“Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies” (2020) / Z-View

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Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies (2020)

Director:  Danny Wolf

Screenplay: Paul Fishbein, Danny Wolf

Stars: Pam Grier, Amy Heckerling, Mariel Hemingway, Camille Keaton, Diane Franklin, Malcolm McDowell, Angela Landis, Traci Lords, Martine Beswick, Linda Blair, Peter Bogdanovich, Elizabeth Daily, Sybil Danning, Joe Dante, Bruce Davison, Ken Davitian, Kristine DeBell, Sylvia Miles, Rena Riffel, Eric Roberts, Kevin Smith and Sean Young

Tagline: The definitive documentary on the history of nudity in feature films from the early silent days to the present, studying the changes in morality that led to the use of nudity in films while emphasizing the political, sociological and artistic changes that shaped that history.

The Plot…

Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies explores, well, you guessed it, nudity in movies.  By the time the motion picture industry got started, there were already peep shows where you could crank a handle and see nudes in motion.  It was only natural that nudity would appear in mainstream films.  It’s interesting to note the changes that came in with the Hays Code and how studio’s attempted to get around it.

Skin does a good job of taking us through the changes of how film nudity was used and perceived by the public.  The producers of Skin were to smart to get the actual actors and actresses for interviews.

Thoughts (beware of spoilers)…

I joked that I watched Skin just for the interviews.  Truthfully, I was interested in the history of nudity in movies, especially the early days.  When I was a kid there wasn’t much nudity in movies, but then in the late 60s through the 80s, there often seemed to be at least one scene (at a minimum) where a woman was topless.  Hearing from the actresses (and actors) as to how they perceived performing in the nude made everything more personal.  Oh, and if you’re just tuning in to see the nude women, be aware the guys aren’t left out.  Well, maybe left “out” wasn’t the right choice of words.

Skin: A History of Nudity in the Movies earns 4 of 5 stars.