History of Sex in Cinema:
The Greatest and Most Influential
Sexual Films and Scenes
(Illustrated)
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History of Sex in Cinema: |
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:
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Greatest and Most Influential Erotic / Sexual Films and Scenes (chronological order, by film title) - 1979 Intro | Pre-1920s | 1920-1928 | 1929-1930 | 1931 | 1932 | 1933 | 1934-1937 | 1938-1943 | 1944-1946 | 1947-1952 | 1953-1954 | 1955-1957 | 1958-1959 | 1960-1961 | 1962-1963 | 1964 | 1965-1966 | 1967 | 1968 | 1969 | 1970 | 1971 | 1972 | 1973 | 1974 | 1975 | 1976 | 1977 | 1978 | 1979 | 1980 | 1981 | 1982 | 1983 | 1984 | 1985 | 1986 | 1987 | 1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992-1 | 1992-2 | 1993 | 1994-1 | 1994-2 | 1995-1 | 1995-2 | 1996-1 | 1996-2 | 1997-1 | 1997-2 | 1998-1 | 1998-2 | 1999-1 | 1999-2 | 2000-1 | 2000-2 | 2001-1 | 2001-2 | 2002-1 | 2002-2 | 2003-1 | 2003-2 | 2004-1 | 2004-2 | 2005-1 | 2005-2 | 2006-1 | 2006-2 | 2007-1 | 2007-2 | 2008 | 2009 | |
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Movie Title |
Brief Scene Description |
Example |
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This Ridley Scott sci-fi/horror film was rich with Freudian sexual metaphors and symbols of sexual violation and biological reproductive imagery (i.e., a huge alien spacecraft with numerous vaginal orifices, the face-hugger, the chest-bursting newborn's birth, the slimy penis-headed beast, and the sequence of Lambert's (Veronica Cartwright) death - with the creature's phallic tail sliding up between her legs and her pseudo-orgasmic grunts and howls of pain over an intercom as she was killed offscreen), the scene of Ash's stuffing of an adult magazine into heroine Ellen Ripley's (Sigourney Weaver) mouth, and the ending sequence with Ripley's appearance in a braless, sleeveless undershirt and skimpy mini-panties as she confronted the threatening alien beast |    
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In a later scene in Hal Ashby's insightful satire, the reclusive, illiterate, passive and simple-minded gardener Chance (Peter Sellers) said: "I like to watch" in the amorous company of unsatisfied wife Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine); his most famous line about his joy of watching TV was misinterpreted by Eve ("You mean you'd like to watch me...do it") as an invitation to sexually stimulate herself (on a full-sized bear-skin rug while grabbing the bedpost) while he watched an exercise program on TV from the nearby bed | 
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Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens! (1979)
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Independent film-maker and producer Russ Meyer's ("King Leer") last theatrical feature film was this vulgar and crude adult comedy (co-written with critic Roger Ebert - with pseudonym R. Hyde) - a cartoonish parody of Beneath the Valley of the Dolls; it starred a number of big-breasted females as was typical of all of his films, including Francesca "Kitten" Natividad as Americana small-town wife Lavonia who had typical sexual problems with her anal-sex obsessed, redneck husband Lamar (Ken Kerr); the film was mostly a series of exaggerated soft-core vignettes although none of Meyer's films included penetrative sex - which was where the industry was heading at the time; also, the introduction of pornography on videocassettes spelled the end of theatrical films of this type that could only be screened at porno theaters with much harder-core fare |     |
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This was Hollywood's first big-budget ($15 million), bizarre blockbuster sexploitation epic of 'classy' hardcore sex and gory violence - and it became both a critical and commercial disaster; noted as the most expensive pornographic film ever made, it was originally intended to be high-art, with major stars (Malcolm McDowell as the Roman emperor Caligula, John Gielgud, Helen Mirren, and Peter O'Toole), by Penthouse's producer Bob Guccione from a script by Gore Vidal (who later disowned it); the sordid film included graphic and steamy sex scenes of sexual depravity and orgiastic decadence (including a large-scale orgy, a phallic swing, masturbation, sleeping with a horse, incest, and explicit oral sex acts including a lesbian one between two Penthouse Pets Lori Wagner and Marjorie Thoreson (as Anneka Di Lorenzo) that was filmed later and inserted for prurient interest); originally self-rated as X and shown as unrated in a 156-minute version, then severely edited for an R-rating down to about 105 minutes; this objectionable film, condemned as worthless fantasy trash, arrived just before the new conservatism that took place during the Reagan administration and its subsequent Meese Commission Study of Pornography (finally published in mid 1986) |   Malcolm McDowell  Peter O'Toole  Helen Mirren  Orgy Scene |
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Various European starlets in Erotic Dramas
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During the liberalized 1970s and early 80s, many foreign film stars - known as European starlets (some mentioned elsewhere) - appeared in many foreign-made, R-rated soft-core romantic/comedy dramas often requiring the stars to be naked and exhibit erotic appeal; these numerous sex romp films included these three better-known actresses: Italian film actress Laura Antonelli
German actress Olivia Pascal Italian actress Serena Grandi
French actress Clio Goldsmith
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     Vanessa (1977) |
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Hair (1979)
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Hair was first presented as a controversial, cult musical play with memorable songs ("The Age of Aquarius" among others), featuring rebellious anti-establishment and anti-war themes and the hippie lifestyle of the late 60s - and a much-talked about total nude scene; it was then made into a major film studio event by Czech director Milos Forman, with some sexual frankness including skinny-dipping (with a young Beverly D'Angelo) | 
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Hanover Street (1979, UK)
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Director Peter Hyams' WWII war-time romantic drama with a sweeping John Barry score featured a love triangle between an American pilot named David Halloran (a young Harrison Ford) and pretty British nurse Margaret Sellinger (Lesley-Anne Down), who was married to secret agent Paul (Christopher Plummer) - the plot revolved around the question posed to David: should Paul's life be saved or sacrificed during combat? | 
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Hardcore (1979)
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Writer/director Paul Schrader's film told about the one-man crusade of businessman and religious Michigan Calvinist Jake Van Dorn (George C. Scott) to find his misguided daughter Kristin (Ilah Davis), who had run away to California to join the world of the underground porn film industry; it included the scene of the screening of an ultra-low budget 8mm X-rated porno of the girl found by private investigator Andy Mast (Peter Boyle) (with Jake's anguished screaming "TURN IT OFF!"), and a scene with a sweet-natured stripper/prostitute and porn actress named Niki (Season Hubley) who helped Van Dorn on the trail |
  
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H.O.T.S. (1979)
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This R-rated, raunchy and witless campus comedy was typical of the late 70s and 80s (that played on late-night cable TV) - it followed on the successful heels of Animal House and other cheerleader films; with a screenplay scripted by two women (Cheri Caffaro and Joan Buchanan), this film combined pretty H.O.T.S. (an acronym for Honey, O'Hara, Terri, and Sam) sorority school girls (some were Playboy Playmates, including Susan Kiger, Lisa London, and Pamela Jean Bryant), a wet T-shirt contest, and the climactic topless football game in which the females wore red and white-striped bikinis - this one sequence was noted for its unique image of the attractive, topless women in a huddle taken from the ground's point of view |   
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10 (1979)
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Writer/director Blake Edwards' sex comedy's title helped to popularize the objectification and rating of women on a perfection scale from 1-10; it told about how mid-life crisis suffering song writer George Webber (Dudley Moore), with a long suffering stage actress girlfriend Samantha Taylor (Julie Andrews), followed a fantasy girl of his dreams to Acapulco, where he voyeuristically saw the nubile newlywed Jenny Miles/Hanley (Bo Derek in her screen debut and in the role that made her a sex symbol) honeymooning - this was the film's indelible and iconic image of her corn-rowed, beaded hair (which set off a national frenzy) and skimpy bathing suit while sunning herself and then running along the beach in slow-motion; after saving her husband David from the water, he was rewarded by seduction in a darkly-lit scene - memorably played to the sounds of Maurice Ravel's "Bolero" |
  
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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.
- Milestone Films With Scenes That Were Especially Notorious, Infamous, Controversial, or Scandalous
