Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Buds in Suds

Hey, it gets a little tough to come up with new subject names after having visited this topic before here, here, here and here!  But we're back again with a selection of movie & TV men enjoying their baths. Sometimes you just need to brighten up the winter with a little gratuitous skin. Cover boy today is actor James Stacy, though I'm afraid I don't know for certain the project in question. I believe it is from his western TV series Lancer (1968-1970.) Now, time to draw the baths!

Since we started with a western motif, lets dig in right away to another memorable bath from a show we adore for its handsome leading duo.

Laramie (1959-1963) starred brunette Robert Fuller and blond John Smith as cohabitants on Smith's ranch, often depicting them in domestic situations. Here, Smith comes home from a hard day to find Fuller indulging in a big, foamy bubble bath.
Fuller, who some of you might recall from the later show Emergency! (1972-1978), displays a ton of fresh-scrubbed charm from his wooden tub.
I simply couldn't help myself from capturing him with a variety of expressions...
But the REAL eye-opener came when, in the midst of his conversation with Smith, Fuller began to rise up out of the suds in full view of the camera!
My brain began to short-circuit as the scene continued to progress and the camera never cut away. This was 1959 and I knew that nudity was completely out of the question.
And so it was still... turns out, in a joke-y "climax" to this sequence, Fuller was killing two birds with one stone by bathing AND washing all his clothes at one time.
Nevertheless, this was a highly-enjoyable moment in a series dotted with them.
Here, we find Cameron Mitchell enjoying a bath in another western TV series, The High Chaparral (1967-1971.)
One thing about western television shows and movies is that they are such dusty affairs that the characters (and the audience, vicariously) frequently need to be washed off.
As is so often the case in on-screen baths, the participant isn't left alone to enjoy it in peace.
This time out, guest star Dub Taylor feels the need to enter the room and interrupt Mitchell's privacy with a round of conversation.
Dale Robertson did a mite better with his interloper in the form of costar Gary Collins during Iron Horse (1966-1968.)  Note the prices on the wall for this bath and accoutrements!
When it comes to western baths, it's tough to beat towering Clint Walker getting a scrub-down (from Leticia Roman) in Gold of the Seven Saints (1961.)
This tub is HUGE and Mr. Walker is just the man to fill it.
This is actually a pretty forward scene for 1961 Warner Brothers product, especially for the stalwart and upright Walker, though it's presented as more playful than sexual.
Then again, it's implied that these two have been more than friends and an extremely horny Roger Moore is hovering behind the scenes awaiting his turn (his turn with Roman or with Walker?! LOL)
Bathtime emerged as one of the highlights of the 1970 film There Was a Crooked Man, set in a desert prison. Here, fellow inmates (and implied homosexual couple) John Randolph and Hume Cronyn wash up.
A whole variety of inmates are stripped down and scrubbed clean in the sequence.
The nude male seen walking in the photo above and also at far left in this one is Michael Blodgett. I added a shot of his face on the right, which some of you might recognize from Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970.)
The movie's star Kirk Douglas is in on the action, too, naturally.
He even coaxes the prison's new warden (costar Henry Fonda) to partake of a sudsy bath himself.
As the late-'60s dawned, stars were beginning to show far more skin than they had in all the previous decades.
Though it isn't bath-oriented, this other shot of Douglas' rear end from the same film was a better and more flattering one, so I'm including it as a bonus (a bonass?) Do you see any family resemblance between him and son Michael?  LOL
You know, for a while around here it seemed like every other post concerned Fantasy Island. This scene is from that show. Guests Christopher Connelly and James MacArthur are indulging in an old west fantasy (that includes plenty of boob from the gal shaving MacArthur!)
True to form, Connelly's bath time is anything but private.
Here are close-ups of how they looked in the episode.
Still another person drops by before the sequence is over.
Moving on now, we find Dean Martin having his tub time intruded upon by his manic comedy partner Jerry Lewis in one of their big screen romps.
You aren't likely to recognize this gent practicing in the tub along with a reel-to-reel audio tape. His name is David Atkinson, a Canadian baritone and opera singer. He appeared on Broadway in a few short-running productions and in occasional TV work, but did make a mark as Richard Kiley's replacement in Man of La Mancha, even performing "The Impossible Dream" on the 1968 Tony Awards broadcast.
In Sons and Lovers (1960), Trevor Howard is given a thorough going over by wife Wendy Hiller.
Carol Lynley carries on a conversation with her brother Keir Dullea in Otto Preminger's mystery Bunny Lake is Missing (1965.)
Clint Eastwood doesn't seem to mind his bath being interrupted by Melodie Johnson one bit in Coogan's Bluff (1968), though even they are soon interrupted by the sheriff!
A Bullet for Pretty Boy (1970) had Fabian getting a helping hand from Jocelyn Lane.
Here we see them in color (to state the obvious!)
Before Fabian's bath is over, Lane has wound up in the tub with him!
One of the more surprising bathtub scenes came courtesy of Noel Marshall in the 1971 wildlife drama Roar.
The scene, with Marshall taking a bath while simultaneously being nuzzled against by a massive lion, is shot so tightly it's difficult at times to even make out the tub, but he's in one.
Marshall, dry, is shown in the inset and has his own mane of unruly locks. He was the real-life husband of Tippi Hedren, who (along with Melanie Griffith) costarred in this movie. (The film had a tumultuous production with many delays, incidents, accidents, etc...)
Sometimes it's hard to see where the big cats end and Marshall begins! His marriage to Hedren lasted from 1964-1984. (It should also be noted that Marshall's speaking voice in the film is excruciatingly annoying throughout.)
Not only is it surprising that there is a bathtub scene of this type in the youth-aimed series The Amazing Spider-Man, but it's also a bit of a jolt to see sixty-four year-old Robert Alda doing it!
Ostensibly naked Alda is shown emerging from the tub and being offered a robe and a towel by two young ladies. Trivia buffs might be interested in knowing that Alda guest-starred not only on this series, but on Wonder Woman and The Incredible Hulk as well! Sort of a '70s superhero trifecta.
This man is Rockne Tarkington, who figures into our next bathtub scene. Since his face isn't visible for it, I give you this glimpse. The movie is Melinda (1972), a fun Blaxploitation flick with Calvin Lockhart investigating his girlfriend's death, which may involve Tarkington.
Tarkington is busy with one of his chicks in the bubble bath...
...when Lockhart comes in and, literally, kicks him up and out of the tub onto the nearby carpet!
Naked, but suds-covered Tarkington attempts to defend himself, but is hurled across the room onto the floor amid a stack of throw pillows.
Here, he is forced to call someone Lockhart is after. Tarkington is notable as the first credited Black actor ever to appear on The Andy Griffith Show and the only one to speak lines (!) in its 8-season run. He enjoyed a thirty-year career on TV and in movies with varying sizes of parts.
1988 brought the offbeat sci-fi movie Brain Damage, featuring Rick Hearst.
Hearst is contending with a creature that attaches to his brain stem, giving him states of euphoria, but for which he must provide human victims in order to continue. In this series of shots, his bathtime is interrupted by the demanding creature.
Hearst is better known for his work on several daytime soaps from Guiding Light to The Bold and the Beautiful to General Hospital, among others.
1988 also brought this bathtime shot of Timothy Daly. The movie was Spellbinder.
In it, he comes to the aid of a young lady (Kelly Preston), falls in love with her and then is faced by the fact that she's involved in group practicing witchcraft.
The candlelight does provide some flattering glimpses of Mr. Daly, who is probably best known for a sitcom I never once watched called Wings (1990-1997.)
Though he was never really my own sort of type, this might be about the best he was ever presented on-screen, the '80s being about making everyone look as glossy and perfect as possible!
This salt 'n pepper daddy in the tub is the father of Billy Elliott (2000), played by Gary Lewis.
His time in the tub is interrupted by the ever-dancing feet of his son who he eventually comes to support after a period of outrage.
You may not recognize this man right away (his far more arresting bath occurring in 1999's The Talented Mr. Ripley), but this is Jude Law in The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014.)
We have to set the scene for our next and final bath. During American Horror Story (2016), Evan Peters arrives at his newly completed mansion, the project having been overseen by his manservant Henderson Wade.
I really must say I saw this one coming, but anyway Peters has clearly missed seeing his right hand man and grabs him forcefully for a nose-squashingly violent kiss.
Next we find the twosome enjoying a candlelit bath together in a large copper tub.
Though they have a very passionate relationship, Peters does demonstrate a detached and at times unbalanced personality, dangerous, too, since as the master of the house, he holds all the cards.
Despite the feelings they share, there is a melancholy air hanging over the forbidden relationship.
Potent scenes like this one show how far the envelope has been pushed on TV (albeit basic cable TV.) I can only imagine my dear departed grandmother channel surfing and landing on this show!
Things don't end well for this couple. After all it's called American Horror Story for a reason.
And with that, we've circled the drain on this post. Til next time!

10 comments:

normadesmond said...

odd what we remember.....i recall a photo of michael blodget in an
ancient after dark magazine. i must've liked what i was looking at, huh?

petercox97 said...

I will always remember gorgeous Rockne Tarkington from the recurring "Danger Island" segment on the "Banana Splits." What I wouldn't give to have that whole series on dvd. Yes, many remember "Danger Island" for a young Jan Michael Vincent, but I will always remember it as a taboo depiction of two attractive island men living in what seemed like a cozy domestic partnership. At the end of the series, Jan Michael Vincent asks Tarkington and his Man Friday if they would like a lift off the island and they flatly refuse.

Gingerguy said...

Bubblicious. I hurt my back yesterday and this made me long for a hot bath. The Bunny Lake is a creepy pic from a creepy flick, though I must say Kier looks pretty good. Timothy Daly is so handsome! then as now on "Call Me Madame Secretary" I always say good looking older people started as good looking young people. I loved the Father (Daddy!) in Billy Elliot" but do not remember him bathing, I thought his character was the most moving one in a pretty emotional movie. Fun suds.

Poseidon3 said...

Norma, those early memories sear our brain forever! I feel like I saw Blodgett as a villain on an old TV show when I was a kid (something like Barbaby Jones or Stretts of San Francisco) and his icy cool threat terrified me thereafter! Did you know he was once married to Meredith Baxter??

Peter, I came very close to mentioning "Danger Island" but finally didn't. If you like him, you're gonna want to see "Melinda." He has another extended love-fight scene wearing nothing but some colorful, patterned briefs.

Gingerguy, sorry about your back. You need Leticia Roman (or Clint Walker) to pitch in with some massage! I adored the dad in "Billy Eliiott," too, though I liked the one in the video from the musical version even more! I liked both the dad and the jerk-turned-fan brother in the musical version, now on DVD. (I saw it in a movie theater as a special event.) I almost always get touched in movies and TV when a mean person repents and turns around.

joel65913 said...

Marvelous as always Poseidon. Some fine men scrubbing up is a welcome sight on this cold morning. Clint Walker goes without needing comment but there are some other very fine gents rinsing off herein.

I was somewhat surprised to see Robert Fuller, a very good looking man but like James Drury who he resembles a little they both seemed to go out of their way sadly to remain clothed in their respective series leaving the beefcake to either co-stars or guest stars. So a welcome series of pictures...though he doesn't seem to have nipples! Probably just the way the pics were shot.

I've really like Kirk Douglas, and how great that he made it to 100 yesterday!, and think he was a good looking man who obviously took care of himself and wildly magnetic but without ever finding him very sexy. He was however one of the Golden Age stars who seemed more willing to move forward with the times, including disrobing on occasion. There Was a Crooked Man is a pretty decent movie to boot.

Now Christopher Connelly on the other hand I found very sexy. Loved his voice with it's scratchy catch-though that probably came from heavy smoking. I remember him as Ryan O'Neal's brother on Peyton Place reruns and didn't understand why O'Neal-he was pretty but so bland-made the bigger splash.

Fabian-SIGH! He wasn't much of a singer and only a passable actor but he was charming and so beautiful in his youth. He even had a decent run of films early on: High Time, Dear Brigette, North to Alaska and Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation-not award winners but pleasant and the filmmakers usually found a way to get him either shirtless or in a swimsuit and then of course there is Ride the Wild Surf which objectively isn't a good film but IS the ne plus ultra for mid-60's beefcake. But by the time of A Bullet for Pretty Boy his screen career was more or less kaput.

I just saw Melinda a couple of weeks ago, I DVR'd it when TCM played it in the bowels of the morning and that scene with Tarkington caught me by surprise.

I was a casual watcher of Wings, it was never great shakes but pleasant enough, but both Tim Daly and Steven Weber were attractive men. I was a bit thrown when I found out that he and Tyne Daly were siblings, they don't resemble each other at all.

A very fun collection!

Poseidon3 said...

Hi Joel! The shots of Robert Fuller were from a fairly rough TV print, so not razor sharp and I believe he also had a thin layer of suds all over his chest, which helped obscure the nips. I'm sure he has them! ;-)

"Crooked Man" was enjoyable, but by the end I was left rather speechless. The tone of it is so varied. Lightly comic, then seriously violent; rollicking, then downbeat. And apparently the sequence with Barbara Rhoades was shot as far more explicit and shocking that what occurred in the final print. Seems like some disparity in opinions behind the scenes?

I think Chris Connelly's diminutive stature played a role in his career trajectory. He was a promising young actor, though, and handsome (and, yes, he smoked like a freight train, dead of lung cancer at 47! What's shocking about that to me is that I am 49. Puts a weird spin on it somehow.

I love Fabian's eyes and lips, especially. But, man, when his "type" of teen vocalist went out of style he was DONE, with little to fall back on besides nostalgia concerts and such.

Glad you caught "Melinda!" I had no clue that Calvin Lockhart could be so tough. And it was neat to see Vonetta McGee and Rosalind Cash do their things. I think I was in my early-40s when I saw my first Blaxploitation flick ("Slaughter," followed closely by "Friday Foster" and now I get a kick out of almost all of them!) Thanks!

Matt said...

There was also a great bathtub scene with Guy Madison in one of his b-Westerns from the late '40s. I forgot the name, however!

VinnyD said...

Hot man uncovered as clocks go back

Youtube - Robert Kazinsky takes a bath during the extra hour.

Ralph L said...

Young Jeff Bridges stands up out of the tub near the end of "Hearts of the West" in 1975. I was 14 and was fascinated by his treasure trail.

Young Nick Nolte did too at the beginning of the "Rich Man, Poor Man" TV miniseries when he's supposedly 16 or 17 and about to knock some chick up.

Poseidon3 said...

Ralph, I looked up Jeff Bridges in "HOTW" thanks to your endorsement. He'll be in the next round of tub pics, whenever that is....! It took me a while to find since it occurs in the last six minutes of the movie!! Ha ha!