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Tuna
"From Here to Eternity" (1953)

A small cove. A wave crashes into the cove, and we follow it as it envelopes a couple locked in an embrace on the sand. This is one of the most easily recognized scenes in the history of cinema, one of the most erotic, and one that the Greene commission didn't want us to see. From Here to Eternity was one of those books that was considered far too controversial, anti-military, and sexual to ever be brought to the screen, but Columbia bought the rights. Daniel Taradash wrote a brilliant first script, and made the entire project possible, but not without serious censorship problems from both the Army and the Greene commission.

First, a reminder plot summary. Pvt. Robert E. Lee Pruitt (Montgomery Clift) takes a two level drop in rank to transfer out of the bugle corps when someone's nephew is given the top bugler spot that he earned and held. He ends up in a rifle company at Schofield Barracks due to the intervention of the company commander, Captain Dana Holmes (Philip Ober), who is trying to leverage his position as coach of the division boxing team into a promotion. Pruitt is a talented middleweight who has given up boxing after blinding a friend while sparing. To help pressure Pruitt into boxing, Holmes uses his top sergeant, First Sergeant Milton Warden (Burt Lancaster) to harass Pruitt. Warden does as ordered, but is a consummate soldier, and is ultimately fair. Things get very interesting as Pruitt won't give an inch, and Milton starts an affair with the Captains wife (Deborah Kerr). Meanwhile, Pruitt falls for a girl at a social club, Donna Reed, and his best friend, Pvt. Angelo Maggio (Frank Sinatra) is thrown into the stockade, and the clutches of "Fatso," the kind of serious asshole and sadist that only the military can create, played to perfection by Ernest Borgnine.

The film ends with Pearl Harbor Day. Filming in Hawaii was deemed a necessity. TO get the Army's permission, they had to cut some scenes of physical abuse in the stockade, and had to have the Captain disgraced. In the original script, the Captain was promoted. The Greene commission, who realized how sexually charged the script was, was all over it. First, Donna Reed changed from a hooker in a whore house to a hostess. Second, they went over the famous beach scene again and again, requiring that Kerr wear a small skirt over her bathing suite, forbidding certain angles, etc. They really didn't like the water crashing either, but the film makers won that round, and one of the most erotic moments in cinema stayed in the film.

It was the megga winner at the academy awards, winning 8 of 12 nominations including best picture. It is still rated 8.0/10 at IMDB, and critics agree at 4 stars. Enterestingly, Stalag 17, which wasn't even nominated for Best Picture, is now 8.3/10 at IMDB. I can't give this classic less than an A.

  • Thumbnails

  • Deborah Kerr (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)

  • Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy)

    I watched Shakespeare in Love in order to assess the new Collector's Edition DVD. The best compliment I can give a movie: when I finished Shakespeare in Love, I couldn't bear to take it out of the DVD player and watch something else. I went to sleep so I could enjoy the mood. It is now in a Collector's Edition DVD

    Christina's House is a truly lame movie about people being murdered. The title? They live in a house. Christina is one of the people that lives there. It is like a slasher film, except there is no actual slashing. All the early murders are committed off screen.

    • Allison Lange (1, 2, 3)

     

     

    Encyclopedia update:

    • there is now a new page for that little beastmistress, Tanya Roberts. Link there through the main members' links (Encyclopedia of Naked Celebrities, R section). 
    • of course, there is also a page for Gwyneth Paltrow, which now includes everything above. Link there through the main members' links (Encyclopedia of Naked Celebrities, P section). 

     

    Charlie's French Cinema Nudity site is updated. Big update this week.


    WORDS

    in the following, Scoop's comments in white, other people's words in yellow

    I got nearly 100 letters yesterday about words. I had no clue that it would mushroom like this.

     


    Several people wrote in to say there were good reasons for Dr Johnson to change the common conjugation of the past tense of the verb" to be". Yes, Johnson stated some reasons, and they were very scholarly.  He was probably right, but the point I made is that almost nobody actually spoke that way, and he single-handedly changed the language with his scholarship.

    Around 1750, people of all social classes used to say "you was the best singer in the play", but "you were the best singers in the play". Right or wrong, justified or not, that's the way people really spoke at the time, and one man changed it.

    To understand it in modern terms, think of this. Suppose one man could get all people everywhere to pick up the phone and say "Hi, it's I". That is, of course, correct English, as defined by the scholars, but nobody speaks that way. 

     



    Whether or not this word is mispronounced depends on where you happen to be at the time, but it certainly has a lot of pronunciations. That word is water. Besides the usual wat-ter, I have heard wad-der (rhymes with fodder), wad-der (rhymes with bladder), wat-ah, and wad-dah.

    Actually, wat-ter  (rhymes with otter) is only #2 in American speech. Waw-ter (rhymes with daughter) is the most common. I think this is just a matter of regionalism, as well as national speech. Americans and Brits don't pronounce "t" the same. For many Americans, "latter" and "ladder" are homonyms.

    The juicy R is a sound common only to the Americans and Irish among English speakers, so that gives us a distinctive pronunciation of words like water, but the juicy r disappears or virtually disappears in many places in the USA and elsewhere. 

    When I say this word, it sounds like none of the above. More like WAW-der. Not really a "d', but not a "t" either. I don't think I'll be able to change it, even though I'd like to.

     


    I've enjoyed your talk on pronunciations. I'm irritated to hear educated adults use "axe" for "ask" (If you axe me nice, I will do it.) I think it came from switching the letters to aks -  then to axe. We have had discussions among teachers about "fixin' to" as in, You're fixin' to get an ass-whuppin. Also, yonder: Yonder is my grade book. I think it came from Hither and Yon, but no one says, "Hither are my glasses", do they?

    I won't print them all, but I got 25+ letters about "axe" for "ask".

    Personally, I like regionalism. It's colorful, and fun. Back in the 50's, America's schools tried to get everyone to speak one dialect. Network TV accelerated the drive to conformity, the interstates took away the colorful backroads we used to travel, and we lost a lot of regional charm.

    Some people say "axe". Some people say "ah-ite" for "all right", including my daughter. Some people say "ay-aw", or "yep", or "yup" or "yeah". Just colloquialism, isn't it?

    Our language has survived as a single language under more difficult circumstances. Think about it. From 1776 until sometime  after WW1, there was no electronic communication between us, so we didn't really have any significant reinforcement to let us know how the other guys were talking. Despite that, the language remained more or less mutually intelligible from urban Harlem to rural Scotland to India. So I'm fixin' to reckon that a passel of regionalisms out yonder won't hurt us any. We can all hear each other every day now, and we'll sort it all out eventually. We have a "bigger" language now, but it is big enough to embrace everyone.

    Funny story told to me by a flight attendant (ex-girlfriend). Indian guy in first class is pressing the call button to get help on an all-night flight. Nobody comes for a while. When the woman arrives, the guy is irritated, and says, "I am fingering the stewardess for many minutes, and she is not coming"

    Now tell me regionalism isn't a good thing!

     


    GHOTI - How do you pronounce it?  Fish.  This is a trick question.  The playwright George Bernard Shaw (an advocate of spelling reform) supposedly said the word "fish" could be spelled "ghoti" because gh is pronounced like an f in "cough", o is pronounced like an i in "women" and ti is pronounced like a sh in "nation"

    This famous example may be new to some of you.


    The word that kills me every time I hear it is zink instead of sink. "Go put your dirty dishes in the zink" or "I tried every thing but the kitchen zink."

    Being a baseball fan, you are probably familiar with the misused term RBIs.  "Johnson has four RBIs in the game already." RBI of course stands for Runs Batted In. RBIs would be Runs Batted Ins. 

     I would also like to mention a word added to our language by Joe Pesci in the movie My Cousin Vinny. Pesci was explaining to Fred Gwynne about  the two yutes entering the Sack o' Suds. Gwynne stopped him and asked, "What was that word? What's a yute?" Pesci says, "Sorry, judge. I meant youths."

     

    Nostalgic memory from the distant past. My maternal grandfather said "zink and "zofa". The greatest thing about the guy was that he spoke about a zillion languages and could communicate and joke with everyone on the planet. The funniest thing about him was that he spoke them all poorly, and often confused them, like that monk in "The Name of the Rose". German was one of his childhood languages, and he never lost that German "s" in his English pronunciation. 

    My dad, the legendary Suits Sparrow, still says "yute" and "one, two, tree". He is a native Polish speaker, so I assume this must be some vestigial Polish thing which would also be found in other non-English languages. Both "th" sounds (as in "theater" and "the") seem to be very difficult for non-English speakers to master. One ends up a "d", the other a "t", as in that famous Chekhov play, "da tree sisters".

    Speaking of my ballplayin' dad, he and I both say "100 RBI's". If  "RBI" can only mean "runs batted in", then it is not proper to say "he only has one RBI this game". I guess I would argue, based upon universal usage, that RBI must be the abbreviation for "run(s) batted in".

     


     

    This isn't a mispronounced word.... it's a mis-used word.  Maybe with your tremendous influence, we can finally rid our language of the usage (or more the addition of) the word GATE to every scandal or problem. 

    Starting with Watergate (which was a HOTEL, for crying out loud), we've called every problem and scandal the something-gate.  Right up to the recent Firestone tire recall. I read that described as tiregate.  There was an article sometime ago about a mayoral candidate that went around  in some small town (I forget now which one) giving out cookies as he
    talked about why he wanted to be elected. His opponents raised all kinds of stink about that. They called it - you got it - -cookiegate.  I'm surprised we haven't started calling our military action in Afghanistan Operation: Osamagate!


    Can we PLEASE eliminate these expressions from our language??  (Unless we are describing a swinging door-type opening in a fence!)

    To make it worse, the overuse of  "gate" is exacerbated by the fact that it actually has a dual source. Not only Watergate for scandals, but also the famous movie fiasco Heaven's Gate which, by extension, represents all financial fiascoes in the film biz, assuming writers can make a cute rhyme. Waterworld was "Kevin's Gate" (or "Fishtar"), and Sliver was "Evans' Gate"

     


    Dear Scoop. Well, after all those years of naked women, you've finally hit on a subject that truly gets me excited: etymology!

    1. As far as the variations on "One fell swoop," I usually pronounce it "One swell foop."  That always seems to baffle some people and piss off others, which is the reaction I shoot for in everything I do.
    2. As for redundancies, my personal pet peeve is the ATM machine, or Automatic Teller Machine Machine.  If I see that again, I shall be forced to report the offender to the Department of Redundancy Department.
    3. Your note on "orientate" reminded me of another pet peeve.  When did people start "commentating" on things?  In the old days, we were simple folk who merely commented on things.  And we LIKED it that way!  Nowadays, we've got a bunch of fancy commentators commentating all over the place, and I think it merits being commented upon, or commentated upon.
    4. Finally, re: the pronunciation of "rut beer."  It reminded me of our late lamented Surgeon General, Dr. Joycelyn Elders.  She provided a bonanza of material for us comedy writers, and if you'd listen to a tape of one of her speeches, you'd find that she could also offer endless material for future columns on tortured English pronunciations.

    Pat Reeder, The Comedy Wire


    First, irregardless means regardless. So why use the "ir-"?

    Next, the word "route." Is the "ou" pronounced "oo" or "ow"? I usually use "ow" when I'm planning which roads I'm going to take (as in, "What route are we going to take to get there?") and "oo" when I'm talking about a specific road (like Route 66).


    Actually, I haven't looked it up, but I don't think irregardless is a word - at least that's what I learned in school. It is a common mangling of regardless and irrespective. 

    However, your point could easily be made with flammable and inflammable, both of which are perfectly good English words. and are synonyms, even though they sound like antonyms.


    Scoop - I've heard "sharpy" used (occasionally) in the derogatory fashion you mentioned by people of other (non-Polish) extractions.

    On this subject, while the OED may not include "card shark" and "cardsharp" per se, both "shark" and "sharp," their root words, are. Among the definitions for "shark" are several that refer to cheating and swindling, including calling a person a "sharker," one who lives by dishonesty, from as early as 1594.  "Sharp" has several definitions, many of  them also early, denoting acumen or skill (which we find in the expression  "he's sharp as a tack," as well as cardsharp).  But "sharper" is also
    found, and "sharp," used in the following ways:  "The sharps have queered me," from 1797, and this entry from a dictionary of 1812, "Sharp, a gambler, or person, professed in all the arts of play; a cheat, or swindle"

     I have read many times in old books where people say they have been "sharped" by someone, to mean they've been cheated.  So the origin of the  expressions "card shark" and "cardsharp" share many similarities, even if  they are today supposed to refer to two different types of person.

    Works for me. Good points! I didn't know that a "shark" could also imply a dishonest player.


    Why don't DO and SO rhyme? If DO rhymes with DEW and SO rhyme with SEW, then  why do we need the alternate spellings? And for that matter, why don't DEW and SEW rhyme? Of course, if DO rhymed with SO, then we wouldn't need the word DOUGH (or the newly added OED word DOH.) And while we're on the subject, why doesn't DOUGH rhyme with COUGH? And TOUGH doesn't rhyme with either of them.

    Okay, that's ENOUGH. Gee, that doesn't rhyme with DOUGH or COUGH either, but  it does rhyme with TOUGH. Now I've got a HEADACHE, which doesn't rhyme with MUSTACHE.  So is that thing growing under my nose a MISTAKE?

     


    Hi Scoopy.  I really appreciate the site and as an educated Brit, I find a great deal with which to agree with you about pronunciations (although I do accept the need for growth and dynamism in language - which is very different to pronunciation)

    Sorry if this sounds patronising, but have you read The Surgeon of  Crowthorne? It's a very decent read and also describes how influential an American was in shaping the English language. I'll send more details if you are interested.

    Haven't read it. Ordered it from Paperbackshop.co.uk. Thanks for the tip.


    Pronunciation to word use in a short time. Can grammer (sic) be far behind? Will we be arguing about semi-colon (sic) use? Will you be referring to previously banned Mickey Rourke as a "hero"? Whoops, done that. This is a naked chick page, right? Are your friends gathering for an intervention? Is there a rehab for this problem? Get hold of yourself!

    OK. You guys heard him. Stop being interested in this stuff.

    Graphic Response
  • Kim Delaney, two brief, but very nice topless scenes from "The Drifter" (1988). Both breasts are visible in good lighting. A great find for fans of the "NYPD Blue" star.

  • Penélope Cruz, partial breast exposure from "All the Pretty Horses" (2000).

    Be sure to pay Graphic Response a visit at his website. www.graphic-barry.com.

  • Oz
    "Easy Money"
    Made in 1983, Easy Money stars Rodney Dangerfield as a slob that needs to clean up his act in order to inherit a lot of money. The nudity comes from Kimberley McArthur, a neighbour that likes sunbathing topless. A young Jennifer Jason Leigh plays his daughter - no nudity but some nice caps. There is also a table top dancer with some well-placed pasties.
  • Kimberley McArthur
  • Jennifer Jason Leigh
  • Unknown


    "Class Warfare"
    No nudity in Class Warfare. It's about a winning lottery ticket and the lengths that some people will go to steal it. Lindsey J. McKeon fills out a bikini nicely and, likewise, Kiele Sanchez fills out a bra.

  • Lindsey J. McKeon
  • Kiele Sanchez


    "The Last Producer"
    Lauren Holly plays a minor role in The Last Producer, played by Burt Reynolds. No nudity but she's a looker in a bathing suit.

  • Lauren Holly


    "Hanging Up"
    There is no nudity by Meg Ryan in Hanging Up but I don't think she wore a bra in the whole movie. So, what you had was your own weather-wall, with pokies everywhere. DVD captures would do a lot better job.

  • Meg Ryan


    "Best of Times"
    Best of Times is the story of a couple of middle-aged men trying to recapture the past, when they try to replay a high school football match. Holly Palance is one of the wives and a nipple accidentally pops out during a romantic moment with Robin Williams.

  • Holly Palance


    "House on Haunted Hill"
    You see Janet Tracey Keijser's entire contribution to House on Haunted Hill. She's naked and seemed to be part of a dream sequence, I couldn't quite work out what it was supposed to be. Plenty of blood and gore in the movie for those that like that sort of thing.

  • Janet Tracey Keijser


    "The Hornet"
    Mirjana Jovokic is a Serbian girl in the Serbian film Strsljen (or The Hornet). She falls in love with an Albanian assassin. Some topless nudity during one of their love-making sessions.

  • Mirjana Jovokic


    "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb"
    Valerie Leon stars in Blood from the Mummy's Tomb. There were some nice cleavage shots and some dark rear nudity.

  • Valerie Leon


    "Mad Dog Morgan"
    Mad Dog Morgan is an Australian film about the bushranger of the same name. Liza Lee Atkinson works in a pub serving beer. For some reason, not explained, she decides to take off her top.

  • Liza Lee Atkinson


    "Starstruck"
    Starstruck is another Australian movie and Jo Kennedy is briefly topless after a night on the town.

  • Jo Kennedy


    "Lover Boy"
    Continuing the Australian theme, middle-aged Gillian Jones is topless after a quickie with a much younger bloke.

  • Gillian Jones


    "The Dark Room"
    Anna Jemison stars in The Dark Room, a movie based in Sydney. Some see-through views and the briefest flash during a romp in the hay.

  • Anna Jemison


    "Proof"
    The final Australian movie is the critically-acclaimed Proof. Genevieve Picot is the house-keeper for a blind bloke. Genevieve gets topless when she tries to seduce him.

  • Genevieve Picot (1, 2)


    "Underground"
    Daniele Gaubert is topless but, unfortunately, there is nothing to see clearly.

  • Daniele Gaubert


    "Solitaire for 2"
    Amanda Pays shows us the briefest of flashes.

  • Amanda Pays


    "The Hunger"
    Cleaning some old collages, we have Alice Poon topless in an episode of The Hunger called Dream Sentinel.

  • Alice Poon (1, 2, 3)


    "Mean Streak"
    The nudity in Mean Streak comes from some strippers and a prostitute. Bridgid Coulter comes close in these low quality caps.

  • Bridgid Coulter
  • Unknowns


    "Nobody Knows Nobody"
    Some side nudity by Natalia Verbeke in Nadie Conoce a Nadie (Nobody Knows Nobody).

  • Natalia Verbeke


    "Bonfire of the Vanities"
    Not a lot of nudity in Bonfire of the Vanities. Melanie Griffith shows her cleavage when she prances around in her underwear. A drunk Beth Broderick gives us the briefest of rear flashes when she decides to photocopy her bare backside for Tom Hanks. Unfortunately, we don't get to see the copies.

  • Melanie Griffith
  • Beth Broderick

  • Mr. Skin
    Our cousin in the celeb business sent me these rarities last night.

  • Asia Argento looking a bit more skanky that usual in scenes from "Scarlet Diva" (2000). (She also wrote and directed the film) In link #1 there is cleavage, and 'caps of her gettin' it on. In link #2 it's toplessness and lower frontal nudity. (1, 2)

    Next up...two non-adult, Italian actresses performing felatio in non-porno, mainstream movies.

  • Loredana Cannata in "La Donna lupo" (1999) (she also goes full frontal)

  • Elisabetta Cavallotti in "Guardami" (1999). Topless with a hint of pubes in #1. Lesbo lovin in #2. And a BJ scene in link #3. (1, 2, 3)

  • Today's debate:

    These collages of rear nudity and topless scenes from the 1969 Italian movie "L'Amore breve" (1, 2) show ....
    A.Rare Joan Collins nudity
    B.a body double
    C.other

  • Sung Hi Lee, topless and bare bummed in scenes from "A Night On the Water" (1998) (1, 2, 3)

  • Misty Mundae, serious lesbo action from "Erotic Survivor" (2001)....the spoof of the TV show "Survivor".

  • The Funnies by Number 6
  • The chase is on and we will catch bin Laden!

  • A very important History lesson


  • Click Here!