Hideout in the Sun

One of the oddest sub-genres of cinema is the craze for nudist camp films that occurred in the early 1960s. Taking advantage of relaxed censorship laws, these were often free of plot or constrait, appealing more like tourist documentaries than actual films. HIDEOUT IN THE SUN, by the notorious Doris Wishman, at least has the semblance of a plot in the tale of a couple of bank robbers who take a girl hostage before hiding out at her preferred resort. Of course, it's little more than an excuse for endless nudity, but the touches of plotting, such as a rather effective romantic sub-plot, work fairly well.

Hideout in the Sun (1960)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The psychotic Duke and his brother Martin rob a bank but their getaway car doesn't start so they must take Dorothy hostage. The brothers agree that it's best to hide out with the victim but what they don't realize is that she lives at a nudist colony. Once there, Martin and Dorothy begin to spend sometime together and soon they fall in love.

HIDEOUT IN THE SUN was lost for many decades until a print turned up. Today the film, co-directed by Larry Wolk, is best remembered for being the directorial debut of Doris Wishman. Of course, Wishman would go onto make many "nudist" movies but this here is certainly the best of the lot and I'd strongly argue that this here might be the best nudist movie I've seen. Obviously, it's still not a grade "A" thriller nor is it going to be mistaken for the work of Ingmar Bergman but those who enjoy these types of movies should get a kick out of it.

If you've seen any of the nudist movies of the 50s and 60s then you already know that they feature very thin plots that only give the viewer a reason to get into the colony where of course there's all sorts of nudity. The film manages to be quite entertaining not only because of the nudity but the story that is here is actually pretty good. I thought the opening heist sequence was fairly well-shot and there's no doubt that the two brothers are interesting to say the least. Heck, I thought the love story worked a lot better than you'd normally expect. With the story working good enough the nudity was just an added bonus.

When this movie was released it was obviously the nudity male viewers were coming for. These scenes, for the most part, are well done and at least most of the people taking their clothes off are attractive. HIDEOUT IN THE SUN isn't a masterpiece but it does manage to be one of the best nudist films out there.

Just watched a 45-minute version of this long-lost Doris Wishman "nudie-cutie" on the DailyMotion site. It concerns a couple of bank robbing-brothers holding a young woman hostage as she leads them to a hideout that turns out to be a nudist camp. One of those brothers is sweet to the hostage with her sweet to him in return. Okay, there's an interesting point-of-view shot from the getaway car of the roads of early '60s Miami that caught my attention but after that, it threatened to get really boring even during all those nude scenes where the full frontal parts are either covered or just not shown when the camera is above the waist as they all either dip in the pool or gather at the picnic table. And the dialogue and music will threaten to put you to sleep as well. Speaking of which, the dubbing was off-sync behind the pictures so that was another minus to me. And, like I said, it didn't show the whole thing so I don't know what happened when they tried to get away. Still, if you're curious about this sort of thing, Hideout in the Sun is worth a look. If I ever see the entire version, I may comment further. Until then...

Pound for pound, Doris Wishman is the toughest filmmaker in the history o' the silver screen, and "Hideout" is the film that launched the most prolific career of any woman director *ever*. "Hideout" was missing for 40 years after it's original distributor died in jail and took the prints with him. This picture deserves wider exposure and its worth seeking out.

I couldn't help but notice the parallel between the plot and Wishman's real life after her husband died a year earlier while they lived in Florida for a short period of time. So, the bank robbers hide out in a Florida nudist camp. Here the film seems to be an extended commercial to join a nudist colony. Her husband was an adman, too. One falls in love, the other dies. The film had me laughing at some ridiculous moments. I swear the naked folks spent so much time soaking in the pool it must've given them water wrinkles in a couple of days. A lot of girls with attractive boobs appear and seem to be filmed twice over again.