The Accused (1988)

This thoughtful, fact-based drama from director Jonathan Kaplan was based on a real-life incident of a 1983 rape. It provided a provocative look at how the justice system treated victims who were often seen as worthy of blame. Jodie Foster in an Oscar-winning role portrayed Sarah Tobias, a sexily-dressed, drunk, working-class patron in The Mill, a seedy roadside bar.

The film opened with a bruised and half-dressed Sarah (Jodie Foster) running barefoot and screaming from a roadside bar where she'd just been raped. It would be later in the film when the entire rape episode was voyeuristically envisioned during the witness recounting (on Sarah's behalf) of college-frat student Ken Joyce (Bernie Coulson) - the one who had called 911.

At first, she passionately kissed Danny (Woody Brown), one of the rowdy customers. She resisted while his encouraging male friends cheered, yelled, and clapped, especially Cliff "Scorpion" Albrecht (Leo Rossi):

"Go, Danny! Fourth and one, my man, stick 'em!...Smell that new blood, baby!...That's it! Pump that little f--kin' college ass!"

Danny pulled down her top and began to kiss her nipples, while pinning her down on the glass atop a pinball machine titled: "Slamdunk." She was further humiliated when he began to have intercourse, against her wishes. And then she was held down and brutally gang-raped by others. Later, she was unfairly accused of enticing her attackers: "Raped? She f--ked a bar full of guys then she turns round and blames them for it?"

Sarah's (Jodie Foster) Gang Rape Atop a Pinball Machine

Action Jackson (1988)

This late 80s violent action film from director Craig R. Baxley (with his feature film directorial debut) was a formulaic throw-back to 70's blacksploitation films. It had a short tagline ("IT'S TIME FOR 'ACTION'"), and a long explanatory tagline:

• NAME: Jericho Jackson.
  NICKNAME: "Action."
  HOME: Detroit.
  PROFESSION: Cop.
  EDUCATION: Harvard Law.
  HOBBY: Fighting Crime.
  
  WEAPON: You're looking at 'em.

The film's opening explained how the Detroit police department was rocked by an incident involving:

• Detective Sgt. Jericho 'Action' Jackson (Carl Weathers), in the title role as a no-nonsense cop, Harvard-educated

Formerly, he was a Lieutenant, but demoted to Sergeant in a botched case about two years earlier. Due to 'unnecessary roughness' on the part of Jackson, sexual psychopath Sean Dellaplane, the criminal son of corrupt and sinister Detroit auto tycoon Peter Anthony Dellaplane (Craig T. Nelson), lost an arm. He was currently on desk duty and could not carry a firearm.

Jackson suspected that Dellaplane hired assassins (known as "The Invisible Men") to eliminate local auto trade-union members and officials that he disliked, while also maneuvering to gain political power (and select the next President). In the opening sequence, the assassins torched an opponent with a flamethrower who then plummeted out of a skyscraper window.

There were two female stars (both displaying gratuitous nudity) - and both of whom were associated with Peter Dellaplane:

• Patrice Dellaplane (pre-Basic Instinct Sharon Stone), Peter's gorgeous but naive trophy wife
• Sydney Ash (R&B singer and Prince's ex-girlfriend Vanity), a lounge-club singer, Peter's mistress - and heroin addict-junkie
  
  [Note: Vanity also posed for Playboy in April of the same year as this film. This was one of her best film performances, besides being in 52 Pick-Up (1986) two years earlier opposite Roy Scheider. However, she did receive a Razzie nomination for "Worst Actress" for her performance.]

Sydney was a needy addict, exchanging sex for drugs with corrupt industrialist Peter Dellaplane - he provided her with a shiny hypodermic needle filled with heroin, as she laid back topless. He promised: "This is supposed to be a girl's best friend." He also told her after injecting her: "Sweet dreams, baby."

Patrice Dellaplane (Sharon Stone) - Peter Dellaplane's Murdered Trophy Wife

After Patrice showed her nudity in a steamy room after a shower, she became her husband's bloody murder victim for her suspicions and for speaking to Jackson about Dellaplane's corrupt activities. As she hugged and kissed her husband, he reassured her:

"I'd never do anything to harm you, baby."

But then she was killed at point blank range during mid-kiss. He laid her bloody body back on the bed, removed her expensive diamond ring, and calmly lit up a cigarette. He tossed the murder weapon back to his bodyguard and uttered: "Works fine." Her body was planted in Jackson's apartment (to frame Jackson).

The investigating police officer commented on Patrice's bloody body: "Women this beautiful don't come around too often. I've always got to see 'em like this." Jackson was framed for murdering her and found himself on the run from his own police, with support from Sydney who served as his 'unlikely buddy' during a few car rides and chase scenes.

In the film's climactic conclusion, Jackson rescued hostage Sydney from Dellaplane’s mansion by driving his Ferrari up the stairs into the bedroom. During a one-on-one standoff between Dellaplane and Jackson, the corrupt kingpin was shot and killed, while Jackson received a shoulder wound.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

Writer/director Terry Gilliam's absurdist and imaginative "fantasy to end all fantasies" - an adventure film that was a story-within-a-story, recounted the fabulous and fanciful misadventures (illustrated with expensive special effects) of a legendary late-17th century European aristocrat, the Baron Munchausen (John Neville).

Traveling to the moon in a hot-air balloon, he entered into the interior of a fiery volcano and into the presence of the Roman god Vulcan (Oliver Reed). One of the most breathtakingly romantic and sensual entrances -- showcasing erotic, innocent femininity -- was the scene of the entrance of the goddess Venus. (Uma Thurman).

The live-action recreation paid homage to the famous The Birth of Venus painting of 1482 by Sandro Botticelli.

Homage to "The Birth of Venus" Botticelli Painting

Venus made a spectacular birth entrance from a giant closed clamshell. In the scene, a giant closed clamshell was slowly brought up from a watery pool by two angels. When opened, it revealed a fully nude, angelic-faced Venus, wife of Roman god Vulcan, in the same pose as her counterpart from the painting. Her long tresses and left hand covered her crotch and one arm covered her breasts.

She gazed at the visiting Baron Munchausen and his friends, and greeted simply with a melodic voice: "Hello" - the two angels then flew to her and wrapped her in pinkish silk to form her new dress.

Then the Baron experienced a lyrical spinning airborne dance with her.

Akira (1988, Jp.)

Writer/director Katsuhiro Otomo's landmark, visually-spectacular animated film (known as anime) was set about 38 years after an atomic bomb (during WWIII) was detonated in Tokyo, following experiments on Esper children possessing lime-green skin (with extraordinary psychic powers of ESP). The stories of Japanese animated films have often featured explicit and graphic content and unflinching explicit bloody violence.

In the film's opening, there were views of the cyberpunk, post-war dystopic "Neo-Tokyo" in the year 2019 following WWIII, complete with reconstructed, gigantic skyscrapers and 3-D holographic, animated advertisements on billboards.

In a kinetic, adrenalin-fueled sequence, two rival vigilante bike gangs of cyberpunks (the Capsules vs. the Clowns) were pitted against each other. Their feud played out through the streets of the futuristic metropolis, culminating in a game of chicken between teenaged, cocky delinquent Capsule leader-hero Shōtarō Kaneda and rival Clown gangleader.

The scene depicted the brutal attempted assault-rape by the Clown biker gang of Kaori, a 15 year-old Japanese schoolgirl and the girlfriend of Kaneda's anti-hero friend Tetsuo Shima. While Tetsuo was held down nearby, Kaori was restrained by her arms as another Clown biker ripped off her blouse and she was punched in the face.

Kaori dropped to her knees and then fell face-forward and half-naked onto the pavement. Shortly later, she was shown with a bloodied face and a pained look, with a draped coat over her shoulders to cover her nakedness.

Kaori - Bloodied and Bruised

And God Created Woman (1988)

Director Roger Vadim's final film was this inferior remake with much more nudity and a completely different story. Many of the explicit sex scenes in this modernized film were cut to create the R-rated version. It was a major financial failure with total revenue of only $717,000. The original 1956 French film ...And God Created Woman (1956, Fr.), also by Vadim, featured starlet Brigitte Bardot. The tagline was:

• "...and on the Seventh Day, He got creative."

The romantic melodrama told about a temptress:

• Robin Shea (Rebecca De Mornay), a wrongly-imprisoned and sentenced convict in a high-security New Mexico prison, an aspiring rock singer
  [Note: De Mornay was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award (Razzie) as "Worst Actress" for her performance.]

She escaped (under the opening title credits sequence) and was picked up as a hitchhiker in a limousine by New Mexico gubernatorial candidate James Tiernan (Frank Langella), an advocate of prison reform and an opponent of capital punishment - who returned her to the prison to break back in (a very odd circumstance).

After she snuck back into the prison, and as she was changing back into a prison uniform in the gymnasium, she was spotted naked by the prison's handyman-carpenter Billy Moran (Vincent Spano). She seduced him by removing his toolbelt before having sex with him up against a wall. Afterwards, she introduced herself as:

"The right girl in the wrong place. Bye."

She phoned politician Tiernan to ask for his help - when he suggested and encouraged her to marry in order to obtain respectability - and an early parole from the prison - and she set her sights on Billy once again.

She made a "business deal" with Billy - she offered her inheritance of $5,000 if he would marry her. She would live with him for one year (a marriage of convenience) until her parole was up, and then she would leave him. He agreed, and they were promptly married during an in-prison ceremony.

However, after she was released fairly quickly (with helpful support from Tiernan), she told an enraged Billy that their "business" deal didn't include sexual relations once she moved in with him - and with his older brother Peter (Donovan Leitch) and Billy's 6 year-old son Timmy (Jamie McEnnan). (She teased him by showering within his view, however.)

She met up again with Tiernan, who was using Robin as a poster child for successful prison reform during his campaign. She had a brief sexual affair with him (including oral sex at the pool table and lounging by a spa), while Billy was also sleeping with someone else (he descriptively told Robin: "We didn't have time to sleep we were so busy f--king"). Robin decided to separate and stop seeing Tiernan, fearing that his wife Alexandra (Judith Chapman) suspected unfaithfulness.

She reconciled with Billy and resumed sexual relations with him during his restoration work at the Randall Davey Museum.

Robin Reconciled with Billy (Vincent Spano) at the Museum
Incriminating Polaroids

Both of them were caught in a sexual position by surprised tourists, who took pictures of them in his workshop, and distributed the two Polaroid photos.

She was threatened with having her parole revoked and being returned to prison by Tiernan. However, all was resolved when Robin publically praised Tiernan and received his support at a political dinner, and escaped having to go back to prison. She happily accepted her married role with Billy - now sharing a marital bed.

Bull Durham (1988)

Writer/director Ron Shelton's definitive and very popular baseball sports film, his feature debut. Its main tagline was:

• Romance is a lot like baseball. It's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the game.

It included sexy scenes between two of its characters:

• Crash Davis (Kevin Costner), veteran journeyman ballplayer catcher
• Annie Savoy (Susan Sarandon), sexy sport groupie

In one striking scene, aging veteran, romantic-minded, minor leaguer "Crash" confronted the bold affections of part-time junior-college English teacher and sexually-seductive baseball groupie Annie Savoy. In her living room with fellow dating prospect and moronic ballplayer 'Nuke' LaLoosh (Tim Robbins), he gave the female baseball devotee a classic, philosophical speech about what his beliefs were, including a kiss-related sentence, before opting out of her offer to be the baseball player she would choose to bed that year (she proposed to "hook up with one guy a season"):

"Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hangin' curveball, high fiber, good Scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, over-rated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there oughta be a constitutional amendment outlawing AstroTurf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve. And I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. Good-night.

Crash's Beliefs

Annie's Response: "Oh my!"

She responded with a breathless reply: "Oh my!"

Later, although Annie had chosen young prodigy, Durham Bulls pitcher Ebby "Nuke" LaLoosh as her sexual conquest for the season, she began to realize that "Crash" might be a better-suited match for her sexual come-ons. She came to Crash's place and offered herself: "I want you," but when he declined, she flatly stated:

"This is the damnedest season I've ever seen. I mean, the Durham Bulls can't lose, and I can't get laid."

She had another chance to sample his beliefs about three-day long kisses at the conclusion of the film when "Crash" was released from baseball playing altogether (although he might be a minor league manager) and he sought to retire with dignity. He looked up Annie and then over a drink, they kissed - and he used one hand to pull up her skirt and skillfully unsnap her black stocking garter, causing her to exclaim: "Oh, my!" followed by the unbuttoning of the back of her dress. She unbuckled his trouser's belt and undid his pants, and then kissed his slightly-hairy bare chest and sucked on his nipple.

They made love - and rolled over, tumbling from the bed to the floor, still kissing and locked together, as she grabbed for traction from a nearby table leg - moaning and shaking. Their love-making was followed by a bowl of Wheaties ("Breakfast of Champions") in the kitchen. Wearing his oversized sports jacket (while he wore one of her robes), she glowed at him:

"God, you are gorgeous...You wanna dance?"

He tossed his cereal bowl into the sink where it smashed into pieces, and he pulled her onto the kitchen table, where they resumed making love after he answered: "Yes." Annie responded: "I guess you do." They were then dancing in her living room, to the tune of the Dominoes' "Sixty Minute Man."

In the next scene, Annie's arms were tied to the bedpost, as she succumbed to having her toenails painted red by "Crash."

And then they were in the bathtub together - he was kissing her bare chest and embracing her while the two were surrounded by candles. Their wild sloshing and splashing doused the flames on the candles next to the tub.

Coming to America (1988)

Director John Landis' romantic comedy in the late 1980s marked one of the highlights of Eddie Murphy's film career, and was noted as the first of many films in which the comedian played multiple roles. Many years later, a sequel was produced by Paramount Pictures titled Coming 2 America (2021) - it was released digitally through Amazon instead of to theatres due to the Covid pandemic.

Coming To America (1988)

Coming 2 America (2021)

The film opened in the fictitious African country of Zamunda, where wealthy, pampered, and sweet-natured African Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy), the prince and heir to the throne, was awakened on his 21st birthday. He was led by three pretty servant girls on a rose petal-strewn path to his early morning bath within a large circular pool.

In the most unexpected scene of all (early in the film), as he was lounging in the gigantic bathtub, his back was being sponge-bathed by a beautiful topless bather (Felicia Taylor). Meanwhile another naked attendant (Midori/Michele Watley) stood by (viewed from the back) - when suddenly, a third Nubian bathing attendant (Victoria Dillard) declared after emerging from under the water:

"The royal penis is clean, your Highness."

He gave a brief sigh of relief.

At breakfast (at a long table where he sat at the opposite end from his parents), he decided to rebel against his controlling parents. King Jaffe (James Earl Jones) and Queen Aoleon (Madge Sinclair) ordered that he accept their choice for an arranged marriage to bride-to-be Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell) whom he had never seen nor met before - and therefore might not love. He resisted the choice when he realized she was completely subservient to his needs, preferences, and desires, and would obey whatever he ordered - even barking like a dog or making a noise like an orangutan.

The Prince made a deal with his father - he would be allowed to enter into the "outside world" to experience life (and 'sow your royal oats'), and then would return to marry his father's choice in 40 days: "Get out, see the world, enjoy yourself, fulfill every erotic desire. And in 40 days, you'll come back and marry Imani....It is settled." Secretly however, the Prince wanted to find and select his own bride: ("I intend to find my bride...I want a woman that's going to arouse my intellect as well as my loins") - in America, in Queens, NY - the premise for the rest of the film.

King Jaffe (James Earl Jones) and Queen Aoleon (Madge Sinclair)

Imani Izzi (Vanessa Bell)

Dangerous Liaisons (1988)

Director Stephen Frears' sexy period film illustrated French 18th century one-upmanship, game-playing, seductive passion, betrayal and romantic intrigue. There were many versions of the same film. Most notably, it was remade as the hip, teen version titled Cruel Intentions (1999).

• Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1959, Fr.), d. Roger Vadim
• Une Femme Fidèle (1976, Fr.), d. Roger Vadim
• Dangerous Liaisons (1988, US/UK), d. Stephen Frears
• Valmont (1989, Fr./UK), d. Milos Forman
• Cruel Intentions (1999), d. Roger Kumble

Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1959, Fr.)	Une Femme Fidèle (1976, Fr.)	Dangerous Liaisons (1988, US/UK)
Valmont (1989, Fr./UK)	Cruel Intentions (1999)

The entire film was composed of a devilishly wicked challenge or treacherous game, a series of 'dangerous liaisons' involving other people's lives, between:

• Marquise De Merteuil (Glenn Close), a bored, aristocratic, wicked and wealthy widow
• Vicomte De Valmont (John Malkovich), her rakish ex-lover

She challenged him to "Wa-a-a-a-r" - with her bed as the prize. She wanted him to vengefully seduce a virgin (the fiancee of her ex-husband Comte de Bastide). Valmont cruelly accomplished the bet - he seduced and 'deflowered' teenaged bride-to-be virgin Cecile De Volanges (Uma Thurman).

During his first nocturnal visit to Cecile's bedroom, he stroked her body as she slept, and then claimed he was there as a result of her invitation with a key. He started out: "I just want you to give me a kiss...That's all...Then I'll go." It was more than a simple kiss - he also stroked her breasts. He then complimented her: "Very nice." But he would not leave - and then he began untying her nightgown. He made an under-handed claim:

Valmont: "I promised to go when you gave me a kiss. You didn't give me a kiss. I gave you a kiss. Not the same thing at all."
Cecile: "And if I give you a kiss...?"
Valmont: "Let's just get ourselves more comfortable, shall we?"

Later, Cecile told the Marquise that she wasn't actually forced to give herself up: "But I found it almost impossible to defend myself...He just has a way of putting things. You can't think of an answer." She professed:

"I kept on saying no all the time. But somehow, that wasn't what I was doing. I am so ashamed."

The Marquise told the seduced Cecile: "You'll find the shame is like the pain. You only feel it once." She then advised that she should allow Valmont to continue his "instruction" - and that she could become cautiously promiscuous:

"You can do it, or not, with as many men as you like as often as you like in as many different ways as you like. Our sex has few enough advantages, so you may as well make the best of those you have."

The next time with Cecile, Valmont stressed the need to use the "correct polite vocabulary" - calling everything by its "proper name." And he described how he had been one of her own energetic mother's many lovers.

As he caressed her chest and kissed her breast, he promulgated the need for sex education for her future husband's sake:

"You asked me if Monsieur de Bastide would be pleased with your abilities. And the answer is, 'education is never a waste.' Now, I think we might begin with one or two Latin terms."

At the same time, Valmont also proceeded to corrupt, by seduction, the religiously-virtuous, married Madame De Tourvel (Michelle Pfeiffer):

"I want her to believe in God and virtue and the sanctity of marriage, and still not be able to stop herself. I want the pleasure of watching her betray everything that is most important to her."

Drowning by Numbers (1988, UK)

Director Peter Greenaway's black comedy of covered-up murders and conspiracy (sprinkled with numerology) was taglined:

• "The great death game."

It told of water-borne deaths among different generations of related women, who each killed their husbands:

In all cases, middle-aged widower and local coroner Henry Madgett (Bernard Hill) was complicit in the water-related murders (by issuing 'natural causes' death certificates) after being bribed for sexual favors.

Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (1988)

When the sixth installment was devoid of any nudity or explicit sex, the seventh in the popular teen-oriented franchise, Friday the 13th, Part VII: The New Blood (1988), had to make up for lost time, with its simplistic Puritanical morality code of sex (or planning on sex) led to death.

Its basic story involved the return of homicidal maniac Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) from the bottom of Crystal Lake, who was inadvertently brought back to life by teenaged telekinetic Tina Shepard (Lar Park Lincoln). He was unchained from his watery grave and ready to wield an axe (and other weapons of death) to those who were nearby at the camp.

Its tagline was:

• "On Friday the 13th, Jason is back. But this time, someone's waiting."

About half-way through the film, a sex-crazed couple, preppy Russell (Larry Cox) and flirty girlfriend Sandra (Heidi Kozak) (in a tight bra-less yellow half-top), conversed together hand-in-hand. He asked: "When did you first fall in love with me?", with her provocative reply:

"The first time I saw the enormous size of your beautiful -- wallet. This huge bulge in your pants was calling out my name. 'Sandra, Sandra, take me now'."

She dared him to go skinny-dipping with her, as she stripped down naked, calling out: "You chicken!" After she dove in to Crystal Lake, she added: "You need a formal invitation? Russell, party for two. Right this way, please." When she went underwater, Russell was confronted by hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees (Kane Hodder) on the shore, and received an axe to the face with one swing. Sandra screamed when she saw Russell's corpse, and then as she struggled and splashed to get away (seen from an underwater, full-frontal Jaws-like view), Jason pulled her under by the ankle and she was drowned.

Death of Sandra (Heidi Kozak) During Skinny-Dipping with Russell

Two other African-American teens, Ben (Craig Thomas) and his girlfriend Kate (Diane Almeida) received punishment for their sexual behavior - they were interrupted while having intercourse in a parked van outside the Crystal Lake cabin, and both killed soon after - by skull squeezing, and by a party horn thrust into her eye.

Another promiscuous and stoned young couple, perky Robin (Elizabeth Kaitan) and stoner David (John Renfield) had just finished having sex in an upstairs bedroom. He was stabbed while looking for food in the darkened kitchen with a machete in the stomach (and then beheaded). She was grabbed by the neck and forcefully thrown from the window of another bedroom after she discovered David's decapitated head.

Gotham (1988) (aka The Dead Can't Lie)

Writer/director Lloyd Fonvielle's often incoherent, film-noirish horror thriller-ghost story was originally made for Showtime cable-TV, and in some ways resembled Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). Its tagline was:

• Some Passions Can Be Deadly

There were three major characters in the plot:

• Charles "Charlie" Rand (Colin Bruce), a rich, nervous and "unappealing" husband
• Edward "Eddie" Martel Mallard (Tommy Lee Jones), a down-on-his-luck NYC gumshoe private detective
• Rachel Carlyle (pre-Oscar-winning actress Virginia Madsen, in a number of nude scenes), Rand's socialite trophy ex-wife, a beautiful, bewitching femme fatale blonde, who was killed in a boating accident in 1975

The film opened as Charlie described to a bartender how he was facing "trouble of a very special kind." During the start of a long flashback, he was followed by a shadowy female figure down a dark NY street to his apartment, where she addressed him by name. Rand hired seedy Detective Mallard (for $175/day with a $1,000 cash advance) to prevent his dead ex-wife Rachel from harassing, following and tormenting him. He claimed she was stalking and haunting him and that he wanted to be left alone.

As it turned out, Rachel was truly a separated ex-wife - she had been deceased for ten years, after drowning in the harbor. Charlie described her to Eddie as a "bewitching" and "very beautiful" woman he never loved, but nonetheless he enjoyed her body for sex:

She's the kind of woman who stakes everything on her beauty, on her sex. She didn't really exist unless she was twirling some love-sick chump around her little finger. lf she came up against someone who was absolutely immune to her, it made her feel like a ghost. Nothing. lt may have something to do with why she's come back.

After meeting Rachel on a NYC sidewalk, Eddie treated her to a drink in a high-rise restaurant known as the Summit, where she demeaned him as cheaply-dressed: ("l cannot tolerate a man who wears $100 dollar suits"), since she had "expensive tastes." Later, Charlie described how he had to provide Rachel with jewels for her sexual favors - it was their "arrangement." He had bought her an expensive "diamond choker" a week before her death, and still had all of the jewels in his possession in a safe-deposit box, wrapped in a shoebox. She was continually demanding their return, as Charlie told Eddie:

"If she gets the jewels, she'll leave me alone."

Later to Eddie, Rachel admitted: "I feel like a ghost half the time. Like I've got some business here from another time or another century. I've forgotten what it was. l don't have much of a life, Eddie. It's a ghost's life." Then, one night on a foggy street, she appeared to Eddie in ghostly form: " Sometimes I think I am a ghost." Eddie began to fall for the alluring female and he kissed her. She called herself "a beautiful ghost" - someone to whom he was becoming attracted: "You had the best of her, all the best of her" before she vanished. That same night as he slept, Eddie was visited by the ghost of his grandfather (Jack Creley), who noted: "The dead and the living are all mixed together."

Rachel: "Sometimes I think I am a ghost."
	Eddie Kissing Rachel For the First Time

The jewels given to Eddie by Charlie to check out were "hot" and discovered to be worth $1 million dollars. Charlie had purchased them for Rachel, but then she died in a boating accident. She had made a request in her will - to be buried naked with the jewels. Six months later, widower Charlie dug up her grave and stole the jewels for himself:

"There was this society dame, see. Back in 1975, she was killed in a boating accident on the river, fell off a chartered party boat. It seems she left something in her will about wanting to be buried naked, with nothing on but her iewels. So her husband, who's sort of a nut in his own way, goes ahead and does it. So the undertaker talks or something. Six months after they put her under, guess what -- somebody digs her up and relieves her of her finery....Eddie boy, those are the rocks she was buried in, and they are hot as Hades."

Charlie confirmed that he had dug up Rachel's grave and taken the jewels: "I buried her in the jewels. I hired someone to get them back. And yes, I'm ashamed of it, Eddie. But I paid. She's made me pay. Put yourself in my place. I tried to do the right thing. If I hadn't gotten those jewels, somebody else would have."

Charlie described his next devious plan: after Eddie returned the box of real jewels to him (off-screen) to be placed back in his bank's safe-deposit box, Charlie then wrapped up a boxed package with fake paste jewels. He brought the box to Eddie to dispose of: (Charlie: "But now that she knows I've got the jewels, I can't keep 'em. You've got to do it."). He instructed Eddie to deliver the jewels to Rachel and get her taped promise to henceforth leave him alone:

Now, I'm willing to pay you an additional $1,000 cash advance on the rest of the job. All you have to do is take that package to a woman and get her word on tape she'll leave me alone. And I'll give you a $5,000 bonus when I get that tape, too....You would be giving me my life back.

Eddie visited Rachel at her posh apartment at 330 Central Park West, Apt # 2601, and found it completely vacant. He entered her steamy bathroom where she approached totally naked for a kiss. As he embraced her, he also became naked. In the course of his case, the obsessed Eddie had truly fallen in love with the sultry specter himself. After an interlude, he found her lying completely naked on the wooden floor. They strolled outside that same night when Rachel confirmed for him: "Ghosts can't lie."

Some time later, during an intense night-time thunderstorm, she crashed through his bedroom window and cut her right hand (he wasn't answering his phone or door) and demanded: "Make love to me!" - and he obliged. The next morning, Eddie thought to himself that he was in love with a ghostly female: "I must be crazy." She suggested:

"I love f--king in the rain, don't you?...I'd love to f--k you in the middle of Grand Central Station, stark naked in the middle of the floor. We could get away with it, too. Nobody would believe their eyes."

In regards to his case, Eddie insisted that Charlie get Rachel to record a confession into his tape recorder: ''ln return for my jewels, l promise to leave you alone, Charlie." She refused - and then demeaned her ex-husband, calling him an "asshole," "scumbag," and a "thief." She threatened: "lf you ever mention his name again to me, l'll claw your eyes right out of their sockets." Eddie was forced to have female girlfriend Debbie (Denise Stephenson) record the message for him. Eddie double-crossed Charlie with the fake recording and then kept the box of jewels for himself (rather than giving the box to Rachel), not knowing that Charlie had duped him. He was paid off by Charlie with double the promised bonus; the case was presumably over.

Meanwhile, Rachel overtly warned Eddie about her supernatural identity and their inseparable love:

"Whatever they tell you about me is true. I'm worse than you can imagine. But don't ever say you didn't know...You chose me. And you'll go on choosing me as awful as it gets. You'll go on choosing me....because you love me. Because YOU love me."

Through his friend named Tim (Kevin Jarre), Eddie acquired newspaper clippings and photographs from the morgue of Rachel's dead body. Eddie was very distressed upon viewing them. With his friends Debbie and Tim who thought Eddie was "completely f--ked up" and "bonkers", Eddie realized that he was truly going crazy for sleeping with a dead woman. He admitted: "l'm dating a ghost....l want her to leave me alone, but she won't. l want to get away from her, but l won't. She'll stay here, or l'll follow her to the grave.... lt may be a dream, but it's one of those dreams you can't wake up from."

Shortly after in Rachel's posh apartment, Eddie found her naked in a refrigerator, and carried her nude body to a bed where he covered her with a silky sheet and kissed her. Shortly later in his own strangely-vacated apartment, he discovered her submerged in his overflowing bathtub. In the eerie scene, she opened her eyes - and mouthed Eddie's name under the water. Eddie began to fear that he was the victim of a folk tale that stated "if a man sleeps with a remnant -- that's a ghost -- he dies of it."

Ghostly, Sultry Specter Rachel Carlyle: Falling Nude Out of a Refrigerator, Carried to a Bed, Then Submerged in His Overflowing Bathtub

In one of the last scenes, Rachel (in a black evening gown with a train) met a tuxedo-clad Eddie on the Rand yacht. On the deck after dancing together, she recalled the night of the elegant party 10 years earlier when she was drunk - and her drowning death in the harbor, when she unhooked the plank chain and fell off the boat during the party and no one saved her. He had a vision of her submerged in the water in her black gown and elbow-high black gloves, and reaching out to be rescued.

In the ending, Eddie offered Rachel the box of fake 'paste' jewels that Charlie had earlier given to him. Eddie claimed that the jewels were "trash," and after opening the box, Rachel also realized that he was telling her the truth - they were fake - "It's paste. It's cheap paste! Charlie suckered you just like he suckered me....He tried to make fools out of us both, Eddie."

Just then, Charlie joined them in Eddie's office carrying what he thought was the box of 'real' jewels from his bank safe-deposit box; the very-clever Eddie revealed his major double-cross of both of them - he informed Charlie and Rachel that he had anticipated Charlie's deception:

He thinks they're his jewels, the real ones, the ones he locked up in his bank when he slipped that trash back to me. But you didn't look at 'em, did ya, Charlie? You didn't check to see if I'd slipped some trash back to you. Of course you didn't. You didn't think I'd have the balls to stiff you. You were playing me for a chump, Charlie. That gave me room to maneuver.

Rachel Realizing the Jewels in Eddie's Box Given to Charlie Were "Paste"

Both Charlie and Rachel Double-Crossed by Eddie and Left With Fake Costume Jewelry in Charlie's Box of Jewelry

In the film's major plot twist, Eddie admitted that he had taken the real jewels for himself and then donated them to a Russian orthodox church and priest (Frederic Forrest), leaving both Charlie and Rachel with only junk jewelry. He was going to use his $10,000 bonus fee to take an escapist tropical island trip with his friends Tim and Debbie. As Eddie left his office, he told the two scammers: "This was a tough case."

The flashback ended with Charlie still at the bar and at the end of his story. He had the box of worthless fake jewelry, and a postcard sent from Eddie (with Tim and Debbie) from their vacation in Samoa. His fellow-scammer Rachel arrived and sat next to him, to continue to pester him for her real jewels. She delivered the film's final lines to him:

"Hello, Charlie. My jewels, Charlie....What's the matter, Charlie? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)

Director Martin Scorsese's profound adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel was confronted and condemned with charges of blasphemy for its concluding "last temptation" sequence and for its portrayal of a very-human Jesus Christ figure (Willem Dafoe). The film attracted protests and boycotts from religious groups even before it reached the theatres, although Scorsese received a Best Director nomination, and the film clearly offered a disclaimer about its origins:

"This film is not based upon the Gospels, but upon this fictional exploration of the eternal spiritual conflict."

The major controversy concerned the 'last temptation' visionary/hallucinatory sequence in which a very human and suffering Jesus (Willem Dafoe) was tempted by Satan (portrayed as a young androgynous guardian angel (Juliette Caton)) as he hung naked during crucifixion on the cross (while uttering: "Father! Why have You forsaken me?"). He was offered an idyllic vision or dream by the angel, who claimed he had "done enough" after being tested by a pleased and merciful God.

[Note: Jesus' choice to follow Satan implied that he was a flawed, frail, questioning, tormented and self-doubting man who was uncertain of the path he should follow.]

His crown of thorns was removed, as well as the spikes through his feet and wrists. He was given life and led away from an empty cross while he asked doubtfully: "I don't have to be sacrificed?...I'm not the Messiah." Onlookers at Golgotha didn't seem to notice his departure.

The vision included a normal earthly existence and mortal happiness, including the blasphemous idea of a sexual relationship with a woman. He was immediately married to:

• Mary Magdalene (Barbara Hershey), a tattooed prostitute who was earlier seen entertaining various clients in a brothel where Jesus had spoken with her and asked her for forgiveness.
  
  [In their earlier meeting, she offered herself to him: "Here's my body. Save it. Save it," but he declined to be enticed by her before leaving for the desert.]

Now married to him, she cleansed his bloody wounds as he laid naked in her arms, and then, in a non-exploitative sequence, Jesus made tender, physical love with her as she entreated: "We could have a child."

After she became pregnant, she appeared partially naked when at full-term pregnancy. When she abruptly died one day, the angel told him that Mary, Lazarus' sister, would serve as "Magdalene with a different face" and she was carrying his son.

Jesus discussed his situation with the apostle Paul (Harry Dean Stanton):

"Their only hope is the resurrected Jesus!...You see, you don't know how much people need God. You don't know how happy he can make them. He can make them happy to do anything. He can make them happy to die and they'll die. All for the sake of Christ. Jesus Christ. Jesus of Nazareth. The Son of God. The Messiah. Not you. Not for your sake. You know, I'm glad I met you. Because now I can forget all about you. My Jesus is much more important and much more powerful."

He also had a second intervention with Judas Iscariot (Harvey Keitel), before he ultimately returned to the cross and its suffering for humanity's sake with his triumphant dying words:

"It is accomplished."

Other Nudity in The Last Temptation of Christ
In a Town Square Outside a Brothel, a Topless Tattooed Prostitute
	Chanting, Shaking and Dancing Worshippers with John the Baptist at the River Jordan

Little Vera (1988, Soviet Union)

Director Vasili Pichul's romantic social drama was a milestone film for the Soviet Union - both permissive and ground-breaking. It was the first film from Russia with a Soviet actress who appeared nude and had a fairly explicit sex scene. The film became known as a landmark perestroika film - meaning that it was open to depicting sex and rock 'n' roll (previously taboo subjects).

The box-office smash hit was one of the very first frank, realistic and honest films about the inadequacies of daily Soviet life - few jobs, bleak urban pollution, disillusionment, hopelessness, and pessimism.

The pretty Soviet star Natalya Negoda appeared in Playboy Magazine (in the May 1989 issue) to promote the actress and film in an article titled "That Glasnost Girl." The cover tauted:

"FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE: The Soviets' First Sex Star Natalya Negoda."

It told the coming-of-age tale of the title character:

• Vera (Natalya Negoda) - a troubled, unloved, restless, liberated, non-conformist and rebellious teenager, sporting a short punk hairstyle of blonde streaked locks. She was in training after high school to work for the telephone company.

She had major difficulties within her dysfunctional, working-class family, while living in a cramped three-room apartment with her parents in the bleak provincial industrial city of Zhdanov:

• Kolya (Yuri Nazarov), Vera's drunken and mostly-unemployed, abusive father, anti-Semitic; employed as a truck driver
• Rita (Lyudmila Zajtseva), Vera's dim-witted, demanding and critical mother, worker in a sewing factory
• Victor (Aleksandr Negreba), Vera's pompous brother, a doctor who lived in Moscow

All that Vera had to look forward to was her friends, rock 'n' roll music, and then a boyfriend - womanizing, egocentric and university student Sergei (Andrei Sokolov). After they made love, and Sergei moved into Vera's apartment with her parents and she became his fiancee-wife, the belligerent father disapproved, called Vera a slut (she falsely claimed she was pregnant to force her parents to accept her boyfriend), and stabbed his son-in-law in a knife fight (causing Sergei's long hospitalization).

Vera became very despondent and attempted suicide with a drug overdose washed down with vodka (her doctor brother saved her). Part of Vera's problems arose when she learned that she was not a "wanted" child - her father wanted her as an excuse to get a larger apartment.

She was faced with the agonizing decision or choice between two equally-awful options:

• to claim that her father acted in self-defense
• to support her detached and arrogant fiancee and possibly send her father to jail

The film ended on a downbeat note - the collapse and supposed death of Kolya in the apartment's kitchen.

Masquerade (1988)

Director Bob Swaim's R-rated, plot-twisting, psychological sex-filled thriller was about murder, greed, double-crossing deception, surprise deaths and betrayal. In the script by Richard D. Wolf, there were notable bombshell twists in the film's final one-third, including the deaths of all three co-conspirators who had plotted together for a long time to murder a wealthy heiress.

The film's title referred to the name of a yacht anchored off the Hamptons, and to the deceptive nature of many of the characters. The film's tagline hinted at the plot:

An heiress.
A hustler.
A set-up.

A murder.
MASQUERADE - It's not a game anymore.

The main mystery story centered around an heiress and the circumstances swirling around her in Southhampton, Long Island, NY due to her estate/trust wealth of $300 million:

• Olivia Lawrence (Meg Tilly), a wealthy, naive, shy, vulnerable and dreamy Hampton heiress who was forced to live with her scheming, alcoholic and despicable stepfather Tony Gateworth (John Glover), a dissolute Atlantic City gambler, who was accompanied by his new live-in girlfriend-companion Anne Briscoe (Dana Delany)

Olivia had recently been orphaned following the death of her mother a few months earlier, and Gateworth now served as her spiteful 'guardian.' After recently graduating from college, Olivia met two possible suitors on her return home:

• Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe, just before he was involved in a sex tape scandal), a playboyish, callow sailing instructor and racing yacht skipper/captain with another lover on the side - Brooke Morrison - the wife of Tim's boss Granger Morrison (Brian Davies)
• Mike McGill (Doug Savant), a grown-up children friend, now an amiable Hampton Shores police officer who always had a romantic interest in Olivia and dreamed of marrying her one day

While becoming acquainted with Olivia, Tim was also involved with another lover:

• Brooke Morrison (TV's Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall), the sex-crazed, bored and lustful wife of Tim's wealthy boss Granger Morrison, who owned a racing sailboat Obsession captained by Tim

After love-making between Brooke and Tim in the film's most-quoted sequence, she rolled over onto her back as they began to converse:

Brooke: "This is the first summer I've looked forward to in years."
Tim: "He really trusts me."
Brooke: "Who?"
Tim: "Your husband."
Brooke: "C.G. (laughs) Thank god. (He sat up) It's not that painful, is it?"
Tim: "No, that's the problem. It feels too good to stop."
Brooke: (She grabbed him and kissed him from behind) "We could always give it a try. Maybe we should stop this. Or maybe this."

He left their bed and stood there bare-assed as he offered to give her a birthday present - a pair of black-lace panties, about which she asked:

Tim: "You want your birthday present, don't you?"
Brooke: "You remembered. That's more than my husband did. Do you want me to put these on?"
Tim: "I can't bite 'em off if you don't."

After meeting and sailing together on Masquerade, the name of the boat owned by her deceased father, Olivia and Tim began to date and fall in love.

The storyline became quite complicated due to conspiratorial plans or plots to murder Olivia, to acquire her fortune:

• Gateworth and Tim were partnered and plotting together to eliminate Olivia; they met together in a diner, where Tim stated he would convince Olivia of his hatred of Gateworth and gain her confidence so that his courtship and marriage to her were assured

Three Main Co-Conspirators in the Plot
Tim Whalen (Rob Lowe)	Mike McGill (Doug Savant)	Tony Gateworth (John Glover)

Olivia and Tim experienced a night of passionate sex in her mansion when Gateworth was scheduled to be away.

• in the execution of their plot, when the drunken, weapon-wielding Gateworth burst into their bedroom just after they had made love, Tim engaged in a brief struggle with Gateworth, and double-crossed him by shooting him to death with his own gun
• Olivia volunteered to cover up Tim's role by claiming she killed the drunken Gateworth in self-defense with his gun - believing he was a burglar-rapist, and hoping it would be ruled a "justifiable homicide"; at the crime scene, investigating cop Mike found two wine-glasses by the bedside - evidence that could incriminate Tim, and he hid it from detectives (due to his love for Olivia), while suspecting that Tim had killed Gateworth
• shortly later, Tim's lover Brooke, after dumping him, substantiated Tim's fake alibi that she was with him from 11:30 pm onward at the time of the murder (he had reset her bedroom alarm clock without her knowing)
• after confessing to Olivia that he had an affair with Brooke, and that his past included bouncing checks (and 30-day jail time), Tim convinced her that he was open and truthful with her - and the couple married; soon after, Olivia became pregnant
• Gateworth's girlfriend Anne was asking lots of questions, and becoming overly suspicious about Olivia's boyfriend Tim (she also knew of Tim's unlikely meeting in a diner with Gateworth); she was found hanged above her bathtub - with a typed and unsigned suicide note (presumably killed by McGill, to be blamed on Tim)
• treacherous officer Mike McGill was revealed to be implicated with Tim in a conspiracy to kill Olivia (the spiteful McGill admitted: "I spent a whole year of my life setting this thing up"); he wanted to stage a deadly car accident on a curvy road into a tree (on an oiled-up surface), but Tim balked at the idea of murdering Olivia, now that she was pregnant, and maneuvered through the slick patch without incident
• a photo on a bulletin board in McGill's Marine office showed the threesome (Gateworth, McGill, and Tim) had been associated with each other (through sailing) for many years - and had probably always been plotting to separate Olivia Lawrence from her money; it was very probable that McGill and Tim were bi-sexual lovers, but when Tim was seduced away by Olivia, Tim's fury about unrequited love (from both Olivia and Tim) caused him to carry through on the plan
• Tim was planning to sail for Palm Beach, Florida on Masquerade with Olivia, but was set to leave a few days earlier than he had told McGill, to save Olivia from the planned explosion; on the day of their sailing departure, Tim lost his life trying to warn Olivia, fearing that she was on the boat; he raced onto the yacht before she arrived and turned on the propane gas, but then inadvertently flicked a switch that triggered McGill's rigged gas-line explosion
• while distraught in the maintenance office of Mike's father Tommy McGill (Barton Heyman), Olivia saw a photo of the threesome, and figured out the conspiracy against her by the trio; she confronted Mike McGill who entered, and as they struggled, she pushed him out of the office window to his death below

In Olivia's Bedroom, the Death of Gateworth - Shot by Tim - and Then Covered-Up	Anne Briscoe's Death (Suicide?)	McGill Plotting with Tim to Kill Olivia
B/W Photo Showing Threesome's Association	Tim's Death in Masquerade Explosion	McGill's Death - Pushed Out Window by Olivia

• Olivia didn't know all along whether to trust Tim - did he love her truly, or was he marrying her only for her money?
• by the film's conclusion, although Olivia had thought that Tim had betrayed her, she learned otherwise that his love wasn't a masquerade. At Tim's funeral, she discovered - to her relief - from family attorney Theodore Cantrell (Pirie MacDonald) that her dead husband had asked to be removed from her will two weeks earlier - proving his true love for her and that he had sacrificed himself for her:

"He made me swear that I wouldn't tell you, but now with what's come out, you have to know. I think somehow he wanted to have all temptations removed. I tried to dissuade him, told him it was against your wishes, but he was adamant. He wanted nothing from you. He loved you, Olivia. However it started, he came to love you."

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988)

The fourth installment of the horror film franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) by director Renny Harlin, was a continuation of the story from the previous film A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). The film opened with a title card quote:

"When deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake." - Job IV, 13-14

The dream demon Freddy Krueger was again terrorizing the last three remaining teenaged Dream Warriors from Elm Street (including Roland Kincaid (Ken Sagoes) who was stabbed in the gut by Freddy, Kristen Parker (Tuesday Knight), and Joey Crusel (Rodney Eastman)).

In Joey's memorable death scene, he was in his bedroom (where he had a "Sweet Dreams" poster of a bikinied Pin Up Girl (Hope Marie Carlton, Playboy Playmate July 1985) above his TV). He was stretched out on his waterbed watching MTV (with headphones plugged into his stereo) and also reading Rolling Stone Magazine.

As his eyes shut and he entered a dream world, his bed began to undulate and rock back and forth in waves beneath him - he pulled away the comforter, revealing the transparent plastic waterbed below and the poster's Pin-Up Girl. She had vanished from the poster, but was now naked and swimming underneath him inside the waterbed, pressing her hands against the plastic vinyl and gesturing to him.

Pin Up Girl (Hope Marie Carlton)

When she disappeared and he called out excitedly: "Wait!", notorious killer Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) burst out of the bed, grabbed him by the neck, taunted him with the obvious one-liner gag: "How's this for a wet dream?", and pulled him under the surface of the water and struggled to drown him. Joey called out: "Kristen, help!" as he was repeatedly pushed underwater, stabbed with his finger-knives, and eventually murdered.

Not of This Earth (1988)

This Roger Corman produced sci-fi/horror B-film by legendary director Jim Wynorski was a remake of Corman's earlier 1957 Allied Artists' space vampire saga of the same name (with Beverly Garland). Surprisingly, executive producer Corman went on to promote a third version of the film as part of his cable series Roger Corman Presents - also titled Not of This Earth (1995). It was directed by Terence H. Winkless, with Elizabeth Barondes in the lead female role, and Michael York as the alien agent.

Not of This Earth (1957)

Not of This Earth (1988)

Not of This Earth (1995)

In this second exploitational, low-budget version (shot in 11 days), the Beverly Garland role was played by ex-porn star queen Traci Lords who had already appeared in dozens of hardcore adult films when she was a minor.

[Note: This was Traci Lords' first legal and legitimate or 'mainstream' (non-X-rated) role, often nude. It would be her last bare appearance in a feature film.]

Its tagline was:

• Traci Lords is...Not of This Earth. The Science-Fiction Chiller!

In the opening pre-credits prologue, a man (a humanoid alien) wearing a fedora and sunglasses and carrying a silver aluminum brief-case emerged from a spaceship. He approached a parked car at night where a couple, Tommy and his girlfriend (Belinda Grant and Robby Bointen), were making out in the back seat. He grabbed the male by the throat to strangle him, then removed his sunglasses to project a deadly bluish eye beam at the topless female before preparing to siphon her blood. From his metal briefcase, he removed a blood-sucking device that he stuck into her neck to drain her blood.

Mr. Johnson's First Topless Victim (Belinda Grant)

The low-budget story was about an alien ("Not of This Earth") named Mr. Johnson (Arthur Roberts) - a dying extra-terrestrial space vampire alien scientist who portrayed himself as an eccentric millionaire. He came from the planet of Davanna to Earth, specifically Los Angeles, and had been residing in a stone mansion for a month.

In a clinic after he telepathically coerced Dr. Rochelle (Ace Mask) to give him a blood test and transfusion, he hired the doctor's sexy registered nurse, Nadine Story (Traci Lords) to be his live-in, private-care clinic nurse (the "house blood-pumper"), assisting him in his transfusions for his strange blood condition - his blood was evaporating at the cellular level.

His objective (and evil mission) was to study humans, acquire blood transfusions by draining or sucking the blood from various earthly specimens and sending the blood supply back to Davanna, his nearly-extinct planet, through the blue-beam transport apparatus in his study. He was also storing bottles of blood in a large refrigerated casket in his mansion's basement. Dim-witted, wise-cracking, lecherous, petty criminal ex-con Jeremy Perrin (Lenny Juliano) had been hired to be Johnson's chauffeur, bodyguard and butler/manservant, for $2,000 a week paid in gold bars.

Mr. Johnson (Arthur Roberts)	Registered Nurse Nadine Story (Traci Lords)
Nadine's LAPD Boyfriend Harry (Roger Lodge)	Jeremy Perrin (Lenny Juliano) - Mr. Johnson's Butler/Chauffeur and Pool Guy

After spending her first night in the mansion, the fully-naked Nadine had just showered as Jeremy brought a breakfast tray to her bedroom. She was briefly viewed topless in the apres-shower scene and showed off her large breasts (while drying off) - as she was being watched via a mirror's reflection by Jeremy.

Later in the afternoon at the mansion's backyard pool, she flirted with Jeremy (as he cleaned the pool) who proposed catching her (she compared herself to a "mermaid") with his prodigiously-sized "fishing pole," although she cautioned: "You'd better be careful, you just might land a barracuda." During the main plot of the cheesy and trashy film, Nadine appeared in various revealing outfits (including her nurse's outfit):

A Shiny Blue Bikini

Lacy Lingerie

A Black Strapless Evening Gown

During a night on the town with Mr. Johnson in the back seat, chauffeur Jeremy picked up three busty prostitutes (Roxane Kernohan, Ava Cadell and Cynthia Thompson) on a street corner, and brought them to Johnson's residence. When the group arrived there, Mr. Johnson told the threesome: "I have something I want to show you.... - below, in the cellar." They never reappeared - they were zapped with Mr. Johnson's searing vision when he removed his sunglasses. (Earlier, a persistent door-to-door vacuum salesman (Michael Delano) had been incinerated in the cellar's furnace, to dispose of his body.) The police were reporting an epidemic of victims with their blood entirely drained.

Three Busty Prostitutes Invited to Mr. Johnson's Residence

Meanwhile, Nadine was having sex with her cop boyfriend Harry (Roger Lodge). From a side-view (with her prominent breasts), she appeared twice as she came into view atop him and flung back her head. She rolled over next to him to speak: "Somehow it always gets better." He responded jokingly: "You know me, I practice alot on my own." Afterwards as he dropped her off at the mansion, she complimented him: "You know I like a cop whose pistol is always loaded."

Another of the live specimens for blood was a near-sighted busty Happy Birthday Girl (Becky LeBeau) who came to the wrong address to deliver a strip-o-gram to "Albert." After she stripped off her top and hugged him, Mr. Johnson asked quizzically: "You are attempting to sell me a vacuum cleaner?" She responded: "No silly, I'm your Birthday Girl, you know, from the Strip-O-Gram Company."

After she realized she had come to the incorrect address (due to her faulty eyesight), she apologized: "I hope I didn't disturb you." Through hypnosis, he ordered her to "wait, turn, you will follow me" - he led her to a blue beamed transport warp or corridor in his study where he announced to his planet that he was sending a live specimen: ("I have brought you a specimen. She is typical of the earth sub-humans"). As she screamed, she was transmitted back to his alien planet home of Davanna for research and study - fulfilling one of his mission's objectives.

By this time, Nadine had become suspicious when Jeremy told her about the strange circumstances of the mansion - a "roach motel" ("They check in but they don't check out"). Nadine had her own "list of unanswered questions" about Mr. Johnson. Meanwhile, a female alien known as Davanna Girl (Rebecca Perle) appeared in the blue-beam corridor. She revealed that the 'live-specimen' sent earlier had perished due to the planet's gravity, and that she also needed blood to survive. Shortly later, her face blistered and she died, due to accidentally being transfused with blood tainted with rabies.

As the film came to its conclusion, both Jeremy and Nadine investigated the mansion, where they discovered both the transportation portal-corridor in the study and the cellar's furnace with human remains. Dr. Rochelle determined that the aliens from Davanna were experiencing blood disorders due to the continuous nuclear warfare that was occurring on their planet. When trying to defend Nadine from capture, Jeremy was zapped and killed by Mr. Johnson's lethal vision. The alien then attempted to telepathically force Nadine to be his next human transport research victim ("Your death will be quick and painless"). She fled from the house on foot, with Johnson In pursuit in his car. Cop Harry came to her rescue on his motorcycle with the siren blaring. Its intense noise forced Johnson to drive off a bridge - his car crashed and exploded, and he died. Nadine (and Dr. Rochelle) were released from his mind control.

In the film's brief epilogue set in a cemetery, Nadine and Harry stood at Johnson's tombstone, with the inscription: "HERE LIES A MAN WHO WAS NOT OF THIS EARTH." Eerily, as they left the gravesite, another alien figure (with a dark suit, sunglasses, and a silver case), walked toward the grave.

Patti Rocks (1988)

This low-budget, independent dramatic-comedy by director David Burton Morris, subtitled A Serious Adult Comedy, played mostly in arthouses. The provocative, minimalist low-budget film was considered a sequel to director Morris' earlier film Loose Ends (1975) with the same two lead actors as working-class friends.

The tough-talking adult film initially received an X- or NC-17 rating (changed to an R-rating after two appeals) for its many extreme vulgarities, frank sexual language and obscenities alone. The tagline was:

• Explore an entirely new sexual position ... honesty.

The three main protagonists, involved ultimately in a messy love triangle, were:

• Billy Regis (Chris Mulkey), a mid-30s, blue-collar, sex-obsessed, misogynistic, shallow-minded and chauvinistic Midwesterner living in Minneapolis, married with two children, a garage mechanic, with an extremely foul mouth
• Patti Rocks (Karen Landry, actor Mulkey's real-life wife), Billy's pregnant mistress, a free-spirited, cool-headed, down-to-earth, no-nonsense female
• Eddie Hassit (John Jenkins), Billy's recently-divorced, estranged from his wife and two kids, and basically-decent traveling companion-friend who he hadn't seen for six months

Billy Regis (Chris Mulkey)

Patti Rocks (Karen Landry)

Eddie (John Jenkins)

At Christmas time, Billy met with Eddie at a bar for drinks, and explained his problem - he had knocked up mistress-girlfriend Patti who was refusing to get an abortion. Billy hadn't even told her he was married and had two children. Billy's plan was to recommend that she seek an abortion, even though she wanted to keep the baby.

Although Eddie refused to get involved, he was coerced into joining Billy for a lengthy, all-night car ride to La Crosse, Wisconsin to Patti's apartment. During the drive, the crudely-sexist Billy delivered a deliberately smutty, gross, scatological, foul, demeaning and misogynistic discourse to his friend Eddie, with whom he wished to obtain moral support for his obvious failings after refusing to take responsibility for his sleeping around. For example, his philosophy about relationships equaled the mentality of a dog:

"If you can't f--k it or eat it, then piss on it."

When they arrived for a showdown (at about the halfway point of the 83 minute long film), Patti was not pleased to see them in the middle of the night. Patti appeared to be nothing like what adulterer Billy had described to Eddie during the ride. She retreated to take a shower. When Billy joined her in the bathroom, she succinctly summarized for Billy the complete nature of their relationship:

"All we ever do is get drunk, order some pizza, and f--k."

He joined Patti in the shower for playful conversation and kissing, without dealing with the imminent problems at hand. She shattered his attempts at romance: "I'm keeping the baby, Billy," and abruptly returned to her bedroom. Billy lied and joked to Eddie who was patiently waiting and sitting in the living room: "I told her if she was gonna go through with this, that I was gonna sue her for theft of semen."

Unable to directly deal with his dilemma, to talk to her seriously and take any responsibility, Billy left it up to a very reluctant Eddie to explain to Patti why he couldn't marry her because he was already married with two children. In the bedroom alone together after they shared a small joint, Eddie described his own personal broken marital situation. Patti responded:

"(Marriage) it's fattening...who needs it, I don't, no thanks. Why do people get like that when they get married?...I don't know if I could stay married. I mean, you have to be faithful....It's too complicated. I don't want to live a life of regrets...."

To his surprise, after Eddie revealed that Billy was already taken, Patti wasn't very surprised. Their heart-to-heart talk turned out to be very revealing and honest. While speaking to Patti alone in her bedroom (she was naked and wrapped in a blanket), the love-starved Eddie soon found himself in a very intense and intimate discussion with her - she hugged him and then he asked: "Would you kiss me?" After kissing, he touched her exposed right breast, and rested his head between them.

Growing Closeness Between Patti and Eddie

She showed amorous and tender affection back to him, showing him that he was indeed loveable. As he laid back on the bed, she again tenderly kissed him. After Eddie asked: "What about Billy?", she answered: "Billy's not here now, Eddie." They began to have intercourse - slowly and sensuously.

But then, Billy stuck his head in the door, and Patti motioned by shaking her head for him not to interfere. Then, after Eddie finished, he turned over and noticed that Billy had become aware of their indiscretion, and appeared angry. Patti quickly left the room. Eddie apologized: "I'm sorry, Billy...I mean, It just happened." They fought together on the bed until Patti demanded that they stop. She asserted: "I don't belong to anybody."

When Billy called her a "slut", she sarcastically shot back, accusing him of a massive double-standard who specialized in vulgar and derogatory slang words for genitalia and sex:

"I'm the slut, huh? Is there anything else you'd like to call me, some of your favorite names? Hose-monster [slang for a person skilled in fellatio], maybe, slash-gash, piece-of-ass, twat, slit, come on, somethin' else?...Ah, yeah, whore's good, too. What do you call a guy who f--ks around on his wife, Billy, what do you call him?...I'm sick of your s--t and all these names. I'm not a bitch-meat. I'm not a slut. This isn't high-school anymore. I'm a grown-up. I have sex when I want to - doesn't make me a slut....You can't even be honest with me."

Later in the kitchen, she again strongly asserted to Billy: "I don't expect you to stay here and have the baby with me. I don't expect to see you again....I want this baby, Billy, and I'm gonna have the baby, and there's nothing you can do about it." Over an early breakfast of Wheaties, the threesome was able to get together and openly discuss Patti's decision. She simply and strongly insisted to Billy: "I want you out of my life." Billy, with Eddie's prompting, finally admitted he was married with two children, and Patti urged him: "Go back to your wife, Billy, that's where you belong."

The film's conclusion clearly signaled the end of Billy's relationship with Patti, although there might still be a future for Patti and Eddie - he told her as they departed:

"If you need anything for the baby, I'd like to help."

A Short Film About Love (1988, Pol.) (aka Krótki Film o Milosci)

Director Krzysztof Kieslowski's compelling, 87 minute-long film, a tale about the dynamics of sexual obsession, was originally an episode (Dekalog 6: Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery) from his Dekalog series of ten hour-long films (for Polish television) derived from the Ten Commandments - and expanded to a feature length film, but with a markedly different ending.

The film's plot, mostly told from the male's point of view, was about an unusual developing relationship between two neighbors in Warsaw, Poland:

• Tomek (Olaf Lubaszenko), an orphan, a lonely, sensitive and shy 19 year-old postal worker, who was living with his best friend's mother (his godmother (Stefania Iwinska)); a voyeuristic "peeping tom" character
• Magda (Grazyna Szapolowska), an older (mid-30s) female, pretty and promiscuous, also a struggling artist; the object of Tomek's viewing

Tomek with Voyeuristic Telescope

Magda - Tomek's Nearby Neighbor

Tomek had a voyeuristic, romantic obsession with Magda when he spied upon her (with a stolen telescope in his bedroom) in her neighboring apartment across a courtyard. He would ritualistically set his alarm clock in order to properly time his obsessive voyeurism to be synchronized with her regular routines. It was obvious that he wasn't interested in her explicit sexual activities (he directed his telescope away from her or turned his face if his view became overtly sexual).

There was a key sequence when he watched as she spilled a bottle of milk on a table, then sat down with her back to the window and began sobbing with her hands in her hair. She then placed her hand in the milk and rubbed it around on the table-top.

The Film's Key Sequence
Magda Spilling Milk on a Table and Then Sitting Down and Sobbing With Her Back to the Window

At the same time when she became aware of his interest in her, she moved her red-sheeted bed more clearly in view of the window, so that he could watch her with one of her lovers. She clearly suspected that her anonymous caller was him, and wanted him to watch her making love. She pointed at her voyeur in order to alert her male lover, while insisting that they keep the light on.

After peeping on her, making prank phone calls to her, stealing her mail, interfering with her romantic liaisons, and playing cruel tricks, the two eventually met face-to-face and talked. He hurriedly confessed to his feelings and mischief, and at first, she thought she would seek a kind of revenge. The two went out for ice cream and then she invited him back to her apartment, where she ridiculed his love and desire for her: "There's no such thing" - she told him. She was able to seduce him with taunting words:

"I have nothing underneath. You know that, don't you? When a woman wants a man, she becomes wet inside. I'm wet now."

She caused him to prematurely ejaculate in his pants when she encouraged him to touch and then stroke her bare thigh close to her genitals. She told the sexually-humiliated and embarrassed lad that all she wanted in love was sexual pleasure: "That's all there is to love...Wash in the bathroom" - after which he returned home.

Now the perspective changed. She watched him through a small pair of binoculars as he departed and entered inside his apartment, and attempted to signal him to phone her. She didn't realize that he had entered his bathroom, filled a porcelain wash basin with warm water, and attempted to kill himself by slitting his wrists with a razor blade. She became very frantic and worried that something had happened to him.

Following the shocking incident, and after Tomek returned home from the hospital, the tables were turned when the guilt-ridden Magda (from her POV) turned her obsessive, infatuated attention toward him and lamented his loss of innocence. She visited Tomek (with heavy bandages), but he was sedated and unable to speak.

In the ambiguous yet sublime extended ending, as she sat next to him, she noticed his telescope (pointed at her window) and empathically looked through it. With a kind of epiphany, she viewed what she imagined that he had been looking at. In her mind, she viewed herself in her own apartment - flashing back to the time she spilled milk on the table and began sobbing.

She envisioned a healthy Tomek coming to her side and showing her affection and comfort in her time of sorrow. She reached up and gently touched her hand to his face. A degree of reciprocity and loving connection was attained between them.

Tables Now Turned - Magda Spying on Tomek's Apartment with Binoculars

Magda Looking Through Tomek's Telescope - Taking His POV and Imagining Watching Herself

Imagining Tomek Comforting Her as She Sobbed Over Spilt Milk

Sleepaway Camp II: Unhappy Campers (1988)

This standard, slasher sequel to the first film, Sleepaway Camp (1983) was written by Fritz Gordon and directed by Michael A. Simpson. There were also further sequels in the series: Sleepaway Camp III: Teenage Wasteland (1989), Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor (1992), and direct-to-video Return to Sleepaway Camp (2008):

Sleepaway Camp (1983)	Sleepaway Camp 2: Unhappy Campers (1988)	Sleepaway Camp 3: Teenage Wasteland (1989)
Sleepaway Camp IV: The Survivor (1992/2012)	Return to Sleepaway Camp (2008) (video)

It was five years later, after disturbed and homicidal Angela (or "Peter") Baker/Johnson (Pamela Springsteen, singer Bruce Springsteen's sister), rumored to have had a sex change (and two years of electroshock therapy), had been released from a mental hospital after being committed there for previous crimes. She was now one of the counselors at Camp Rolling Hills (nearby to the original Camp Arawak), ready to provide lots of gore along with the film's frequent gratuitous nudity from some others.

Angela Baker (Pamela Springsteen) - Camp Rolling Hill's Insane Transexual Vigilante-Killer

During the second week at camp, Angela's first victim was Phoebe (see list below of murders), who had just told the camp counselors a campfire story about the previous murders at Camp Arawak:

It ended up that the killer was this shy 14 year old girl that everybody picked on....Except this girl, she wasn't a girl....She was really a he. His Aunt had been dressing him up like a girl ever since he was four years old....They found him naked on the beach, holding the chopped-off head of another camper....About 30 people were killed and the camp had to be closed down. The End!

Of course, the 'killer' in the story was Angela him/herself, who had been treated in a psycho ward, and received a sex-change operation.

The supporting characters - many of whom ended up dead - were first-named after many of the Brat Packers of the time, i.e., Molly (Ringwald), Sean (Penn), Ally (Sheedy), Mare (Winningham), Rob (Lowe), Demi (Moore), Lea (Thompson), Brooke (Shields), Jodi (Foster), Anthony (Michael Hall), Judd (Nelson), Charlie (Sheen), Phoebe (Cates), Emilio (Estevez), Diane (Lane), lead counselor Tom "TC" (Cruise) , and "Uncle John" (Hughes), the head of the camp.

The puritanical Angela was disturbed when her fellow counselors, especially her two main targets Ally (Valerie Hartman) and Mare (Susan Marie Snyder), engaged in numerous sexual and drug activities, including fornicating and smoking marijuana. Angela warned token slut Ally, who often paraded around bare-breasted, and Mare who flashed the other females:

"Nice girls don't have to show it off."

Prudish Angela quickly decided to punish the deviant and misbehaving counselors and campers - for their indiscretions (bitchiness, nudity, sex and drug use, etc.). She used many gruesome means, accompanied with snappy added one-liners:

• Phoebe - a brutal head bashing with a log and cutting off a tongue (Angela: "What a bad camper!")
• Jodi Shote - cremated or immolated
• Brooke Shote (Jodi's sister) - also incinerated with gasoline (as Angela intoned with a warning: "Say no to drugs")
• Mare - a lethal electric drilling (Mare: "What are you looking for, a gun?" Angela: "No, a drill")
• Anthony (dressed as Freddy Krueger from the Nightmare series) - a throat slashing with his own razor gloved fingers (Angela was dressed as Leatherface from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre series)
• Judd (dressed as Jason Voorhees from the Friday the 13th series) - leg slashing and face chain-sawing (Angela: "Sorry, but once I start a task, I always finish")
• Ally Burgess - a screwdriver stabbing in the back followed by drowning in a feces-laden toilet, and covered with leeches (Angela: "You've been a s--tty friend and a s--tty camper")
• Demi - garroting with a guitar string (Angela: "You talk too much")
• Lea - multiple knifing in the chest (Angela: "No more whining" and "You're gonna tell" - for witnessing Demi's murder)
• T.C. - battery acid in the face (Angela: "Would you like a second cup?") when he discovered Angela's cabin with dead bodies hidden there
• Sean - decapitated or beheaded with a machete; his head was placed in a TV (Angela: "Look who's on TV")
• Matt - knifed
• Charlie and Emilio - throats sliced, eyes gouged out
• Uncle John - hand dismemberment, machete throat-slitting
• Rob - machete in chest, followed by hanging
• Diane - twisted knife in stomach
• Female pickup truck driver who offered hitchhiking Angela a lift - knifed in chest (Truck driver: "I mean, the way I see it, I am just too dumb to drink and I'm too fat to f--k")

The 'final girl' was Molly, who (after the murder of Matt) was able to grab Angela's pocket knife and stab her in the hand and left leg. She survived a fall off a ledge, then attempted to escape for good from the camp.

The film concluded with Angela driving the stolen pickup truck (and murdering the driver) and pulling up to Molly on the main road. Molly was overjoyed: "Oh, thank god you're here!" but then realized it was Angela who greeted her: "Howdy, partner!" - she was presumably killed.

Two Moon Junction (1988)

This well-photographed, R-rated, soft-core erotica drama (with a double entendre title) was produced by director/writer Zalman King (of Red Shoe Diaries fame, who also directed Wild Orchid (1989) and was the writer for 9 1/2 Weeks (1986)).

Its taglines were:

• Into her perfect world, comes a perfect stranger -- and suddenly, nothing is perfect any more.
• Uncontrollable passion. Undeniable heat.
• The crossroads of destiny & desire.

The video hit was followed by a sequel in 1995 called Return to Two Moon Junction, with Melinda Clarke (as Savannah Delongpre - a New York fashion model from Georgia who fell for a sculptor) substituting as the sister of Sherilyn Fenn's character in the first film.

Two Moon Junction (1988)

Return to Two Moon Junction (1995)

Its cliche-filled tale was about an erotically-charged, sexual awakening in numerous well-orchestrated, hot tryst scenes between:

• April Delongpre (platinum-blonde Sherilyn Fenn), a Southern belle and debutante, daughter of a Senator (Don Galloway), an Alabama heiress, and soon-to-be-married in a semi-arranged coupling to yuppie fiancee Chad Douglas Fairchild (Martin Hewitt)
• Perry (Richard Tyson), a lusty, long-haired, white-trash carnival worker, a drifter and a hunk

She took an arousing, auto-erotic long steamy shower intercut with scenes of the brawny carnival workers setting up and her subjective fantasy of watching nude men through an uncovered tile peep-hole. As she slid to the floor with her back to the tile wall, the shower room became even steamier as she touched herself.

April's Shower and Peep-Hole Sequence

She was irresistably attracted to Perry, a carnival worker, and challenged by him when he remarked: "I thought you were just another tight-ass princess." She tried to fight off his kisses but soon succumbed when she found him uninvited and showering in her home, although afterwards was slightly guilt-ridden for cheating on her fiancee.

The erotic romance even featured a quick topless-nude cameo by Kristy McNichol (from the TV series Family) as bourbon-drinking, truck-driving floozie Patti Jean, an acquaintance of Perry's. In a run-down convenience store rest-room, she flirtatiously boasted to April about painting her nipples:

"Now you know my secret. I put a little rouge on. Makes it easier to see through my blouse. It's a real 60's thing to do, but I think it's cute. Boys would just howl when I wore pink angora sweaters in junior high. I love angora. You ever put yours in the refrigerator?...It makes it real fuzzy."

Then, she hinted at being bisexual when she asked April: "I'll bet you got great tits. I can tell. But you shouldn't cover 'em up or be ashamed of 'em...And that hair would look a helluva lot sexier if you wet it and slick it back. I mean, I should know, I'm a hairdresser....And that top would look so much better if you weren't wearing a bra."

Patti Jean (Kristy McNichol): "It's at moments like this I can see why guys like women so much."

Patti Jean offered her own top for April to try on, stripped topless, and encouragingly insisted: "You've got the perfect figure for it, perfect. Oh, come on, don't be shy. Just put it on and say goodbye princess" - until the pressured April obliged. She then admired April's shapley form:

"It's at moments like this I can see why guys like women so much."

April was forced to make a momentous choice in the film's conclusion when Perry returned on the day before her planning wedding. Although earlier fired from the carnival, he was now working for the catering company setting up a huge tent in her backyard for the next day's wedding reception and buffet. He had written her a note on her bedroom mirror with lipstick: "TWO MOON JUNCTION - MIDNIGHT" - he knew it was her favorite location (a lake pavilion owned by her grandmother) - for a sexual rendezvous.

Although at first resistant to Perry (she even offered him $5,000 to leave her life for good), she succumbed. At Two Moon Junction, she stripped off her dress, stood stark naked before him, and placed a sheer blindfold over her eyes, and then they made love in an extended sequence. Meanwhile in intercutting clips during the explicit and steamy sex scene, her fiancée Chad was at a bachelor party (presided over by Sheriff Earl Hawkins (Burl Ives)) watching a stripper dressed as a sheriff.

In the film's ending, April did marry Chad for her family's sake, but continued to pursue Perry for adulterous sex (although she was now sporting a wedding ring). He was currently working as a dishwasher in a local blues bar. She surprised him by meeting him in his motel room, and greeted him in the shower (similar to the time he showered uninvited in her mansion) before making love again.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)

Co-writer/director Philip Kaufman's erotic epic, based upon Milan Kundera's novel, centered on the themes of freedom (sexual, personal and political). It was set in the late 60s in Prague, Czechoslovakia (and then in Switzerland) during the time of the Russian invasion and take-over. It was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Cinematography (Sven Nykvist).

The romantic drama featured open and liberated adult sexuality and many erotic scenes although little explicit sex (it was regarded by Rolling Stone as "the most openly sexual American film in ages"). Its tagline was simply:

• A Lovers Story.

The main characters involved in an intriguing love triangle included a playboy and two lovers (reversals of each other):

• Tomas (Daniel Day-Lewis), a Czech 'Don-Juanish' neuro-surgeon
• Sabina (Lena Olin), a free-spirited, liberated lover and carefree painter-artist, who simply enjoyed the pleasures of sex
• Tereza (Juliette Binoche), a shy, bookish, waiflike, innocent and timid provincial waitress, who moved from a small town to Prague to be with Tomas; also a photographer; she became Tomas' ever-faithful and monogamous wife

During the film, Tomas repeatedly and arrogantly entreated: "Take off your clothes" - to most of his lovers. In the film's opening, he initially stated the phrase to co-worker Nurse Katja (Pascale Kalensky).

In an extended love-making scene in the film's opening, philandering Tomas was with longtime sex partner and kindred spirit Sabina ("the woman who understood him best") when she asked him: "Don't you ever spend a night at the woman's place?" He answered: "Never." As she placed her great grandfather's bowler hat on his head, she confided:

"I really like you, Tomas. You are the complete opposite of kitsch. In the kingdom of kitsch, you would be a monster."

He responded by turning her around on top of the bed so that her head hung off the side, while coupling with her legs completely spread-eagled and pointed outwards. He made her view themselves in that pose in her dressing-mirror reflection and then asked: "What am I now? A monster." They continued to playfully make love with the bowler hat and their mirror images, when she asked:

Sabina: "Are you only searching for pleasure, or is every woman a new land whose secrets you want to discover? You want to know what she's going to say when she makes love? Or how she will smile? How she will whisper, groan, scream?"
Tomas: "Maybe the very smallest, unimaginable details. Tiny things that make one woman totally unlike any other."
Sabina: "What's my detail, Doctor?"
Tomas: "Your hat, Sabina."

He encouraged her to view herself with her distinctive bowler hat, reflected in the round mirror placed on the floor, before they succumbed to more love-making.

After meeting Tereza in a small town outside of Prague, where he spent the day for an operation, Tereza surprised Tomas by appearing at his door in Prague; she had moved from her small town to find a new job, see friends, and to be with Tomas - to become one of his lovers, complicating matters for him further due to his many dalliances. On her first night in Prague, he had her undress with his typical come-on: "Take off your clothes" (as an excuse to treat her cold: "Perhaps I'd better take a look at you...I'm a doctor") and soon after, they were making love.

Tomas was repeatedly torn between being dutiful to his wife Tereza, and exercising his womanizing spirit with Sabina. He expressed the dichotomy to Sabina:

"If I had two lives, with one life, I could invite her to stay at my place. And in the second life, I could kick her out. Then I could compare and see which would be the best thing to do. But we only live once. Life's so light. Like an outline we can't ever fill in, or correct, make any better. It's frightening."

The film also included a sensual photographic session between erotic friends Tereza and Sabina in Geneva, Switzerland in Sabina's apartment - initially, Tereza photographed a nude Sabina, a long mostly dialogue-less scene during an impending thunderstorm. Afterwards Sabina ordered a reluctant and initially-hesitant Tereza: "Now it's my turn...Take off your clothes" (using Tomas' favorite line) as they seductively switched roles between photographer and subject, culminating in a hide-and-seek nude romp.

The Sensual Photography Scene Between Tereza and Sabina

At one point when Tereza became fed up with Tomas' infidelties, she returned to Prague on her own (after they had lived for awhile in Geneva, Switzerland). He soon followed her back, but found himself blacklisted with no work, so he had to resort to window washing. Meanwhile, she took a lowly waitressing job in a bar.

While window-washing, Tomas was invited into the apartment of a Tall Brunette (Consuela De Haviland) who asked: "You're a doctor, aren't you?"; the married woman offered him a glass of wine and payment for a consultation about her back pain; she slowly offered him a striptease after he ordered: "Take off your clothes"; she sat provocatively in a chair with her back to him; there was photographic evidence in the room that she was the daughter of a high-ranking Communist Party official.

Tomas With Tall Brunette (Consuela De Haviland)

To test her own ability to separate sex from love, Tereza accepted a one-time unfaithful sexual liaison with an Engineer (Stellan Skarsgaard) that she had met in the bar - but later was deeply regretful.

Tereza During A One-Night Stand with an Engineer

In the end, Tereza and Tomas found marital bliss in the countryside, where they befriended a commune leader (one of Tomas' past patients) and his pet pig.

As the film concluded, Sabina learned through a letter about some tragic "bad news" - the death of her two friends Tomas and Tereza after a night of dancing. She heard that the brakes on their truck failed and they were killed instantly (just before their deaths, as they drove down the road, Tomas told Tereza what he was thinking: "I'm thinking how happy I am").

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)

Director Robert Zemeckis' part-animated, part-live action feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) received three Academy Awards Oscars - for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects. It boasted the tagline:

• It's the story of a man, a woman, and a rabbit in a triangle of trouble.

The action was set in Hollywood in the year 1947, where a down-on-his-luck detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) was working on a case. He had been hired to confirm rumors of whether Marvin Acme (Stubby Kaye) - a wealthy gag factory mogul (the Acme Corporation) and Toontown owner, was engaged in romantic hanky-panky (patty-cake) with sexy, animated, femme fatale Toon Jessica Rabbit (voice of Kathleen Turner) - the absurdly curvaceous bombshell wife of Roger Rabbit (voice of Charles Fleischer). He confirmed the rumors and took B/W pictures of the two together.

Roger - a major Maroon Cartoon Studios star, became a prime suspect when Marvin was found murdered. With Roger's help, Toon-hating Valiant attempted to exonerate RR and determine who was really behind the killing.

In the film, Jessica made her most dramatic entrance at the Ink and Paint Club. Her sexy leg and some of her ample breasts appeared first from behind the curtain, and then she emerged wearing a slinky, high-cut shimmering pink dress. She looked very little like a rabbit and more like a statuesque, cartoon-animated movie star -- a combination of:

• a well-stacked Playboy bunny
• Lauren Bacall
• 40s peek-a-boo blonde actress Veronica Lake

The buxom, red-haired chanteuse swept out onto the stage and sayshayed into the audience singing "Why Don't You Do Right?" (voice of Amy Irving) - the patrons hooted and whistled at her. She went up behind Marvin Acme and playfully squeezed his chubby cheeks, before also approaching Eddie and playing with his hat.

At the Ink and Paint Club - with Marvin Acme

Later in Valiant's office, she cooed the immortal line, while begging Valiant to help find her husband Roger who was a fugitive from the law for suspicion of murder:

Jessica: "You don't know how hard it is being a woman looking the way I do."
Valiant: "You don't know how hard it is being a man looking at a woman looking the way you do."
Jessica: "I'm not bad, I'm just drawn that way."

Animators at Disney were accused of inserting dirty visual humor into this film - in particular, a panty-less Jessica Rabbit when she was flung to the side of the road from Bennie the Cab -- only visible in the laser-disc version of the film and cleaned up for subsequent video releases.

Jessica Rabbit Revealed	Lascivious Baby Herman
Two Controversial Images

Also controversial was a brief scene early in the film (some of the images have now been modified or cut) immediately after the "Somethin' Cookin'" cartoon. It was the shot of Baby Herman, Roger's perverted Toon co-star, storming off the set. During his exit, he drooled and grinned lasciviously after inappropriately grabbing at a secretary (he lifted her skirt to take a peek and extended his middle finger between her legs).

[See also The Little Mermaid (1989) entry.]

Working Girl (1988)

Director Mike Nichols' popular yet farcical romantic comedy about corporate culture presented the difficulties experienced by a hard-working 30 year-old secretary to make her way up the career ladder in a NYC financial firm known as Petty Marsh. The film's tagline was:

• For anyone who's ever won. For anyone who's ever lost. And for everyone who's still in there trying.

The lightweight film with a central Cinderella character striving to make it in the corporate world was involved in a love triangle, of sorts:

• Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith, an Oscar-nominated performance) - a smart, free-thinking, slightly ditzy 30 year old ingenue, a "working girl" secretary/receptionist in a Wall Street brokerage firm with upwardly-mobile ambitions; she lived in working class Staten Island and took the ferry to work
• Katharine Parker (Sigourney Weaver) - Tess' icy, sleek, intimidating, elitist super-boss and mentor, who instructed Tess to follow her example: "Tess, you know you don't get anywhere in this world by waiting for what you want to come to you. You make it happen. Watch me, Tess. Learn from me"
• Jack Trainer (Harrison Ford in his first light comedy) - a handsome fellow executive, specifically an investment broker or arbitrageur, with a deadpan personality, at one time Katharine's boyfriend

In the course of her work, Tess delivered a provocative one-liner, typical of the yuppie-life style of the 1980s, to Jack Trainer when she first met him at the bar during a business function:

"I've got a head for business and a bod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that?"

Tess found herself betrayed by her unfaithful, scumbag live-in boyfriend Mick Dugan (Alec Baldwin), and by her double-crossing, morally-corrupt, conniving, breezy and duplicitous boss Katharine who took Tess' business idea for a media merger and passed it off as her own. Tess took the situation under her control and brokered the deal herself, along with her love interest Jack Trainer.

There was a brilliant final pull-back shot of the triumphant Tess in her office that revealed her to be just one of thousands in a single building in the whole of New York City, as the subtly subversive lyrics of "Let the River Run" undercut the moment.