Ulysses' Gaze (1995)

Hunky Harvey Keitel has been making his privates public ever since Martin Scorsese cast him in the indie flick Who’s That Knocking at My Door (1967). Revealing roles in the R rated pics Fingers (1978) and The Men’s Club (1989) followed. But it wasn’t until the 1990s that the uninhibited actor became synonymous with skin since he showed off his acting chops along with his full frontal nudity in the NC-17 drama Bad Lieutenant (1992), Jane Campion’s provocative period piece The Piano (1993), and the Greek war film Ulysses’ Gaze (1995). Under the direction of co-screenwriter Theo Angelopoulos, the semi-autobiographical story follows a controversial filmmaker named A (Keitel) who returns to his Balkan home. On the surface, he’s there to screen his newest cinematic achievement, but A has actually arrived to track down three reels of film shot by Yanaki and Milton Manakis, Aromanian brothers who were motion picture pioneers. As A travels through Albania, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia, we encounter his mother (Mania Papadimitriou), an old lady (Dora Volanaki), and Maia Morgenstern in various parts. Of course, when it comes to body parts, Harvey doesn’t disappoint. As expected, the skintastic stud blasts us with his fondness for full frontal emoting. Just 14 minutes into the movie, Keitel bares his chest and all the rest: his circumcised cock and camera-ready balls! Perhaps that’s why Ulysses’ Gaze picked up the Grand Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Yet a real win would be changing the title to Mr. Man’s Gaze.