Night Games (1980)

French filmmaker Roger Vadim had a knack for taking little-known babes and making them into skinternational screen goddesses. For starters, he cast Brigitte Bardot in her breakout pic And God Created Woman (1956). And how could audiences enjoy Catherine Deneuve’s tail if she hadn’t made Vadim’s Tales of Paris (1962)? Where would Jane Fonda be if her career was never launched in his sci-fi sex comedy Barbarella (1968)? Considering Vadim’s track record, blonde beauty Cindy Pickett must have been excited when she took on a role in the auteur’s R-rated flick Night Games (1980). Unlike the youthful sex symbols who preceded her, Ms. Pickett was already in her 30s when she entered the scene which may explain why she failed to become a household name like Bardot and Fonda. (Deneuve, of course, is a household name in France.) Nevertheless, the 30-something actress looks gorgeous while baring her three Bs. As a repressed housewife struggling with an early sexual trauma, she has an affair with a novelist who uses fantasies to reawaken her libido! This leads to a bunch of bizarre imagery, including the infamous guy in a bird-suit bit. Viewers will also be aroused by Cindy’s sultry sunbathing, especially when Joanna Cassidy stops by for some skinny-dipping. The scene opens with a nice long shot of Joanna’s Assidy, followed by flashes of her bare breasts and wet bush. Throw in a poolside locale and an equally nude gal pal and you’ve got yourself a party on screen — and in your jeans!