You Sexy Thing

Fort Myers' Dennis Cunningham, a former film critic for Manhattan's CBS affiliate, picks eight of the sexiest movie moments ever.

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946): When Lana Turner's lipstick tube rolls across the floor toward John Garfield in this black-and-white film noir, "it's almost unendurably sexy," says Cunningham. Not only are Garfield and Turner about to commit adultery-she's also going to talk him into murdering her husband. Skip the 1981 remake, with Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange's much-ballyhooed coupling on the kitchen table, he advises-it's "awkward" and "boring."

North by Northwest (1959): Cunningham singles out the last shot of this cool thriller-a train is swallowed up by a long tunnel as the "amusing Mr. Hitchcock" leaves the audience to understand that the pent-up sexual tension between the bantering Eva Marie Saint and Cary Grant will finally be released.

Out of Sight (1998): Stuffed into a trunk together, a suave bank robber (George Clooney) and a wary cop (Jennifer Lopez) fall in love by talking about-what else-movies. Cunningham says Clooney is the consummate leading man, with a cool, unself-conscious style that recalls another era.

The Tall Guy (1989): In this farce, inhibitions fly out the window when the bumbling Jeff Goldblum and the prim Emma Thompson destroy a bedroom-and ravish each other-in a scene that Cunningham says is both hilarious and bracingly erotic.

A History of Violence (2005): Is sex another kind of violence? The always interesting director David Cronenberg raises that question when Viggo Mortensen and Maria Bello, playing his wife, have an animalistic grappling on a staircase in a scene that, although uncomfortable, is undeniably sensual as well.

Bridget Jones's Diary (2001): Renée Zellweger is one of Cunningham's favorite modern leading ladies, and her much-talked-about weight gain for this role and its sequel doesn't diminish her sensual appeal in her bawdy scenes with Hugh Grant. Unfortunately, Cunningham says, the relatively sexless Grant isn't her equal, "but maybe it doesn't take two to tango."

Wild Things (1998): You might be able to predict the plot twists and double crosses that fill this B-movie thriller set in the Florida swamp. But Cunningham promises you'll be blindsided-and titillated-by the ménage à trois that suddenly breaks out among Neve Campbell, Matt Dillon and Denise Richards. It ensured the movie's cult status-and spawned dozens of straight-to-video imitations.

Streetcar Named Desire (1951): Don't hang back with the apes," Blanche (Vivien Leigh) tells her sister, Stella, but when the ape looks like Marlon Brando-well, what's a woman to do? Although Brando raised censors' ire with the erotic Last Tango in Paris, Cunningham says his smoldering sensuality is never more evident than in his primal desire for the fragile Leigh.

-Tracy Jones