5 Movies Marketed Entirely On Boobs
That got your attention, didn't it? That's alright, as it's kind of the point of the films I'm about to talk about - ones that specifically used breasts (I'm going to call them that throughout, to save the lorry-load of puns that you might expect) when it came to marketing. Most of us have breasts, so there's nothing to be ashamed about, but movie makers, or rather their PR teams, know that if you're going to get the attention of an audience, then they are two quick ways to get you noticed. I'm talking mainstream movies here as well, so don't expect to see something like College Girls Bathnight 5 on the list. Especially as I haven't seen any of the previous College Girls Bathnight films, so I doubt I would understand the no-doubt complicated plots of a later sequel. 5. The Outlaw (1943)
The breakthrough film for screen goddess Jane Russell, The Outlaw was a Billy the Kid biopic. Actually, the whole film was merely window (un)dressing so director/business man/aviator Howard Hughes could put Russell on screen in as little clothing as possible. Hughes even invented a bra to accentuate Russell's figure, pushing everything up and out, although the star claimed it was so uncomfy and that she secretly replaced it with one of her own. Hughes knew the film would cause trouble, the Hollywood ethics committee were disgusted by the constant attention on Russell's cleavage, and the poster, which would have been racy by today's standards, was deemed positively pornographic. Ever the businessman, Hughes turned the furore into a marketing tool by getting his team to whip up 'ban this filth' campaigns across the US, which of course simply created more interest and giving the film the tagline "The picture that couldn't be stopped!". As a result, the film was a massive hit, launching Russell to international stardom, and Bob Hope to subsequently introduce her on TV as "the two and only Jane Russell."
4. Et Dieu créa la femme (And God Created Woman) (1956)
Anything the Americans could do, the French could do better of course, only with more nudity. Director Roger Vadim had been dating Brigitte Bardot for six years before he put her on screen, in a story about an orphan girl with a high-level of sexual energy and plenty of men willing to lavish attention upon her. The opening scenes featured Bardot covered only by the contents of a washing line, and the subsequent marketing played along the same lines - the main poster featuring her breasts scarcely covered by long blond hair while a trio of chaps look on with a variety of leering faces. Condemned by the Catholic League of Decency (I'm thinking Father Ted and Dougal with 'Down with this sort of thing' plaquards outside screens) the film pushed the boundaries of American mainstream standards with it's content, and marketing, with most prints of the film heavily edited. A cover-up, in the very literal sense.
3. Supervixens (1975)
One of the kings of exploitation movies, Russ Meyer was once confronted by an angry woman who accused him of being "nothing but a breast man". Meyer replied: "That's only the half of it". Meyer cast voluptous women in major roles in a series of low-budget, but highly popular films. Not out-and-out pornography, but revenge flicks or trippy road movies, they all shared Meyer's love of large breasts. You could write an entire film studies course on the politics of misogny vs female empowerment in his films, but one thing was always true - the poster for any Russ Meyer film would leave you in no doubt that it was for a Russ Meyer film. By 1975 the marketing teams didn't need to do much more than put one of the stars on the poster of Supervixens, complete with the gratuitous tagline of "Too much for one movie".
2. Breast Men (1997)
A legitimate reason for breasts on a poster? Well, the (semi) true account of the pioneers of breast implant surgery must rate highly on the 'what else do we put on the marketing?' scale. David Schwimmer plays the doctor whose success with chests goes to his head, working on bigger-and-bigger projects for strippers and adult movie stars, wheras counterpart Chris Cooper focuses more on the day-to-day implications for everyday women. The film includes real-life interviews with women who had the surgery done in which, keeping with the factual tone of the marketing, you only see the torsos and breasts of the interviewees. Valid reason for breast marketing then, ruined by the marketing team's desire to put as many breast-based puns on the posters as they could find. "The perfect breast...was a total bust" one poster claimed, accurately summing up the performance of the film at the box office.
1. Into the Blue (2005)
Alright, I might have cheated with this one, but look at the pair on Paul Walker eh? Any film whose plot can be contained in the phrase 'underwater action-adventure' is likely to be in trouble ("Hey! It's like a heist gone wrong film, but in the sea") so you need a good selling point. Sadly, the 'dream' pairing of Walker and Jessica Alba are as damp as the film's setting. But, when you've got actors that look like they do, simply stick one of them in a bikini and you tell the bloke to take his top off and you're marketing will do the job for you. That's the theory, sadly it never quite made it's budget back and the film sunk without a trace. Still, a quick google search reveals they made an entire calendar out of beach shots - so all that flesh didn't go to waste eh?