Our Staff Picks column takes you back to a time when video stores reigned supreme and the "Staff Picks" section was the place to find out what films were worthy of one's time. Of course, our version of Staff Picks has a decidedly skintillating angle, as we suss out which films from a particular subgenre are the best to find great nudity. This week let's cover one of the absolute BEST years times for nudity in the movies: New York in the 80s.
These are films that showcase 1980s New York in its finest. Some of these filmmakers are native New Yorkers who wanted to show off the city that is their playground. Others are films that, like the film stereotype that it has become, wanted New York City to be its own kind of character in the movie. Either way, there is something divinely cool, gritty, and naked about New York in the 1980s.
These are films that took place in and were filmed in New York City in the 1980s. They're authentic, okay? Fuggedaboutit!
Desperately Seeking Susan
Director Susan Seidelman was the epitome of Lower East Side cool. She was friends with a struggling musician known as Madonna! She was such good friends with Madonna that she put the newly minted pop star in this movie. Madonna is amazing in the movie, but Rosanna Arquette is the real star. She plays a young woman who is so bored with her life that she becomes obsessed with Susan (Madonna) - a woman she doesn't even know! I get that obsession, but I'm personally obsessed with Rosanna's rack.
Working Girl
Unlike some of the other names on this list, Mike Nichols was an established director by the time he took a swing at the corporate world in Manhattan. Sigourney Weaver plays Katherine Parker who has to temporarily leave her job while recovering from an injury. That leaves her secretary, Melanie Griffith, to take over her duties while she is away.
Melanie was such an 80s It Girl and Working Girl shows us why: her nude body was working it! She goes topless, as does Elizabeth Whitcraft when she rides a guy.
Fort Apache, The Bronx
Paul Newman stars in this police movie that shows us just how gritty and gruff crime in New York City was at this time - especially in the South Bronx. Fort Apache is the name that the officers give their police station because they feel like they are in enemy territory. Newman tries to police the streets, dealing with Pam Grier as a sexy street walker. But she's not the hottie with the naked hooters. That's Rachel Ticotin!
Do the Right Thing
Spike Lee directed this masterpiece of late 80s cinema. It's a hot day in Brooklyn which makes neighborhood tensions come to a boil. The film starts with a powerful dance by Rosie Perez who later juices her jugs with ice cubes to cool down from this giant heatwave. Watch her brown nips drip with water! That's the right thing.
After Hours
Martin Scorsese's 1985 film After Hours feels like a bit of a detour from his other work, but it's well worth the watch. This entire film takes place at night after hours in a Manhattan office. A man who burns the midnight oil at work sees a young woman played by Rosanna Arquette. They meet up and go to her apartment, but he ends up having the worst night ever. It's a wild late night in New York City movie!
Rosanna doesn't show her rack, but Linda Fiorentino does. We see this sexpot topless as she takes off her clothes to flash her fun bags. You can watch her hot striptease here:
Linda Fiorentino in After Hours
00:20:05 Fiorentino lets her fiery tit-o's free when she removes her bra for her stammering beau, flings the offending undergarment over her shoulder, and strolls down the hall. (10 secs)
