Welcome to a new series here at Mr. Skin where we take a look at Hollywood's Golden Age...its NUDE Golden Age. We are considering The Golden Age of Nudity in film to be the 1980s, specifically the early 80s. After our weekly deep dive, you will be inclined to agree. This week we are going to take a look at 1984's Body Double and its iconic nude scenes.
Brian De Palma directed this Hitchcockian thriller about a struggling actor played by Craig Wasson who also struggles with claustrophobia. Claustrophobia dominates his life and leads to a ton of personal problems as his phobia has a domino effect where he loses friends, his jobs, his relationship, and even his home. Since he no longer has a place to live, he turns to a friend with a fancy downtown apartment and a giant window with a telescope. How very Rear Window!
Now this failed actor has a new hobby: using the telescope to spy on his friend's neighbors. Some of his neighbors are sexy nude babes like Melanie Griffith and Deborah Shelton. He also spies on Deborah Shelton as she undresses alone in her apartment. While he spies on her, he also spies on her murder. She gets attacked and killed and he watches it happen!
In another homage to Hitchcock, he meets a woman who looks like the murdered woman. That lady is played by Melanie Griffith. Melanie, the daughter of a Hitchcock blond in real life, plays a porn star named Holly Body. Holly Body is a great porn name, don't you think? She is a badass babe with a short punk haircut and a tight 80s bod. She dances naked in her apartment not realizing that she's being watched.
As I mentioned, it is really cool that Melanie Griffith stars in an ode to Hitchcock. Her mom is Tippi Hedren, the blonde star of The Birds and Marnie.
There are more naked women in this movie! Real adult actress Linda Shaw goes topless and Barbara Crampton is seen riding a guy in bed. Barbara Crampton actually makes her nude debut in this film!
Ty Randolph and Brinke Stevens perform a sapphic scene with one another to entice the viewer to watch Holly Body and her friends' pornos. Consider me enticed!
01:12:00 She's in a "trailer" for an adult film, "Holly does Hollywood"... (13 secs)
This film holds up surprisingly well. It pays homage to Hitchcock while also providing an 80s blend of sex, comedy, and suspense. De Palma was inspired to make this movie by the idea of body doubles for nude scenes and he took that inspiration to push boundaries. He allegedly wanted to use this film as the opportunity to film the first unsimulated sex scenes in Hollywood, but the studio squashed that idea.
Critics did not like this film at the time of its release, but analysis of the film has since softened. It is a genuinely good thriller that uses sex and nudity onscreen to make skintastic points and to move the plot forward. Hitch would be so proud!
