Indie Sex

The IFC recently produced and aired an admirably thorough documentary series that chronicles the history of sex on film, which is necessarily a chronicle of independent filmmaking. Minutes into the first of four hour-long episodes I realized I would need to keep a pad and pen handy; by the end I had jotted down the titles of more than 200 movies mentioned by name and clip, not counting several dozen hardcore stag films from the 1890s - 1920s.

Here's a digest version, supplemented and annotated by myself, of porno (stag), indie and mainstream films that are historically significant for sexual content and confrontation of censorship, taboos. Have fun.


The Dolorita Passion Dance (1896) — unknown — belly dance
Le Coucher de la Marie (1896) — Eugène Pirou — striptease
The Kiss (1896) — William Heise — kissing
A L'Ecu d'Or ou la bonne auberge (1908) — unknown — stag, in&out
Am Abend (1910) — unknown — stag, fem masturb, oral, anal
L'inferno (1911) — Francesco Bertolini — male full frontal
Traffic in Souls (1913) — George Loane Tucker — prostitution ring
A Florida Enchantment (1914) — Sidney Drew — transgender
Inspiration (1915) — George Foster Platt — fully nude lead actress

First American stag film, 1915

US Supreme Court rules motion pictures not protected by First Amendment, 1915

Anders als die Andern (1919) — Richard Oswald — gay men
Male and Female (1919) — Cecil B. DeMille — Gloria Swanson
The Sheik (1921) — George Melford — Valentino
Manslaughter (1922) — Cecil B. DeMille — Leatrice Joy
The Plastic Age (1925) — Wesley Ruggles — Clara Bow
The Temptress (1926) — Fred Niblo — Greta Garbo
Pandora's Box (1929) — G. W. Pabst — Louise Brooks
Der blaue Engel (1930) — Josef von Sternberg — Marlene Dietrich
L'Âge d'Or (1930) — Luis Buñuel — psychosexual toe sucking
Hell's Angels (1930) — Howard Hughes — Jean Harlow
Night Nurse (1931) — William A. Wellman — Barbara Stanwyck
Dance, Fools, Dance (1931) — Harry Beaumont — Joan Crawford
Mädchen in Uniform (1931) — Leontine Sagan — lesbians
Red-Headed Woman (1932) — Jack Conway — Jean Harlow
I'm No Angel (1933) — Wesley Ruggles — Mae West
Ecstasy (1933) — Gustav Machatý — female O
Tarzan and His Mate (1934) — Cedric Gibbons — nude swimming
Of Human Bondage (1934) — John Cromwell — Bette Davis

Hays Production Code enforced, 1934

The Outlaw (1943) — Howard Hughes — Jane Russell, cleavage
To Have and Have Not (1944) — Howard Hawks — Lauren Bacall
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) — Tay Garnett — Lana Turner
Gilda (1946) — Charles Vidor — Rita Hayworth
Notorious (1946) — Alfred Hitchcock — long kiss
Fireworks (1947) — Kenneth Anger — homoerotic S&M
The Miracle (1948) — Roberto Rossellini — subject of 1952 ruling
Rashomon (1950) — Akira Kurosawa — rape
Un Chant d'Amour (1950) — Jean Genet — gay, explicit oral

US Supreme Court "Miracle Decision" overturns 1915 decision, 1952

Leopard Bikini Bound (1952) — Irving Klaw — Bettie Page
The Moon Is Blue (1953) — Otto Preminger — first use of "virgin"
Glen or Glenda (1953) — Ed Wood — transvestite
Rebel Without a Cause (1955) — Nicholas Ray — teen, gay
The Seven Year Itch (1955) — Billy Wilder — Marilyn Monroe
Baby Doll (1956) — Elia Kazan — child bride
The Immoral Mr. Teas (1959) — Russ Meyer — nudie
Shadows (1959) — John Cassavetes — miscegenation
Psycho (1960) — Alfred Hitchcock — deviance/violence
Victim (1961) — Basil Dearden — first use of "homosexual"
Splendor in the Grass (1961) — Elia Kazan — teen lust
Lolita (1962) — Stanley Kubrick — pedophilia
Beach Party (1963) — William Asher — teen beach party!
Promises! Promises! (1963) — King Donovan — Jayne Mansfield topless
The Silence (1963) — Ingmar Bergman — fem masturb

Lenny Bruce arrested on indecency charges, 1963

The Pawnbroker (1964) — Sidney Lumet — code-approved breasts
Masculin féminin (1966) — Jean-Luc Godard — teens on the pill
Blowup (1966) — Michelangelo Antonioni — full frontal
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) — Mike Nichols — "hump the hostess"
Belle de jour (1967) — Luis Buñuel — fetish
I Am Curious (Yellow) (1967) — Vilgot Sjöman — sex, drivel
The Graduate (1967) — Mike Nichols — cougar, plastics
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) — Arthur Penn — impotence, oral
I'll Never Forget What's'isname (1967) — Michael Winner — oral, first use of "fuck"

MPAA ratings system established, 1968

Denmark, Netherlands first countries to legalize hardcore porn, 1969

Flesh (1968) — Paul Morrissey — male full frontal
Women in Love (1969) — Ken Russell — male full frontal
Midnight Cowboy (1969) — John Schlesinger — stud, X
Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969) — Paul Mazursky — yuppie orgy
The Boys in the Band (1970) — William Friedkin — gay ensemble
The Last Picture Show (1971) — Peter Bogdanovich — teens nude
Harold and Maude (1971) — Hal Ashby — may-december sex
Carnal Knowledge (1971) — Mike Nichols — first use of "cunt"
Sunday Bloody Sunday (1971) — John Schlesinger — gay sex
Boys in the Sand (1971) — Wakefield Poole — hardcore gay sex
The Devils (1971) — Ken Russell — nunsploitation, X
A Clockwork Orange (1971) — Stanley Kubrick — rape, ultraviolence, Beethoven, X
Last Tango in Paris (1972) — Bernardo Bertolucci — butter, fucked with, X
Deep Throat (1972) — Jerry Gerard — hardcore, porn chic
Pink Flamingos (1972) — John Waters — special interest
Fritz the Cat (1972) — Ralph Bakshi — animated, X
Don't Look Now (1973) — Nicolas Roeg — unsimulated sex
The Exorcist (1973) — William Friedkin — "let Jesus fuck you"
The Last Detail (1973) — Hal Ashby — curse like a sailor

US Supreme Court defines Miller test for obscenity, 1973

The Night Porter (1974) — Liliana Cavani — nazi S&M
Vase de Noces (1974) — Thierry Zéno — bestiality
Shampoo (1975) — Hal Ashby — hollywood orgy
Salò (1975) — Pier Paolo Pasolini — nazi orgy, coprophagia, torture, etc
Debbie Does Dallas (1978) — Jim Clark — hardcore, cheerleaders
Halloween (1978) — John Carpenter — "teenagers with active sex lives are machete magnets"
Caligula (1979) — Tinto Brass — roman orgy, anal fisting, urolagnia, etc, etc
American Gigolo (1980) — Paul Schrader — wang
Little Darlings (1980) — Ronald F. Maxwell — teen virginity
Porky's (1982) — Bob Clark — teen raunch
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) — Amy Heckerling — masturbating, caught
Blue Velvet (1986) — David Lynch — he put his disease in me
9 1/2 Weeks (1986) — Adrian Lyne — erotic? camp

California Supreme Court legalizes hardcore porn, 1987

Hairspray (1988) — John Waters — fat-positive
sex, lies, and videotape (1989) — Steven Soderbergh — Spader

MPAA introduces NC-17, 1990

Henry & June (1990) — Philip Kaufman — first NC-17
The Crying Game (1992) — Neil Jordan — tranny
Basic Instinct (1992) — Paul Verhoeven — cooter
Philadelphia (1993) — Jonathan Demme — AIDS
Showgirls (1995) — Paul Verhoeven — NC-17 bomb
Kids (1995) — Larry Clark — teen AIDS, UR
Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) — Todd Solondz — prepub
Crash (1996) — David Cronenberg — WTF, Spader
Preaching to the Perverted (1997) — Stuart Urban — BDSM club
American Pie (1999) — Paul Weitz — teen raunch back again
Coming Soon (1999) — Colette Burson — teen girl O
But I'm a Cheerleader (1999) — Jamie Babbit — teen lesb
Fat Girl (2001) — Catherine Breillat — prepub, rape
Irréversible (2002) — Gaspar Noé — graphic rape
Secretary (2002) — Steven Shainberg — BDSM romcom, Spader
Young Adam (2003) — David Mackenzie — graphic sex, NC-17
The Brown Bunny (2003) — Vincent Gallo — fellatio
Brokeback Mountain (2005) — Ang Lee — big gay movie, cowboys
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005) — Miranda July — back and forth... ))<>((
Shortbus (2006) — John Cameron Mitchell — celebration, UR