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

History of Sex in Cinema:
The Greatest and Most Influential
Sexual Films and Scenes
(Illustrated)

Part 32

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.

Key to Icon Symbol:

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

Movie Title

Brief Scene Description

Example

Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985)

With his Best Actor Oscar award, William Hurt became the first actor in a gay role to win the honor (later this happened again for Tom Hanks for his role as AIDS sufferer in Philadelphia (1993)); he won for his role in director Hector Babenco's Brazilian/American co-produced film as flamboyant homosexual sex offender Luis Molina incarcerated in the 70s in a South American prison cell with his cellmate - cynical political prisoner and revolutionary Valentin Arregui (Raul Julia)

Lifeforce (1985)

Director Tobe Hooper's science-fiction horror/adventure tale (and 'guilty-pleasure' film) told about a international space shuttle mission to explore Halley's Comet, featuring a beautiful naked vampire named Space Girl (Mathilda May) from outer space -- spectacularly nude for most of the film -- she was capable of sucking the 'lifeforce' out of her victims when brought back to London for examination, with the warning: "She's not a woman, she'll destroy you!"

Andy Sidaris' Films of the 80s (and after)

Malibu Express (1985)
Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987)
Picasso Trigger (1988)
Savage Beach (1989)
L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies: Return to Savage Beach (1998)

Malibu Express (1985): this sleazy, exploitative, trashy T&A extravaganza (pictured to the right) was the best (and first) of ex-sports producer and director/writer Andy Sidaris' films in the 80s; it was taglined: "Packing Heat from Texas to Malibu Beach"; the James Bond spoof contained all the requisite Triple B elements: action, comedy and gratuitous nudity in the form of Bullets, Bombs, & Babes (with lots of former Playboy and Penthouse models and soap opera stars); this cheesy B-film featured good ol'boy, mustached, Chuck Norris-lookalike private detective Cody Abilene (Darby Hinton) in a plot about illegal sales of computers to Communist countries; Cody's yacht was named Malibu Express which was moored at the Santa Barbara Marina in California - the film's title; the film was showcased with numerous breast appearances by four half-naked Playboy Playmate centerfolds: Kimberly McArthur (Playmate January 1982), Lorraine Michaels (Playmate April 1981), Lynda Weismeier (Playmate July 1982), and Barbara Edwards (Playmate September 1983) as well as Lori Sutton as lusty police detective Beverly McAfee; Sampled dialogue: "We understand you're a private investigator -- and we want to know if you'll investigate our privates?!"

As Sidaris' formulaic, straight-to-video film releases (twelve in total) progressed through 1998, they had thinner plots, more voyueristic nudity and giant, silicone surgically-enhanced centerfolds.

	Hard Ticket to Hawaii (1987): filmed in Molokai, this Andy Sidaris sequel film (the first Sidaris title released on DVD) replaced Cody with a Warren Beatty-lookalike character named Rowdy Abilene (Ronn Moss), and two super-sexy undercover agents Donna Hamilton (Dona Spier, Playmate March 1984) and Taryn (Hope Marie Carlton, Playmate July 1985, pictured) and two other Playmates: Cynthia Brimhall (October 1985) and Patty Duffek (May 1984); it also featured a razor-sharp frisbee weapon and a huge killer mutant snake.
	Picasso Trigger (1988): The third Agent Abilene was named Travis (soap star Steve Bond), appearing with the two sexy agents from the second film (Dona Spier and Hope Marie Carlton, pictured) and others including Roberta Vasquez (Playmate November 1984), Kym Malin (Playmate May 1982), and Liv Lindeland (Playmate January 1971 and Playmate of the Year 1972).
	Savage Beach (1989): Dona Spier and Hope Marie Carlton were back again, with another Agent Abilene named Shane (Michael Shane, Playgirl's Man of the Year) supplemented by Playboy Playmate of April 1986 and future hard-core porn actress Teri Weigel (pictured), and Patty Duffek as Pattycakes.
	L.E.T.H.A.L. Ladies: Return to Savage Beach (1998) was released as the predictable sequel, and was taglined: "The Big Guns are Back"; it starred Julie Strain (Penthouse Pet of the Year 1983) as "Willow Black", Julie Smith (Penthouse Pet February 1993), Carrie Westcott (Playmate September 1993), and Shae Marks (Playmate May 1994) (pictured).

Barbara Edwards and Kimberly McArthur

Lynda Weismeier (as June Khnockers)

Barbara Edwards

Lorraine Michaels

Sybil Danning

Lori Sutton

Malibu Express (1985)

Mischief (1985)

This coming-of-age film and teen sex comedy -- typical of the mid-80s, was set in the mid-50s in Ohio, and most known for its nude scene of a young Kelly Preston; she appeared as beautiful classmate Marilyn McCauley, in a tale about a nerdy, virginal high school senior named Jonathan Bellah (Doug McKeon) who was in love with her from afar and dreamt of being with her, and then finally had his wish come true; in the same year, Preston would also star in the similar romantic comedy Secret Admirer (1985), a comedy of errors tale

Mischief (1985)

Secret Admirer (1985)

My Beautiful Laundrette (1985, UK)

Director Stephen Frears' subversive drama (originally shot for TV and from author Hanif Kureishi's first screenplay) told of a cross-racial, homosexual relationship between two men in Thatcher's England -- South London laundry businessman Omar (Gordon Warnecke) from a Pakistani-immigrant family and his old Anglo-Saxon school friend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), an ex-National Front member and blonde street punk; the film covered the themes of bold sexuality, race, prejudice, immigration, class and generational difference as it showed the development of their forbidden gay friendship, although Omar was encouraged to marry his hedonistic uncle Nasser's (Saeed Jeffrey) feisty daughter Tania (Rita Wolf); in the film's most matter-of-fact erotic love scene, the two embraced each other in the back manager's room of the laundromat (Johnny slipped his hand beneath Omar's necktied shirt and dribbled champagne from his mouth into Omar's mouth) while Nasser and his British mistress Rachel (Shirley Anne Field) danced out front just before a celebration marking the laundromat's grand opening

Out of Africa (1985)

In Sydney Pollack's Best Picture-winning love story told against the gorgeous cinematographic backdrop of Kenya, there was one sexy, but sex-less romantic scene of English adventurer Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford) lovingly shampooing and rinsing - from behind - the hair of Danish writer Karen Blixen-Finecke (Meryl Streep) while on safari, followed by the recitation of the end of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's famous poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Re-Animator (1985)

Director Stuart Gordon's directorial debut film was a grisly horror tale with unbelievable zombie sex that was based on a tale by H. P. Lovecraft; the popular cult film included an outrageously humorous - perverted - horrifying scene all at once - the film's most famous over-the-top sequence - of university scientist Dr. Herbert West's (Jeffrey Combs) experiments (with a serum that glowed an obnoxious flourescent green) with recently-dead and decapitated competitor Dr. Carl Hill (David Gale), whose disembodied 'head' provided oral sex to partner Dean Cain's (Bruce Abbott) girlfriend Megan Halsey (Barbara Crampton, who was almost continuously nude in this film) who was restrained on a laboratory table

Red Heat (1985)

After her topless debut in Chained Heat (1983), The Exorcist's Linda Blair also starred in this R-rated exploitation sequel as innocent, wrongly-accused American tourist Christine Carlson who was incarcerated in an East German prison headed by tormenting, orange-wigged inmate Sofia (Sylvia Kristel of Emmanuelle fame)

Rendez-vous (1985, Fr.)

In director André Téchiné's (Best Director winner at the Cannes Film Festival) erotic, unrated French drama involving a love triangle and sexual/artistic passion and desire, aspiring and sexually-free-spirited actress Nina (Juliette Binoche in her first major feature film starring role) was newly arrived in Paris to live her life more fully; she quickly became involved in intense relationships with two very different men who were roommates: timid and infatuated real estate agent Paulot (Wadeck Stanckzac) and tormented, self-centered, and aggressive sex theatre actor named Quentin (Lambert Wilson); in one striking scene, she boldly stripped off the top of her red dress and offered herself, begging piteously: "F--k me. F--k me" (subtitles)

Return of the Living Dead (1985)

Writer/director Dan O'Bannon's directorial debut film (with direct allusions to its original predecessor Night of the Living Dead (1968)) was about the unleashing of 2-4-5 Trioxin gas that rained down on a cemetery and caused the dead to rise as zombies who sought human brains to stop the pain of death; it included a star-making role for so-called, quintessential "Scream Queen" B-movie star Linnea Quigley as a red-haired, sex- and death-obsessed punk character named Trash, who appeared almost fully nude in this film and in many others -- in this one in a lengthy scene, she rose up from the mud, was washed nude by the rain, emerged from the fog, and performed a memorable full-frontal striptease (but with thigh-high leg-warmers) atop a graveyard's tombstone to the tune of SSQ's Tonight (We'll Make Love Until We Die) on a boom box -- but was required to wear a skin-colored bikini-shaped body covering (or "prosthetic crotch") by the producers, thereby making her appear like a hairless Barbie doll

SmoothTalk (1985)

Writer/director Joyce Chopra's brilliant coming-of-age drama won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival (then called the U.S. Film Festival) in 1986; based on Joyce Carol Oates' 1966 short story "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?", it told about a rebellious and confused 15 year-old blonde girl named Connie (18 year-old Laura Dern in her first lead role) on the verge of womanhood, whose mother Katherine (Mary Kay Place) feared that her daughter had only "trashy daydreams"; in one of the film's earliest scenes, she joined her girlfriends Laura (Margaret Welsh) and Jill (Sara Inglis) at the mall, where they immediately went into the ladies' room to put on makeup and change into more revealing clothing, in order to attract attention (often unwanted); in the film's most effective scenes at her empty home on a Sunday afternoon while her family was away, she was intrigued and mesmerized by mysterious, seductive 30-ish Arnold Friend (Treat Williams) who pulled up in a yellow convertible and provocatively flirted with her outside her screen door - a metaphoric, smooth-talking representation of sexual experience, corruption, and sin -- and was intimidated by him when he forcefully and antagonistically told her: "You're my date. I'm your lover, Connie...Yes, I'm your lover," and insisted on taking her for a ride

Weird Science (1985)

In this John Hughes' teen comedy classic, unpopular teenaged nerds Gary Wallace (Anthony Michael Hall) and Wyatt Donnelly (Ilan Mitchell-Smith), out of pure hormonal/sexual frustration, decide to use Wyatt's computer to create a "perfect" woman after watching a colorized print of The Bride of Frankenstein (1935); at one point, Wyatt initially gives their creation mammoth breasts, to which Gary remarks: "Anything bigger than a handful, you're risking a sprained tongue"; connected by a phone modem, they start feeding the computer cut-out magazine images of supermodels, Albert Einstein, and art/music skills while wearing brassieres on their heads ("It's ceremonial," explains Gary) while they connect electrodes to a plastic Barbie-doll figure; the computer starts to act on its own while connecting into a government mainframe as it assembles the data - and an electrical storm activates the doll; suddenly after lots of explosions and wind, everything stops and the door to Wyatt's room begins to bulge inward, before finally exploding; out of the red-lit, foggy hallway enters a sexy, leggy red-headed woman later named Lisa (supermodel Kelly LeBrock), wearing nothing but micro-panties and a small white muscle-shirt top; she stands in the doorway, as Dr. Frankenstein shouts from their television: "She's alive! Alive!" Their creation coos with a mischievious twinkle in her eyes: "So... what would you little maniacs like to do first?"; in the subsequent scene, the two wide-eyed boys ogle her as they share a shower with her, as the camera pans up and down her naked body and she comments: "By the way, you did an excellent job, thank you"

Witness (1985)

Peter Weir's romance thriller showcased a beautifully-realized illicit love affair between widowed Amish woman Rachel Lapp (Kelly McGillis) and Philadelphia police detective John Book (Harrison Ford) of two opposite cultures - it was signaled by her lingering appearance in a doorway while bathing and realizing she was being watched by Book; also they danced to the radio (to the tune of Sam Cooke's "(What A) Wonderful World") in an "evening serenade" barn scene illuminated by the lights of a car, and also had an encounter in a hayloft

About Last Night... (1986)

Edward Zwick's film was based on David Mamet's play, "Sexual Perversity in Chicago" and starred two celebrated members of Hollywood's 'Brat Pack': sensual, 24 year-old ad agency art director Debbie (up and coming star Demi Moore - pre-implants) and grocery wholesaler Danny (Rob Lowe) - two Windy City twenty-somethings in a singles-crazed world who entered into a torrid relationship that began with a one-night stand, and then struggled to work out things realistically and to deal with commitment and their future

Betty Blue (1986, Fr.) (aka 37°2 Le Matin)

Director Jean-Jacques Beineix's erotic drama was a big commercial hit in France; it was noted for its opening - an ardent, extended thrusting love-making scene filmed with a two-minute slow-zoom between free-spirited, sexually-aggressive, pouty-lipped and emotionally unstable manic-depressive Betty (Beatrice Dalle) and lonely drifter, novelist and repairman/painter Zorg (Jean-Hugues Anglade) - they were lying sideways on a bed beneath a portrait of the Mona Lisa; the subtitles translated: "The forecast was for storms"; in another scene she unabashedly coerced her lover to provide her with oral sex by pushing his head down to her genital area; their love (after many sequences of uninhibited and explicit sexual activity - and full frontal nudity for both sexes, especially in the longer version) was destroyed by possessiveness and literal amour fou - leading to the hospitalized, insane and broken-down heroine's euthanasia by pillow smothering; it was nominated for Best Foreign Language film; there was a longer running time (191 minutes) for the original director's cut release compared to the North American release length (121 minutes)

Blue Velvet (1986)

Director David Lynch's bizarre and nightmarish film of the dark-side of life contained the victim/voyeur/abuse scenes as clean-cut Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) watched from Dorothy's (Isabella Rossellini) closet and was then seduced by her at knifepoint; also the scene of the evil and depraved villain Frank (Dennis Hopper) with an oxygen inhaler terrorizing and raping her ("Baby wants to f--k") while play-acting being both her Daddy and Baby, and Jeffrey's subsequent lovemaking scene with Dorothy; also the shocking (and often criticized scene of gratuitous nudity) appearance of a naked and battered Dorothy on the Beaumont's front lawn

Caravaggio (1986, UK)

Writer/director Derek Jarman's cinematic achievement was an artful, R-rated, flashbacked biopic of the iconoclastic, homoerotic life of 17th century, church-funded Renaissance artist-painter Michelangelo Merisa da Caravaggio (Nigel Terry) who was lustfully obsessed with his bisexual hunky model/muse Ranuccio Thomasoni (Sean Bean); in the film's love triangle, Ranuccio was also involved with androgynous lover Lena (Tilda Swinton in her debut film role) who served as Caravaggio's Mary Magdalene model; although the film had little explicit sexuality, the most striking scene involved Ranuccio kissing Caravaggio in order to claim his gold coin payments for having posed

Children of a Lesser God (1986)

Randa Haines' directorial debut film was about communication and opening up - the slow developing romance between bitter, hearing-impaired Sarah Norman (Oscar-winning Marlee Matlin in a debut performance) and unconventional deaf school teacher James Leeds (William Hurt), with his assertion: "You are the most mysterious, beautiful, angry person I have ever met"; he literally 'fell' in love with her and into the pool - "I am falling into the pool with you!" - the scene was noted for the scene of a graceful nude underwater swim and embrace between them

Howard the Duck (1986)

A parallel "duck-version" of Earth (Duckworld) was briefly viewed in the clever opening credits sequence of this George Lucas executive-produced film, including Playduck Magazine (with 'my hair-brushed beauty' - a female duck in the centerfold); a topless female duck with feather-covered boobs in her bathtub was also quickly seen as Howard T. Duck was expelled in his armchair to Earth; once on Earth and befriended by struggling Cleveland, Ohio punk rock musician Beverly Switzler (Lea Thompson), she happened to look into his wallet (with more duck-versions of things like credit cards, dollar bills, etc.) when he was sleeping and found a miniaturized duck-sized condom; there was also a strange sexual come-on seduction scene between Beverly and Howard when the furry duckie joined her in her bed:
Beverly: "I just can't seem to find the right man."
Howard: "Maybe it's not a man you should be looking for."
Beverly: "Aw, maybe I might find happiness in the animal kingdom, duckie?"
Howard: "Like they say, doll, love's strange. We could always give it a try. Hmm."
Beverly: "OK, let's go for it, Mr. Macho." (She removes an item of clothing)
Howard: "Whaddya mean, OK? It was a joke. Listen, I'm pretty tired."
Beverly: "It's just that you're so incredibly soft and cuddly." (She starts unbuttoning the front of his pajamas, as he gets increasingly nervous)
Howard: "Bev, let's be realistic. I mean, my apartment is zillions of miles from here. You're freaking taller than I am."
Bev: "I just can't resist your intense animal magnetism."
Howard: (The crest of feathers on Howard's head rises up) "Whoops! Anyway, where will it all lead? Marriage, kids, a house in the suburbs?"
Beverly: "Let's just face it. It's fate." (She starts to remove her top)
Howard: "No, it's not. I've got a headache."
Beverly: "And I've got the aspirin."
Howard: "Be gentle." (He hides under the blanket)
Beverly: "Just one goodnight kiss, sweet duckie." (She removes the blanket)
Then, in silhouette after turning out the light, she placed one large kiss on his extended duck bill.
When caught in the act, the two were startled as intruder Carter (Miles Chapin) witnessed them and said: "My god, this relationship defies all the laws of nature."

Il Diavolo in Corpo, or Le Diable Au Corps (1986 It./Fr.)
(aka Devil in the Flesh (1987))

Rebellious and provocative Italian film director Marco Bellocchio made this controversial erotic film -- an X-rated theatrical version (also toned down for an R-rating) that updated Raymond Radiguet's novel; it starred Dutch actress Maruschka Detmers (who had earlier made her screen debut in Jean-Luc Godard's First Name Carmen (1983) (aka Prenom Carmen) that won the Golden Lion Award) as unstable Giulia Dozza - who was engaged in a passionate affair with innocent younger student Andrea (Federico Pitzalis) while her fiancee was imprisoned; it was one of the first major films to feature an international, well-known, mainstream actress performing an unsimulated oral sex act of fellatio on screen

Manon of the Spring (1986, Fr/It.) (aka Manon des Sources)

In part two of the Jean de Florette tale (based upon filmmaker/novelist Marcel Pagnol's 1952 rural romance), there was the powerful, innocently erotic scene in which lithe blonde shepherdess Manon (Emmanuelle Beart) danced or frolicked fully nude in a spring or grotto while playing her dead father's harmonica, as smitten Ugolin (Daniel Auteuil) lustfully spied upon her; the film was rated PG, although it would have been rated PG-13 in the mid to late 90s, and possibly R-rated in more conservative times

The Name of the Rose (1986, Fr/W. Germ/It.)

Director Jean-Jacques Annaud's murder mystery-thriller, adapted from Umberto Eco's best-selling novel, was noted for an explicit seduction scene in a barn between Franciscan monk William of Baskerville's (Sean Connery) naive assistant Adso of Melk (a young Christian Slater) and mute local peasant girl (Chilean co-star Valentina Vargas), who goaded him on to experience sweaty, down-on-the-ground sex