The First Nudie Musical

Bruce Kimmell, the force behind this one, had such good songs that you can't blame him for creating a musical film to highlight them, albeit at any cost. Too bad he couldn't get funding from a major studio for this sweet little satiric delight. This one's ripe for a remake! Disney? Dreamworks? Imagine? LucasFilm? Some funding, please! Thanks to Image Entertainment for a very thorough presentation on DVD.

Pornographic filmmaker Stephen Nathan (as Harry Schechter) is seeing red instead of pink. You didn't come to see his "Stewardesses in Cages" and "Teenage Sex Mutants". Consequently, Mr. Nathan's low-budget sex films aren't making money, and the movie studio he manages for his father is about to go down. Telling his investors, "genitalia is boring" at the box office, Nathan is inspired by steadfast secretary Cindy Williams (as Rosie) to change direction, and proposes "The First Nudie Musical". One investor (Hy Pyke) insists wet-behind-the-ears nephew Bruce Kimmel (as John Smithee) be hired as director; and Nathan is given two weeks to create... "Come… Come, Now".

This astounding, and frequently hilarious, film patterns its pornographic plot after Mel Brooks' similar stab at a Nazi musical in "The Producers" (1968); additionally, "The First Nudie Musical" captures the spirit and energy of old Hollywood musicals both directed by Busby Berkeley, and starring Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland. That fresh, irreverent energy is why this film works so well. Full-frontal nudity (female and male) and bad language abound - an "edited-for-television" version would have been short 'n silent in the seventies - but, the vulgarity never seems dirty. Lesser comedies use nudity and language offensively and humorlessly - for examples, see present day comedies.

Paramount Pictures had a "midnight movie" classic on its hands, but had to give the film a cold shower after both Cindy Williams and the studio's "Laverne & Shirley" TV series became immediate hits. To Paramount's credit, they employed fellow "Nudie" travelers Bruce Kimmel (writer, composer, co-director, star) and Stephen Nathan ("Jesus" from Broadway's "Godspell") as guest stars on their program(s). And, it's easy to see why, as the threesome are obviously natural (and underrated) comics. Of the supporting cast-mates, Diana Canova (as Juanita) obviously stands out, due to a combination of heritage, "Perversion", and "Soap" - but, they are all cult classic characters.

********* The First Nudie Musical (3/76) Mark Haggard, Bruce Kimmel ~ Stephen Nathan, Cindy Williams, Bruce Kimmel, Diana Canova

I first saw The First Nudie Musical when it first came out and thought it was very funny and extremely outragous. Now I have to say it still holds up. It's a wonderful little film. It's about a porn producer who in order to save his little studio decides to make the worlds first porno musical. The songs are outragous especially the one called "Dancing Dildos", which has to be seen to be believed. This was all the brainchild of one man, Bruce Kimmel, who now is a record producer. He's the one responsible to putting some of the best old albums on CD. For this film he got all his friends involved, including a cameo from one of his stars, Cindy Williams good friends. I won't spoil this cameo though it does come early in the film. Get the new DVD which I just watched. The print has never looked too good plus the DVD has two wonderful commentary tracks, a 54 minute documentary which is outragous in itself, and two deleted scenes. This film is a treat for not only those who love cult films, to the lovers of old time musicals, because this film really does send up the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland let's put on a show films. Do yourself a favor and add this to your DVD collection.

I saw this movie several times on cable TV back in the 70's. Very memorable, I can still recall some of the songs. Highly recommended, I wish this film were available. I'm sure most of the cast would be too embarrassed for it to be seen, but it is very funny. "I'm not a gimp, I'm not a cripple, so won't you let me hold your nipple." The bit with the "Stunt Cock" was hysterical. Bring this movie back on DVD.

Taking an intentional (or accidental) cue from Mel Brooks classic "The Producers", then toss in the erstwhile Broadway embarrassment "Oh Calcutta" (also a nudie) and possibly the inspiration in some very small way for Blake Edwards S. O. B where we get to see Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews) bare her chest, we get a slight deviation/ variation of a musical with a porn twist. However in this instance we get something staged as a Broadway theatrical production but presented as a film. For a mainstream release, there certainly is a LOT of nudity, both male and female full-frontal, but hey, its the 70's so we shouldn't expect anything less. After Hollywood received thousands of complaints from automobile drivers who had kid passengers witness violence, horror and nudity on the big drive-in screens, as they were passing by on the freeway, a rating-system was introduced that controlled the showing of films to different age-groups. However in this case, this film was released at the same time Laverne & Shirley hit ABC during primetime, riding on the success of the mega hit Happy Days. Cindy Williams plays a very conservative character that had been introduced on Happy Days and very similar in the classic "American Graffiti",both starring with Ron Howard. The Hollywood brass and/or the combined strength of Penny Marshall and her brother Gary, who created Laverne & Shirley as a show, did not see the wisdom of having their co-lead star (Williams) who starred in a movie that had her included in scenes with exposed female/and male genitalia, and trivialized pornography while simultaneously playing a character Shirley, who is somewhat chaste and is "holding-out" for marriage, would send the right message to family members. Ergo, The 1st Nudie Musical was quickly swept under the rug in favor for the ABC sitcom. Oddly enough the only 2-women I wanted to see nude (Williams and the cute Diana Canova) are the only 2 performers who remained fully clothed. Oh well....