{"id":48058,"date":"2025-06-09T08:25:40","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T12:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=48058"},"modified":"2025-06-09T08:26:04","modified_gmt":"2025-06-09T12:26:04","slug":"the-10-unlikeliest-achievements-in-clothing-free-cinema","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/09\/the-10-unlikeliest-achievements-in-clothing-free-cinema\/","title":{"rendered":"The 10 Unlikeliest Achievements in Clothing-Free Cinema"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of \u201c3 AM.\u201d What, you never heard of \u201c3 AM\u201d? Well, if you\u2019re an Orson Welles fan, you\u2019ll recall that film was directed by Gary Graver, the cinematographer on Welles\u2019 \u201cThe Other Side of the Wind\u201d \u2013 Graver needed to take on the skin flick job to because he couldn\u2019t cover his bills working on Welles\u2019 on-again\/off-again project. As a favor to Graver, the Big O did uncredited work in editing a steamy masturbatory shower in \u201c3 AM.\u201d<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>But Welles was not the only big name to have a connection with the X-rated world. Throughout cinema history, the pornographic orbit overlapped the wider celluloid culture \u2013 with such unlikely figures as Marilyn Monroe, Barbra Streisand, Sylvester Stallone, Bugs Bunny and (of all people) Elon Musk turning up in the mix. And while serious cinema scholarship rarely considers the genre where clothing is optional and fornication is ubiquitous, we\u2019re putting all seriousness aside to consider 10 unlikely landmarks in the naughty side of filmmaking.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Naughty Origins: <\/strong>Did you ever wonder where the porn film world began? Well, the first erotic movie was \u201cLe coucher de la mari\u00e9e,\u201d which was made in Paris is 1896 within a year of the first public screenings of the new motion picture technology. While there was no nudity or sex on screen, the film\u2019s depiction of a giddy bride undressing in front of her carnally impatient new husband on their honeymoon night showed that filmmakers had risqu\u00e9 ideas since the dawn of cinema. Today, only a fraction of this seminal moment in film history survives \u2013 and here it is:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gpLbQY-aycE?si=Y_sO_Tm-C8S1D7n1\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Amazingly, the director of this groundbreaking film was Albert Kirchner, who also established the genre of religious drama with his 1897 \u201cPassion du Christ.\u201d Talk about spanning the sacred and the profane! Kirchner also registered three patents for the film camera known as the Biographe Fran\u00e7ais L\u00e9ar, which helped to quickly grow the nascent French film industry.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Bugs Bunny\u2019s Porn Collection:<\/strong> During Hollywood\u2019s Golden Era, the existence of pornographic films was never acknowledged in mainstream movies, although one unlikely production let slip filmdom\u2019s dirty secret: the 1944 Warner Bros. cartoon \u201cWhat\u2019s Cookin\u2019 Doc\u201d has Bugs Bunny screening his performance for Academy voters when he accidentally includes a \u201cstag reel\u201d in his presentation. (The expression \u201cstag reel\u201d referred to the all-male private audiences that were the chief market for these films.)<\/p>\n<p>When the film was syndicated to television in the 1950s, the stag reel gag was not edited out \u2013 thus, it introduced successive generations of youngsters to the concept of something they weren\u2019t supposed to know about, let alone watch. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/yOby05HSGQM?si=TFUhmVcQ0qF32uot\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>The Best Of The Bunch:<\/strong> And since we mentioned Orson Welles earlier, the porn film that could be considered the \u201cCitizen Kane\u201d of the genre would have to be the 1951 \u201cSmart Alec,\u201d starring an aspiring model named Juanita Slusher. The film was immensely popular, selling millions of 8mm copies well into the 1980s, thanks in large part to better-than-average production values and Slusher\u2019s beauty and vivacious personality \u2013 her grown-up demeanor was so strong that few people realized she was 16 years old at the time.<\/p>\n<p>Slusher would later acknowledge she only did the film because she had one dollar to her name and the pay, and later helped the FBI collar the filmmaker for exploiting a minor. However, she didn\u2019t travel too far from the skin-display realm \u2013 in her adult career, she would later gain fame on the burlesque circuit under the stage name Candy Barr. Indeed, her fame in this part of show business was so great that she was hired by 20th Century Fox Studios as a choreographer for the 1960 feature \u201cSeven Thieves,\u201d where she taught actress Joan Collins how to bump and grind for her role as a stripper \u2013 and she received a screen credit as a technical advisor.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Alleged Marilyn Monroe Porn Films: <\/strong>In 1980, Penthouse magazine published screen captures from an untitled 1940s porn film with the claim that a then-unknown Marilyn Monroe was the leading lady in that flick. However, the photos of the woman in the film showed no resemblance to the screen idol. Another rumor floated for years that Monroe appeared in a porn short called \u201cThe Apple-Knockers and the Coke,\u201d but research determined the woman in that film was Playboy model Arline Hunter. (That\u2019s her in the photo above.)<\/p>\n<p>While Monroe did a nude photo shoot in 1949 for photographer Tom Kelley that was later republished in Playboy, there is no evidence that she bared it all for the movie camera. Still, several video sites still offer these films with its misidentified star.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The Alleged Barbra Streisand Porn Film:<\/strong> In 1970, a fly-by-night company advertising in adult magazines promoted an 8mm film that promised \u201cBarbra Streisand in Hardcore!\u201d The film attracted a large number of curious viewers \u2013 including Streisand herself. In a 1977 interview with Playboy magazine, a fully clothed Streisand amusingly recalled her impression of watching her naked doppelganger.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI couldn\u2019t resist the temptation to see what the actress looked like \u2013 and also to check out her performance \u2013 so we got a copy,\u201d Streisand said. \u201cThe film, naturally, is very blurred. The girl has long hair, like I did back in the Sixties, although she was chubby, while I was very skinny. But the dead giveaway came when the camera zoomed in on her hands around the guy\u2019s you-know-what. There they were: short, stubby fingers! Definitely not mine. So, all you would-be buyers, don\u2019t waste your money.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sylvester Stallone\u2019s Porn Film: <\/strong>Also in 1970, an out-of-work and financially strapped young actor named Sylvester Stallone accepted $200 to appear in an X-rated film called \u201cParty at Kitty and Stud\u2019s.\u201d The film itself was never released and remained forgotten until \u201cRocky\u201d came out six years later.<\/p>\n<p>The film, quite frankly, is a bore. Stallone and his leading lady have sex in a bathtub, on a bed, and with other swingers in the living room of their Manhattan apartment. Stallone also flexes his muscles in the mirror and whips Henrietta Holm with his belt, though he barely seems to be hitting her despite the shrieks on the soundtrack. The film ends with the naked cast dancing in a circle.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Andy Warhol\u2019s Taboo Break: <\/strong>The first pornographic film to have a mainstream theatrical release was \u201cBlue Movie,\u201d a 1969 feature film directed and produced by Andy Warhol. Louis Waldon and Viva played a New York couple who talk about the Vietnam War, go about their quotidian chores and have 10 minutes of graphic sex.<\/p>\n<p>The film\u2019s premiere engagement was at the Garrick Theater in Manhattan, and police raided the venue after the film had been running for a month, arrested the theater\u2019s staff while seizing the print from the projection room. The New York Criminal Court later ruled \u201cBlue Movie\u201d was obscene and the theater&#8217;s manager was fined $250.00 \u2013 the ruling was never appealed and remains on the books. Warhol would publish a book version of \u201cBlue Movie\u201d with stills from the production, but the film was rarely shown again until a 2005 screening at the New York Film Festival.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Expelled From Windsor Castle: <\/strong>In 1982, British tabloids ran amok with the story that Prince Andrew was dating Koo Stark, a New York-born actress and model. While Stark\u2019s career was less than stellar \u2013 she was an uncredited bridesmaid in \u201cThe Rocky Horror Picture Show\u201d and was cast as Camie Marstrap, Luke Skywalker\u2019s first crush in a deleted segment of \u201cStar Wars\u201d \u2013 she did gain notoriety for starring in the erotically-charged films \u201cEmily\u201d (1976) and \u201cJustine\u201d (1977).<\/p>\n<p>While Prince Andrew was reportedly deeply in love with Stark, his family forced him to break off their romance when the British tabloids pointed out her clothing-free cinematic highlights. But that was rather unfair \u2013 while \u201cEmily\u201d and \u201cJustine\u201d were quite steamy, they were not marketed as pornographic films. Stark would continue acting and launched a second career as a photographer \u2013 and considering how Prince Andrew\u2019s life turned out, perhaps it was best that she didn\u2019t marry him.<\/p>\n<p><strong>A Degree In XXX Filmmaking:<\/strong> In 2002, New York City-based adult filmmaker Joe Gallant was offered an unlikely opportunity to share his craft in an educational setting. Gallant\u2019s course \u201cHow to Shoot Your Own Adult Video\u201d was presented at the Learning Annex, a continuing education center, with the mission of turning the amateur pornographer into a genuine indie filmmaker. This turned out to be a very popular course and was offered for several years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy approach is guerilla \u2013 I like to shoot in public places,\u201d said Gallant, who was formerly an Emmy Award-winning sound-effects designer for the soap opera \u201cGuiding Light.\u201d When he wasn\u2019t offering insight into making dirty movies, Gallant achieved indie music recognition in the early 2000s as the driving force for the rock orchestra Illuminati.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Elon Musk, Porn Star?: <\/strong>In August 2021, Tesla CEO Elon Musk received a highly unlikely offer: Nafty, a cryptocurrency finance system catering to the porn industry, offered him $6.9 million to direct and star in a porn film. The offer was based on a Musk tweet that referenced an adult-themed cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cElon Musk\u2019s fascination with NSFW tokens indicates that he is clearly interested in the adult space, so we wanted to give him the chance to direct and star in his own movie,\u201d said Nafty CEO Rob Kemenyfi. \u201cHe has accomplished so much in his life, but still hasn&#8217;t checked porn off his bucket list. Now is his opportunity!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Musk did not publicly acknowledge the offer, although in May 2021 he acknowledged an online video with porn star Taylor Jackson and her boyfriend having sex in a Tesla while it was driving on Autopilot. Musk tweeted, &#8220;Turns out there&#8217;s more ways to use Autopilot than we imagined&#8221; \u2013 followed by the obvious rim-shot wisecrack &#8220;Shoulda seen it coming&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This year marks the 50th anniversary of the release of \u201c3 AM.\u201d What, you never heard of \u201c3 AM\u201d? Well, if you\u2019re an Orson Welles fan, you\u2019ll recall that film was directed by Gary Graver, the cinematographer on Welles\u2019 \u201cThe Other Side of the Wind\u201d \u2013 Graver needed to take on the skin flick job [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":48059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1369],"tags":[2985,2216,167,3727,3057,3730,3729,626,1477,792,3155,3728,1019],"class_list":["post-48058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-retro-cinema","tag-andy-warhol","tag-barbra-streisand","tag-bugs-bunny","tag-candy-barr","tag-elon-musk","tag-joe-gallant","tag-koo-stark","tag-marilyn-monroe","tag-orson-welles","tag-porn","tag-pornography","tag-prince-andrew","tag-sylvester-stallone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48062,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48058\/revisions\/48062"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}