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

Beau-Pere (1981, Fr.)

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 beachside concert when she told him she was married, but he persisted, and she complimented him: "You're not too smart, are you? I like that in a man"; he replied: "What else do you like? Lazy, ugly, horny, I've got 'em all"; the film had numerous, highly-charged, sweaty sex scenes in the bed and bath - including his initial entry by breaking into her 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 and begged: "Do it!"; 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

Friday the 13th, Part 2 (1981)

The first Friday the 13th sequel released in 1981 was competing with the Halloween franchise for a substantial nudity quotient - and for displaying the nubile bodies of young adults who would end up dead, often after a display of nudity or sex; one of the counselor trainees named Terry (Kirsten Baker) was first introduced with a close-up of herr rear, walking in sexy tight short-shorts; later, she took an evening stroll to the notorious Crystal Lake for a skinny-dip, after tantalizing one of the other handsome male counselor trainees Scott (Russell Todd) at dinner with her short, skin-tight, bra-less pink half-shirt top; when she entered the lake, he stole her clothes left on the shoreline -- but soon after, both ended up gruesomely murdered by the mysterious killer; in a scene shortly later, Jeff (Bill Randolph) and busty girlfriend Sandra (Marta Kober) were doubly-impaled after copulating together, originally an X-rated scene that was edited for an R-rating; the nude lovers lying on each other were speared like a shish-kabob - the bloody spear-head struck the wood floor beneath their bed's mattress. Another couple, sexually-assertive Vickie (Lauren-Marie Taylor) and wheelchair-bound Mark (Tom McBride), were also preparing for a night of sex, but neither one of them survived long enough

Halloween II (1981)

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 six sci-fi/erotica, inter-related episodic segments (interwoven and framed by another story) accompanied by heavy metal hard rock; the entire film told of an evil, glowing sentient green orb or meteorite, called the Loc-Nar, in inter-related vignettes; 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, disrobing nude women (with large breasts) viewed as sex-objects, sex-toy robots, fantasy sword-and-scorcery, and gory violence; the last episode was about a Defender named Taarna - a beautiful, sword-wielding, silver-haired Amazonian warrior maiden, the last of a warrior race called the Taarakians, who was costumed from complete nudity to a skimpy black outfit (and red shin-boots and gloves) with an electrified red sword, to ride on a giant yellow bird; she was summoned with a mission to defeat mutated barbarians on an alien planet (where the Loc-Nar had landed); the animation was rated R for violence, sex, nudity (animated!), profanity and vulgarity; see information on its sequel in the year 2000, titled Heavy Metal 2000 (2000) (aka Heavy Metal: F.A.K.K.)

The Howling (1981)

Looker (1981)

Possession (1981, Fr./W. Ger)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981)

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)

Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981, It/Fr.) (aka Storie di Ordinaria Follia, or Conte De La Folie Ordinaire)

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