Fresh from appearing alongside Marilyn Monroe in the great Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Jane Russell is at her sizzling best in the burlesque musical The French Line (1954). Immediately controversial for its revealing costumes and potent sexual energy, the sprawling comic musical chronicles the travails of headstrong oil tycoon Mary Carson (Russell), a wildcat whom no frontier stud can tame. The censors wrinkled their noses at Russell’s bikini-clad bump-and-grind during one of the more memorable musical numbers. She doesn’t show skin, but she’ll have you hootin’ and hollerin’ anyway.