Sex in Cinema: Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time.

Sex in Cinema: In the following collection, excerpted from the Mini-History of Sex in the Cinema at this site, here are some of the most significant milestones, and most influential and memorable sexual/erotic scenes and films on the big screen through cinematic history. Most of these films, with portrayals of sex and/or nudity, were considered quite erotic, groundbreaking, unique and/or controversial at the time. HISTORY OF SEX IN CINEMA - INDEX (chronological by film title) Intro \| Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5 \| Part 6 \| Part 7 \| Part 8 \| Part 9 \| Part 10 \| Part 11 \| Part 12 \| Part 13 \| Part 14 \| Part 15 \| Part 16 \| Part 17 \| Part 18 \| Part 19 \| Part 20 \| Part 21 \| Part 22 \| Part 23 \| Part 24 \| Part 25 \| Part 26 \| Part 27 \| Part 28 \| Part 29 \| Part 30 \| Part 31 \| Part 32 \| Part 33 \| Part 34 \| Part 35 \| Part 36 \| Part 37 \| Part 38 \| Part 39 \| Part 40 \| Part 41 \| Part 42 \| Part 43 \| Part 44 \| Part 45 \| Part 46 \| Part 47 \| Part 48 \| Part 49 \| Part 50 \|
Sex in Cinema: Part 13 Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes (chronological by film title) Milestone Films With Scenes That Were Especially Notorious, Infamous, Controversial, or Scandalous
Movie Title	Brief Scene Description	Example
The Long, Hot Summer (1958)	This was the Fox film that was made during the passionate courtship of actor Paul Newman (as sexy and virile Mississippi barnburning arsonist/drifter Ben Quick) and his soon-to-be wife Joanne Woodward (as 23 year-old old-maid schoolteacher daughter Clara of his rich boss Will Varner (Orson Welles)) in their first film together; their scenes at a picnic, and in a department store after closing time were sensually hot and exuded on-screen chemistry - w/o nudity or explicit sexual love scenes (except for kissing) - with Clara's repeated turn-downs and Ben's seductive come-ons, and Clara's memorable speech about her ideal relationship, in Martin Ritt's sultry southern romantic melodrama that adapted a melange of William Faulkner stories
The Lovers (1958, Fr.) (aka Les Amants)	Louis Malle's second feature film was an over-rated tale of French adultery and feminine liberation; its tale was about a repressed, sexual-yearning married woman with a family who was experiencing a mid-life crisis and a weekend affair in Paris with suave Spanish polo player Raoul (Jose Luis de Villalonga); it was notorious and considered scandalous for her second affair including an extended 20-minute, semi-nude (with a quick view of the heroine's breast), almost wordless, intense love-making scene at film's end - with Brahms' 'Sextet No. 1 in B-flat Major' playing on the soundtrack; the scene that portrayed her casual love affair took place in the moonlit gardens of her husband's countryside villa and her bedroom (and in various locales including a rowboat and a bathtub) between Jeanne Moreau (as bored, 30 year-old, unhappily married, bourgeois housewife Jeanne of Dijon newspaper proprietor Henri (Alain Cuny)) and young archaeology student and brief houseguest Bernard (Jean-Marc Bory); her opening hand going limp signaled pleasurable release during sex; there was also a non-explicit, understated scene of oral sex; by film's end, the adulteress scandalously abandoned her family by running off with him after their passionate night; a Cleveland Heights, Ohio theatre manager was convicted and fined $2,500 for screening this 'obscene' erotic film (later overturned by the US Supreme Court 1964 ruling in Jacobellis v. Ohio with Justice Potter Stewart's famous and much-quoted definition of obscenity: "I know it when I see it...") - delaying the film's US release
Mädchen in Uniform (1958, W. Ger./Fr.)	Although made in 1958, this landmark lesbian film wasn't released in the US until 1965; in fact, it was a remake of an earlier controversial film made in 1931 in West Germany with an all-female cast -- both were based on Christa Winsloe's novel/play Gestern und Heute; the plot told of a young boarding-schoolgirl named Manuela Von Meinhardis (Romy Schneider) who developed a lesbian attachment to her sympathetic teacher Fraulein von Bernburg (Lilli Palmer) in a Prussian boarding school for girls; in the dormitory goodnight sequence in this film, the Fraulein only planted a kiss on Manuela's forehead, but they kissed in her school classroom; later, Manuela publically declared her scandalous love for her teacher to the school's superiors and other girls; she was accused of being "depraved" and having "an unhealthy fascination" for her teacher by the Sister Superior; threatened with losing her job, even the Fraulein told Manuela: "Your love for me is wrong"; in the film's conclusion, the heartbroken Manuela threatened to jump to her death from the school's upper stairwell, but was restrained; the Fraulein had the option to stay but declared resolutely and positively: "Manuela will find her own way in life. I have to get out of here. I'd only get in her way" - Manuela reacted by rolling over and smiling in her infirmary bed as the film ended
Vertigo (1958)	Director Alfred Hitchcock's critically-acclaimed, non-explicit, subtle masterpiece of obsessive love was a dark film without explicit scenes of sexuality; retired detective John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart), during an investigation of an old friend's blonde wife named Madeleine (Kim Novak), rescued her from drowning - the film made the implication (with a slow panning shot around his apartment) that he had seen his unconscious victim naked after removing her clothes and placing her in his bed; he developed an obsessive love for the enigmatic female - climaxed with an orgasmic kiss oceanside with waves crashing; when she died from an apparent suicide (that Scottie couldn't prevent due to his fear of heights and vertigo), he experienced a nervous breakdown until he met a brunette 'Madeleine look-alike' named Judy (Kim Novak again) - who unbeknownst to him - was in on the plot to stage the wife's murder earlier; guilt-ridden, she played along with Scottie's fetishistic, manipulative, and compulsive needs to make her over and appear like the dead Madeleine - ultimately revealed in the greenish neon light of her cheap hotel room; as he embraced her in the glow (and the camera circled around them during a kiss), there were creepy hints of psychological necrophilia
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)	Otto Preminger's daring courtroom drama, another of his 50s films that confronted the Production Code's and the Legion of Decency's stringent regulations and censorship, regarded the case of an Army lieutenant Fred Manion (Ben Gazzara) who was charged with killing his trampy wife Laura's (Lee Remick) rapist - bar-owner Barney Quill, in the presence of many witnesses; the courtroom deliberations were conducted by folksy, former small-town defense attorney Paul Biegler (James Stewart) against rival assistant attorney general Claude Dancer (George C. Scott) - using the argument of 'irresistible impulse' (or temporary insanity) in the presence of trial judge Harlan Weaver (Joseph Welch, a real-life Boston trial lawyer famous during the McCarthy hearings); the sensational elements in the film included the shocking-at-the-time, frank and clinical dialogue with the taboo words "panties," "sperm," "spermatogenesis," "intercourse," "rape," "contraceptive," "bitch," "slut," "sexual climax," and "penetration"
Ben-Hur (1959)	Acclaimed director William Wyler's Best Picture winner contained an interesting, non-overt homosexually-tinged subtext in the relationship of Messala (Stephen Boyd) and Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) - Roman and Jewish childhood lovers in the past, and especially in their greeting scene - the throwing of spears (with Messala's cheery comment: "After all these years! Still close...", to which Judah seriously replied: "In every way" as they grasped forearms for a lengthy time) - they also blended arms as they drank a toast to each other
The Best of Everything (1959)	Jean Negulesco's campy melodrama was an urban Peyton Place, about aspiring young starlet-secretaries (Hope Lange, Diane Baker and Suzy Parker) in the glamorous world of publishing in New York City; it was advertised that the film: "Nakedly Explores the Female Jungle Where Women Fight and Love Their Way to the Top - To Get the Things and Men They Want!" - it was Hollywood's look at the new sexual morality of the time; some of the most quotable lines included: "Please make love to me, even if you don't love me...26 is too far ahead!", "Here's to men. Bless their clean-cut faces and their dirty little minds", and "Would you ever marry a girl who wasn't pure?"; the film also implied what might happen to a working woman if she never married - the result would be the character played by Joan Crawford
Blue Denim (1959)	20th Century Fox released this controversial teen exploitation/social-issue film by director Philip Dunne, with a score by Bernard Herrmann; this melodrama preaching the dangers of late 50's pre-marital sex starred Brandon De Wilde as unmarried 15 year-old teen Arthur Bartley seeking a $150 illegal backstreet abortionist (the word 'abortion' is never used in the film) for his pregnant young girlfriend Janet Willard (teen model Carol Lynley, with a Golden Globe-nominated performance for Most Promising Newcomer - Female in 1959); in the original Broadway stage play, Janet actually had the abortion, although in the film version's happy 'Hollywood' ending (a modified storyline due to the Production Code), she was 'saved' from going ahead with the 'dirty deed'; Arthur joined her on the train traveling out of town - promising to get married to her (thereby sacrificing his career) while she lived at her aunt's house before having the baby; the film was censored in Memphis and Dallas
Girls Town (1959)	This teen sexploitation film about youthful rebels from MGM featured B-movie sexpot Mamie Van Doren in the lead role as a sexy, misbehaving juvenile delinquent named Silver Morgan, who was sent to a reform-school correctional institution run by nuns after killing her attempted rapist-boyfriend; it contained vulgarity, catfights, lesbianism, drag racing, and more; it was marketed with lines such as: "This sexually explicit, low-budget film makes no pretensions about being anything other than offensive"
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959, Fr./Jap.)	Director Alain Resnais' artistically-intimate French "New Wave" art-house film (with flash-forwards and flashbacks) displayed a brief love affair between a cross-racial, cross-cultural couple who were committing an intimate act of adultery; in this story of contrasts, nameless French actress "Elle/She" (Emmanuelle Riva) from Nevers was shooting a film about peace in the city of Hiroshima - and was engaged in a tragic love affair with Japanese architect "Lui/He" (Eiji Okada) from the city; they referred to each other by the names of their hometowns; it was considered shocking and provocative in the late 50s, with the opening lengthy montage-scene of their discreetly-nude bodies held together and entwined - with both ash and then rain blowing across their skin (recollecting the horrific scenes of devastation caused by the atomic bomb at Hiroshima)
The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959)	After legal rulings in favor of nudism in films, Russ Meyer released this low-budget ($25,000) landmark film - his first commercially-successful effort; it was the first non-naturist film openly exhibiting nudity - i.e., the first official 'skin-flick' (although devoid of genitals in view); this 'nudie-cutie' fantasy-comedy, without spoken dialogue, was about an unnamed, voyeuristic California delivery man (Bill Teas) in a straw hat who was cursed with the ability to view big-breasted women (Ann Peters, Marilyn Wesley, Dawn Dennelle, and Michele Roberts) (i.e., a dentist's nurse, a waitress, a secretary, and a psychoanalyst, etc.) - in his imagination - he saw them in every-day situations without their clothes on; this was the first non-pornographic 'above-ground' film to exhibit female nudity without the pretext of naturism, and the first soft-core film to exceed the million-dollar mark; it was the essential link between the culture's post-war interest in the female breast (Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Playboy Magazine, etc.), to the first open views of genitalia in director John Lamb's nudist film The Raw Ones (1965), and then to hard-core pornography in the 70s, such as Deep Throat (1972)
North by Northwest (1959)	Hitchcock was always able to skate around the censors - this classic film with its sexy close-quarters travel (in a cross-country train compartment) was marked by intriguing dialogue, kissing (circular) and romantic intentions - displayed between identity-confused adman Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) and blonde companion Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint); in the film's plot, Thornhill was menaced and mistaken for someone else by master-criminal Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) and his homosexual hitman Leonard (Martin Landau), and mocked by his mother Clara (Jessie Royce Landis); in the film's final clever Freudian transition, Thornhill tugged on Eve (hanging on the immense carved stone face of Mount Rushmore) and - CUT - pulled her up into a berth to make love to her in the interior of a Pullman sleeping car (that was heading into a dark phallic tunnel)
Pillow Talk (1959)	This film featured one of the most successful moneymaking stars of the 50s -- squeaky-clean, non-threatening, old-fashioned and classy Doris Day, although the script was considered racy by the studio; this virginal, maturely-risque sex comedy was the second largest grossing film of the 50s and the first of three similar films with Day and co-star Rock Hudson - (it was followed by Lover Come Back and Send Me No Flowers); it featured erotic courtship because the main characters who shared a party phone line (splitting every hour of the day in two) - they were constantly on the phone - usually viewed in split-screen to create the illusion and imply that they were together and involved sexually (in the bathtub, in bed, etc.) when they really weren't; they both stretched out in separate bathtubs and their bare feet seemed to touch - through the split-screen; in one of the film's most prophetically-ironic scenes, Rock Hudson's (who was a straight actor who was a closet homosexual) character posed as 'gay' in order to bed the Doris Day character (he extended his pinkie finger when taking a drink)
Shadows (1959)	Pioneering independent filmmaker John Cassavetes' low-budget, controversial, pre-cinema-verité first feature film has often been cited as the start of the independent feature movement in the US with its daring subject matter; it told the story of an inter-racial couple in 1950s bohemian New York City - - the film was first shot in 1957, then screened, re-edited and re-shot in the following years, and re-released; it featured a non-professional cast and crew, with Lelia Goldoni as Lelia, a light-skinned African-American who had a brief love affair (a sex scene between the lovers was filmed for the second version) with Tony (Anthony Ray) - a free-spirited white man until he discovered her race and was repulsed