On Movies: Movies too hot for shade

The mega-hyped Fifty Shades of Grey is finally upon us, and even with Christian Grey's Red Room full of floggers and ropes, and Anastasia Steele's willingness to submit to them, the adaptation of E.L. James' bestselling erotic romance is being met with tepid reviews, puzzlement, and yawns. In fact, the best that can be said about Fifty Shades is that it offers a stark reminder that there actually are movies - other movies - that know how to do sex.

So thank Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan for making us consider some of the more memorable and meaningful, iconic and erotic sex scenes of films past and present. From the risque days of pre-Code Hollywood to the naughty innuendo of '40s noir to Sexual Revolutionized '70s studio pics, from the rip-the-clothes-off and clear-the-kitchen-table clinches of the '80s and '90s to the raw explicitness of 21st century fare - sex, in all its manifestations, has always been on moviemakers' and moviegoers' minds.

For some steam heat on a winter night, we offer "Fifty Shades of Sex in the Movies," organized alphabetically. A few of the titles explore the same tricky Marquis de Sade terrain as Fifty Shades of Grey - only way better.

Basic Instinct (1992) Sharon Stone livens up the interrogation room, and drives investigating detective Michael Douglas wild.

Belle de Jour (1967) Catherine Deneuve is a Parisian housewife acting out her BDSM fantasies by becoming a prostitute.

The Big Sleep (1946) Bogie and Bacall in a sexually charged exchange, ostensibly about horse racing. Call the scene, scripted by Raymond Chandler, "Talk metaphorically dirty to me."

Black Swan (2010) Ballerinas Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis go at it in the bedroom - just before Portman's psychotic break.

Blonde Crazy (1933) "Blondes in the mood to do you good" promises the trailer of this steamy pre-Code affair.

Blue Is the Warmest Color (2012) Controversial for its explicit lesbian lovemaking scenes, the award-winning French film offers a heartbreaking view of a young woman's first love.

Body Heat (1981) A neo-noir set in hot, humid climes with William Hurt as a schmo who falls for femme fatale Kathleen Turner.

Bound (1996) Pre-Matrix Wachowskis, in a neo-noir about two women (Gina Gershon, Jennifer Tilly) falling in love and heisting the mob.

Brokeback Mountain (2005) Oscar-winning gay love, with ranch hands Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger pitching a tent, and then pitching woo.

Cat People (1982) Paul Schrader's eroticized remake, with a slinky Nastassja Kinski as the girl with the appetite of a panther.

Chloe in the Afternoon (1972) Eric Rohmer's meditation on an almost-affair, with a married man falling into obsession over a woman (Zouzou) who was a friend's ex.

Contempt (1963) Brigitte Bardot is more radiant than the Mediterranean sun in Jean-Luc Godard's meta-joke about moviemaking.

The Deep Blue Sea (2011) Unstoppable adultery, unstoppable doom, with Rachel Weisz crushingly good as a bad wife. Terence Davies directs, from his own play.

Dirty Dancing (1986) Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey have the time of their lives in this '60s-in-the-Catskills coming-of-age romance.

Don't Look Now (1973) Julie Christie and Donald Sutherland's lovemaking in Nicolas Roeg's unforgettably creepy thriller is so hot, people started insisting it was real, not simulated.

Double Indemnity (1944) Another Raymond Chandler script. Barbara Stanwyck is the woman with the ankle bracelet that insurance agent sap Fred MacMurray can't stop ogling.

The English Patient (1996) Ralph Fiennes and Kristen Scott Thomas take a bath, movie wins nine Oscars.

From Here to Eternity (1953) The most famous passionate-kiss-on-the-beach scene of them all, with Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster rolling around in the Hawaiian surf.

Ghost (1990) Patrick Swayze again, this time as a guardian ghost watching over Demi Moore, and helping her throw some clay on the pottery wheel.

The Graduate (1967) The only film directly referenced in Fifty Shades of Grey, Mike Nichols' classic finds Dustin Hoffman's college grad seduced by Ann Bancroft's middle-aged housewife. Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson.

I Am Love (2009) Tilda Swinton plays the wife of a wealthy Italian textile magnate who falls in love with her son's friend, a chef.

In the Mood for Love (2000) Wong Kar-wai's jazzy study in longing stars Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung as an adulterous couple who just can't stop.

In the Realm of the Senses (1976) The sex is explicit, and dangerous, in Nagisa Oshima's classic, based on a true story of a hotel chambermaid who kills her lover. And that's not the half of it.

Laurel Canyon (2002) Christian Bale and Natascha McElhone, as residents at an L.A. hospital, sit in a car and describe what they would do to each other if they could. He's married, she's not, and the look in their eyes says "To hell with it."

The Last Seduction (1994) Philadelphia's Linda Fiorentino is the sultriest sort of femme fatale in this neo-noir about sex, money and murder.

Last Tango In Paris (1972) Marlon Brando is piggish and violent, and Maria Schneider is young and vulnerable, and still we remember.

Lust, Caution (2007) Ang Lee's super-sexy spy thriller, set in World War II Shanghai.

Match Point (2005) Woody Allen usually makes fun of sex, but in his London-set drama, he lets Scarlett Johansson get all Lauren Bacall-y and dangerous as a struggling actress putting the moves on a tennis pro.

Mulholland Drive (2001) Naomi Watts' audition scene (an actress literally panting with desire) is just one of a number of sexual reveries from the mind of David Lynch.

91/2 Weeks (1986) Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger push the boundaries in Adrian Lyne's slice of '80s erotica.

The Notebook (2004) Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams kiss in the rain, and sparks fly. Nicholas Sparks, that is.

Pandora's Box (1929) Louise Brooks is Lulu in this searing Silent Era melodrama.

Picnic William Holden and Kim Novak dance on the dock. "Aren't they graceful?" You bet.

Red-Headed Woman (1932) Jean Harlow sleeps her way to the top. Well, not exactly sleeping.

Risky Business (1983) Tom Cruise is a horny high schooler, Rebecca DeMornay is a call girl, and a Chicago L train is the venue for their literally moving sex scene.

Secretary (2002) Dominance, submission, a man (James Spader), a woman (Maggie Gyllenhaal). A lot more fun than Fifty Shades.

sex, lies and videotape (1989) Steven Soderbergh's breakthrough indie, still relevant, still talky.

She's Gotta Have It (1986) Tracy Camilla Johns and Tommy Redmond Hicks have sex - two silhouettes on white sheets, shot from overhead - in Spike Lee's groundbreaker.

Something Wild (1987) Melanie Griffith sports a Louise Brooks wig (and calls herself Lulu, too), luring boring banker Jeff Daniels into a handcuffs-in-a-motel-room fantasy.

Tequila Sunrise (1988) Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer in their prime, and in the hot tub.

Titanic (1997) Leo and Kate, in a car, on a boat, before it sinks.

To Have and Have Not (1944) "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and . . . blow." Bogie and Bacall, again.

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) Daniel Day-Lewis is a doctor in Prague in 1969, married to Juliette Binoche but involved with other women, including Lena Olin, who understands him (and who seduces a guy on train).

Thelma and Louise (1991) Brad Pitt hitchhikes his way into Geena Davis' heart, and bed, in the film that made him a star.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968) "You play?" Steve McQueen asks. "Try me," Faye Dunaway answers. The chess scene/kiss scene that lights a fire.

True Romance (1993) Patricia Arquette and Christian Slater in a phone booth, in the desert, in the Quentin Tarantino-scripted crime drama.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011) Finally, all that pent-up teenage yearning gets a release, as Kristen Stewart takes to the wedding bed with Robert Pattinson. The sex is otherworldly.

Vertigo (1958) Kim Novak emerges from Jimmy Stewart's bedroom, wondering how she got there and who undressed her, in Hitchcock's dreamlike psychological mystery.

Wild Things (1998) Neve Campbell and Denise Richards in a pool, swimming in chlorinated deception. Matt Dillon joins them for a menage.

Y Tu Mamá También (2002) From Alfonso Cuarón, a road movie in which best friends Gael Garcia Bernal and Daniel Giménez pick up an older woman (Maribel Verdú) and take her for a ride.

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