# What was the most gratuitous piece of nudity you've ever seen in a movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2019, 9:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743 "2019-12-12T09:59:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/141 "2019-12-17T19:00:17Z")
Fine. Then every piece of nudity in any movie ever is gratuitous, because someone deliberately wrote the script to include that nudity. ---
**Author:** ![Isosleepy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/isosleepy/32/479_2.png) [@Isosleepy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isosleepy)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/142 "2019-12-17T20:42:39Z")
> [@Snake\_Plissken](#): > > Viggo Mortensen is bare-assed naked for about two and a half minutes in a fight scene in a steam room…and no steam obscuring the naughty-bits. “Eastern Promises”. And it is the opposite of gratuitous. It establishes, clearly, that Nikolai is profoundly vulnerable in this attack, (much like he is quite vulnerable in his position in the crime family) and that he only survives because he is tougher, more willing to do whatever to survive, than anyone else. ---
**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:** [December 17, 2019, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/143 "2019-12-17T20:44:28Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Fine. Then every piece of nudity in any movie ever is gratuitous, because someone deliberately wrote the script to include that nudity. Chill dude. Don’t harsh gratuitous nudity. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 17, 2019, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/144 "2019-12-17T22:41:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > People say that. But they often act as though they feel that events in a movie or book or TV show occur spontaneously. They don’t seem to realize that everything they see or hear in a work of fiction was a deliberate decision made by the author. Nothing happens by chance. > > But when a bullet misses a character, there are people who will think he got lucky. No, there was no luck involved. The author didn’t want the character to die in this chapter so he wrote that the bullet missed. > > And when a character dies of cancer in the final chapter of the book, it’s not because of that mysterious lump he found in the third chapter. The lump didn’t cause the cancer; the cancer caused the lump. When the author decided he was going to have the character get cancer, he wrote in the symptoms. > > The line about somebody walking down the halls naked didn’t cause the character to take off her clothes. The choice to have the character take off her clothes caused the line to be in the movie. Of course you’re technically right, that’s just the most natural thing. But if I approached every piece of fiction with this mindset, I’d have no fun with it whatsoever and couldn’t endlessly quibble about the stories like we do here in CS. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/145 "2019-12-18T10:04:40Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Edie McClurg was in that scene. She was a bit older than the other girls and realized that the camerman was doing a slo-mo shot. So, she deliberately shook her hair as the camera panned by her. She got a great shot with that. Wait… which hair did she shake? ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/146 "2019-12-18T14:39:27Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Of course you’re technically right, that’s just the most natural thing. But if I approached every piece of fiction with this mindset, I’d have no fun with it whatsoever and couldn’t endlessly quibble about the stories like we do here in CS. Perhaps someone could start a “What was the most gratuitous cancer you’ve ever seen in a movie?” topic. Since, you know, cancer in a movie doesn’t occur spontaneously. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/147 "2019-12-18T14:52:14Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > Perhaps someone could start a “What was the most gratuitous cancer you’ve ever seen in a movie?” topic. > > Since, you know, cancer in a movie doesn’t occur spontaneously. [Bright Lights, Big Risk for Breast Cancer](https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/bright-light-may-cause-cancer-health-risks) ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/148 "2019-12-18T14:56:18Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > [Bright Lights, Big Risk for Breast Cancer](https://www.oprah.com/omagazine/bright-light-may-cause-cancer-health-risks) All jokes aside, that was an interesting link. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/149 "2019-12-18T15:56:49Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It’s a movie. The only reason they said that was because it was in the script. And the only reason they put that line in the script was to give them an excuse for the nude scene. I’m not familiar with the movie or the scene, but while you are technically correct, this is irrelevant to the subject of the OP. The question then just becomes “what is the most gratuitous nudity in a movie _script_?” The question is whether the nudity is in the movie merely to titillate or shock, or whether there is some dramatic purpose to it. The nudity will be in the script either way, but in one case it will be gratuitous and in the other not. They didn’t have to put that line in the dialogue to include the nude scene. The nude scene could have come out of the blue without any prior set-up, and have no relation to the character’s personality. The earlier line gives a motivation for the nude scene. Now maybe the nude scene wasn’t really necessary to establish the character was a risk-taker, but including it makes it less gratuitous than it otherwise would have been. ---
**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:** [December 18, 2019, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/150 "2019-12-18T17:26:52Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The question is whether the nudity is in the movie merely to titillate or shock, or whether there is some dramatic purpose to it. The nudity will be in the script either way, but in one case it will be gratuitous and in the other not. That’s my point. You have to look at the work as a whole and ask what it’s about. Then you can determine if individual pieces of the work add to the whole. Manson said that the nude scene wasn’t gratuitous because it was set up in the script. I disagreed. The nude scene in _Teachers_ did not add to the story about a cynical teacher getting his belief in the educational system restored. The nude scene was in the movie so people could see an attractive woman naked. So even though the nude scene was in the script, it was gratuitous because it wasn’t there to tell the story. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/151 "2019-12-18T17:54:36Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > That’s my point. You have to look at the work as a whole and ask what it’s about. Then you can determine if individual pieces of the work add to the whole. > > Manson said that the nude scene wasn’t gratuitous because it was set up in the script. I disagreed. > > The nude scene in _Teachers_ did not add to the story about a cynical teacher getting his belief in the educational system restored. The nude scene was in the movie so people could see an attractive woman naked. So even though the nude scene was in the script, it was gratuitous because it wasn’t there to tell the story. Perhaps we watched different movies. Because the _Teachers_ I saw was NOT a story about a cynical teacher getting his belief in the educational system restored. ---
**Author:** ![Socko82](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Socko82](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Socko82)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/152 "2020-05-28T03:31:54Z")
Not counting schlocky D-grade junk: -Beverly D’Angelo’s shower scene in National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) -Jill Schoelen’s shower scene in The Stepfather (1987) -Karen Allen’s shower scene in Backfire (1988) -Jodie Foster’s shower scene in Catchfire (1990) -Blanchard Ryan in Open Water (2003). Even the actress thought it was gratuitous -That closeup of Bryce Dallas Howard’s bush in Manderlay (2005) -Alexandra Daddario in True Detective -Rooney Mara’s shower scene in Una (2017) -Maggie Gyllenhaal’s shower scene in The Kindergarten Teacher (2018) There’s also a ton of scenes that are not gratuitous on paper, but feel gratuitous by the execution of the scene. You could argue that Alexandra Daddario falls into this category, but the creator of True Detective himself said the nudity was HBO mandated. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/153 "2020-05-28T11:41:42Z")
Dina Meyer Shower scene in Starship Troopers ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/154 "2020-05-28T11:57:06Z")
To tie this to the recent passing of Larry Kramer, the nude wrestling scene between Alan Bates and Oliver Reed in Women in Love. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/155 "2020-05-28T11:57:30Z")
Most of the ones I would suggest have already been mentioned, but I’ll add the Topless Telegram delivery in the first remake of **Not of This Earth** – the one starring Traci Lords. Only it’s not her – I think it’s Becky LeBeau. The most pointless nudity in a book is probably the naked lady running around the Titanic in Clive Cussler’s _Raise the Titanic_. They didn’t use that scene in the movie version, though. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/156 "2020-05-28T17:26:19Z")
Not nudity, but there’s a pretty gratuitous instance of the male gaze in one of the _Justice League_ movies. Bruce Wayne and Barry Allen are exiting a private jet, to be met by a waiting Diana Prince. As Wayne, Allen, and Wayne’s car descend a freight lift, the camera dollies up from ground level, briefly but not-incidentally framing Gal Gadot’s leather-clad ass. I came across this five-minute clip on YouTube last night. Guess which shot was the thumbnail? The scene is interrupted when Bruce Wayne spots the Bat-signal in the clouds. Which made me wonder for the first time (not being familiar with the Batman canon), what does Commissioner Gordon do when he needs to talk to Batman in the daytime? ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/157 "2020-05-28T20:52:37Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > The scene is interrupted when Bruce Wayne spots the Bat-signal in the clouds. Which made me wonder for the first time (not being familiar with the Batman canon), what does Commissioner Gordon do when he needs to talk to Batman in the daytime? It is NEVER daytime in Gotham. It is perpetually nighttime, like in\* Dark City\*. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/158 "2020-05-28T21:17:38Z")
Borat naked wrestling with his sidekick. One of the funniest movie scenes ever. Probably not as funny if they had clothes on. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/159 "2020-05-29T00:12:37Z")
> [@Socko82](#): > > -Beverly D’Angelo’s shower scene in National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983) > > -Jill Schoelen’s shower scene in The Stepfather (1987) > > -Karen Allen’s shower scene in Backfire (1988) > > -Jodie Foster’s shower scene… Shower scenes are the most likely to be gratuitous. Sex scenes can be about about passion and the characters in them. Getting naked somewhere else plausibly tells you something about the character of the person getting naked or the characters reacting to it. But everyone takes showers, and does so nude, so unless something _happens_ in the shower other than nudity and cleanliness, it’s pretty much gratuitous. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743/160 "2020-05-29T00:18:29Z")
Has anyone mentioned yet Jamie Lee Curtis’s topless scene in **Trading Places?** NOT that I’m not grateful… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-gratuitous-piece-of-nudity-youve-ever-seen-in-a-movie/844743.md?page=9)