Surely, You Chest?

We've been busy as ever in The Underworld and really feel that a beefcake break is deserved! We sometimes like to put forth some chestorial splendor such as here, here and here and today we're unveiling a few more treasure(d) chests for your perusal. A fairly wide variety this time out, so hopefully one or more of them will suit you (or hirsute you as the case might be?)! Some of them can be learned about further by clicking on their names because they've rated their own profile here. One example of that is our cover boy today, yummy Jon-Erik Hexum, a longtime fave at Poseidon's Underworld.

Doncha think we'd better take a closer look at that?! I thought so...

Well, we're only getting half the picture when it comes to Pat Boone, but you get the picture...

Likewise, were only getting half of Tony Curtis, too, but we liked this shot of him giving his sword the once over...

We like to keep a tab on Tab Hunter, especially during a sweaty workout such as this one!

A rather unsung hunk who earned a tribute here in The Underworld is Barry Coe, seen here during a wardrobe test for Peyton Place (1957.) He should've worn this more than just the one time down by the lake!

Ever-tan John Derek (sporting a lash mark on one shoulder!) is seen here (next to Chuck Heston?) during a break in filming The Ten Commandments (1956.)

Here is Heston learning the ropes when it comes to chariot-driving for Ben-Hur (1959), a CGI-laden remake of which has just hit the streets.

Heavens! Mr. Steve Reeves could cut glass with those taut nipples of his.

A 1950s collection of movie actresses cast their votes for who was the (beef)cakiest pin-up of the day, and Burt Lancaster won. (In case it matters, the nine-woman jury consisted of Eleanor Parker, Corinne Calvet, Ruth Roman, Marie Wilson, Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Mitzi Gaynor and Jane Russell! Quite a gaggle of gals.)

Page two affords glimpses of some of the runners-up, including Burt's pal Kirk Douglas, Alan Ladd, William Holden, Tony Curtis (again with the sword?!) and Jeff Chandler.

Burt's chest was, in a way, the center of its own movie, The Rose Tattoo (1955!)

Recognize this water-skiing daredevil? That's Jeff Richards, of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954) and The Opposite Sex (1956.) 

In 1959, Jeffers teamed up with blond John Smith (of Laramie) for the low-budget hoot Island of Lost Women.

The two together remind me of a fun post I once did on brunette and blond buddies on TV!

But, anyway, the real reason we're here is to take a gander at them shirtless, such as in this scene when Smith helps apply some suntan lotion to Richards' back!

They could have just called it "The Island" and forgotten the "Lost Women" and it would have suited me just fine!

We were sad to lose Peter Brown (of Lawman, Laredo and many other things) earlier this year.

Here's an interesting find. Some wardrobe tests of Marlon Brando for Mutiny on the Bounty (1962.) He tried to deny his lack of cooperativeness and bad temperament on the expensive flop, but it's more than evident in these VERY early stages of production that he was not at all willing to play nice. He's utterly disinterested and deliberately awkward.

He was also quite fit when these shots were taken, but as the shoot wore on, he gained more and more weight, causing pants to be let out (when not ripped) and certain looks to be changed.

This get-up, for example, most definitely didn't make it into the finished film!

Here we find Steve McQueen, along about the time of The Sand Pebbles (1966.)

And the lean tautness of young Jan-Michael Vincent.

Tan Tony Franciosa.

Fans of John Ericson aren't likely to forget his sultry turn as Pan in The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964.)

In it, his ordinarily more refined character is transformed into a writhing, erotic figure in order to unnerve and entice Barbara Eden. Turns out that this is really Dr. Lao (Tony Randall) in disguise and not Erickson himself.

A peek of daddy chest courtesy of Robert Webber in The Sandpiper (1965) opposite Richard Burton. I never noticed until now that the man behind him in the inset appears to be bare-assed?  LOL

Big, burly Jim Brown in 1969's 100 Rifles.

Did you know that Lynda Carter once played the love interest of Rod Taylor? Yes, the pre-Wonder Woman actress was his playmate in the 1975 TV-movie A Matter of Wife... and Death.

This was a failed pilot for a series based on the character Shamus McCoy that Burt Reynolds had enacted in 1973's Shamus!

Other than a hairy chest and the fact that Shamus slept on a bed suspended over a pool table, there wasn't a lot of similarity between the two...

Carter's Wonder Woman costar Lyle Waggoner was the resident hunk of The Carol Burnett Show for a number of years. One of his memorably handsome moments came in this Ben-Hur-ish skit set in a ship's galley.

Galley slave Harvey Korman has the unmitigated bad luck of being assigned a new rowing mate in the form of pitiful old man Tom Conway! Humpy Lyle wears a teensy toga (but not as teensy as the drum-pounding rhythm keeper in back!)

I have a feeling resident costumer Bob Mackie had fun with this set of get-ups!

Even though we're not seeing anything, this very last frame has the background set tricking up into thinking we can see something between the drummer's legs!

A heretofore unknown show to us that we've enjoyed watching from time to time is Kraft Suspense Theatre. This 1965 episode yielded the staggering charms of a shirtless Robert Conrad!

Of course, most Robert Conrad programming, be it movie or television, generally got around to at least one shirtless scene! With him is the covered-up Jack Kelly.

Snapped here during a break in the filming of Frogs (1972) is Sam Elliott (on the horse is Joan Van Ark.)

Am I sensing a little remnant of baby fat on The Dukes of Hazzard's John Schneider? Must be from an early episode.

In his early days, model and martial arts devotee turned action star Michael Dudikoff was called a "Dean-McQueen," a sort of hybrid of James Dean and Steve McQueen but, though active for decades, he never approached the fame of either of those two men.

The late John F. Kennedy Jr. could often be found outdoors sans shirt.

Is this the worlds longest treasure trail? Practically from clavicle to crotch!

Thanks to his shower scene in Sssssss (1973), several of you have discovered the charms of Reb Brown, seen here promoting Yor, the Hunter from the Future (1983.)

A recent post featuring the early TV work of Sylvester Stallone brought up remembrances of the Rocky films and his opponent in Rocky IV (1985), Dolph Lundgren.

He made my li'l seventeen year-old heart go pitter-patter as Drago and was able to parlay the attention he got from moviegoers into an action career as a leading man. In the inset, we see him as He-Man in the campfest Masters of the Universe (1987.)

Ummm, why have I never seen 1994's There Goes My Baby with Rick(y) Schroder and his (practically unrecognizable) costar shown here, Dermot Mulroney?! Could be because it was filmed in 1990 and temporarily lost with Orion Pictures went bankrupt, but still I think I need to keep an eye out for this one!

 

Nothing against Mario Van Peebles, who looks great here, but I do long for the day when underwear stays under what we wear... maybe someday. (Perhaps we'll give him the benefit of the doubt and say these are swim trunks he's covering up on the way to the pool?)

Taking a little segue into rock music, we find a perilously slender Andy Gibb. The pants are almost like satin tights!

Darryl Hall & John Oates. Oates has no shirt and is ready to tell you just what you can do with it!

This is from a German magazine and I would venture to say that you'd be unlikely to find this skin-baring a shot in an American mag from the same time frame. Perhaps I'm wrong, but mercy... if not for the bubbles!

I was only a moderate Kiss fan, but I cannot deny being fascinated by Paul Stanley's chest when I was a kid. His costume in the band highlighted it in particular. But check out the hilarious blue thong he's sporting here.

Guilty pleasure... I did have a crush on Van Halen's David Lee Roth, probably one of a small handful of long-haired guys who ever caught my attention.

Recognize this male model who later became an actor? He eventually became known for a string of TV-movies and a series in which he played Hercules. By that time, the little thatch of hair on his belly was a thing of the past!

Here's some primo Brad Pitt, at or near the peak of his physical prime.

They tell me this is Chris Hemsworth.  LOL  I just figured out who Liam is and now this...

You might know him best as Superman, but Henry Cavill's more physically revealing turn came in 2011's Immortals.

This look, while the standard nowadays and a much sought-after type of physique, is not what I personally prefer, but he looks good, I must say!

Taking it even a step further is Alexander Skarsgård of the recent The Legend of Tarzan (2016), though he went through a hellish physical routine to obtain it (and I don't even want to hear about a Tarzan who wears pants...) I was going to leave the post right here, but suddenly opted to tack on one more set of pics.

I had the great good fortune to stumble upon a DVD of the 1969 "comedy" western The Great Bank Robbery for $5.00 (it was paired with another bank robbery movie, so in effect this one was $2.50!) In it, Clint Walker is a stalwart sheriff being bamboozled by conman Zero Mostel and the curvaceous Kim Novak.

Called upon to distract and even seduce Walker, Novak (posing as a missionary!) takes the upright man on a picnic and soon begins to undo his shirt and fondle a St. Christopher medal he wears.

She next proceeds to show him her own, though when she pulls open her blouse, there's not one to be found (not that Walker is complaining!) Next, she slips him some peyote and he begins to loll around the woods, slipping his shirt off in a fit of euphoria!

Sweet Baby Jesus!

He's handed some inane '60s-ish dialogue about "grass," which would annoy us if we were even bothering to listen. He's just mind-boggling to behold!

This turned out to be one of the last times (if not THE last time) that the world was treated to full-on Clint Walker chestitude.

In 1971, Walker fell from a ski lift and pierced his heart with a pole. He was even pronounced dead at one point, but (perhaps due to his exemplary health and fitness level) was revived and made a full recovery. Yet we were never again treated this heavily to the splendor of his physique.

And so that, my friends, is The End! (The living end!)