# POLL: Best sex scene in a "mainstream" movie \*NOT\* porn **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 9, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562 "2002-12-09T18:13:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2011, 8:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/141 "2011-09-15T08:38:48Z")
> [@lokij](#): > > It likely says something about my tastes, but the stair scene between Vigo Mortensen and Maria Bello in ‘A History of Violence’ stands out for me. > > Yeah. I prefered Viggo Mortensen’s violent gay bathouse sex in “ **Eastern Promises** ”. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/142 "2011-09-27T22:02:54Z")
You might think I’m out of my mind, but I could very easily be happy for the rest of my (infinite) life in the movie Groundhog Day. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/143 "2011-09-27T22:24:38Z")
I’d have to vote for **Team America**. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/144 "2011-09-27T22:35:09Z")
The\* Big Easy _references reminded me of Ellen Barkin and some guy (Al something?) in_ Sea of Love\*. The setting, real lust instead of phony love, and a hauntingly beautiful song did it for me. Well Barkin naked did most of it for me, but that other stuff makes it the best. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/145 "2011-09-27T22:45:45Z")
It’s been a _very_ long time since I’ve seen it, but I recall the first sex scene in “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” as being the best I’ve ever seen. The one with the dickwad professor. I think “Body Heat” was the steamiest movie ever of the femme fatale type. Kathleen Turner was so good she even made William Hurt seem sexy. Now that’s acting. I can’t think of a particular scene though. ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/146 "2011-09-27T22:46:02Z")
No one’s mentioned Kyle Reese/Sarah Conner (can’t remember the actors’ names) in the Terminator. Very well done and absolutely privotal to the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/147 "2011-09-27T23:38:03Z")
Heh, forgive my last post in here, it was in the wrong thread. : p ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/148 "2011-09-27T23:57:39Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > The\* Big Easy _references reminded me of Ellen Barkin and some guy (Al something?) in_ Sea of Love\*. You’re calling Al Pacino “some guy”? I think Mr. Corleone would like to have a talk with you. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/149 "2011-09-28T00:09:42Z")
I’ll chip in for “Body Heat” because, damn, Kathleen Turner was FREAKING HOT in that movie. And the sex on the bed was kinda raw and lusty for it’s time (for a mainstream film). If they had only cast someone with a single macho cell in his entire body, as opposed to William Hurt, that movie would have melted movie screens all over America. I’ll add a new one: “Secretary.” The intensity of Maggie Gyllenhall’s character’s need and, well, lust for James Spader’s character, combined with his desperate efforts to resist her, part of his control dysfunction, such a strong, intense sexuality there, stunted but trying desperately to unfold. It reminds me of Body Heat in a way, except of course that Turner’s character understood her sexuality and used it, and did the same with John Hurt’s character’s sexuality, whereas Gyllenhall’s character was just finding out what she was all about, and what Spader’s character was all about – but still that simmering sense of desire, lust and overwhelming attraction permeated both movies. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/150 "2011-10-02T01:50:34Z")
Antonio Bandares in Mambo Kings. He seems to have got quite a few votes so he must be pretty good at it. ---
**Author:** ![Brainiac4](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brainiac4/32/3534_2.png) [@Brainiac4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainiac4)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/151 "2011-10-02T05:54:15Z")
> [@Iteki](#): > > Possibly stretching mainstream, possibly stretching sex-scene, but the whole “seduction scene” from The Hunger with with Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon. +1 ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/152 "2011-10-02T12:39:22Z")
> [@Eva\_Luna](#): > > Oops, I forgot just about every sex scene in _The Unbearable Lightness of Being,_ but I’m probably biased since I have the major hots for Daniel Day-Lewis. I had a work colleague a long time ago who at times had little by way of filter between mouth and brain. She saw that movie and was raving about it to myself and some others the next day. Out loud, at work, in the lunch room, she said “every time Daniel Day-Lewis did that thing where he just looks girls in the eye and says ‘take off your clothes’ I soaked my panties”. At which point most of the room choked on their drinks and sandwiches. She also said that any man that said that to her like Daniel Day-Lewis could have her, right on the spot. Of course at that moment all the guys listening put on a serious look and a deep voice and said “take off your clothes” but I guess we weren’t able to do it as D D-L could. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/153 "2011-10-02T14:30:28Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Hot Shots! (Part Deux? i can’t remember which) > > Charlie Sheen is making love to a woman and progresses from some cliche like rubbing ice over her skin to actually frying bacon and eggs on her stomach! hilarious And then at the end of the movie he breaks out the steaks! On a related topic, how about “Hottest OFFSCREEN Sex Scene”? As in, for example, Rhett Butler sweeping Scarlett up the stairs, cut to the next morning. Whew! ---
**Author:** ![Barking\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Barking\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Barking_Dog)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/154 "2011-10-02T16:11:51Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > Hot Shots! (Part Deux? i can’t remember which) > > Charlie Sheen is making love to a woman and progresses from some cliche like rubbing ice over her skin to actually frying bacon and eggs on her stomach! hilarious It was the first one. And oh my god yes. I had no idea it was possible to laugh and be aroused at the same time. ---
**Author:** ![Bohomite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@Bohomite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bohomite)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/155 "2011-10-02T16:33:47Z")
As a comic (as in the _this is so 80s_ kind of way) sex bit, the scene between Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum in _Earth Girls Are Easy_. Sexy? Erm, is _Bad Santa_ considered porn? LOL. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/156 "2011-10-02T17:19:18Z")
First to mind are Threesome, But I’m a Cheerleader, Latter Days, Exit to Eden, Original Sin, and Kaboom. Maybe Pillow Book. And of course, Shortbus. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562/157 "2011-10-02T17:28:01Z")
Oh, and The Dreamers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-best-sex-scene-in-a-mainstream-movie-not-porn/141562.md?page=7)