Our Staff Picks column is a new addition that takes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme and the "Staff Picks" section was the place to find out what films were worthy of one's time. Of course, our version has a decidedly nude angle, as we suss out which films from a certain genre with great nudity. This week: the 1960s!
The 1960s were filled with change and that change was reflected in the cinema. With the collapse of the studio system and the demise of the restrictive Hays Code which disallowed movies from being sexually suggestive, movies became much looser. The rise of indie films and experimental filmmakers who were influenced by foreign films (thank you, France) made movies in America more daring than ever and included nudity.
You might not think of movies in the 1960s as being that nudity-filled, but you are wrong. They were! Obviously, most of the nudity here is from the latter part of the decade when the counter-culture seeped into the cinema - but the early sixties were getting increasingly sexy, too. Psycho is credited as being one of the first films to break the Hays Code and it did so by almost immediately showing a couple having a seedy hotel affair, complete with a shirtless hottie. Extramarital sex?! On the screen?! Oh, my pearls!
That was just the beginning. Soon, the 60s was brimming with drug-fueled sex scenes, homosexual innuendos, male prostitutes hard at work, and free love scenes that were free of clothes. So here are our Staff Picks for nudity in the 1960s:
Cool Hand Luke
This 1967 film is on the AFI Top 100 list for a reason, but you might be surprised to learn that his PG-rated film has nudity and it's very hot. Paul Newman - the hottie of the day - plays Luke who likes to break the law. He's a deviant dude who likes to destroy parking meters which leads to his arrest.
He is sentenced to two years in prison and hard labor on the chain gang. Well, you can guess what a guy in prison will do: get naked with other hot guys in the shower.
Midnight Cowboy
We HAVE to include the X-rated film Midnight Cowboy. It was the first, and only, X-rated film to win an Academy Award. Plus we love the gay undertones in the movie between Angelina Jolie's dad and Dustin Hoffman. Jon Voight stars as the male sex worker who is trying to clean up in New York City. He bonds with Ratso, played by Dustin, and the two form a very close friendship. Their possible homosexual relationship is kind of hinted at in this scene in which Jon psyches himself up to get hard when he is high and having sex with a hippie:
The Trip
Roger Corman directed this legendary Peter Fonda film about a man taking an acid trip. That's pretty much the plot. Peter Fonda takes acid and it eventually makes him ditch his clothes. Who wouldn't want to fondle Fonda?
It's an enjoyable movie that moves somewhat fast. If you are looking for a groovy time that makes you feel like you are on acid, then The Trip is exactly the movie for you. It takes you on a trip to Peter's free-loving ass.
Medium Cool
Haskell Wexler's indie film that takes place in Chicago during the 1968 Democratic National Convention is seriously cool. A TV news reporter is shaken up after trying to impartially report on the political climate of the day. He meets a single mom whom he becomes fascinated with and the two form a relationship while he also attempts to mentor her son. This movie is very good and it feels relevant still. It's helped by naked Robert Forster!
Robert Forster runs around in the buff early on in the film when getting flirty with a lover. Check out the tanlines on his tush and the ridges of his cock when he turns around.
Goodbye Columbus
This forgotten drama blends romance, socioeconomic issues, and psychedelic wallpaper. The film is based on a novella by Philip Roth of the same name that took a look at modern American Jewish people in different places in life. When an army veteran has an affair with a wild rich girl, their lives both change forever. This character study introduces us to two young men who also happen to take some clothing off.
Richard Benjamin bares his cock briefly when he gets out of bed naked. We have a better chance of checking out his can, but that's rather quick as well.
Who's That Knocking at My Door?
Martin Scorsese directed this early film of his that is in black-and-white and features music by The Doors. Hey, that explains the title! Harvey Keitel plays a young man trying to juggle his religious and personal beliefs in a changing world after he meets a nice girl and settles down with her. She gets attacked and that attack enrages him. Keitel's entire world is turned upside down!
The Swimmer
Did you need to see Burt Lancaster in the buff? Hold onto your pants because here is Burt Lancaster in the buff. He plays Ned Merrill who wants to swim in every swimming pool in the Southern California valley. And...yup, that's it. It's a weak plot, but it serves as an excuse to ogle Burt and that's good enough to be. This nearly plot-less movie is almost fascinating in the way that it just keeps going without having much going for it. That's how charismatic Burt is...and that booty:
Flesh
How could I end this 1960s nudity list without mentioning Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey? They were the kings of collaborating on hot nude content - especially male. Joe Dallesandro shows his cock in four nude scenes in this film where he plays a hustler who uses his sex work income to support his family. Allegedly, he used his real experiences as a sex worker as inspiration for this role and you can really feel that. He puts so much into this!
In one scene we get to see his butthole AND his erect penis when he gets up sporting morning wood. It's all real, too. You can't fake a hard dick on a hard body like this:
