I Want Candy

Posted on Mar 25, 2010

“I Want Candy”
Gratuitous Nudity in the Films of Yesteryear

Written By: Ken Knight
Mondo Film & Video Guide Feature Contributor

The term “gratuitous” is defined as given freely; unearned, not called for by the circumstances. The term “gratuitous nudity” is defined as what some critics deem “unnecessary nudity-exploitation” in Motion Pictures, Cable TV series, etc. As far back at the late 1960’s, rebel filmmakers began to create above-board feature films with brief female nudity portrayed by sexy actresses and even body-doubles. Russ Meyer helped set the tone with his “Vixen” films that starred buxom models and strippers such as Kitten Natividad and Cynthia Myers.

The dawn of the 1970’s brought forth a less-rigid attitude toward nudity portrayed in Hollywood films and the bar lowered enough by the late 70’s to afford brief shots of full nudity and “love scenes” in films, most of which would today be considered “B-movies” in comparison to the Oscar-winning variety of the time period. Derided as “gratuitous nudity” by film critics, movies of the late 70’s such as “H.O.T.S.” (starring Playboy® Playmate Susan Kiger) and 1980’s horror flick HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (which portrayed giant fish-men “raping” fully-naked women) showed scenes in-the-buff not seen too often in films of their genres in previous years.

Suffice it to say that the late 1970’s and early 1980’s raised the bar regarding nudity in R-rated films, bringing more such “gratuitous” nude scenes into the mainstream without going too far and earning the marketing-kill of an X-rating. Nudity in Hollywood films became a staple as well as a guaranteed R-rating for just about every film genre from adult comedy to horror, action-adventure, even the “vigilante” genre of the 1980’s like DEATH WISH II with it’s graphic home-invasion sequence and SAVAGE STREETS with Linda Blair sitting fully-nude in a bathtub of clear water. Nudity became a staple of adult entertainment during a time when “adults only” meant exactly that! I remember when it was always an Adult Usher taking tickets at the movie theater so no one under age 17 got to see an R-rated film, unlike nowadays when anyone can sneak inside a theater for an R-rated flick and parents buy tickets for their kids so they can go shopping.

Of course there were a few grossly-gratuitous adult-themed horror films showing violent sex and “terror-nudity” such as 1978’s I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and 1983’s PIECES, but in those days those films were shown to a strictly-adult audience and Video Rental Stores would ID you when you went to rent such titles! Nudity-as-Entertainment grew from backroom porno houses to “tasteful” scenes of sex and carnal teasing in mainstream movies after 1970 and expanded to show naked sex scenes in R-rated films which showed just enough to spike the broader audience but not cross the rating parameters. Film Directors such as Russ Meyer, Jim Wynorski, Alan Roberts, Michael Winner, Andrew Stevens and Andy Sidaris threw caution to the wind and provided a happy (mostly male) audience with scripted, choreographed films involving sexy ladies taking their clothes off somewhere during the storyline and performing in various degrees of un-dress.

Nudity became a Hollywood staple in many R-rated films after the 1970’s and with the advent of Pay-Cable TV in millions of American homes in the early 1980’s, R-rated films were no longer delegated to late night theaters downtown but available on TV sets (as long at the household paid the cable bill!) usually after 11pm.  From such comedic 80’s classics as BACHELOR PARTY, SCREWBALLS, JOYSTICKS, PRIVATE SCHOOL, and TAKIN’ IT ALL OFF, to horror films such as the FRIDAY THE 13^TH series and PIECES, “gratuitous nudity” as the critics called it was in-vogue and pretty much expected by the movie-goers who enjoyed those genres of film. Andy Sidaris’s 1985 feature film MALIBU EXPRESS became a late night Cable TV classic all it’s own with the likes of Sybil Danning showing off her incredible bod along with Playboy® Playmates Barbara Edwards and Kimberly McArthur getting naked in more than one scene! Andy and Arlene Sidaris knew best how to place female nudity in their action-erotica films of the 80’s and early 90’s, making their films full of beautiful naked femmes but in a uniquely classy manner rarely seen in films after the year 2000! The best all-time R-rated sex scene ever done for an 80’s film (in this writer’s opinion) can be found in MALIBU EXPRESS where the characters Cody and Beverly make love at a beach house while two hit-men are closing in on them.

The latter Sidaris films PICASSSO TRIGGER, SAVAGE BEACH, FIT TO KILL, GUNS, DO OR DIE, and THE DALLAS CONNECTION all fit well within sexy-but-classy entertainment with “gratuitous nudity” a bonus! Check’em out at WWW.ANDYSIDARIS.COM .

In the years prior to the advent of the Internet, nudity in films was still “conservative” by today’s standards and less “porno” in style than what has been shown in certain “unrated” film scenes of recent years. I will always say the Internet changed things in film entertainment for two reasons: “amateur” filmmakers gained easier access to fame and it afforded easier access to adult-oriented entertainment (even for those who are not supposed to have access!). Hell, even X-rated films were different in style before the Internet turned latter X-rated films into amateur “wallbangers”. I remember when X-rated films were on VHS videos with sexy (but classy) box-covers, and one had to prove one’s adult-age before entering the X-rated section of their video-rental store! The Internet changed all of that as well, and we have more and more under-age folks gaining access to the adult entertainment arena when they shouldn’t!

I for one fondly remember the “gratuitously nude” actresses of my favorite R-rated films of the 80’s and 90’s, for they were the Amazons of my younger years, the beautiful archetypes of this man’s admiration and I will always love them dearly…..

ROBERTA VASQUEZ, SYBIL DANNING, HARLEE MCBRIDE, KITTEN NATIVIDAD, MONIQUE GABRIELLE, LORI SUTTON, PATTY DUFFEK, LYNDA WIESMEIER, JULIE STRAIN, DONA SPEIR, and AVA CADELL.

Ken Knight is the author of the book – The Midnight Show: Late Night Cable TV “Guy-Flicks” Of the 80′s. The book is available now through www.amazon.com You can email Ken Knight directly at The Mondo Film & Video Guide at kenknight@mondo-video.com