The five sexiest movie scenes of the 1980s
Following the radical changes of the late 1960s and ’70s within Hollywood, eroticism became a more prominent feature of the mainstream, even if the censorship boards were subsequently whipped up into a frenzy.
Subsequently, the 1980s welcomed an era of increased sexual exploration onscreen, with the erotic thriller genre proving to be particularly popular, yet when you look at the movies released throughout the decade that revelled in nudity and provocative sex scenes, many of them were actually rather uncomfortable.
For instance, the scene featuring Phoebe Cates in Fast Times in Ridgemont High, in which she emerges from the pool in a red bikini, eventually undoing it at the front to seduce us, but she was just 18 when it was filmed, and another film that emerges when you Google search ‘sexy ’80s movies’ is The Blue Lagoon, which troublingly features a 14-year-old Brooke Shields and an 18-year old Christopher Atkins. It doesn’t matter that a body double was used for Shields and that her hair was glued over her breasts so as not to expose her; the fact is that it’s incredibly disgusting.
Evidently, the ‘80s allowed an excessive amount of provocative content onto the big screen that should never have been given the green light, but, of course, there were also some genuinely erotic moments that weren’t borderline illegal. In fact, the ‘80s gave us many scandalous moments that many audiences can’t help but look back at and swoon, from the love scene in Dirty Dancing to the more transgressive sex of Crimes of Passion.
The five sexiest movie scenes from the 1980s:
‘Visions of Ecstasy'<em> </em>(Nigel Wingrove, 1989)
One of the most controversial movies of the decade was actually a short British film, Visions of Ecstasy, which caused widespread outrage, subsequently leading to its ban on the grounds of blasphemy, which remained in place until blasphemy laws in the UK were repealed in 2012.
Once the movie was finally released as an 18, audiences were able to discover a film packed full of erotic and religious imagery, with a woman playing Saint Teresa of Ávila getting down and dirty with Jesus while he’s on the cross.
It might not be your typical vision of a sexy film, what with the wound-licking, the blood, and the shocking depiction of religious figures, but sometimes things have to be a little transgressive to be truly sensual, and Visions of Ecstasy manages to strike that balance of being as sexy as it is subversive.
‘The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover'<em> </em>(Peter Greenaway, 1989)
Peter Greenaway has always made rather divisive films, and The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover is arguably his most daring, with Helen Mirren playing Georgina, the wife of a violent gangster who begins an affair with a bookshop owner, resulting in a lot of sex and violence in an undeniably strange yet bold production that’s as disgusting and shocking as it is oddly beautiful.
Some might not find the movie very sexy, but from the opulent Jean-Paul Gaultier costumes and lavish set design to the sex scenes among animal carcasses and in strangely stylish toilet cubicles, there’s something so seductive and dangerous about the messy and gross that makes it an unforgettable erotic masterpiece.
‘Betty Blue'<em> </em>(Jean-Jacques Beineix, 1986)
The opening scene of Jean-Jacques Beineix’s Betty Blue is almost cliché, which sees Betty and Zorg having sex on the bed, her head almost hanging over it as he thrusts, the pair nuzzling into each other’s necks as they reach climax. There’s no careful Hollywood blocking to make the scene less explicit; the camera pans into the room and hovers like we’ve just walked in and intruded on their intimate moment.
Using a voiceover, Zorg tells us, “I had known Betty for a week. We made love every night”.
It’s this excitement in their arrangement that adds to the eroticism. It would be criminal not to include Betty Blue on a list of sexy ‘80s movies, because really, it is the sexy French movie of the decade, even if it soon descends into tragedy.
‘Dirty Dancing’ (Emile Ardolino, 1987)
Dirty Dancing is a classic romantic movie, so iconic that ‘I’ve Had the Time of My Life’ and that pose have come to destroy dancefloors across the world, especially at weddings. The relationship between Baby and Johnny, played by Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, is so sensual, and this comes to a head in the unforgettable sex scene, which is perhaps one of the most tasteful of the decade.
The pair dance seductively to ‘Cry to Me’ by Solomon Burke, with Johnny shirtless, slowly taking Baby’s top off until she is left in his arms in her bra, dancing slowly and intimately. As they soak each other up and press themselves, skin to skin, the lighting darkens as they finally consummate their relationship, leaving the explicit details down to our imagination.
‘Crimes of Passion’ (Ken Russell, 1984)
Ken Russell has never shied away from controversy, from the banned 1971 film The Devils to his final project, A Kitten For Hitler, but in 1984, he found himself in trouble with the censorship board again when he recruited Kathleen Turner for his erotic thriller Crimes of Passion.
The film didn’t hold back on showing rather explicit sex, which makes sense for a movie featuring Turner as a woman who moonlights as a prostitute; however, you really do get an eyeful of her in one specific scene, in which she sleeps with a policeman.
She uses his rather phallic nightstick to dominate him, stripping off as pink and blue lighting flash sleazily around them. Wearing stockings and a blonde wig, she gets on top of him, her heels digging into his chest, with nipple play, toe-sucking, and eventually, the more explicit sexual acts are depicted via a shadow on the wall. It’s a naughty scene, one made even more shocking when the camera zooms in on a little peephole in the wall, revealing a man who, like us, has spied on the whole thing.
