Today's film for Hippie Hotties is an absolute classic. This movie is one of the finest of the 1960s, one of the best British films ever made, and it encapsulates the youthful energy of that time period perfectly. Plus there is hot nudity! It's 1968's If...
Lindsay Anderson directed this film that is set at an English boarding school. Mick Travis is a troublemaking lad who draws together his band of outsiders that want to be treated with respect by the petty powers that be: the people runnings the school and the "whips" who are senior boys that like to haze the underclassmen. If... is all about uprooting power. It's about rising up and making your voice heard...even if it's all in a high school.
A very young Malcolm McDowell stars in the film as Mick Travis, the renegade prankster at the core of the film. This was only his first film (well, he was in a movie the year prior called Poor Cow but his scenes were cut), so this was a huge debut role for the young actor. This movie launched him into stardom.
This film is notable for being one of the earliest well-known examples of male nudity in a major movie. While that is true, there are also TWO nude scenes with women and one of them includes full-frontal nudity. Malcolm wrestles Christine Noonan on the ground in a very famous scene, famous for having both actors nude. Obviously, Christine shows a lot more and we happen to be bigger fans of her nudity anyway. Her pair is impeccable!
Watch her shimmy and shake as she rolls around on the floor during their struggle. You even see a flash of her hairy bush! We slowed down the end of the scene where you can catch the bush here:
More full-frontal nudity in the film comes to us from Mary MacLeod who plays Mrs. Kemp. She shows off her hourglass figure and thick black bush. She looks all natural from her knockers to her luscious legs. Her ass sits high and tight, too. Mary has one tasty crumpet back there!
And is it a hippie film? Sort of! While not explicitly hippie in fashion or color - a lot of the film is in black and white which doesn't allow for any color-dipped acid trips or technicolor romps in paisley - it certainly is in attitude. The movie is all about the youth revolting which was exactly what was happening in the counter culture in the late 60s around the world.
Granted, this British film would take counterculture attitudes differently than in the US where countless colleges were experiencing strikes and riots as students organized against their schools; but young people around the world were watching what was happening in the US. They were getting inspired. I think it's clear to see some of that inspiration here. The youth on college campuses in America were insisting on respect from the powers that be, just like the youth in this movie.
It is considered more of a mod movie, the British counter-culture that came right before the hippies (they're the ones with the scooters and the geometric shapes). I think it comes right on the crest of those eras and in that way, it's a transitional film. It has the aesthetics of a mod film with the spirit of the coming Flower Power generation. It sits right in the middle, just like the youth did at that time.
If... is considered one of the finest British films ever made. It won the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival when it premiered. It has a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and it continues to influence and entertain generations of filmgoers. It is certainly worth a watch, nude scenes and all.
