# Gratuitous nudity and NON-nudity in movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2009, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447 "2009-05-05T18:53:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/121 "2009-05-07T20:09:11Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > In _Working Girl_, there’s a scene where Melanie Griffith is cleaning an apartment in her bras and panties. It was a true WTF? moment for me, that they’d bother to put that sort of scene in a Harrison Ford movie. 😕 I recall at the time Griffith said in an interview that the scene was supposed to show her not wanting to mess up her fancy new clothes during the housecleaning, but that bit of explanation was cut out, leaving only the bra and panties. In the movie _American Beauty_, real estate agent Annette Benning is shown carefully taking off her dress and hanging it in the closet before doing a quick cleanup of a house she’s about to show. In that context it made a hell of a lot more sense. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/122 "2009-05-07T20:45:49Z")
Beverly D’Angelo in Vacation is an example of simultaneous gratuitous nudity and non-nudity: she is topless in the shower, but when she jumps up, you can see that she has on some bikini bottoms. We just watched Zack and Miri on DVD. I assume it was the theatrical version. Not only did it have brief full frontal female nudity - when the producer is screening actresses - but it had about the clearest shot of a pussy you’ll see in an R rated movie. When they go to the strip club, they open on a shot of one of the strippers asses, and as she gyrates, you can see some lips. Especially if you watch in slow mo. Several times. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/123 "2009-05-07T20:53:33Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > Beverly D’Angelo in Vacation is an example of simultaneous gratuitous nudity and non-nudity: she is topless in the shower, but when she jumps up, you can see that she has on some bikini bottoms. > > We just watched Zack and Miri on DVD. I assume it was the theatrical version. Not only did it have brief full frontal female nudity - when the producer is screening actresses - but it had about the clearest shot of a pussy you’ll see in an R rated movie. When they go to the strip club, they open on a shot of one of the strippers asses, and as she gyrates, you can see some lips. Especially if you watch in slow mo. Several times. :: reads post while smoking :: :: takes long drag on cigarette while thinking about last sentence :: :: sighs, stubs out cigarette on hand of person foolish enough to sit next to me :: Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m gonna requisition you a hooker-bot and teleport it over. Okay? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/124 "2009-05-07T21:12:23Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m gonna requisition you a hooker-bot and teleport it over. Okay? Fine by me, but my wife might not dig it so much. Better send a dude-bot along too to keep her occupied. What can I say? VCRs and I came of age around the same time. I have a keen appreciation of movie nudity. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/125 "2009-05-07T21:16:58Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The story as I first heard it was that it was dropped to keep a PG-13 rating. According to Wikipedia, Dunst went so far as to rehearse the scene nude on a closed set before backing out. Even though I think the scene where she goes to the kitchen would have been stronger if done nude, I can’t get too upset about it because it’s just not that necessary. This is the explanation that makes the most sense because wasn’t Crazy/Beautiful was of those “teenage girl in love” movies? Making that R-rated due to raunchy full frontal nudity seems to be ignoring the main audience for a movie like that. Their boyfriends on the other hand… ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/126 "2009-05-07T22:01:16Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > What can I say? VCRs and I came of age around the same time. I have a keen appreciation of movie nudity. **Hentor** , you shall never have to apologize for this appreciation to me, good sir! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/127 "2009-05-07T22:11:15Z")
In the James Bond movie _The Man With the Golden Gun_ Bond bursts in on the villain’s girlfriend while she’s in the shower. She has a gun (not the golden one). Bond says something like “Do you always shower with a gun?” I said “Do you always shower WEARING CLOTHES?”, because you could see she had on some kind of bra or swimsuit top. I did see this on TV so I’m not sure if this was in the theatrical release or if it was an alternate or edited version. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/128 "2009-05-07T22:56:24Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > No, it was Nichols. I did a pit thread on it at the time that had the relevant link. I’ll see if I can find it. > > I remember Portman saying something like “he’s more protective of me than my parents are.” It could also be that… although quite cute in the face… Miss Portman has a shitty body… and Nichols was protecting the world from that? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/129 "2009-05-07T23:08:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Not really. She did a split-second half-nipple flash in _Sexual Life_ but that’s it. Hunh. I could have sworn I saw her topless in _40-year-old Virgin_. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/130 "2009-05-07T23:14:29Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Hunh. I could have sworn I saw her topless in _40-year-old Virgin_. The only boobs I remember seeing in that were the girl at the speed-dating, who didn’t seem to know they were falling out. Is that the same girl? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/131 "2009-05-07T23:18:07Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > It could also be that… although quite cute in the face… Miss Portman has a shitty body… and Nichols was protecting the world from that? Here’s a not-safe-for-work photo that refuses your slander: [http://wallpaper.skins.be/natalie-portman/23779/1280x800/](http://wallpaper.skins.be/natalie-portman/23779/1280x800/) ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/132 "2009-05-07T23:21:09Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > It could also be that… although quite cute in the face… Miss Portman has a shitty body… and Nichols was protecting the world from that? There are tabloid pictures of her out there without a top on, and she looks to have a pretty average body ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/133 "2009-05-07T23:32:37Z")
I love it when internet fanboys discuss how the most beautiful actresses in the world’s figures aren’t quite up to their standards! ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/134 "2009-05-07T23:36:40Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > There are tabloid pictures of her out there without a top on, and she looks to have a pretty average body Ah! You’re a BREAST man. That explains everything, and only makes sense what with your affinity to Odin, which naturally implies appreciation for Audhumla. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/135 "2009-05-07T23:43:08Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > I love it when internet fanboys discuss how the most beautiful actresses in the world’s figures aren’t quite up to their standards! Does it mitigate things at all if I point out that she meets (and maybe even exceeds, by the tiniest bit) my standards? -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2009, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/136 "2009-05-07T23:57:05Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Ah! You’re a BREAST man. That explains everything, and only makes sense what with your affinity to Odin, which naturally implies appreciation for Audhumla. Actually, no. Even though I consider Salma Hayek to be The Most Beautiful, Gorgeous, and Sexy Woman in the World **™,** my “type” is typified by Natalie Portman, Winona Ryder, Audrey Hepburn, and other waifs. One of my good friends, who also fits this description as well, says I love skinny white . . . er, uh _ladies_. I said her body is average, but I don’t mean this in any dismissive or derogatory manner. On the whole, she is absolutely beautiful, but I just find her body as depicted in those pictures as unremarkable. Besides, the face is the most important factor in attractiveness to me, and If I had to pick a body part to fetishize, it’d be the stomach. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/137 "2009-05-08T00:28:45Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > The only boobs I remember seeing in that were the girl at the speed-dating, who didn’t seem to know they were falling out. Is that the same girl? Elizabeth Banks plays the freaky girl at the bookstore who ends up with Seth Rogen. I have a recollection (apparently false) that she was topless in the scene in which she’s trying to get Andy to get in the bath tub with her. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/138 "2009-05-08T00:36:32Z")
You may be right. I tried to forget a lot of that movie. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/139 "2009-05-08T00:41:15Z")
> [@KneadToKnow](#): > > You may be right. I tried to forget a lot of that movie. 🙂 I chose to leave 40 Year old Virgin very early. Like, 20 minutes into it. I’m getting the feeling iIwas very wise. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2009, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447/140 "2009-05-08T02:15:17Z")
> [@](#): > > I recall at the time Griffith said in an interview that the scene was supposed to show her not wanting to mess up her fancy new clothes during the housecleaning, but that bit of explanation was cut out, leaving only the bra and panties. > > In the movie American Beauty, real estate agent Annette Benning is shown carefully taking off her dress and hanging it in the closet before doing a quick cleanup of a house she’s about to show. In that context it made a hell of a lot more sense. And in _The Legend of Lizzie Borden_, Borden - as played by Elizabeth Montgomery - stripped down nude in order to avoid getting blood splattered on her clothes when she axe-murdered her parents. Which made a huge impression on this fourteen-year-old viewer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gratuitous-nudity-and-non-nudity-in-movies/495447.md?page=8)