Steamiest Sex Scenes in Film – Glamour Magazine

I have said it before, I love lists. And I agree with Doug that unnecessary love interests can ruin a movie, and unnecessary gratuitous nudity/sex scenes can too (300? Matrix Reloaded? What the hell?).

But Glamour Magazine offers up their top list of steamy sex scenes in movies – 16 apparently. Let’s take a look.

The Way We Were (1973) Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford play a couple who fall for each other because of their differences

The Blue Lagoon (1980) Ever tell a guy, “I wouldn’t sleep with you if you were the last man on earth?” Luckily for Emmeline (Brooke Shields)—stranded on a deserted island with Richard (Christopher Atkins)—the last man around was hot.

An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) A handsome young Navy pilot-in-training (Richard Gere) picks up a local girl (Debra Winger) in a bar. Takes her to a motel. Rips off her clothes. Devours her. Rewind!

Risky Business (1983) Tom Cruise plays a college-bound teen seduced by a call girl (Rebecca De Mornay). Their steamiest liaison: on a train. And, no, he didn’t jump up and down on the seat afterward to proclaim his love for her.

Dirty Dancing (1987) After a summer of flirtation, the oh-so-innocent Baby Houseman (Jennifer Grey) finally gets up the nerve to say “Dance with me” to beefy Johnny Castle (Patrick Swayze). Dancing, et cetera ensues—emphasis on the et cetera.

Say Anything… (1989) After John Cusack pulls out all the stops to woo the object of his obsession (who could forget the scene in which he held a boom box over his head and serenaded her with In Your Eyes?), he finally gets to kiss the girl. It’s enough to make anyone want to go find her own devoted nerd.

Ghost (1990) Shortly before he’s killed in a tragic mugging, a man (Patrick Swayze) seduces his wife (Demi Moore) while she’s sculpting pottery and shows just how skilled his hands are.

Love Jones (1997) When a photographer (Nia Long) gets turned on by shooting a couple making out on a bridge, she heads home and ambushes her boyfriend (Larenz Tate) while he’s on the phone.

Titanic (1997) As star-crossed lovers on the ill-fated ship, Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio fall for each other on an epic scale.

How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998) On vacation in Jamaica, a Type-A stockbroker (Angela Bassett) has a torrid affair with an islander (Taye Diggs). When they get into a fight, she follows him into the bathroom to apologize and steps into the shower with him, fully clothed.

Shakespeare in Love (1998) In order to act in a play during an era in which women weren’t allowed on stage, an enterprising young woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) poses as a man. When the writer (Joseph Fiennes) discovers her true identity, he seduces her,

A Walk on the Moon (1999) Summering in the mountains without her husband, a sixties-era housewife (Diane Lane) explores free love with a traveling blouse salesman (Viggo Mortensen). This great-outdoors scene was especially tender-hot.

Cruel Intentions (1999) Ryan Phillippe and Reese Witherspoon prove what you can’t have, you can’t resist. All the endless desperate-for-you gazes back and forth between the two (who were dating when this was filmed) give way to one heated love scene that makes you wonder why the real-life Ryan and Reese didn’t work out.

The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005) When Andy Stitzer (Steve Carrell) finally gets to have sex with the love of his life (Catherine Keener), it’s without any tooth-knocks, fumbling hands or awkward facial expressions. Just a sweet, happy moment of shared intimacy

Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) By the time this movie premiered, the world knew Brad had fallen in love with Angelina for real. So how could you not watch this scene and feel like you’d just been given front-row-seats to a very private moment?

The Departed (2006) This Best Picture Oscar winner also had the year’s hottest love scene, in which an undercover cop (Leonardo DiCaprio, looking H-O-T again) hooks up with his shrink (Vera Farmiga)—who’s moving in with her boyfriend (Matt Damon). Yes, complicated.

Ok, now I need a cold shower.

Any you would include?

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32 thoughts on “Steamiest Sex Scenes in Film – Glamour Magazine

  1. The Notebook, the after the rain scene when they are trying their best just to make it to the bedroom. Taking off each others clothes in the hallway, kitchen, stairs, until they make it to the bed, finally!
    The regular movie version is a bland compared to the rated R version from the special editon dvd. He picks her up and puts her on him, they cut away and you can see them having sex, full body, you can HEAR the sex with her going up and down, he throws he back on the bed pretty hard, he rolls her on top of him, back around and they climax at the same time. very realistic actually.

  2. Wow how did you all miss THE sex scene I’ve waited for since I was a prepubecent teen just reaching the raging hormone state..

    Monsters Ball… Halle Berry (fully nude might I add) and billy bob thorton! Prolly one of the most realistic sex scenes, not to mention the steamiest in a movie I’ve seen to date…

    some of these on the list are absolutly RUBBISH

  3. Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers” comes to mind and “Head in the Clouds” was pretty good too.

    Maybe one of my faves is Beckinsdale and Speedman in Underworld 2. Not a great movie but that sex scene was pretty steamy.

  4. What a crappy list!

    I agree with others here that Wild Things, Body Heat & Bound should have been on that list.

    Plus, the elevator scene from FATAL ATTRACTION should have been on there as well.

  5. Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson in Indecent Proposal could maybe have squeezed in there.

    Probably Jennifer Tilly and Gina Gershon in Bound too.

    Since it’s sex scenes and not love scenes, I’m surprised nothing from Basic Instinct made in it there. Or maybe those scenes went a bit beyond “steamy”.

  6. Say Anything didn’t have any sex scenes. I concur that Departed shouldn’t be there either.

    Should they define what is a sex scene? I mean, damn, you might as well say “Last Tango In Paris” or the three way in “The Hunger”!
    “Ghost” is fine.

    My nominations:

    Body Heat (1981) William Hurt & Kathleen Turner

    The Big Easy (1987) : Dennis Quaid & Ellen Barkin.

    Any James Bond movie.

  7. I agree somewhat with Wild Things and Unfaithful.

    How can the list not include the scene from the Thomas Crown Affair remake. It was a hot & steamy montage that came right after a hot & steamy dance scene. It included nudity, pouring water on each other, and perhaps a little nibbling. It showed Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo on the floor and falling off of several pieces of furniture. If I rememer correctly, it even included Brosnan throwing a naked Russo on his shoulder and carrying her to another room (and one of them might have spanked the other in the process too). And, the whole time, some sultry Spanish-language music was playing in the background. If this is a list of sex scenes and not “love” scenes, this movie deserves a spot on the list.

    But, since some of the items on the list do sound more like love scenes, perhaps the brief and artfully done wedding night scene from Braveheart should be on the list too.

  8. I think the sex in 300 was also pointless but tolerable. However I saw NO POINT whatsoever for having the whole “dancing underwater” naked chick fortune teller oracle thing. That fucking bothered me more than Lionidas’ Scotish accent.

    PS> Dont get me wrong – Loved the film.

  9. I disagree with Shakespeare in Love.

    Fair Game, the sex scene on the train. William Baldwin and Cindy Crawford. They fought and then they fucked. Man I love angry sex.

  10. Marla you mention a number of good meaningful scenes there but I have to disagree with the Matrix Reloaded scene. The sex scene in Matrix Reloaded was complete bullshit, much as the rave party scene that acted as a backdrop to it.

    I have my issues with the Matrix sequels (completely unnecessary) but that particular set of scenes (dance and sex) were absolutely pointless.

  11. Definately Wild Things.. that shit was hot!

    Boogie Nights: … well….

    True Romance: Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette in the phone booth! Right on!

    The Notebook: ryan gosling carrying rachel mcadams, soaking wet and undressing going up the stairs to the bedroom, all while being attached in a lip lock.

    Backdraft: jennifer jason leigh and william baldwin on top of the Firetruck

    Cold Mountain: Up Close and Personal in the Mountain Shack

    Eyes Wide Shut….

    the matrix reloaded: keanu reeves and carrie-ann moss having a tantric romp during the raver party

  12. HELL YES, Donald, both of the sex scenes in that flick smoke just about everything on this shit list. 40 Year Old Virgin? Are you fucking kidding me?! To qualify as steamy, a scene must have at least partial nudity, and it has to look like there is actual sex going on. Not some soft-focus shit with violins playing. I’m talking about some actual FUCKING. When people have sex, they do NOT keep their bras on, they do NOT bury themselves under three feet of blankets so there’s no naughty bits showing, and they do NOT throw all of their clothes on immediately afterwards. Jeez, it’s hilarious that H-wood is so uptight about sex, a natural thing, but they are a-ok with litle kids seeing somebody get blown the fuck up, something quite unnatural.

  13. This list is AWFUL! The Departed? Shakespeare in Love? Of all the movies withsex scenes THATS the best you could come up with? Then again, I can’t think of a concept that could possibly be more subjective. Personaly, I would at least give A History of Violence its due.

  14. oh dear, such a list without “Don’t look now”, with Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie…. georgeous! And “The Fabulous Baker Boys”, where everything is shown that can be done with a big piano and a red dress…

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