Patrick Stoner ...

Here's the current question and answer:

Q: What are the most erotic films -- ones you wouldn't go into the X-rated section of the video store to rent?

A: I'm shocked. Shocked.

First, I learn there's gambling in Rick's Cafe, and now I find out some people go to movies for sensual purposes! I wonder if this is true of the other arts as well. Oh, look how cynical I'm getting.

Before my tongue gets permanently stuck in my cheek, I'll stop. Of course, anything as important to people as sex is one of the basic attractions [BASIC ATTRACTIONS -- starring Sharon Stone and Glenn Close, with John Malkovich as the man who comes between them. . . sorry, I wandered for a moment there] of ALL art forms, especially film.

Before giving you 21 -- the age of adulthood -- of my picks for most erotic films, I think you deserve to have the criteria established. It's just about universally acknowledged that men and women find different things stimulating, especially when it comes to the visual side. Also, there is the whole straight/gay dichotomy. I'm not going to impose (or expose) my personal preferences. I'll give you a sampler of movies that are generally considered to be -- or, at least, have some scenes that are -- erotic. All of my selections can be studied in detail in any number of respected books on this aspect of the cinema. In the order of their release dates:

• The Sheik (1921) -- Rudolph Valentino, Agnes Ayres, Adolphe Menjou

• Pandora's Box/Die Buchse der Pandora (1929) -- Louise Brooks, Gustav Diessl

• Ecstasy (1933) -- Hedwig Kiesler (later Hedy Lamarr)

• And God Created Woman/Et Dieu Cree La Femme (1956) -- Brigitte Bardot, Curt Jurgens, Jean-Louis Trintignant, Christian Marquand

• Hiroshima, Mon Amour (1959) -- Emmanuelle Riva, Eiji Okada, Bernard Fresson

• La Dolce Vita (1960) -- Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee, Yvonne Furneaux

• Belle de Jour (1967) -- Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, Michel Piccoli, Genevieve Page

• Barbarella (1967) -- Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Milo O'Shea, David Hemmings, Anita Pallenberg

• The Night Porter (1974) -- Dirk Bogarde, Charlotte Rampling

• Emmanuelle, the Joys of a Woman (1976) -- Sylvia Kristel

• The Sailor Who Fell From Grace With the Sea (1976) -- Sarah Miles, Kris Kristofferson, Jonathan Kahn, Margo Cunningham

• Body Heat (1981) -- Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson, Mickey Rourke

• Cat People (1982) -- Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, John Heard, Annette O'Toole

• The Hunger (1983) -- Catherine Deneuve, Susan Sarandon, David Bowie, Cliff DeYoung, Beth Ehlers

• Nine and 1/2 Weeks (1986) -- Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke, Margaret Whitton, David Margulies, Christine Baranski

• Something Wild (1986) -- Melanie Griffith, Jeff Daniels, Ray Liotta

• The Big Easy (1987) -- Dennis Quaid, Ellen Barkin, Ned Beatty

• Wild Orchid (1990) -- Mickey Rourke, Carre Otis, Jacqueline Bisset, Assumpta Serna

• Basic Instinct (1992) -- Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, George Dzundza, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Leilana Sarelle

• Damage (1992) -- Jeremy Irons, Miranda Richardson, Juliette Binoche

• Sirens (1994) -- Hugh Grant, Tara Fitzgerald, Sam Neill, Elle Macpherson, Portia de Rossi

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