Welcome to my new short series called Hippie Hotties where I plan to talk about a hippie-era movie that stretched the limits of free love and sex by showing off some sexy nudes on the big screen. This era of experimentation led to some pretty far-out films, so let's take a look!

Are you ready for a British melodrama that explores free and complicated love? Then this 1970 flick from director Robert Ellis Miller is for you. Let's talk about The Buttercup Chain.

Hippie Hotties: British Breasts in The Buttercup Chain

The Buttercup Chain was based on a book released three years prior of the same name. It follows the lives of France and Margaret (played by the ravishing redhead Jane Asher) who are cousins born to twin sisters on the same day. They wind up growing up as if they are siblings and they have an eerily close bond - almost like they were twins or something! The two of them are twirling around in gorgeous buttercup fields when they decide to find the perfect romantic partner for one another. In fact, France says to Margaret that he will act as her pimp. Well, that's a kind cousin.

Hippie Hotties: British Breasts in The Buttercup Chain

They go to the countryside and they meet a Swedish man that France decides would be perfect for Margaret. They later also meet an American girl played by Leigh Taylor-Young that they choose for France. It's like a United Nations cast! We have seen Leigh in another Hippie Hotties movie, I Love you, Alice B. Toklas (and don't worry both she AND Jane will re-appear in movies I have planned for Hippie Hotties in the future). The four of them go on vacation to Spain together to let their romances blossom, but both of the partners of the cousins think that the relationship between the two is a little too close which causes the other pairing to vent about this to one another. Venting leads to a little yada yada yada between that pair. Are you following along? Good because it's only going to get more involved from here. Things are only further complicated when the American girl becomes pregnant...and it is not entirely clear who the father is.

Hippie Hotties: British Breasts in The Buttercup Chain

The movie explores themes of free love and dependency as these two curious cousins with a very close relationship meet two other people on a trip across Europe. The couples wind up linked for life with the two who are not relatives constantly questioning just how close the cousins really are. It does not actually seem like there is anything sexual between these cousins for most of the movie, but their codependent bond definitely affects their romantic relationships with other people. Honestly, I found this movie relatable in that I feel like we've all seen some friendships or family relationships that seem a little too close and the pair might not actually be sexually attracted to each other, but they appear to be threatened by anyone else getting close to the other person. So while I was watching this film, I kept thinking about people in my life that were like this. I'm sure you can also guess what does eventually happen because relationships like this do tend to explode. Eventually, they do smooch and it seems that the pair might finally act out any unspoken sexual tension between the two of them. It's a scene that George Michael in Arrested Development would have loved to watch! Sadly, for GM they don't actually get it on. They stop themselves from having sex which deprives us of another chance to check out Jane's jugs and it makes the cousins act sullen and weird around each other for the rest of the movie.

Hippie Hotties: British Breasts in The Buttercup Chain

That is not even the main plot in the film. The kissing thing happens after a major tragedy which makes sense that they would go for a kiss after having faced something so stressful together. The stressful event is that the baby, whose father is never actually known, dies in an accident. It's horrible, I know. It's also SUPER sudden. Like one minute she is pregnant, the next she marries the Swedish guy (???), and then suddenly the two men are living in a house together with the baby and the mother. This movie takes a stark turn in tone and it jumps around a lot, so it can sometimes be difficult to tell exactly what is happening or when, but it gets very dark. The darkness is quickly followed up with a scene where all four, in mourning after a tragic accident, go to a swingin' go-go club. Leigh Taylor-Young takes off her clothes and dances drunk and topless under the flashing lights like a swingin' sexpot. She dances to a song called "Snake Charmer" which is SO appropriate because this babe will charm anyone's snake.

Hippie Hotties: British Breasts in The Buttercup Chain

I do think that while the movie is a little bit of a hot, sad mess, there are some redeeming themes here. It is very interesting to see a relationship that is so close, forbidden, and questioned by everyone around them. It's doubly interesting to place a codependent relationship like that into the free love era. The pair ACT very carefree - trying to find partners for each other, attending sexy parties, all hanging out naked together, etc - but they are incredibly possessive of each other. That dichotomy is SO interesting and the movie definitely could have gone into it more and fails to do so. Still, there is enough there to leave you thinking about how free the free love game really is - especially when the players in question have unspoken tension and possession of one another.

Hippie Hotties: British Breasts in The Buttercup Chain

The reviews have never been favorable to this movie. Even the author of the book it was based on has said this is an awful adaptation of the novel. The New York Times review of the film said that this movie "avoided any revealing psychological confrontations in favor of making one of those depressingly modish movies in which the sensations created by things like slick photography, beautiful nudes, and intrusive soundtrack music become the substance of the film, instead of its context." Honestly? That is fairly accurate. The actresses are gorgeous. The scenery is almost as beautiful as the nude scenes. The music is pretty cool. And everyone just kind of avoids talking about anything as they all fall deeper and deeper into a co-dependent hole of four-way depression.

Watch the hypnotic hippie dancing from Leigh here:

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