textfiles/sex/EROTICA/S/spkmov.txt

Getting It at the Movies

     Due to popular demand, and as the result of a long and
fascinating thread in B-12, I was prompted to compile a list of
spanking scenes in the movies.
     Of course, you can find all the X-rated spanking videos you
want in your local adult video store, but these are hardly the
sort of films you can view with your Aunt Ida while digesting
Thanksgiving dinner.  The real challenge is in finding
_mainstream_ films featuring the spankings of well-known, or at
least familiar, screen stars.
     Countless children have received on-screen spankings, from
almost every kid in the Our Gang series (why do you think they
called the fat kid Spanky?) to "Wee Willie Winkie" (1937), in
which Shirley Temple finally gets whomped by screen mom June
Lang.  Rotten little Bonita Granville took one sound swat (but
who's counting?) from Joel McCrea in "These Three" (1936).  The
boy who played a young George M. Cohan got a well-deserved
bottom-warming in "Yankee Doodle Dandy" (1937).  In 1952, Cary
Grant's then-wife Betsy Drake saw fit to wallop the butt of a
horribly obnoxious adoptee in "The Easy Way" (a.k.a. "Room For
One More").  The uncut version of "The Bad Seed" (1956) offers a
very stagey finale in which Patsy Kelly finally does what the
audience has been dying to do for nearly two hours - spank the
bejesus out of rotten little Patty McCormack (who, unfortunately,
appears to enjoy the attention).  Even Disney darling Hayley
Mills gets one good whack from Maureen O'Hara in 1961's "The
Parent Trap."  And for those into truly cruel and unusual child
punishment, there's the more recent "Mommie Dearest" (1981), in
which the startlingly cute Maria Hobel gets more than her share.
     Taking advantage of the opportunity to editorialize here, I
must say that such scenes involving children have no appeal for
me at all; I'm much more interested in the unexpected spankings
inflicted upon adult performers.
     Perhaps the most memorable spanking in film history was
given by John Wayne to Maureen O'Hara in "McLintock!" (1963). 
According to Lisle, the Duke used such force that O'Hara came
this-close to suing him for assault and battery.  The scene comes
after Wayne chases his shrewish wife through town, followed by a
gaggle of townspeople, who wildly cheer him on.  (One mustn't
forget that Wayne's son, Patrick, takes the same tack with
Stefanie Powers in the same film; the younger Wayne goes so far
as to use what appears to be some sort of flat trowel or
fireplace shovel on Miss Powers's backside.)
     Another Wayne film offering an impromptu - and outdoor -
spanking was "True Grit" (1969).  This time, however, the
punisher was Glen Campbell and the punishee, Kim Darby.  (Wayne,
it should be noted, was nevertheless a jolly witness to the whole
scene.)  It has been suggested in several film journals that this
spanking was the film's sole "substitute" for sex; judging from
the overall lack of any good naked fun in any of Wayne's
pictures, I'm inclined to agree (despite the inference that
spanking isn't good, clean fun).
     Speaking of shrews, I would be remiss in failing to note the
screen portrayal of the world's most oft-administered stage
spanking; yes, we're talking about Howard Keel's dressing-down of
the lovely, if impossible, Kathryn Grayson in the 1953 version of
"Kiss Me Kate."  Grayson may just be the most famous actress to
get her rump whacked on film, unless one counts the single smack
laid on Katharine Hepburn's (presumably) bare backside by Spencer
Tracy in "Adam's Rib" (1944).
     Most of the women who undergo this sort of punishment are
younger, lesser known talents.  Lisle brought to my attention the
bare-bottom spankings (included only in the European cut, I'm
sorry to report) of Sharon Tate in "Fearless Vampire Killers" and
Dorothy Stratten in "Autumn Born," and a bare-bottom caning of
one crossed-dressed female in "Frank and I" (19xx).
     If I may be allowed to digress for a moment, I'd like to
mention two foreign films which you certainly won't be able to
watch with your Aunt Ida, but which do deserve mention.  We
mustn't forget 1975's "The Story of O," in which Corinne Clery
endures numerous whippings throughout her subservience.  (Trivia
fans note:  "O's" assistant cameraman is named Philippe Welt!) 
Lesser-known but well worth your time is "Maitresse" (1976), a
French film claiming to employ a "real" dominatrix to whip and
generally humiliate "real masochists."  If the action doesn't do
it for you, you may want to watch anyway in order to pick up a
few redecorating ideas from the superb dungeon layout.
     Back to mainstream movies...
     Up to now, it appears that only the ladies receive on-screen
spankings.  Oddly, I've noticed that just as many fellows get
theirs; perhaps these scenes are not as well remembered for the
simple fact that the guys almost never end up over somebody's
knee.
     As far back as 1940, aging adolescent Mickey Rooney got the
tar whaled out of him by an irate shopkeeper (again, in front of
a group of townspeople) in "Young Tom Edison."  In "Lord of the
Flies" (1963), a group of island-bound young British boys turned
savages beat the bare butt of one of their former comrades
(thanks again to Lisle for that one).  A solid but often missed
little film called "Heaven Help Us," set in a private Catholic
boys' high school, features a scene in which several young
delinquents are strapped mercilessly while bent over a gymnasium
vaulting horse.  And something a bit more severe than spanking -
flogging - goes on in both versions (1935 and 1962) of "Mutiny on
the Bounty."
     That the boys are regularly caned by the headmaster for
various infractions is only suggested in "Tom Brown's
Schooldays."  The film is hardly worth mentioning here; however,
should you find your local PBS station re-running the
"Masterpiece Theatre" version of "Tom Brown," you will be
delighted by at least one long, humiliating caning each and every
week.  So get out your VCR and call PBS.
     Except for "O" and "Maitresse," all of the aforementioned
spankings and whippings are dealt out in the name of punishment,
during which the subject is hardly happy with the situation.  In
my memory, there is not one Hollywood-produced film depicting the
pleasure of spanking, or of dominance and submission in general. 
Those films that portray D and S promote a sadly negative view on
the scene, in which the dom is a sick pervert and the sub an
unwilling victim.
     Take "9-1/2 Weeks" (1986).  For a while, we are led to
believe that Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger are going to get into
some serious D/s scenes; Rourke buys a crop, Rourke flails a
razor strap around the room, Rourke even tells Basinger he's
going to spank her, but nothing - outside of a few steamy moments
spent in the missionary position - ever really happens.
     As I mentioned in a recent discussion of this film, the
director apparently never heard the old theatre adage, "If you're
going to bring a gun on stage, you'd better shoot it."  Or in
advertising jargon, "9-1/2 Weeks" is all sizzle and no steak. 
(Of course, it is widely known that the film was edited to shreds
in order to avoid an X rating, so perhaps some very kinky stuff
was left on the cutting room floor.  But I still feel cheated.)
     The end result of "9-1/2 Weeks" is that most mainstream
audiences are left believing the Mickey Rourke character is some
sort of hateful pervert, and that poor, unwitting Kim Basinger is
a victim to be pitied.
     The same sort of negativity comes across in "Star 80"
(1981), in which it is suggested that Paul Snyder's fascination
with S and M led him to murder Dorothy Stratten and then do
unspeakable things to her corpse.  "Cruising" (1980) slams the
world of gay S and M equally hard.  In the same fashion,
"Hardcore" features at least one shot of a wall full of whips and
paddles and restraints during nearly every scene depicting
violence.
     Even certain low-budget movies, which revel in scenes
bordering on D and S, put forth the same message.  Look at the
work of gore master Herschell Gordon Lewis; his "Blood Feast"
(1963), for example, features one grueling scene in which a woman
is flogged with a cat-o'-nine tails while chained to a wall. 
Sound like a turn-on?  Her "master" ends up killing her.  Not
nice.
     A few mainstream movies tease us with the promise that we're
going to see a few nice, happy adults engage in some nice, jolly
D and S, but never do get past the point of teasing.  Melanie
Griffith dominates Jeff Daniels in "Something Wild" by
handcuffing him to a bedframe and forcing him to make a telephone
call to his boss while she begins to fellate him; the film is
over by the time we realize that's as far into D and S as these
two are going to get.
     "Eating Raoul" (1982) is all about the world of sexual
variance, Hollywood style; it is a very, very funny film, but the
characters only _talk_ about its subject matter, and refer to
those with special tastes as "weirdos."  There is a lovely, whip-
wielding dominatrix named Doris who does little more than order
one of her subs to "Lick my sneakers, you little worm!"  There is
a rich male submissive who literally begs Mary Woronov to spank
him for being "a bad boy."  Does she spank him?  No...  She waits
for her husband (Paul Bartel) to hit him over the head with a
frying pan and kill him.  There is a lusty little woman who
invites Woronov and Bartel into a foursome with her and her
husband; the tiny lady explains that hubby is an "S" and she's an
"M."  (Woronov and Bartel purposely turn the gal off with the
excuse that they are "into doggies.")
     There is only one scene I have ever watched which suggests
that there are people in this world who enjoy D and S. 
Unfortunately, the two participants turn out to be sociopathic
morons, but what else can you expect from a Mel Brooks film?  The
movie is "High Anxiety"; Cloris Leachman is the head nurse at a
state hospital for the "Hopelessly Insane," and Harvey Korman is
a resident psychiatrist.  Brooks, the new director of the
facility, awakens in the middle of the night to terrible screams
coming from down the hall.  He checks on Leachman, who assures
him she is just fine, and hasn't heard a thing.  After ditching
Brooks, she doffs her bathrobe to reveal a sort of New Wave Nazi
uniform, and returns to her clothes closet, where we find Korman,
strung up by his wrists.  Leachman admonishes him about his
screaming, and tightens his bonds.  Korman winces and reminds her
that he's getting too much bondage, and needs more discipline. 
Leachman gives in and begins spanking his behind through his
pajamas.  It's a funny scene; it's a shame, however, that this is
the most "positive" view of D and S I've ever watched.
     John Waters of "Pink Flamingos" fame has featured spanking
scenes in a couple of his films, but it is not clear if these
spankings are meant to be seen as something enjoyable to the
spankee.  The first was in an unreleased short called "Hag in a
Black Leather Jacket" (1968); I understand that the film also
features an "S and M version" of "These Boots Are Made For
Walking."  While you won't find "Hag" in your local video store,
you probably will find "Desperate Living" (1977), in which there
is a short scene of Edith Massey spanking the bare bottom of a
leather-clad male.  Massey seems to enjoy herself, but her sub
appears to be only indulging her, and rather reluctantly at that.

     In any case, I hope this starts you on the road to many
happy viewing hours.  Just don't complain when your live-in
starts wondering why you've begun bringing home so many John
Wayne movies.