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Risque Retro Must-See Movies

Contemporary sex is a paradox. More graphically intense and introspective than the risque style pioneered by iconic vintage sexy movies.

By Filthy StaffPublished 8 years ago 9 min read
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Two decades of moviegoers have had the unfortunate experience of learning about sex on the internet. While it may have helped with an incredible control of sexual language skills, it has diminished the sense of curiosity and style that the preceding decades offered. Yes it's true that Urban Dictionary popularized terms such as the Houdini, the Donkey Punch, and the Pearl Necklace, they don't seem to understand White Palace, a Tequila Sunrise, or Wild at Heart.

The new generation of moviegoers have the upper hand in society because they are tech savvy, with every gadget imaginable almost becoming an extension of their bodies. It is expected that this group of pioneering young people will be the first generation to have sex with artificial intelligence. They grew up in an electronics-filled, increasingly online and socially-networked world. They multitask, talk, walk, listen, type, and text. While they are enormously clever and resourceful and have the tools to get things done, they sadly think anything over 30 is old, redundant, and should be retired. But they are fundamentally wrong when it comes to vintage sexy movies. These films represent the summation of thousands of years of sexual study rolled up into two hours of celluloid images. These films relied on real on screen chemistry of the stars, leaving many of us in the audience panting for more, intrigued by their sensuality, and inspired by their mystery.

Fatal Attraction is a 1987 American psychological thriller film. Stylish and sexy, the film took audiences to terrifying new heights with its thrilling story of a casual encounter gone terribly awry. For Dan Gallagher (Michael Douglas), life is good. He is on the rise at his New York law firm, is happily married to his wife, Beth (Anne Archer), and has a loving daughter. But, after a casual fling with a sultry book editor named Alex (Glenn Close), everything changes. Dan later shrugs off the affair as a mistake and considers it over. But Alex won't be ignored. Jilted by Dan and stopping at nothing to have him for herself, Alex becomes unstable, escalating from aggressive pursuit to obsessive stalking, even if it means destroying Dan's family to keep him. Dan realizes that his main problem is not hiding his affair, but rather saving himself and his family.

The Crying Game is the unpredictable, unconventional, multi-Oscar-nominated 1992 masterpiece, starring Stephen Rea as Fergus, an Irish terrorist and member of the IRA. He has a brief but meaningful encounter with the kidnapped British soldier Jody (Forest Whitaker) whom he takes as his hostage. The film is a haunting, humorous, and shocking romantic thriller. However, unexpected events force Fergus to decide what he wants for the future, and ultimately what his nature dictates he must do. When the hostage-taking ends up going horribly wrong, Fergus escapes and heads to London, where he adopts the name Jimmy and gets a job as a day laborer. He also seeks out Dil, a hairdresser and Jody's exotic girlfriend, played by Jaye Davidson. Fergus has an unexpected romantic relationship with Dil, even though he promised Jody he would protect her. While Dil knows nothing about Fergus' IRA background, there are some things about Dil that Fergus doesn't know either.

It only looks like the good life in the 1987 movie Less Than Zero. Loosely based on Bret Easton Ellis' best-Selling novel, the film begins with Clay Easton (Andrew McCarthy), a straitlaced freshman attending college in New Hampshire. At the request of his ex-girlfriend, Clay, he comes back from his first term at a college to spend his Christmas vacation with his broken-up wealthy family and former best friends in Los Angeles. Things are very different from the way he left them and Clay discovers that his ex Blair (Jami Gertz) and his old friend, the irresponsible Julian (Robert Downey, Jr.) have started a relationship of their own; the two have also developed a fondness for clubs, wild partie,s and endless amounts of cocaine, spiraling into an out-of-control drug habit. Model Blair’s addiction pales in comparison to the drug dependency of Julian, who has been cut off by family and is being hassled by his dealer Rip (James Spader), for $50,000. Clay tries to help them escape and attempt sobriety once and for all, but Julian, increasingly hopeless, addicted and deeply in debt puts Clay and Blair through the ultimate test of friendship, loyalty, and love.

The 1990 film White Palace follows Max Baron (James Spader), a successful Jewish advertising executive from St. Louis getting over the death of his wife, and Nora Baker (Susan Sarandon), a diner waitress who enjoys the wilder side of life. While he is in his 20s and she is a 40-something earthy, vibrant, and fiercely independent wild woman, a chance late-night encounter has this mismatched couple in an instant, smoldering, and powerful romance. The two gradually fall in love, but the path of true love is strewn with problems. Max is reluctant to reveal his relationship with Nora to his family and friends. Nora feels their age and cultural differences will put a strain on their relationship. With time, their class and age differences become bigger obstacles, especially since Max can't keep Nora a secret from his Jewish friends and upper-crust associates forever. Sarandon and Spader sizzle together in this steamy, critically acclaimed love story.

1989 gave us Sea of Love and a troubled veteran New York City police detective Frank Keller (Al Pacino), a workaholic cop living on the edge. A serial killer has been finding victims who had placed rhyming ads in the lonely hearts column of the newspaper and leaves the song "Sea of Love" playing at the crime scenes. Frank has three clues; a lipstick-smeared cigarette, a want-ad that the dead man placed in a newspaper, and fingerprints of the perpetrator. Frank concocts a plan to find the killer using his own personal ads. The idea is to place the ad, meet women, and take the prints from their drinking glasses. But Frank falls for Helen Cruger (Ellen Barkin), one of his chief suspects, and the two enter into a passionate affair, despite hard evidence linking her to the murders. Sea of Love is a sexy, atmospheric thriller, very much in the style of Alfred Hitchcock, with involving characters, steamy love scenes, and surprising plot twists.

Set in New Orleans, the 1987 crime thriller The Big Easy tells the romantic story of Remy McSwain (Dennis Quaid), a classy lieutenant in Homicide and his lover, Ann Osborne (Ellen Berkin), a beautiful attorney from the D.A.'s police corruption task force in his office. Remy's investigation of a gangland murder lands him in trouble with Ann, a woman with a rigid penchant for following the law. He begins a relationship with her as the killings continue only to have charges filed against him for accepting bribes as he stumbles on a police corruption sting. When it comes to murder, he's definitely on the right side and is irritated to find his kickbacks from the precinct "Widows and Orphans Fund" being followed. He argues that Anne does not have an understanding of how the system works in New Orleans for police. Remy starts to suspect that he's investigating something more than mob slayings. Remy's boss and the two detectives seem to be involved, leading Remy and Ann to fight for their lives when the corruption surrounding the case gets them bumped up to the top of a hit man's list.

Mel Gibson, Kurt Russell, and Michelle Pfeiffer star in this 1988 steamy, romantic thriller. Tequila Sunrise brings us to a seaside California town where best friends Mac Mckussic (Mel) and Nick Frescia (Kurt) are on opposite sides of the law. In true James Cagney-Pat O'Brien fashion, Mac says he is a retired drug dealer trying to clean up his act and Nick is a high-profile "celebrity" detective trying to take down a Mexican drug lord. Nick's loyalties are put to the test when he pursues the gorgeous restaurateur Jo Ann (Michelle), a love interest of Mac, in an attempt to know more about Mac's drug dealing plans and his connections with the Mexican dealer. Despite their long-term relationship going back to high school, Nick is duty-bound to bring Mac to justice if he is selling drugs again. Mac has a legitimate business and is raising a son, trying to distance himself from his former drug-smuggling ways. But he feels indebted to his old friend Carlos, who is pressuring Mac to do one last job.

Neo-noir erotic thriller Body Heat was written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan. Born in 1949, Kasdan is one of the godfathers of contemporary sexy movies. Starring William Hurt, Kathleen Turner, and Richard Crenna, the film was inspired by Double Indemnity and Out of the Past, two of Kasdan's mid-20th-century erotic noir films. The film also marks one of Mickey Rourke's early appearances in what would be a string of sexy movies that would lead him to be known as one of the sexiest men alive in the 1980s. Empire magazine went on to label Kathleen Turner one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in Film History. The New York Times referred to her sexual screen chemistry to be jaw dropping, adventurous, and a physical sexual robustness rarely seen on screen.

The 1983 British erotic horror film The Hunger was directed by the late Tony Scott, who committed suicide in 2012. Starring Catherine Deneuve, rockstar David Bowie, and the beautiful Susan Sarandon, who would go on to tittilize us in the classic White Palace. The love triangle between a doctor and a vampire couple is loosely adapted from the 1981 novel by Whitley Strieber. The Hunger was adapted for sreenplay by Ivan Davis and Michael Thomas. Premiereing at the Cannes Film Festival in 1983, The Hunger would go on to be one of the most controversially debated, graphically sexual films of the 1980s.

American crime thriller Wild at Heart made its debut in 1990. Based on the 1989 novel of the same name by Barry Gifford, it explores the love affair between a Cape Fear, North Carolina couple on the run from assasains. Directed by David Lynch, the ending was altered and a contested issue for author Gifford. The road-trip movie is inspired by early Elis Presley films and a few nods to the iconic Wizard of Oz.

Early screenings were received poorly, with hundreds of people walking out before the film ended. With mixed critical reviews, the film somehow found its way to profitability. Perhaps it was the marketing, or a conservative film distribution arrangement, but the film in its original run was never recognized for the erotic classic it has become. Winning the Palme d'Or in 1990 at Cannes and Academy Award nominations for Diane Ladd, the film has been re-evaluated by a more progressive audience and remains a top contender in its genre.

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Filthy Staff

A group of inappropriate, unconventional & disruptive professionals. Some are women, some are men, some are straight, some are gay. All are Filthy.

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