Is there any decade to you that felt more horny than others?Suh: We had a glut of French movies from the ’70s.Fitzpatrick: The 1930s too—movies that
Is there any decade to you that felt more horny than others?
Suh: We had a glut of French movies from the ’70s.
Fitzpatrick: The 1930s too—movies that were kind of getting away with it before Hollywood’s self-censorship regulations really came into effect.
Suh: In the ’90s there were a lot of erotic thrillers. You had indie filmmakers pushing the boundaries, and you get things like Bound or even The Watermelon Woman.
What decade in Hollywood felt the most conservative to you?
Fitzpatrick: The ’50s is tough.
The McCarthy Era.
Fitzpatrick: Yeah. The most regulation, the most oversight.
Were there any horny movies that squeaked under the censors of Joseph McCarthy?
Fitzpatrick: Baby Doll. It blew my mind. I couldn’t believe how not just openly erotic, but how fetish-y that movie is. It’s really freaky.
Then certain performers. Paul Newman, for example, brings a lot of sexual energy, a carnality on screen that maybe doesn’t appear in the script as explicitly, but in the performance is really apparent.
Paul Newman, incredibly scorching.
Fitzpatrick: So scorching. So scorching even later!
Suh: The man had it.
Fitzpatrick: Brazen. Brazen!
Gun to your head: What is the most erotic movie of all time?
Fitzpatrick: It’s Sex, Lies, and Videotape. There’s a moment in that movie when [James Spader] says, “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” And I feel like that sentiment is so centrally erotic to me. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.” The possibility of being taken by surprise by a connection with someone or something.
Suh: American Gigolo. I feel like it’s one of the first movies with a really female gaze to it. Richard Gere, even when he’s just driving the car, everything. And there’s even a little bit of shame too. Yeah, I think it’s got to be that one.
COMMENTS