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Profoundly Erotic: Sexy Movies that Changed History
Movie stars do it better, or so it seems. Sex on the silver screen unfolds in such a perfect way and we get sucked in. Whether we want to admit it or not, much of our sexual behavior has been learned from the movies.
From Joe Bob Briggs comes Profoundly Erotic, a collection of essays on sex in film. This guide explores the most seminal films―from cult classics to Hollywood blockbusters―that both shaped and reflected America’s changing mores and codes about sex. Briggs, who has been called the Leonard Maltin of cult movies, makes good on his reputation as an off-kilter and daring movie guru in this revealing look at filmed fornication.
Profoundly Erotic follows Joe Bob’s popular Profoundly Disturbing. Now Joe Bob takes on the key films that turn us on, such as It Happened One Night (1938), Lolita (1962), Belle de Jour (1967), and sex, lies, and videotape (1989). Illustrated with lurid stills and posters, the book strips down the hottest screen moments in history with the bodies we adore, from Rudolf Valentino and Mae West to Brigitte Bardot and Sharon Stone. In addition to the ten main movies, the book features a hundred more capsule reviews in “For Further Frisson” sidebars.
Praise for Profoundly
“A valuable and entertaining survey of movies that broke taboos.”
―Leonard Maltin
“The book merits attention from fans tired of high-minded essays about classics such as Citizen Kane, and explains why crass, tasteless pictures often make more impact than those released with the stamp of respectability.”
―Publishers Weekly
From Joe Bob Briggs comes Profoundly Erotic, a collection of essays on sex in film. This guide explores the most seminal films―from cult classics to Hollywood blockbusters―that both shaped and reflected America’s changing mores and codes about sex. Briggs, who has been called the Leonard Maltin of cult movies, makes good on his reputation as an off-kilter and daring movie guru in this revealing look at filmed fornication.
Profoundly Erotic follows Joe Bob’s popular Profoundly Disturbing. Now Joe Bob takes on the key films that turn us on, such as It Happened One Night (1938), Lolita (1962), Belle de Jour (1967), and sex, lies, and videotape (1989). Illustrated with lurid stills and posters, the book strips down the hottest screen moments in history with the bodies we adore, from Rudolf Valentino and Mae West to Brigitte Bardot and Sharon Stone. In addition to the ten main movies, the book features a hundred more capsule reviews in “For Further Frisson” sidebars.
Praise for Profoundly
“A valuable and entertaining survey of movies that broke taboos.”
―Leonard Maltin
“The book merits attention from fans tired of high-minded essays about classics such as Citizen Kane, and explains why crass, tasteless pictures often make more impact than those released with the stamp of respectability.”
―Publishers Weekly
304 pages, Paperback
First published October 18, 2005
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About the author
Joe Bob Briggs
15 books87 followersJohn Irving Bloom, known by the stage name Joe Bob Briggs, is a syndicated American film critic, writer, and comic performer.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 25, 2012
When Joe Bob told me that his next book was going to be on erotic movies, my first thought was, "Oh, my God...how am I going to find information on thes movies without looking like the world's biggest perv?" My second thought was, "Oh, my God...where am I going to find anything on 'I Am Curious (Yellow)?"
Well, I didn't come off as a perv to anybody, and I did find the information, as proven in the book. So I would personally like to thank everyone who thought that the book was well-researched. As someone who remained perpetually behind the scenes and unacknowledged (except for a quick mention on the thank you page), I appreciate it.
Research for this book was just as tough as the other. Believe it or not, you can't just go to the Internet for everything. I tracked down books and stood for hours over a Xerox copier and provided files for each movie that were, like for Profoundly Disturbing, two to three inches thick. Some would call it overkill. I called it being thorough.
Researching these books led to researching JB's commentaries for a slew of Z-movies...once again, volunteering, and once again, struggling to find adequate information for movies no one's ever heard of. So if you enjoyed his commentaries on "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter," "Double D Avenger," "Samurai Cop," "Blood Shack," "The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid-Row Slasher," "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies," "I Spit on Your Grave," "Hells Angels '69," "Run, Angel Run," "Hell High," "Warlock Moon," "Blood Sisters," and maybe one or two more that I can't remember...you're welcome! I sweated blood finding all the info that made his commentary so interesting, so I'm happy somebody out there appreciates it.
Well, I didn't come off as a perv to anybody, and I did find the information, as proven in the book. So I would personally like to thank everyone who thought that the book was well-researched. As someone who remained perpetually behind the scenes and unacknowledged (except for a quick mention on the thank you page), I appreciate it.
Research for this book was just as tough as the other. Believe it or not, you can't just go to the Internet for everything. I tracked down books and stood for hours over a Xerox copier and provided files for each movie that were, like for Profoundly Disturbing, two to three inches thick. Some would call it overkill. I called it being thorough.
Researching these books led to researching JB's commentaries for a slew of Z-movies...once again, volunteering, and once again, struggling to find adequate information for movies no one's ever heard of. So if you enjoyed his commentaries on "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter," "Double D Avenger," "Samurai Cop," "Blood Shack," "The Hollywood Strangler Meets the Skid-Row Slasher," "The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies," "I Spit on Your Grave," "Hells Angels '69," "Run, Angel Run," "Hell High," "Warlock Moon," "Blood Sisters," and maybe one or two more that I can't remember...you're welcome! I sweated blood finding all the info that made his commentary so interesting, so I'm happy somebody out there appreciates it.
August 29, 2007
This could have been yet another "list" book, giving the reader a bunch of movies with sexy stuff in them but not much else. But it isn't -- to the contrary, despite his sometimes campy persona, Joe Bob Briggs knows his stuff. He's a real film historian, and his criticism in this volume is well-written, well-researched, insightful, and, most important, fascinating.
(Full disclosure: I am not totally unbiased about Joe Bob. My husband did a panel with him once, and we went out to dinner afterwards. He's not only a fantastic film historian, but a very, very nice guy.)
(Full disclosure: I am not totally unbiased about Joe Bob. My husband did a panel with him once, and we went out to dinner afterwards. He's not only a fantastic film historian, but a very, very nice guy.)
May 19, 2008
With an author named Joe Bob Briggs, and a subject matter of smutty films, it'd be very easy to assume that Profoundly Erotic would be a funny bawdy little read. Thus it'd be very easy to be wrong.
A thoughtful, examination of the films that brought sexuality to cinema, the damaged personalities that put them there, and way they changed and were changed by Cultural Mores, Profoundly erotic is a fascinating read.
The book does work better when it serves as portrait of the movie makers rather then the movies. The chapters on Rudolph Valintino, William Inge, and especially Mae West are all gripping, enlightening and sometimes disturbing looks at icons. Briggs chapter on West is probably the best in the book, going past the bawdy front and making a strong case for her as a feminist icon. Finding a consummate provocateur decades ahead of her time.
A serious, intelligent examination of something that is too often dismissed with a snicker.
A thoughtful, examination of the films that brought sexuality to cinema, the damaged personalities that put them there, and way they changed and were changed by Cultural Mores, Profoundly erotic is a fascinating read.
The book does work better when it serves as portrait of the movie makers rather then the movies. The chapters on Rudolph Valintino, William Inge, and especially Mae West are all gripping, enlightening and sometimes disturbing looks at icons. Briggs chapter on West is probably the best in the book, going past the bawdy front and making a strong case for her as a feminist icon. Finding a consummate provocateur decades ahead of her time.
A serious, intelligent examination of something that is too often dismissed with a snicker.
October 22, 2014
Excellent. Full of surprises. Kitten With a Whip? How has this treasure escaped me? Feel wisely warned off I Am Curious Yellow, but I enjoyed the chapter. Won't ever feel the need to revisit 9 1/2 Weeks, but what great writing about it. Found this tome in a second hand stall that always has two or three gems that say 'love me' whenI drop by. Well, I do love it. It came to an adoring parent.
April 10, 2021
Took me a while to get through this, but - much as was the case with "Profoundly Disturbing" - this is 100% the kind of film writing I love to read from Briggs. Dense with information and context, each of the films discussed here are given a full and invigorating accounting, as are the principle players involved in each.
Some of it could be that I'm just already a huge fan of Godard's Contempt, but the section discussing that film is some of the best and most acutely intelligent writing about Godard as a filmmaker (and raconteur) that I've ever encountered. It's also one of the (surprisingly few) movies discussed here that I've actually seen. Although this obviously piqued my interest about quite a few titles, as well as the extended filmographies of filmmakers like Russ Meyer, Adrian Lyne, and Richard Brooks.
I would also like to find a copy of Meyer's 1200+ page autobiography that doesn't run for $450 or more somewhere. Need to find a library that has it. It sounds absolutely insane.
Some of it could be that I'm just already a huge fan of Godard's Contempt, but the section discussing that film is some of the best and most acutely intelligent writing about Godard as a filmmaker (and raconteur) that I've ever encountered. It's also one of the (surprisingly few) movies discussed here that I've actually seen. Although this obviously piqued my interest about quite a few titles, as well as the extended filmographies of filmmakers like Russ Meyer, Adrian Lyne, and Richard Brooks.
I would also like to find a copy of Meyer's 1200+ page autobiography that doesn't run for $450 or more somewhere. Need to find a library that has it. It sounds absolutely insane.
January 6, 2023
Joe Bob strikes back again!
In this companion to “Profoundly Disturbing,” Joe Bob Briggs’ expert film criticism and razor wit are put to good use in analyzing some of the most titillating films found in our cultural lexicon.
I’d say this is a slightly weaker volume than its companion, but it was fun to read and I finished it in a few weeks.
The best material is covered in the earlier chapters, watching how Hollywood grappled with sexual content — something viewers wanted and evangelicals despised.
In this companion to “Profoundly Disturbing,” Joe Bob Briggs’ expert film criticism and razor wit are put to good use in analyzing some of the most titillating films found in our cultural lexicon.
I’d say this is a slightly weaker volume than its companion, but it was fun to read and I finished it in a few weeks.
The best material is covered in the earlier chapters, watching how Hollywood grappled with sexual content — something viewers wanted and evangelicals despised.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 21, 2024
This book has an excellent cover. I was very excited to enter the show but the content was rather tame and below my expectations. Okay the author was introducing us to the classics of the genre, even The Immoral Mr Teas and 9 1/2 Weeks was featured but the photos were far too innocent. Had expected more nudity inside to be honest. If you do otherwise it might be a charming read.
November 13, 2008
This isn't really a Joe Bob Briggs book -- it's a John Bloom book, even though his down-home alter ego gets the byline. Don't expect any Drive-In Academy Awards nominations here! In spite of the provocative title, Profoundly ... is a thoughtful look at several movies that created a sensation in their day.
We travel chronologically from the swooning silent sexiness of Valentino's The Sheik up to the "BDSM fantasies for nice girls who don't really like that stuff" of 9 1/2 Weeks. One, Kitten with a Whip, seems to be in there mostly because John really likes it and wanted a venue to talk about it, while others really are iconic -- a number of them are not, to my tastes, "sexy" movies at all, like Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and this is not remotely a titillating book. You get detailed accounts of the movies' background and production process, biographies of just about everyone involved, and comments on how they reflected on and affected what was going on in American culture at the time.
Every movie is considered insightfully and at length, and I was left wanting to see just about everything he discussed. Because the book is chronological, as the decades progress you get snapshots of the effects of censorship and obscenity prosecutions over the decades, the changing roles of women, and all kinds of moviemaking trivia. It's a very entertaining and thought-provoking book -- Bloom/Briggs can really WRITE, and this book proves that he can be very funny while still taking his subject seriously. He's obviously a huge film buff, even when the films do not contain midgets, Bo Derek, or kung fu.
I would have liked more stills (you only get two for each film, which is a shame in a book that could have been so gloriously illustrated) and the little round-ups that follow each essay of "other movies that came out during the same era, that can be more or less tenuously connected to this one" are so sketchy as to be useless. Still, Cathy says "check it out"!
We travel chronologically from the swooning silent sexiness of Valentino's The Sheik up to the "BDSM fantasies for nice girls who don't really like that stuff" of 9 1/2 Weeks. One, Kitten with a Whip, seems to be in there mostly because John really likes it and wanted a venue to talk about it, while others really are iconic -- a number of them are not, to my tastes, "sexy" movies at all, like Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and this is not remotely a titillating book. You get detailed accounts of the movies' background and production process, biographies of just about everyone involved, and comments on how they reflected on and affected what was going on in American culture at the time.
Every movie is considered insightfully and at length, and I was left wanting to see just about everything he discussed. Because the book is chronological, as the decades progress you get snapshots of the effects of censorship and obscenity prosecutions over the decades, the changing roles of women, and all kinds of moviemaking trivia. It's a very entertaining and thought-provoking book -- Bloom/Briggs can really WRITE, and this book proves that he can be very funny while still taking his subject seriously. He's obviously a huge film buff, even when the films do not contain midgets, Bo Derek, or kung fu.
I would have liked more stills (you only get two for each film, which is a shame in a book that could have been so gloriously illustrated) and the little round-ups that follow each essay of "other movies that came out during the same era, that can be more or less tenuously connected to this one" are so sketchy as to be useless. Still, Cathy says "check it out"!
October 21, 2014
Joe Bob Briggs is sometimes dismissed as just a lover of trash cinema and lovable horror host, but he is a fine writer and an excellent film critic. This follow-up to "Profoundly Disturbing" is an excellent showcase of many erotic films that changed cinema. The films covered range from "The Shiek" to "9 1/2 Weeks." Briggs digs deep into the making of the films, the casting of the actors, the decisions of the producers, directors, and studios, and the subsequent careers of those involved. I highly recommend it if you're a lover of film.
March 31, 2008
This was just as goo as its companion book, "Profoundly Disturbing." As with that one, each chapter is not only a good behind the scenes of the movie it is about, but it's also a mini history lesson. You learn so much about the people who made the film as well as the film itself. For example, the chapter about "She Done Him Wrong" is more of a mini bio of Mae West's Hollywood career. Well researched and entertainingly written.
December 20, 2007
Who knew Joe Bob Briggs was such a fantastic writer? He really put a lot of research into this book. Even though I'm not particularly a film buff and I had only seen one of these movies, I couldn't put this book down. He really does an admirable job of putting these books in their historical context.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews