In our weekly seriesAnatomy of a Nude Scene, we're going to be taking a look at (in)famous sexscenes and nude scenes throughout cinema history and examining their construction, their relationship to the film around it, and their legacy. This week, we salute the late, great Kelly Preston by remembering the time we all fell in love with her in 1985's Mischief!
In the raging days of my puberty, HBO used to show a movie ad nauseam titled The Experts starring a be-mulleted John Travolta in which he and Hexed's Arye Gross go to what they believe is an unhip Midwestern town to jazz it up and bring it up to the times. It turns out they're in Soviet Russia, where the town was constructed at the height of the Cold War to train spies on how to blend into American society. Long story short, the movie is terrible, but I saw it a bunch of times for one crucial reason: Kelly Preston.
It's no small coincidence that it was also the film where Travolta and Preston first met, as she was obviously the object of desire for many men during that time period. Watching The Experts with a friend of mine, he commented that Preston had gone nude—"like, really, all the way naked"—in a film called Mischief. It became my mission to track this movie down as neither of the local mom pop video stores in town carried it—damn you Video Plus and Empire Video—though in retrospect it's strange that HBO made no effort to show that movie during thissame time period. Seems like the kind of movie for which HBO was invented.
Once a Blockbuster opened up a few towns over, I finally got to see Mischief and experience for myself what so many other dudes before me had discovered... that Kelly Preston looked absolutely amazing without clothes. Because my mother abhorred my taste in cinema—particularly Horror and Blaxploitation—I was one of the only lucky teens with a TV/VCR in my bedroom.This meant I could, ahem, enjoy Kelly Preston in Mischief to my heart's content without having anyone else in the room.
For what it's worth, Mischief is your run of the millvirginity-centric teen sexromp that flooded the marketplace in the five years following Porky's explosive success. Much like that film, it's set in the 1950s, which were thought of as a wholesome time in America, but these comedies were more or less designed to provethat our parents were just as horny when they were teens as we were. This particular element of the subgenre would fade over time as Porky's popularity faded, but the teen sex comedy remains as popular as ever these days.
Mischief centers around two high school friends—introvert Jonathan (Doug McKeon) and extrovert Gene (Chris Nash)—from the poor side of the tracks as they pursue two rich girls way out of their league. While Gene only has eyes for Bunny (Cannon Films regular Catherine Mary Stewart), the shy Jonathan favors Marilyn McCauley, played by Preston. In addition, look out for an early screen performance from Jami Gertz as well as future Lost star Terry O'Quinn as Gene's father.
Preston had been kicking around Hollywood for a few years at this point, having previously appeared in the Charles Bronson non-Death Wish Death Wish movie 10 to Midnight. She had also just made her nude debut earlier in 1985with a pair of topless scenes in the C. Thomas Howell vehicle Secret Admirer, so the timing couldn't have been better for Mischief to hit theaters and show off Kelly's amazing fully nude body. We finally get to see the goods just prior to the one hour mark, when she beds the lucky Jonathan in her bedroom...
Sadly, Mischief wasn't a hit as the returns on the teen sex comedy were beginning todiminishin a big way. It didn't flop, but it left very little cultural footprint beyond Preston's incredible nude scene. The following year,her star continued to rise with roles in both SpaceCamp and John Frankenheimer's 52 Pick-Up, but it was her role as Arnold Schwarzenegger's love interest in 1988's Twins that finally landed her in the big time.
All of us were devastated when we heard the news of Kelly Preston's passing earlier this week, if for no other reason than virtually every memory we have of her as an actress is a pleasant one. Shewas in some of the biggest movies of all-time, married one of the biggest stars of all-time, and was arguably one of the all-time greatest screen beauties to ever come into our lives. She will be missed and we will always be grateful for everything she gave us in the short time she had.
Catch up withour most recent editions ofAnatomy of a Nude Scene
—What Happened with Marisa Tomei's Nude Scene from Untamed Heart
—Cybill Shepherd is Uncomfortably Relatable inThe Last Picture Show
—Penelope Cruz Does Very Different Nude Scenes Playing the Same Role inOpen Your EyesandVanilla Sky
—Joyce Hyser Becomes an 80s Icon inJust One of the Guys
—Charlize Theron Lands on the Map with2 Days in the Valley
—SirensMay be Plural, But All Eyes Were on Elle MacPherson
—Eva Green's Star is Born in Bertolucci'sThe Dreamers
—Phoebe Cates Takes a Dip and Becomes a Legend inFast Times at Ridgemont High
—Kim Basinger Gets All Wet for Mickey Rourke in9½ Weeks
—Molly Ringwald Does Her Only Topless Scene inMalicious
—Straw DogsRaises That Pesky Issue of Consent
—No Amount of Plausible Deniability Can Excuse What's Going On inCaligula
—The Devil's AdvocateFills Our Eyes with Double Vision
—Schlockmeister Ed Wood Transitions to Booby Movies withOrgy of the Dead
—36-Year Old Diane Lane Plays a MILF inUnfaithful
**Click Here to Read All Past Editions of Anatomy of a Nude Scene/Anatomy of a Scene's Anatomy**
