexy western The Outlaw (1943), he ran into further difficulties over using busty starlet Jane Russell again in this light-weight musical comedy film set on a ship bound ultimately for Gay Paree; this Technicolored RKO film was released without a seal of approval, and declared 'unfit' for audiences and 'condemned' by the Catholic Legion of Decency; the Roman Catholic Archdiocese called it "a mortal sin" and asked for copies to be confiscated; Russell starred as Mary 'Mame' Carson, a Texas oil heiress looking for a husband who would love her - and not only for her money; the film was originally made in 3-D, and came with the provocative RKO taglines: "J.R. in 3-D - and What Dimensions!", and " It'll knock BOTH your eyes out"; the most controversial scenes, often excised, were the opening 'bubble of excitement' bath scene, and the bump-and-grind (performed tongue-in-cheek) dance number "Lookin' for Trouble" at the film's conclusion during a fashion show, with Jane in a revealing, sparkling, silver-beaded black, bikini-like costume (with strategically-placed cut-outs) - she delivered this suggestively-spoken dialogue: "All I need is a man, any type, any style. Just so he's a man. Now he can be short, tall, or e-long-gated. He can be thin, muscular, obese - that's fat, you know. Any direction will do. He can be sweet, sensitive, intelligent, a little coy, but not a boy. Now don't get me wrong. 17 to 70 will do. It ain't the age. It's the attitude! However, there is one requisite I must make. He has to be breathing. So bring him on. Stand back and watch my own private chemical reaction start to work!..."; the entire dance sequence ran into trouble with censors, and was reportedly released in two versions, one with little breast exposure (and a Production Seal), and one with lots of flesh showing (in the uncensored, unapproved version)

From Here to Eternity (1953)

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Glen or Glenda? (1953) (aka I Changed My Sex, I Led Two Lives, The Transvestite, or He or She)

Oft-maligned auteur Ed Wood's best 'worst' cult film of all time (his directorial debut film) was this low-budget, semi-autobiographical docu-drama production about cross-dressing (transvestism) and transexuality (identifying with one's opposite birth gender); Wood himself (with the screen name of Daniel Davis) starred as the title character - a transvestite struggling with his addiction to angora cloth, and an aged Bela Lugosi as the narrator (credited as "The Scientist"); this film was designed to capitalize on the recent headlines about the late 1952 male-to-female sex reassignment surgery of Christine Jorgensen; the film's tagline proclaimed: "I Changed My Sex!" with the additional: "What Am I...Male or Female!, The Strange Case of a 'Man' Who Changed His SEX!"

The Moon is Blue (1953)

Niagara (1953)

Striporama (1953),
Varietease (1954), and
Teaserama (1955)

Carmen Jones (1954)

The Garden of Eden (1954)

By claiming to be an 'educational' naturism documentary, this 90-minute film by Hollywood 'B' movie director Max Nosseck, skirted the anti-nudity film restrictions of its time; it was the first naturist film shot in color and the first nudist camp film since the 1930s, with a dubious plot about gorgeous young widow Susan Lattimore (Jamie O'Hara) who fled to a nudist camp with her six year-old daughter Joan to escape an evil father-in-law; it featured lush outdoor Everglades photography and an elaborate romantic dream sequence, as well as the requisite volley-ball games, swimming, and water-skiing in the nude; it faced legal battles and was banned as obscene (or "indecent") after its controversial release - until 1955 when a NY judge ruled in its favor that nudism in itself (in existing nudist camps) was not obscene, and in 1957 when the Supreme Court also ruled in favor of nudity in the Roth decision

Johnny Guitar (1954)

Director Nicholas Ray's unconventional, bizarre, off-beat cult Western has sometimes been called a 'lesbian western', because it reversed traditional gender roles; it starred Joan Crawford as a mannish, strong-willed, drag-queen-looking, deserted Arizona saloon-owner named Vienna, and Mercedes McCambridge as bull-dyke rancher Emma Small - the blood-lusting, mean-spirited, sexually-repressed leader of intolerant 'good guy' vigilantes; in one scene, Vienna commented about unscrupulous outlaw Dancin' Kid's (Scott Brady) effect on Emma: "He makes her feel like a woman and that scares her"); the gun-toting Vienna often wore a black shirt, a string tie around her collar, pants, and boots and was described by her saloonkeeper Sam (Robert Osterloh) as masculine: "Never seen a woman who was more a man. She thinks like one, acts like one, and sometimes makes me feel like I'm not."

Rear Window (1954)