What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?

Gem of a film that captures the humor of the original Candid Camera while setting the groundwork for Alan Funt's adult version for the Playboy Channel called Candid Candid Camera. There have been many mimics of Candid Camera (including the hybrid home video shows) but only Funt's projects had warmth and humanity, never laughing AT people being themselves. The audience laughs because it knows it would do the same thing or worse in the same situation. As Alan Funt used to say, 'We (as an audience) laugh at ourselves.' There was a certain gentleness and wholesomeness in Candid Camera and in this movie. Though "What Do You Say to a Naked Lady" deals with what ordinary people do when confronted by naked ladies and sometimes naked gentlemen, the same gentleness, same wholesomeness applies. The film was very bold for it's time not being tame with regards to how much nudity it showed (for it showed full frontal male and female nudity)...however...the film is not about sex, is not crude, is not offensive. It explores society's reaction to nudity in 1970 and the hypocrisies that society has set up for itself. People are nude, natural, beautiful. In one segment a classroom of students is surprised to find that a lecture on sexuality is given by a beautiful woman in the nude! Given the reactions of an older class (shocked and giggling, some leaving) versus a younger class (shock and giggling quickly overcome to reveal a poised and attentive class) says more in itself than any words the lecturer might say. Unlike sexploitation films of the era this film had something to say. I think this film should be made mandatory in high school sex education classes. Despite the fact that the film is thirty years old not much has really progressed regarding this subject and the film is quite appropriate today.

I just watched the 1970 Candid Camera movie, What Do You Say to a Naked Lady, and there's a scene with a tailor who starts caressing women's asses while he fits them for pants and dresses. He really goes to town, he cups their butt cheeks and pats them repeatedly...nowadays, any five seconds of that five minute scene would have landed a bunch of people in prison for sexual assault! What do you think happened in 1970? Most of the women ignored it, a couple discreetly moved out of reach of the guy's grabby hands, and one young lady in a skintight pantsuit turned around and flat out asked the guy "Excuse me, are you French or something?" And then she presumably readjusted her pantsuit, signed the release, and ended up in the movie....things sure have changed ---

WHAT DO YOU SAY TO A NAKED LADY is basically a risqué "Candid Camera" episode stretched out to feature length with, um, lots of full-frontal action from both genders.

But that's not (really) the interesting part. It's a fascinating glimpse into the public's newly relaxed attitude towards sex, circa the sexual revolution, covering the public's opinion towards everything from public nudity to interracial dating. Truly a time capsule, with wildly varied reactions from a cross-section of Americans - racial, ethnic and age differences are all included.

The most revealing segment was the one with the college instructor. (Do I need to mention she was naked?) Interesting that the "mature" older women were reduced to giggling schoolgirls while the young students kept their poise. Or were both groups aware of the ruse but the elders weren't compelled to respect authority as the kids might have been?

Anyway, my favorite victim was the woman who kept her cool while chatting with the nude male model. Loved her reaction when the jig was up. What a stitch.

My new wife and I saw "What Do You Say To A Naked Lady" in the theater back around 1970 when it was released. Thirty or so years later, I bought the VHS release of this film. Although I certainly don't claim to recall everything I saw in this film in 1970, I do recall some scenes that are omitted on the VHS release. Also, the VHS release seems to have more talking and other less interesting content, such as original reactions of the test screening audience.

In particular, I recall several iterations of the man knocking on the door, which falls in, to reveal a naked lady on the phone, who then asks him to put the door back. In the VHS release there is only one brief episode.

Also, the scene where the man is sent to wait in a room, and all other occupants are naked ladies. That is completely omitted in the VHS release. My complaint is that these scenes, which depict how different people react, contain much of the value of the lesson this film teaches.

I rate the VHS release only about 6 or 7 of 10 because of these omissions. Still, it represents a great lesson in how people react to these unusual situations, and worth seeing.

I love the first part where the elevator doors open and a lovely naked lady stands there to greet passengers. The candidly diverse reactions are amusing and at times surprising. The movie debuted in 1969, clearly maestro Funt's filmic response to the blooming sexual revolution of that unconventional decade. Mostly it's an entertaining collection of candid set-ups gauging people's responses to the new-found explicitness, both male and female. For example, there're women being suddenly situated with a nude male model, college kids being instructed by a nude female teacher, but mostly probing interviews with folks of all ages on changing sexual mores, some of which are over-extended, perhaps the docu's only drawback. At the same time, the setups with the elderly ladies may be the most entertaining and revealing of all. Then too, I'd love to see some of the out-takes that weren't included; I wonder what they would be.

Overall, there's not as much full frontal nudity as you might expect (strategically placed purses, etc.); nonetheless, it's a naughty and compelling Candid Camera of an unconventional era that's lost little interest over the intervening decades.