Our weekly column Staff Picks 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 of Staff Picks has a decidedly skintillating angle, as we suss out the films from a particular subgenre are the best to find great nudity. This week, we look at the wild and rowdy films of the 1970s Australian exploitation movement known as Ozploitation!
Ozploitation is not Wizard of Oz exploitation films - although that could be a genre, too. These are Aussie classics from the 60s into the 80s. Even the Australians indeed had an exploitation film movement. There is a good reason behind that. The Aussie government loosened some of its censorship laws, so we suddenly saw nudity and violence in brand-new low-budget films set in the outabck. Say g'day to these nude scenes!
Mad Dog Morgan
Mad Dog Morgan is an action-packed exploitation film that tells the story of the Irish outback outlaw Daniel Morgan who was nicknamed Mad Dog Morgan. This loosely tells the story of the outlaw becoming the most wanted man in Australia in the lawless 1850s. 70s nudity favorite Dennis Hopper played Mad Dog and had us all barking like a dog seeing his buns when he is stripped naked in one scene.
Patrick
This 1978 psychological horror does have a good deal of nudity! A mad scientist has done a lot of testing on a psych ward patient named Patrick, played by Robert Thompson. His body is basically dead, but his mind is active - and filled with psychic powers! He uses his powers of mind control to wreak havoc on people and control a young nurse who has a crush on him. Who wouldn't have a crush on him?
Paul Young shows his penis in Patrick. Was that mind control or was that his own improvised nudity? I don't care as long as I see penis!
Mad Max
The original Mad Max is one of the most famous films to ever come out of Australia, period. As we await the latest film in the rebooted franchise (Furiosa), we should look back on the original. The original did not have nudity, but the strapping young men sure did go shirtless.
Wake in Fright
The original Wake in Fright is considered a masterpiece of Australian cinema. It follows a high school teacher in a small outback town who slowly goes crazy. The desolate outback is the perfect backdrop for his descent into madness! The 1971 film was considered lost for decades, but it was found in a box meant for destruction and revitalized.
Wake in Fright was even remade into a 2017 limited series starring Sean Keenan. The remake has nudity because Sean is bare-assed in two separate scenes which is a slight improvement upon the original. Let's give props to the peach in the Aussie remake:
