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 28 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
Body Heat (1981)	Lawrence Kasdan's crime drama (a post-noir remake of the classic Double Indemnity (1944)) was one of the first of its kind - a neo-noir or erotic thriller; it had a twisting plot of murderous lust and 1980s eroticism in its tale of a naive and horny Florida attorney Ned Racine (William Hurt) who was ensnared by sultry, alluring, cheating, husky-voiced femme fatale Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) upon their first meeting at a beach concert; she later stipulated: "You're not that bright, are you? I like that in a man," and begged: "Do it!"; the film had numerous, highly-charged, sweaty sex scenes in the bed and bath - including his initial entry by breaking into the locked house through the porch bay window with a garden chair (to the sound of wind chimes) to make love on the floor to the awaiting, horny and receptive Matty, who removed her bright red skirt and panties to accommodate him; also included was the scene of Ned's mistaken delivery of a very forward proposition to Matty's high school girlfriend Mary Ann Simpson (Kim Zimmer): "Hey lady, do you wanna f--k?" and the controversial scene in which Matty's young niece Heather (Carola McGuinness) caught the two in an oral sex act but couldn't identify the man with the erection
Heavy Metal (1981, US/Can.)	The fantasy graphics of the adult-oriented, late 70s comic book of the same name inspired this animated, exploitative pop-cult film of sci-fi/erotica episodic stories accompanied by heavy metal hard rock; this was an 'adult' underground cartoon that was more adolescent and juvenile than anything else, with graphic, teen-oriented depictions of drugs, taboo-breaking sex, nude women (with large breasts) viewed as sex-objects, sex-toy robots, fantasy sword-and-scorcery, and gory violence; the cover art showed an image of The Defender named Taarna - a beautiful, sword-wielding, silver-haired Amazonian warrior maiden who rode on a giant bird; it was rated R for violence, sex, nudity (animated!), profanity and vulgarity; a sequel titled Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) (aka Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.) featured buxom scream queen B-movie actress Julie Strain as the voice of Julie
The Howling (1981)	Werewolf films were the rage in the early 80s - this one told about a secluded Big Sur country "Colony" retreat where werewolves were present, including sex-starved Marsha Quist (Elisabeth Brooks) who seduced newly-bitten Bill Neill (Christopher Stone) by a campire - as they made love, they both turned into wolves
Looker (1981)	Writer/director Michael Crichton's prescient, PG-rated high-tech science-fiction thriller about models of plastic surgeon Dr. Larry Roberts (Albert Finney) being murdered (and replaced with virtual-reality imitations) included a political subplot regarding hypnotic suggestion to control TV viewers; the impressive visual effects featured the first CGI human character, model Cindy Fairmont (Susan Dey - famed for her teen role as Laurie in TV's The Partridge Family) - her full-body scan-digitization was visualized by a computer-generated animated simulation; the way-ahead-of-its-time film was about plastic surgery, surgically-perfect models, and the replacement of models with CGI simulations; it also featured a bit role for Playboy's 1981 Playmate of the Year Terri Welles as a gorgeous model named Lisa Convey who insisted on plastic surgery to fix minute imperfections, and very minor roles for other Playboy Playmates (Jeana Tomasina, Pamela Jean Bryant, Ashley Cox, etc.) and even one for TV's Wheel of Fortune Vanna White
Possession (1981, Fr./W. Ger)	In this surrealistic and bizarre occult horror film by director Andrzej Zulawski, French Cesar Award-winning actress Isabelle Adjani starred as a tormented, sexually-psychotic young French woman named Anna in a strained relationship with husband Mark (Sam Neill); she created a supernatural, wormy-tentacled, lizardy creature from her tortured id (modeled by SFX master Carlo (E.T.) Rambaldi) and kept it in her sparse Berlin apartment for sexual fulfillment; the notorious film included a five-minute screaming miscarriage-birthing flashback sequence in a subway tunnel, and an infamous scene of a naked Anna having sex with her monstrous offspring in the missionary position; it was released in a heavily edited 81 minute American version, and a 127 minute long original cut
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)	Director Bob Rafelson's more explicit R-rated remake of the 1946 classic, with Lana Turner and John Garfield, included a torrid, adulterous love affair between drifter Frank Chambers (Jack Nicholson) and unfulfilled, sexy diner wife Cora (Jessica Lange), with an uninhibited, mostly clothed rough kitchen sex scene between them in which Cora swiped away the cutlery and freshly baked loaves of bread to clear space for their groping, fondling, and kissing - and later a scene of implied oral sex
Private Lessons (1981)	This morally-questionable, controversial and clumsily-made teen fantasy sex comedy with Sylvia Kristel (of Emmanuelle fame, although often represented nude by body double Judy Helden) was not to be confused with the sordid Italian comedy of 1975 starring Carroll Baker; in this film, wealthy under-aged teenager Philly Fillmore (16 year-old Eric Brown) was seduced by his lovely new alluring French housekeeper/maid Nicole Mallow, especially when she stripped naked for him and invited him into her bath; it was advertised with the tagline: "The bedroom is a fun classroom - EMMANUELLE's star is the teacher"
S.O.B. (1981)	A daring breast-baring, topless scene was performed by wholesome star Julie Andrews (director Blake Edwards' real-life wife) as Sally Miles - it was a major about-face from her squeaky-clean public image in Mary Poppins (1964) and The Sound of Music (1965); this film skewered Hollywood and spoofed Andrews' family-friendly image; in the next year, Andrews portrayed a singing transvestite in Edwards' Victor/Victoria (1982)
Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981, It/Fr.) (aka Storie di Ordinaria Follia, or Conte De La Folie Ordinaire)	Italian director Marco Ferreri's erotic drama and compelling love story was adapted from Charles Bukowski's fictional work Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and General Tales of Ordinary Madness; the semi-autobiographic film starred Ben Gazzara as the re-named Charles Serking, an alcoholic writer/poet on LA's seedy skid row living in a flophouse who found a sexual connection with a masochistic, melancholic, and suicidal barfly prostitute named Cass (Ornella Muti) - he spoke the word "Love" when reaching orgasm with her for the first time while taking her from behind as she stood bottomless at a window; later, she revealed that she had stitched her vagina shut with a large safety pin - she told him about her genital self-mutilation when she feared that she'd lose him (due to a job offer in New York): "I've closed it. For you and for everybody. Forever"; after leaving and returning, he found that she had killed herself
Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981)	At the height of sex star-goddess Bo Derek's popularity after her hit success in 10 (1979) - and its subsequent A Change of Seasons (1980), the star's Svengali husband John Derek (30 years her elder) directed her in this completely tasteless, sophomoric, modernized nude (and sexless) version of the classic jungle tale from Edgar Rice Burroughs of the early 1930s, with Bo as Jane Parker and Miles O'Keefe as the ape man; its tagline rightly declared: "Unlike any other Tarzan you've ever seen!" - in fact, the Burroughs' estate was incensed at the softcore treatment of the material and tried to sue to stop the film's release - and forced MGM to agree to four editorial cuts in sequences displaying Bo in various stages of undress. Bo Derek attempted to capitalize on her soft-core sexuality in more films (usually about her sexual awakening and featuring her as a sex object) directed by her husband-producer John Derek who retained creative control of her career as a Hollywood outsider, although all failed for their weak plots and wooden performances since all were basically designed to be amateurish vehicles to display Bo's nude and semi-nude shape in as many different poses as possible: Bolero (1984) - taglined: "An adventure in eXtasy"; it was released unrated, due to its sexual content and nudity from underaged Olivia d'Abo; it won a number of Golden Raspberry Awards for its year, and was nominated as one of the Worst Pictures of the Decade; its most infamous segments were the honey-licking scene, lengthy love-making scenes, and the bare horse-back riding scene Ghosts Can't Do It (1990) - co-starring with Anthony Quinn Woman of Desire (1993) - with Bo Derek featured in love-making scenes in the shower and on a motorcycle	Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981) Bolero (1984) - above Ghosts Can't Do It (1990) Woman of Desire (1993)
1982 Academy Awards Nominees	There were an astonishing number of cross-dressing, gender-reversed, transvestite performances and roles with confused sexual identities in 1982 (all lost their bids), highlighted by the following: Best Picture and Best Director-nominated comedy Tootsie (1982), about struggling male actor Michael Dorsey (Best Actor nominee Dustin Hoffman) who landed a role on a daytime TV soap opera as feminist woman Dorothy Michaels Julie Andrews earned a Best Actress nomination for Victor/Victoria (1982) as Victoria Grant, the title role singer who pretended to be gay Polish cabaret singer Count Victor Grezhinski, while co-star Robert Preston received a Best Supporting Actor nomination as her gay partner-in-crime Carroll "Toddy" Todd, who ended up in drag during the finale singing "Shady Dame From Seville" John Lithgow was given a supporting nomination for playing a transsexual ex-football player Roberta Muldoon in The World According to Garp (1982) In 1983, Linda Hunt would win Best Supporting Actress for the male role of Chinese-Australian photographer Billy Kwan in The Year of Living Dangerously (1983)	Tootsie (1982) Victor/Victoria (1982) The World Acc. to Garp (1982)