The Accused (1988)

This thoughtful, fact-based drama from director Jonathan Kaplan was based on a real-life incident of a 1983 rape. It provided a provocative look at how the justice system treated victims who were often seen as worthy of blame. Jodie Foster in an Oscar-winning role portrayed Sarah Tobias, a sexily-dressed, drunk, working-class patron in The Mill, a seedy roadside bar.

The film opened with a bruised and half-dressed Sarah (Jodie Foster) running barefoot and screaming from a roadside bar where she'd just been raped. It would be later in the film when the entire rape episode was voyeuristically envisioned during the witness recounting (on Sarah's behalf) of college-frat student Ken Joyce (Bernie Coulson) - the one who had called 911.

At first, she passionately kissed Danny (Woody Brown), one of the rowdy customers. She resisted while his encouraging male friends cheered, yelled, and clapped, especially Cliff "Scorpion" Albrecht (Leo Rossi):

"Go, Danny! Fourth and one, my man, stick 'em!...Smell that new blood, baby!...That's it! Pump that little f--kin' college ass!"

Danny pulled down her top and began to kiss her nipples, while pinning her down on the glass atop a pinball machine titled: "Slamdunk." She was further humiliated when he began to have intercourse, against her wishes. And then she was held down and brutally gang-raped by others. Later, she was unfairly accused of enticing her attackers: "Raped? She f--ked a bar full of guys then she turns round and blames them for it?"

Sarah's (Jodie Foster) Gang Rape Atop a Pinball Machine

Action Jackson (1988)

This late 80s violent action film from director Craig R. Baxley was a formulaic throw-back to 70's blacksploitation films.

It featured Carl Weathers in the title role as Detroit cop Sgt. Jericho 'Action' Jackson. Craig T. Nelson portrayed corrupt auto tycoon villain Peter Dellaplane, and there were two female stars (both displaying gratuitous nudity):

• Patrice Dellaplane (pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone), a gorgeous trophy wife
• Sydney Ash (R&B singer and Prince's ex-girlfriend Vanity), heroin addict mistress and singer [Note: Vanity also posed for Playboy in April of the same year as this film.]

In part, Sydney served as Jackson's 'unlikely buddy' during chase scenes. She was a needy addict, exchanging sex for drugs with corrupt industrialist Dellaplane - he provided her with a hypodermic needle filled with heroin, as he told her: "Sweet dreams, baby."

After showing her nudity in a steam room, Patrice became a bloody murder victim killed during mid-kiss. The investigating police officer commented on her bloody body: "Women this beautiful don't come around too often." Jackson was subsequently framed for murdering her and found himself on the run from the police.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

One of the most breathtakingly romantic and sensual entrances -- showcasing erotic, innocent femininity -- was the scene of the entrance of Venus in director Terry Gilliam's fantasy-adventure film. The live-action recreation paid homage to the famous The Birth of Venus painting of 1482 by Sandro Botticelli.

In the scene, a giant closed clamshell was slowly brought up from a watery pool by two angels. When opened, it revealed a fully nude, angelic-faced Venus (Uma Thurman), wife of Roman god Vulcan (Oliver Reed), in the same pose as her counterpart from the painting. Her long tresses and left hand covered her crotch and one arm covered her breasts.

She gazed at the visiting Baron Munchausen (John Neville) and his friends, and greeted simply with a melodic voice: "Hello" - the two angels then flew to her and wrapped her in pinkish silk to form her new dress.

Akira (1988, Jp.)

Japanese animated films (called anime) have often featured explicit and graphic content and unflinching explicit bloody violence. This form of animation and story-telling was heralded in the US with the release of writer/director Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira (1988, Jp.).

One scene depicted the brutal attempted rape of Tetsuo's girlfriend Kaori by a biker gang in Neo-Tokyo in the year 2019.

And God Created Woman (1988)

The original 1956 French film featuring starlet Brigitte Bardot was remade over thirty years later with much more nudity and a completely different story, again by director Roger Vadim. It was the director's final film - and a huge failure. Many of the explicit sex scenes were cut to create the R-rated version.

And God Created Woman (1988) - American version with Rebecca De Mornay

The romantic melodrama told about a temptress:

• Robin Shea (Rebecca De Mornay), a wrongly-imprisoned convict in a high-security New Mexico prison

She escaped, then was returned (an odd circumstance), and was encouraged by gubernatorial candidate James Tiernan (Frank Langella) to marry in order to obtain respectability - and an early parole from the prison. She seductively set her sights on the prison's handyman-carpenter and single father Billy Moran (Vincent Spano). She offered her inheritance of $5,000 if he would marry her - but all it turned out to be was a marriage of convenience. After his acceptance, she told him that the deal didn't include sexual relations.

Bull Durham (1988)

Writer/director Ron Shelton's definitive baseball sports film included sexy scenes between two of its characters:

• ballplayer Crash Davis (Kevin Costner)
• sport groupie Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon)

In one striking scene, aging veteran, romantic-minded, minor league catcher "Crash" confronted the bold affections of part-time junior-college English teacher and sexually-seductive baseball groupie Annie Savoy. In her living room, he gave the female baseball devotee a classic, philosophical speech about what his beliefs were, including a kiss-related sentence, before opting out of her offer to be the baseball player she would choose to bed that year:

Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hangin' curveball, high fiber, good Scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, over-rated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there oughta be a constitutional amendment outlawing AstroTurf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve. And I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. Good-night.

She responded with a breathless reply: "Oh my!"

Later, although Annie had chosen young prodigy, Durham Bulls pitcher Ebby "Nuke" LaLoosh (Tim Robbins) as her sexual conquest for the season, she began to realize that "Crash" might be a better-suited match for her sexual come-ons. She came to Crash's place and offered herself: "I want you," but when he declined, she flatly stated: "This is the damnedest season I've ever seen. I mean, the Durham Bulls can't lose, and I can't get laid."

She had another chance to sample his beliefs about three-day long kisses at the conclusion of the film when "Crash" was released from baseball playing altogether (although he might be a minor league manager) and he sought to retire with dignity. He returned to Durham and looked up Annie. Over a drink, they kissed - and he used one hand to pull up her skirt and skillfully unsnap her black stocking garter, causing her to exclaim: "Oh, my!" followed by the unbuttoning of the back of her dress. She unbuckled his trouser's belt and undid his pants, and then kissed his slightly-hairy bare chest and sucked on his nipple.

They made love - and rolled over, tumbling from the bed to the floor, still kissing and locked together, as she grabbed for traction from a nearby table leg - moaning and shaking. Their love-making was followed by a bowl of Wheaties ("Breakfast of Champions") in the kitchen. Wearing his oversized sports jacket (while he wore one of her robes), she glowed at him: "God, you are gorgeous," and then asked: "You wanna dance?" He tossed his cereal bowl into the sink where it smashed into pieces, and he pulled her onto the kitchen table, where they resumed making love after he answered: "Yes." Annie responded: "I guess you do."

Sex Throughout the House Between Crash and Annie (Susan Sarandon)

They were then dancing in her living room, to the tune of the Dominoes' "Sixty Minute Man." In the next scene, Annie's arms were tied to the bedpost, as she succumbed to having her toenails painted red by "Crash." And then they were in the bathtub together - he was kissing her bare chest and embracing her while the two were surrounded by candles. Their wild sloshing and splashing doused the flames on the candles next to the tub.

Coming to America (1988)

Director John Landis' romantic comedy in the late 1980s marked one of the highlights of Eddie Murphy's film career, and was noted as the first of many films in which the comedian played multiple roles.

In the most unexpected scene of all (early in the film), wealthy, pampered, and sweet-natured African Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) was engaged in a bath in a large circular pool. His back was being sponged by a topless beauty (Felicia Taylor) while another naked attendant (Midori) stood by (viewed from the back) - when suddenly, a third Nubian bathing attendant (Victoria Dillard) declared after emerging from under the water:

"The royal penis is clean, your Highness."

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Director Stephen Frears' sexy period film illustrated French 18th century one-upmanship, game-playing, seductive passion, betrayal and romantic intrigue. The film was remade as the hip Cruel Intentions (1999). The entire film was composed of a devilishly wicked challenge or treacherous game, a series of 'dangerous liaisons' involving other people's lives, between:

• Marquise De Merteuil (Glenn Close), a bored, aristocratic, wicked and wealthy widow
• Vicomte De Valmont (John Malkovich), her rakish ex-lover

She challenged him to "Wa-a-a-a-r" - with her bed as the prize. She wanted him to seduce a virgin (the fiancee of her ex-husband). Valmont cruelly accomplished the bet - he seduced and 'deflowered' teenaged bride-to-be virgin Cecile De Volanges (Uma Thurman).

During his first nocturnal visit to Cecile's bedroom, he stroked her body as she slept, and then claimed he was there as a result of her invitation with a key. He started out: "I just want you to give me a kiss...That's all...Then I'll go." It was more than a simple kiss - he also stroked her breasts. He then complimented her: "Very nice." But he would not leave - and then he began untying her nightgown. He made an under-handed claim:

Valmont: "I promised to go when you gave me a kiss. You didn't give me a kiss. I gave you a kiss. Not the same thing at all."
Cecile: "And if I give you a kiss...?"
Valmont: "Let's just get ourselves more comfortable, shall we?"

Later, Cecile told the Marquise that she wasn't actually forced to give herself up: "But I found it almost impossible to defend myself...He just has a way of putting things. You can't think of an answer." She professed: "I kept on saying no all the time. But somehow, that wasn't what I was doing. I am so ashamed." The Marquise told the seduced Cecile: "You'll find the shame is like the pain. You only feel it once." She then advised that she should allow Valmont to continue his "instruction" - and that she could become cautiously promiscuous: "You can do it, or not, with as many men as you like as often as you like in as many different ways as you like. Our sex has few enough advantages, so you may as well make the best of those you have."

Seductive Sexual "Instruction" Provided to Virginal Cecile (Uma Thurman)

The next time with Cecile, Valmont stressed the need to use the "correct polite vocabulary" - calling everything by its "proper name." And he described how he had been one of her own energetic mother's many lovers. As he caressed her chest and kissed her breast, he promulgated the need for sex education for her future husband's sake: "You asked me if Monsieur de Bastide would be pleased with your abilities. And the answer is, 'education is never a waste.' Now, I think we might begin with one or two Latin terms." At the same time, he also proceeded to corrupt, by seduction, the religiously-virtuous, married Madame De Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer):

"I want her to believe in God and virtue and the sanctity of marriage, and still not be able to stop herself. I want the pleasure of watching her betray everything that is most important to her."

Drowning by Numbers (1988, UK)

Director Peter Greenaway's black comedy of covered-up murders and conspiracy (sprinkled with numerology) was taglined:

"The great death game."

It told of water-borne deaths among different generations of related women, who each killed their husbands:

In all cases, middle-aged widower and local coroner Henry Madgett (Bernard Hill) was complicit in the water-related murders (by issuing 'natural causes' death certificates) after being bribed for sexual favors.

Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

When the sixth installment was devoid of any nudity or explicit sex, the seventh in the popular teen-oriented franchise, Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (1988), had to make up for lost time, with its simplistic Puritanical morality code of sex (or planning on sex) led to death.

About half-way through the film, a sex-crazed couple, preppy Russell (Larry Cox) and flirty girlfriend Sandra (Heidi Kozak) (in a tight bra-less yellow half-top), conversed together hand-in-hand. He asked: "When did you first fall in love with me?", with her provocative reply:

"The first time I saw the enormous size of your beautiful -- wallet. This huge bulge in your pants was calling out my name. 'Sandra, Sandra, take me now'."

She dared him to go skinny-dipping with her, as she stripped down naked, calling out: "You chicken!" After she dove in to Crystal Lake, she added: "You need a formal invitation? Russell, party for two. Right this way, please." When she went underwater, Russell was confronted by hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) on the shore, and received an axe to the face with one swing. Sandra screamed when she saw Russell's corpse, and then as she struggled and splashed to get away (seen from an underwater, full-frontal Jaws-like view), Jason pulled her under by the ankle and she was drowned.

Death of Sandra (Heidi Kozak)

Two other African-American teens, Ben (Craig Thomas) and girlfriend Kate (Diane Almeida) received punishment for their sexual behavior - they were interrupted while having intercourse in a parked van outside the Crystal Lake cabin, and both killed soon after - by skull squeezing, and by a party horn thrust into her eye.

Another promiscuous and stoned young couple, Robin (Elizabeth Kaitan) and David (John Renfield) had just finished having sex in an upstairs bedroom. He was stabbed while looking for food in the darkened kitchen with a machete in the stomach (and then beheaded). She was grabbed by the neck and forcefully thrown from the window of another bedroom after she discovered David's decapitated head.

Gotham (1988) (aka The Dead Can't Lie)

Writer/director Lloyd Fonvielle's often incoherent, film-noirish horror thriller-ghost story was originally made for Showtime cable-TV.

The plot was about a rich and nervous husband Charlie Rand (Colin Bruce), who hired down-on-his-luck private NY detective Eddie Mallard (Tommy Lee Jones) to prevent his socialite ex-wife from harassing and tormenting him. He claimed that pretty femme fatale blonde Rachel Carlyle (pre-Oscar-winning actress Virginia Madsen, in a number of nude scenes) was stalking and haunting him and that he wanted to be left alone.

As it turned out, Rachel had been deceased for ten years. Charlie had possibly killed Rachel, and then after she had been buried naked with her jewels, he plundered her gravesite. In the course of the case, the obsessed Mallard fell in love with the sultry specter himself.

Ghostly, Sultry Specter Rachel Carlyle (Virginia Madsen)

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Director Martin Scorsese's profound adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel was confronted and condemned with charges of blasphemy for its concluding "last temptation" sequence and for its portrayal of a very-human Jesus Christ figure (Willem Dafoe). The film attracted protests and boycotts from religious groups even before it reached the theatres, although Scorsese received a Best Director nomination, and the film clearly offered a disclaimer about its origins:

"This film is not based upon the Gospels, but upon this fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict."

The major controversy concerned the 'last temptation' visionary/hallucinatory sequence in which a very human and suffering Jesus (Willem Dafoe) was tempted by Satan (portrayed as a young androgynous guardian angel (Juliette Caton)) as he hung naked during crucifixion on the cross (while uttering: "Father! Why have You forsaken me?"). He was offered an idyllic vision or dream by the angel, who claimed he had "done enough" after being tested by a pleased and merciful God. [Jesus' choice to follow Satan implied that he was a flawed, frail, questioning, tormented and self-doubting man who was uncertain of the path he should follow.] His crown of thorns was removed, as well as the spikes through his feet and wrists. He was given life and led away from an empty cross while he asked doubtfully: "I don't have to be sacrificed?...I'm not the Messiah." Onlookers at Golgotha didn't seem to notice his departure.

The vision included a normal earthly existence and mortal happiness, including the blasphemous idea of a sexual relationship with a woman. He was immediately married to tattooed prostitute Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey), who was earlier seen entertaining various clients in a brothel where Jesus had spoken with her and asked her for forgiveness. [She offered herself to him: "Here's my body. Save it. Save it," but he declined to be enticed by her before leaving for the desert.] Now married to him, she cleansed his bloody wounds as he laid naked in her arms, and then, in a non-exploitative sequence, Jesus made tender, physical love with her as she entreated: "We could have a child."

After she became pregnant, she appeared partially naked when at full-term pregnancy. When she abruptly died one day, the angel told him that Mary, Lazarus' sister, would serve as "Magdalene with a different face" and she was carrying his son.

Ultimately, however, after discussions with the apostle Paul (Harry Dean Stanton) and another intervention with Judas Iscariot (Harvey Keitel), he returned to the cross and its suffering for humanity's sake with his triumphant dying words: "It is accomplished."

Other Nudity in The Last Temptation of Christ
In a Town Square Outside a Brothel, a Topless Tattooed Prostitute	Chanting, Shaking and Dancing Worshippers with John the Baptist at the River Jordan

Masquerade (1988)

Director Bob Swaim's R-rated, plot-twisting, psychological sex-filled thriller was about murder, greed, double-crossing deception and betrayal. The film's title referred to the name of a yacht anchored off the Hamptons. The film's tagline hinted at the plot:

An heiress.
A hustler.
A set-up.

A murder.
MASQUERADE - It's not a game anymore.

The main story centered around the fortune of wealthy Hampton heiress Olivia Lawrence (Meg Tilly), who was forced to live with her scheming and despicable stepfather Gateworth (John Glover), with his companion Anne (Dana Delaney). After graduating from college, Olivia met two possible suitors:

• playboyish sailing instructor and yacht skipper Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe, just before he was involved in a sex tape scandal), with another lover on the side
• a grown-up children friend Mike McGill (Doug Savant), now a police officer

One of the side plots was Tim's passionate encounter with his other lover - his wealthy boss' sex-crazed, bored and lustful wife Brooke Morrison (TV's Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall). After their love-making in the film's most quoted scene, as he stood there bare-assed, he gave her a birthday present - a pair of black-lace panties, about which she asked: "Do you want me to put these on?" to which he responded: "I can't bite 'em off if you don't."

Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe) and Brooke Morrison (Kim Cattrall) - Sweaty Sex

Olivia didn't know whether to trust Tim - did he love her truly, or was he marrying her only for her money? The plot was about various conspiratorial plans or plots to murder Olivia, to acquire $3 million of her trust fund. By the film's conclusion, although Olivia had thought that Tim had betrayed her, she learned otherwise that his love wasn't a masquerade.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

In the fourth installment of the horror film franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988), teenaged Joey Crusel (Rodney Eastman) was in his bedroom (where he had a "Sweet Dreams" poster of a bikinied Pin Up Girl (Hope Marie Carlton, Playboy Playmate July 1985) above his TV). He was stretched out on his waterbed watching MTV (with headphones plugged into his stereo) and also reading Rolling Stone Magazine.

As his eyes shut and he entered a dream world, his bed began to undulate and rock back and forth in waves - he pulled away the comforter, revealing the poster's Pin-Up Girl, who had vanished from the poster, but was now naked and swimming underneath him inside the waterbed, pressing her hands against the plastic vinyl and gesturing to him.

When she disappeared and he called out excitedly: "Wait!", notorious killer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) burst out of the bed, grabbed him by the neck, taunted: "How's this for a wet dream?", and pulled him under the surface of the water and struggled to drown him. Joey called out: "Kristen, help!" as he was repeatedly pushed underwater, stabbed, and eventually murdered.

Not of This Earth (1988)

This Roger Corman produced sci-fi/horror B-film by director Jim Wynorski, a remake of Corman's earlier 1957 film of the same name (with Beverly Garland), starred ex-porn star queen Traci Lords in her first legal and legitimate (non-X-rated) role, often nude. It would be her last bare appearance in a feature film.

The low-budget story was about a sexy private-care clinic nurse named Nadine Story (Traci Lords). Once hired, she unwittingly assisted extra-terrestrial space vampire alien scientist Mr. Johnson (Arthur Roberts), who was portrayed as an eccentric millionaire, from the dying planet Davanna. She was helping him get blood transfusions - but actually, his evil plot was to drain blood from various specimens to send a new blood supply to Davanna. One of the live specimens was a Happy Birthday Girl (Becky LeBeau) who came to the wrong address to deliver a strip-o-gram - she was snatched, led to a blue beam, and transmitted back to his home.

The Happy Birthday Girl (Becky LeBeau)

During the main plot of the film, Nadine appeared in various outfits: a nurse costume, a shiny blue bikini, a black strapless evening gown, lacy lingerie, and was briefly topless to show off her large breasts (while drying off and tossing back her hair). She also flirted with handsome pool-man Jeremy (Lenny Juliano), who proposed catching her (she compared herself to a "mermaid") in the pool with his prodigiously-sized "fishing pole," although she cautioned, "You'd better be careful, you just might land a barracuda."

Traci Lords In Her First Legitimate, Mainstream (non X-rated) Film Role

Patti Rocks (1988)

This low-budget, independent adult comedy by director David Burton Morris initially received an X- or NC-17 rating (changed to an R-rating after an appeal) for its many extreme vulgarities, frank sexual language and obscenities.

One of the main protagonists, mid-30s, blue-collar, sex-obsessed, misogynistic Midwesterner Billy Regis (Chris Mulkey), had a pregnant mistress named Patti Rocks (Karen Landry).

During a lengthy, all-night car ride to Patti's apartment, he delivered a smutty, gross, scatological, foul, demeaning and misogynistic discourse to his recently-divorced traveling companion-friend Eddie (John Jenkins). When they arrived, Billy left it up to Eddie to explain why he couldn't marry her.

A Short Film About Love (1988, Pol.) (aka Krótki Film o Milosci)

Director Krzysztof Kieslowski's compelling film was originally an episode (Dekalog 6: Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery) from his Dekalog series of ten hour-long films (for Polish television) derived from the Ten Commandments - and expanded to a feature length film, but with a markedly different ending. The film's plot was about an unusual developing relationship between:

• Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko), a lonely and shy 19 year-old postal worker
• Magda (Grazyna Szapolowska), an older, pretty, and promiscuous artist

Tomek had a voyeuristic, romantic obsession with Magda whom he could spy at (by telescope from his bedroom) into her neighboring apartment. After stealing her mail, peeping on her, interfering with her romantic liaisons, playing cruel tricks and making prank phone calls to her, he confessed his feelings and mischief - prompting her to eventually seduce him in her place with taunting words:

"I have nothing underneath. You know that, don't you? When a woman wants a man, she becomes wet inside. I'm wet now."

After causing him to prematurely ejaculate in his pants when he stroked her thigh, she told the sexually-humiliated and embarrassed lad: "That's all there is to love...Wash in the bathroom" - after which he attempted to kill himself by slitting his wrists. Following the shocking incident, the perspective changed and the tables were turned when the guilt-ridden Magda turned her obsessive, infatuated attention toward him (with a pair of binoculars) and lamented his loss of innocence.

Two Moon Junction (1988)

This well-photographed, R-rated, soft-core erotica drama (with a double entendre title) was produced by director/writer Zalman King (of Red Shoe Diaries fame, who also directed Wild Orchid (1989) and was the writer for 9 1/2 Weeks (1986)). It was followed by a sequel in 1994 called Return to Two Moon Junction, with Melinda Clarke (as a New York fashion model from Georgia who fell for a sculptor) substituting as the sister of Sherilyn Fenn's character in the first film.

Its cliche-filled tale was about sexual awakening in numerous well-orchestrated, hot tryst scenes between:

• Southern belle, Alabama heiress, and soon-to-be-married April Delongpre (platinum-blonde Sherilyn Fenn)
• lusty, long-haired, white-trash carnival worker Perry (Richard Tyson)

She was challenged by him when he remarked: "I thought you were just another tight-ass princess," and she fought off his kisses but soon succumbed. She took an arousing, auto-erotic long steamy shower intercut with scenes of the brawny carnival workers setting up and her subjective fantasy of watching nude men through an uncovered tile peep-hole. During one of the explicit, steamy sex scenes April had with the carny, her fiancée Chad Douglas Fairchild (Martin Hewitt) was at a bachelor party (presided over by Sheriff Earl Hawkins (Burl Ives)) watching a stripper dressed as a sheriff.

The erotic romance even featured a quick topless-nude cameo by Kristy McNichol (from the TV series Family) as bourbon-drinking, truck-driving floozie Patti Jean, who boasted about painting her nipples ("Now you know my secret. I put a little rouge on. Makes it easier to see through my blouse. It's a real 60's thing to do, but I think it's cute. Boys would just howl when I wore pink angora sweaters in junior high. I love angora. You ever put yours in the refrigerator?...It makes it real fuzzy"), and hinted at being bisexual. She asked April: "I'll bet you got great tits. I can tell. But you shouldn't cover 'em up or be ashamed of 'em...And that top would look so much better if you weren't wearing a bra."

Patti Jean (Kristy McNichol): "It's at moments like this I can see why guys like women so much."

She offered her own top to April, stripped topless, and encouragingly insisted: "You've got the perfect figure for it, perfect. Oh, come on, don't be shy. Just put it on and say goodbye princess" - until the pressured April obliged. She then admired April's form: "It's at moments like this I can see why guys like women so much."

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Co-writer/director Philip Kaufman's erotic epic, based upon Milan Kundera's novel, centered on the themes of freedom (sexual, personal and political). It was set in the late 60s in Prague, Czechoslovakia (and then in Switzerland), with open and liberated adult sexuality and many erotic scenes although little explicit sex (it was regarded by Rolling Stone as "the most openly sexual American film in ages"). It was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist).

It included an intriguing love triangle displayed between a playboy and two lovers (reversals of each other):

• Czech Don-Juanish neuro-surgeon Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis)
• free-spirited, liberated lover and painter-artist Sabina (Lena Olin)
• shy, bookish, waiflike and timid provincial waitress Tereza (Juliette Binoche), a photographer - and Tomas' wife

During the film, Tomas repeatedly and arrogantly entreated: "Take off your clothes," initially to co-worker Nurse Katja (Pascale Kalensky) and to Tall Brunette (Consuela De Haviland) who slowly stripped for him and sat provocatively in a chair, and then to his other lovers.

In an extended love-making scene in the film's opening, philandering Tomas was with longtime sex partner and kindred spirit Sabina ("the woman who understood him best") when she asked him: "Don't you ever spend a night at the woman's place?" He answered: "Never." She confided: "I really like you, Tomas. You are the complete opposite of kitsch. In the kingdom of kitsch, you would be a monster," as she placed her great grandfather's bowler hat on his head. He responded by turning her around on top of the bed so that her head hung off the side, while coupling with her legs completely spread-eagled and pointed outwards. He made her view themselves in that pose in her dressing-mirror reflection and then asked: "What am I now? A monster." Later in the film, they continued to playfully make love with the bowler hat and their mirror images, when she asked:

"Are you only searching for pleasure, or is every woman a new land whose secrets you want to discover? You want to know what she's going to say when she makes love? Or how she will smile? How she will whisper, groan, scream?"

He encouraged her to view herself with her distinctive bowler hat, reflected in the round mirror placed on the floor, before they succumbed to more love-making. Tomas was repeatedly torn between being dutiful to wife Tereza, and exercising his womanizing spirit with Sabina. He expressed the dichotomy to Sabina:

"If I had two lives, with one, I'd have her (Tereza) stay at my place. With the other, I'd kick her out. Then I'd compare and see which was best. But we only live once. Life's so light. Like an outline we can't ever fill in, or correct... make any better. It's frightening."

The film also included a sensual photographic session between erotic friends Tereza and Sabina - initially, Tereza photographed a nude Sabina, a long mostly dialogue-less scene during an impending thunderstorm. Afterwards Sabina ordered a reluctant and initially-hesitant Tereza: "Now it's my turn...Take off your clothes" (using Tomas' favorite line) as they seductively switched roles between photographer and subject, culminating in a hide-and-seek nude romp.

The Sensual Photography Scene Between Tereza and Sabina

At one point when Tomas returned to Prague and was blacklisted with no work, Tereza took a waitressing job. She was propositioned by an engineer (Stellan Skarsgaard) - and regretfully accepted a one-time unfaithful sexual liaison with him. In the end, Tereza and Tomas found marital bliss in the countryside, where they befriended a commune leader and his pet pig.

As the film concluded, Sabina learned some tragic "bad news" - the death of her two friends after a night of dancing when the brakes on their truck failed and they were killed instantly (just before their deaths, Tomas told Tereza what he was thinking: "I'm thinking how happy I am").

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Sexy, animated, femme fatale Toon Jessica Rabbit (voice of Kathleen Turner), the absurdly curvaceous bombshell wife of Roger Rabbit, made a dramatic entrance at the Ink and Paint Club in director Robert Zemeckis' part-animated, part-live action feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988).

Jessica's sexy leg and some of her ample breasts appeared first from behind the curtain, and then she emerged wearing a slinky, high-cut shimmering pink dress. She looked very little like a rabbit and more like a statuesque, cartoon-animated movie star -- a combination of:

• a well-stacked Playboy bunny
• Lauren Bacall
• 40s peek-a-boo blonde actress Veronica Lake

The buxom, red-haired chanteuse swept out onto the stage and sayshayed into the audience singing "Why Don't You Do Right?" (voice of Amy Irving) - the patrons hooted and whistled at her. She later cooed the immortal line:

"I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way."

Animators at Disney were accused of inserting dirty visual humor into this film - in particular, a panty-less Jessica Rabbit when she was flung to the side of the road from Bennie the Cab -- only visible in the laser-disc version of the film and cleaned up for subsequent video releases.

Also controversial was a brief scene early in the film (some of the images have now been modified) immediately after the "Somethin' Cookin'" cartoon. It was the shot of Baby Herman storming off the set. During his exit, he drooled and grinned lasciviously after inappropriately grabbing at a secretary (he lifted her skirt and extended his middle finger between her legs).

[See also The Little Mermaid (1989) entry.]

Working Girl (1988)

Actress Melanie Griffith's notable Oscar-nominated appearance came in this romantic comedy by director Mike Nichols, when she portrayed 'working girl' Tess McGill. She delivered a provocative one-liner, typical of the 1980s, to businessman Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford) at the bar of a business function:

"I've got a head for business and a bod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?"