Some Nudity Required

Hack directors/producers like Jim Wynorski, Dave DeCoteau, and Fred Olen Ray have long been guilty of substituting bare breasts for skilled or even competent filmmaking. And the women who own these breasts, either naturally or through silicone enhancement, are no less guilty. Are these women exploited? Yes, probably, but so are the male viewers who waste their money and their Friday nights watching this crap rather than developing relationships with real women. And while Wynorski, Olen Ray et. al. may be laughing all the way to the bank, they're no more likely to win an Academy Award than actresses like Maria Ford. They're equally trapped in a soul-less industry that exploits their dubious talents. But while this documentary preaches about the exploitation of women it nevertheless contains rampant female nudity and appeals to the sort of male viewer who will watch it with the sound down and/or one hand on the fast forward button. It is truly a sad state of affairs that low-budget filmmaking today has become almost completely synonymous with softcore porn, but this hypocritical doc. does little to remedy that situation. I was particularly offended with the way the documentary (or at least some of the interviewees)seems to equate horror/exploitation movies with snuff and sexual sadism. The truth is the"erotic thriller" is the domain of people who don't have the talent to make horror movies yet are a tad too respectable for hardcore "adult" industry. And the less said of the co-director's tastelessly self-indulgent revelations of child sexual abuse the better. Why can't all these self-loathing industry types just find another line of work?

Some Nudity Required (1998)

*** (out of 4)

Odette Springer was the mind behind this documentary that takes a look at "B" movies and the certain requirements that are expected out of women. Springer got her start working for Roger Corman but she soon realized that those type of "B" movies required the women to appear naked. The documentary features interviews with the likes of Julie Strain, Jim Wynorski, Roger Corman, Fred Olen Ray, Samuel Z. Arkoff, Andy and Arlene Sidaris and Brinke Stevens.

SOME NUDITY REQUIRED is a pretty strong documentary that questions some of the things that are required out of women. There's no question that the movie wants to attack the fact that women are expecting to look a certain way and the documentary wants the viewer to question why they watch these types of movies. At the same time, you've got directors like Wynorski on hand here offering up rather truthful comments including him saying that the majority of the people renting these movies aren't housewives but instead men who want to see beautiful women naked.

The documentary tackles various subjects and it remains extremely entertaining throughout. Obviously, the film puts down the fact that nudity is required yet there's plenty of nudity throughout the running time including getting some behind-the-scenes footage. If you're a fan of these types of "B" movies then this documentary really does a great job at taking you into the pre-production of these films and what decisions are made before the cameras started rolling.

I caught this documentary by chance, and it was an eyeopener into the world of B-Movies. This genre being nothing more than filmsy scripts, mediocre acting, and of course the all important sex(nudity,and all that encompasses) and violence. Some may say that how is that different from a Hollywood movie. I would argue mainly that it is the budget that is different. But apart from that this documentary looks at how hard it is for women particularly to move from the world of showing their body to actual decent to good acting in the mainstream cinema. Anyone who sees it, will think twice when viewing these movies.

Director's look at the B-Movie industry is thought-provoking, at its best, but spends a good deal more time with her own interpretations of her experience than really trying to show us what the industry is like.

Odette Springer is in many ways embarrassed about her involvement in the industry, and attempts to explain both her attraction to such work and the involvement of people in the industry in terms of personal weakness.

A great deal of time is spent making the argument that women are 1) discriminated against based on looks 2) intentionally kept out of good roles and 3) only like the industry if they are mentally disturbed.

This documentary (which watches like a TV movie for Lifetime TV) really, really begs some questions, such as: Did any of the "exploited" women portrayed take any acting classes? Did any of these women explore other, more "tasteful" options like dinner theater?

The underlying, unquestioned premise here is that "Any woman should be able to get tasteful roles which do not require nudity in 'A' grade films." Had the director worked on questioning this a bit (by interviewing women with acting ability or in live theater), this would be a 7. Without ever explaining or questioning that, it is a 5.

When i saw this documentary some time ago, i found it really irritating. It is in many parts Odette Springer's annoying tribute to Odette Springer with it's to many "i'm-a-extremely-fantastic-and-talented-person-but-nobody-understands-it" scenes. What makes it more annoying is that Springer looks down on the people she wants to depict (Except Maria Ford who is "a-extremely-fantastic-and-talented-person-but-nobody-understands-it".) and sometimes steps on them. It is also filled with faked documentary scenes like the ridiculous scene where Springer looks at a violent video and gets "excited" what leads us to the scene that gave me a bade taste in my mouth- in the end of the movie tries Odette Springer to find a reason to why she got "excited" when she saw the violent video and from the clear blue sky the truth falls over her (and the poor audience)- all of a sudden she remembers that she was subjected to sexual abuse by her grand parents. What makes me feel bad about that scene is that she don't presents any real evidence and that the grand parents both are dead so they don't have any chance to defend themselves from the accusation.