No Foolin'...It's the April Showers!

I'm always posting pics of celebs in various stages of washing up, taking in a steam, etc..., including shower time, but it's been a while since I had a nice sprinkling of shower vignettes to present to you all at once. I had to dig deep for some of these (after all, we're almost 15 years old around here and have covered - or uncovered a lot!), but with some things it's a pleasure to be tireless. Today's cover boy is renowned, internationally famous soccer hero Pelé after a victory on the field. More often, Pelé was accompanied by others in the shower, as was the norm for decades. In the German YouTube video at this link, there's a terrific nsfw photo taken of him with a group of cohorts. (The eye-popping photo is discussed - in German - by one of the other players, Franz Beckenbauer as the pic is repeatedly shown in slo-mo. It's worth a look!) Another of Pelé's fellow players, Hilderaldo Bellini, was photographed naked alongside Pelé in a photo that's worth a glimpse, too. We sorta miss those days when athletes were interviewed in the nude and treated by the press like so much meat on display! LOL

This is a sneak preview of the photo mentioned above and visible in its glory in the aforementioned video. Anyway... Moving on.

We'll start rather benignly with a little-known (though, in its day a big success!) 1976 car chase flick called Eat My Dust. Here, we find Christopher Norris (later of Trapper John, M.D.) about to take a shower. The shower curtain is visible in the mirror.

She peels off her robe and enters the shower...

...which is already occupied by Ron Howard!

Famous for squeaky-clean characters such as Opie Taylor on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days, Howard was not known for showing much skin.

And he shows previous little here, either. But presumably he has some fun once his gal pal enters.

Despite his highly successful career as a child and teen actor, Howard is now known more as a skilled movie director. And the only reason he did this movie in the first place was so that he would be permitted to direct Grand Theft Auto (1977.)

One offbeat trivia tidbit: One reason this movie may be rarely-seen today is the depiction of Howard on the movie's poster wearing a Confederate flag on his cap. But at no time in the film does he ever don such a thing! I'm not one to jump on bandwagons, especially when facts aren't fully known, but many people are and this egregious sort of alteration can run the rick of applying attitudes to people which neither they nor even their character ever possessed!

Now I would be willing to bet that very few of you are familiar with this next movie, even though it can count amongst its cast Laurence Harvey, Jack Hawkins, John Ireland and Lila Kedrova. The featured basketball player here, the film's lead is Yehuda Barkan. The movie is 1972's Escape to the Sun. He plays a university student who is tormented by the KGB.

Before that, though, we're treated to a post-game shower scene.

Although they are well on their way to being canceled, gang showers such as this were the norm for many years.

A bit of ribbing between teammates...

...begins to escalate into a confrontation.

As it is, this was pretty much the highlight for me of this bleak film. I might have enjoyed it more had the video quality been higher.

I did enjoy the man's burly physique. (For much of the rest of the movie, he's seen in rather dorky eyeglasses.) Note the amusingly phallic shower-heads!

The lead-in to our next shower is going to be a long one because the film in question actually ticked a couple of boxes and I wanted to share them all. This obscurity is The Perfectionist (1985), an Australian TV-movie that also saw release in some cinemas. (It's one of two films in today's lineup that feature Jacki Weaver, of all people!)

She plays a housewife and mother who wants to return to school and, against her husband's better judgement, hire's a nanny to look after the three kids. When no women seem right for the job, she lands on Steven Vidler, seen here!

Before he's even officially been hired, he shucks his already teensy shorts to reveal a Speedo.

He then dives right into their pool.

He's drying off along the edge when her husband, John Williams, arrives home.

Needless to say, it's a startling thing to arrive home to.

Vidler is nonetheless hired.

Did I mention those shorts?! Soon enough, he's pointing out some of the inequities of the household to his boss, Weaver.

Williams attempts to stay in shape himself, by jogging (in sweatpants that sometimes reveal a bit.)

Seewhutimean, Vern?

Vidler, still new to the house, begins telling Williams some of the things he's observed during his tenure there, too.

The egotistical husband, naturally, isn't very open to the suggestions.

He tries to avoid the new "manny," but Vidler isn't one to give up easily.

Even while retrieving a glass for his employer's juice, he isn't going to just back off the subject.

The discussion continues as Williams begins to walk away yet again.

Eventually, Williams enters the (fugly!) bathroom, turns on the shower and drops trou.

Yet Vidler never stops talking, nor backs off or even looks away! (Such a thing would seem unthinkable in today's climate.)

Williams' character is quite the jerk, but I couldn't decide if I found him handsome or not. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. He almost seemed a hybrid of Alan Rickman with a little Chris Plummer tossed in.

Even as he exits the shower, ostensibly naked...

...Vidler remains there, continuing the chat.

Inevitably, Weaver starts to fall for the fit and trim new hire.

And he does look good from most any angle.

This was but Vidler's third on-screen acting gig, but he went on to a lengthy career in his homeland.

Faced with the dissection of his home life and family, Williams begins to rethink his ways. He kicks up his fitness regimen in order to compete physically, but - more importantly - he makes behavioral changes as well.

Thus he's seen in the shower a second time.

This time, as you can see, the camera is actually in the shower with him instead of outside the curtain.

Does this man seem at all familiar to you? The hapless, long-haired chap is Graeme Blundell, star of the considerable 1973 Australian success Alvin Purple.

As I mentioned earlier, this is another one of the films in today's lineup that features Weaver. (Prior to uncovering these two flicks, I'd never seen the woman in anything besides Picnic at Hanging Rock, 1975.)

The plain-looking Blundell has a problem. Every single time a woman looks at him, she is compelled to seduce him! Weaver plays an early love interest of his who makes it clear that she wants him. Now.

Anyone else see a Sally Struthers thing going on? Anyway, she winds up taking every stitch of her clothing off, which send him into a tizzy.

In an effort to avoid taking advantage of her, he removes all of his own clothes, darts upstairs and...

You guessed it! He takes a cold shower.

Do get a load of this bathroom wallpaper! I found the placement of the taps interesting in this set-up.

But back to the matter at hand.

Blundell flounders and flails around under the icy cold stream.

Then it's time for a thrashing, flashing quick-try with a nearby towel.

As you're painfully aware, I don't provide frontal nudity on this blog, but Blundell is fully naked a number of times throughout the movie.

This next example involves a cold shower, too. I sort of covered it before briefly, but today am giving it the full, microscopic treatment. Do you know who housekeeper Lillian Randolph is trying to wake up?

Rise 'n shine, Kirk Douglas. The movie is 1975's Once is Not Enough.

Movie producer Douglas has enjoyed a late night of God knows what and is roused out of bed by his long-term employee.

I realize that on-screen "naked" is often not really and truly nude, but I still hate it when I can clearly make out the underclothing. It takes me right out of the moment. They should have gone with less see-through pajamas.

Douglas decides that the best way to zap himself awake is through a cold shower.

He's clearly comfortable enough with the rather motherly Randolph to drop his pajama bottoms right in front of her.

This was during a period of Kirk's in which he wanted to be seen on-screen in as little as possible. He frolicked around the beach in almost nothing in The Arrangement (1969), showed his behind in There Was a Crooked Man (1970), darted around in a Speedo in The Fury (1978) and showed his butt again in Saturn 3 (1980.) Yet, even with all this, it was only the other day I found out that he'd gone full frontal (!) in 1977's Holocaust 2000.

Presumably to save Ms. Randolph's honor, he sported flesh-toned briefs here, the waistband of which can be seen in a nanosecond here.

The icy water leads him to bounce around the shower stall frenetically.

All the while, he continues a conversation with Randolph.

Finally, she's had enough of all that splashin' around and asks him who he thinks is gonna have to clean up all the water!

Then he steps out and dries off in her presence, too.

He turns on the charm, but presumably the woman was also paid a hefty wage for dealing with the indulgent movie exec.

This next one might really come as a surprise... Remember the TV series Movin' On?? Running from 1974-1977 and concerning the exploits of two truckers, I never, ever watched it.

Recently, in a pique of curiosity, I checked out a couple of installments to see if I had missed anything. In this one, Frank Converse and Claude Akins find themselves in a tight spot because Akins has run his mouth that truckers are the toughest men in America.

Circumstances with some of their fellow truckers lead them to...

...a U.S. Marine Corp base, where they will do all the things that marines do for one full week!

The two guys report for duty and are treated like any other soldiers on site.

They are issued uniforms and are put through their paces in all sorts of physical trials and duties.

One of them involves being tossed out of a moving helicopter in the ocean and being forced to swim back to shore.

The unconditioned truckers are fortunate to even make it to the shoreline.

Nearly dead on their feet, they nonetheless complete the task.

This is followed by a hot, steamy, invigorating shower back at the base.

In a show not exactly known for its beefcake, this ep gave viewers a chance to see a bit more of Converse and Akins than they were used to.

Some younger readers may find it hard to believe, but the shower that these two are huddled under together was meant to hose down SIX men at a time.

Standard issue for many years at a lot of schools, gyms and military establishments, this sort of "you are there" intimacy would - as I've intimated already - be virtually unthinkable now.

When Converse puts his towel on and the camera backs up, we unfortunately discover that he's had shorts on this whole time.

Converse and Akins are hell-bent on acting like they aren't beaten to death by all the hard work, so they return to the barracks standing tall and walking upright.

Much to their horror, once they make it to their bunk, they are volunteered for another duty!

An even greater horror? As a trivia tidbit I can tell you that this episode was filmed at infamous Camp Lejeune, right at the time when the water was contaminated, leading to the gargantuan class-action lawsuit that we hear about ad nauseam on endless TV commercials today!

This one is rather awesome, even in black & white. (And I couldn't resist expounding on it past the subject of the shower for reasons you'll understand.) Rocco and His Brothers (1960) is an Italian film about four male, rural siblings finding their way after a move to Milan. Seen here is Alain Delon working out at a rather shabby gym.

In the ring is Delon's brother Renato Salvatori. Both young men are trying to make a go of it in the boxing world.

On site is boxing promoter Roger Hanin, who is looking Salvatori over.

Hanin makes an attempt to explain the sort of sacrifices that will be necessary to really make it.

Salvatori, by the way, plays a character who is quite flawed, but he's soulful and captivatingly good looking. 

He takes a moment to let Delon know about his exchange with Hanin. Note the towel-clad guy coming from the left (where the showers are), headed to the changing room. 

This film is directed by Luchino Visconti. Look at the beefy figures on the wall, the beefy actors in the foreground and the hunky extras on parade behind them.

Salvatori begins peeling out of his clothes in order to head back the narrow hall for a shower of his own.

It's a thing of beauty to watch Salvatori rinse off, gargle the shower water and rub all over himself...! (I know... fangurl much?!)

Before you know it, he's got a little friend in there with him.

Then, before you know it, Delon has shucked his clothes and is in there as well!

This was one of my favorite moments from the shower sequence. Salvatori fills his mouth up with water from the shower head...

Then playfully spurts it onto Delon's back!

The horseplay is soon interrupted, however.

Hanin has made his way back to the dank shower room. While the third man, now exiting, attempts to draw his attention, Hanin's eyes never leave Salvartori. (Neither did mine, really!)

After a close-up look, Hanin wants to take Salvatori on as a project.

Delon can hardly believe his brother's good fortune.

Neither can he!

Salvatori knows that this position with a major player could be his ticket to the big time.

I think we all know that Delon was no slouch when it came to looks either, so I give you this shot of him, backed by an array of boxers in their trunks.

Note the sort of pictures Salvatori prefers next to his tiny bed at home. The atmosphere in this film is remarkable and the brothers are stuck together in close quarters.

This third brother wasn't hard on the eyes either!

And it was clear that when he was in his boxers, that's all he was wearing. 

Anyway, a variety of conflicts and hard times await the brothers.

Salvatori eventually finds himself at the mercy of promoter Hanin.

Hanin is like a cat who finally has one claw on the mouse.

Back at Hanin's apartment, Salvatori could use a drink (bottles often play a symbolic role in scenes like these.)

Money has its price...

After viewing this movie, it's fascinating to go back and watch Hanin's predatory performance. His intentions are clear from the start (though my examples here have unfortunately spoiled it for any brand new viewer.) What amazed me, though, is the huge difference a translation can make where subtitles are concerned. Here, as Hanin is looking at Salvatori's junk in the shower, he says, "...we'll see how you get on." But look at this alternative version --

That's quite a difference! This one is more apt and has more pointed dual meaning.

Whatever version is shown, Salvatori is delectable.

Raise your hand if you recall the 1983 Robby Benson film Running Brave. It was based on the true story of Oglala Lakota track runner Billy Mills, who overcame odds and prejudice to win a 1964 Olympic gold medal. (Even to date, no American has won his event - the 10,000m - since.) Regardless of its starring Caucasian Benson, the movie is highly-regarded by many Native Americans for its insightful and respectful portrayal of their culture.

Quite a while back, there was mention in the comments of a post about the fact that theatrical aspect ratio and cropping for TV/VHS could lead to unexpected nudity and so on. All that aside, I can report that when Running Brave was transferred to DVD, some asshole(s) decided to "clean it up" and actually hack-to-death a shower and locker room sequence so that no one would be scarred-for-life by the sight of young men without their clothes on.

A Buena Vista (read: Disney) picture, it was distributed to theaters with brief nudity, including non-sexual frontal nudity, in 1983. Since then, clenched-up moms and others have gone online to protest how offensive it was to be showing their kids this inspirational story and then have to FF the tape or hide their offspring's eyes during this horror.

Did you think I was kidding?

So you can thank people like this for a film being sold as if it's the original when, in fact, it's been butchered.

But you ought to know me by now... Ha ha! I'm not settling for this. The above photo and all the ones coming after are (in quality I must apologize for) scenes and moments that were chopped out of the DVD. Cover your eyes, soccer moms.

One of the points lost when someone decided to mess around with this movie is the fact that all of Benson's teammates have tan lines and lily white asses in the shower. He is the same color all over. That distinction is part of his "difference" from the others.

Filmmakers usually have scenes in their movies for a reason and, if you couldn't guess, I am 100% any sort of tampering with them.

Also in the original was this bit involving a haughty teammate showing off and engaging in horseplay in the locker room. He was dead naked and on display. It's an accurate reflection of what used to occur in early-1960s locker rooms.

I'll "end" my diatribe on the subject now. We still have one last shower to observe before I pull the plug on this post.

Anyone recognize this fella? I wouldn't know him myself were it not for his participation in a legendary film fiasco (which right there qualified the movie for inclusion at Poseidon's Underworld! LOL)

The man is Duilio Del Prete, last seen amidst Cybill, Burt and Madeline in the 1975 song & dance train wreck At Long Last Love.

Although only two years had gone by since Love, he looked demonstrably different in today's movie, A Spiral of Mist (1977.) Seen above with a female employee helping him find his family jewels (or something!), it was beyond startling to see the happy-go-lucky costar of the Peter Bogdanovich musical as he appears here. (Though he apparently did do other various sexy roles during his career.)

My benchmark for casual male nudity in a movie is Dinah East (1970.) I think every movie ought to be like it. Ha ha! But the Italian A Spiral of Mist is right up there. Three of the male leads are naked for considerable amounts of time - one of them, especially, with Del Prete coming in second.

He plays a lawyer married to a woman who is frigid. She tries to overcome this in order to coerce him into getting her male cousin absolved of a murder rap. Here Del Porte is disrobing in front of his wife for a quick shower at their hotel.

As you can see, he's a furry li'l devil.

Claude Jade plays Del Prete's wife.

He heads into the bathroom and proceeds to shower, standing in a tub with a handheld nozzle.

The door is open the entire time, so he and Jade continue their conversation as he's soaping up.

As I said early, I don't post frontal nudity here, but since the rush of soapy water is obscuring things for a moment, I can share this example of how the shot is set up. Others will be cropped, but in the movie proper, nothing is left to the imagination...

Jade dons a shower cap and in short order joins him in the tub.

Incidentally, A Spiral of Mist was directed by Eriprando Visconti, who was the nephew of Luchino Visconti, director of the aforementioned Rocco and His Brothers. You can view this movie, without benefit of English, here. And that, my friends, brings us to...

The End!