What was she wearing? - Night Moves (1975) Discussion

[–] dawgpound38 19 years ago

I assume you're referring to the scene on the boat when they find the submerged plane and the dead body. Delly (a very young and very hot Melanie Griffith) is completely nude, swimming under the glass bottomed boat, and gives us quite a view as she flips Harry the middle finger and then swims away.

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[–] yajirobe85 19 years ago

That's what I thought. I guess I couldn't believe my eyes. Usually teenage girls are more shy.

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[–] 19 years ago

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[–] dice911 18 years ago

Yes, she was nude. She was also nude when we first see her, as she's hanging up laundry as Harry pulls up in his car, tho it's hard to tell. She was also wearing an unbuttoned man's shirt when she was leaning over talking to Harry as he was pretending to play chess by himself. Then the adult woman asked him,"Are you beating yourself?". That was her character, and like all the characters in the movie, she had a dark side. Yes, she was charming and free-spirited, but she was not as innocent as she seemed. She was very aware of the power she had over men. As her stepfather said, "I been getting pretty frisky with her myself. My God, you've seen her. There ought'a be a law!" There IS", says Harry. "I want that kid outta here NOW, you hear me?" says the stepfather.

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[–] phart01 18 years ago

She was very nude. Not the first time though. She had a brief scene
in the Harrod Expiriment which was where she caught the eye of
future husband Don Johnson as a sixteen year old.

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[–] RyanLoweMPLS 18 years ago

I didn't think it was odd for Delly's character to do something like this. She may have been only 16 years old but she was a very sexually active one as well.

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[–] rrebenstorf 18 years ago

Exactly right, RyanLoweMPLS. It is a running joke in the film that Delly's carefree sexual attitude makes Moseby uncomfortable. But it is not just a joke. It's a rather poignant aspect of Moseby's character that he prefers a fatherly relationship with the girl despite her overtly sexual game-playing.

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[–] ArmandoSerrano 18 years ago

People were less uptight about nakedness in the 70s.

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[–] sixpackrt 17 years ago

Yes, and I also took it as showing that her adult guardians were very liberal too. This wasn't a normal household in the suburbs. She definitely had a free youth.

"I've seen things in this city that make Dante's Inferno read like Winnie The Pooh."

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[–] rwhaller42 16 years ago

What a GREAT movie! If it isn't on some 'offical' top list, it should be. Gene Hackman is superb and so is Melanie.

Glad to see I wasn't imagining that Melanie Griffith appears nude in this movie. The version that has been on TV occasionally doesn't show that, of course, but I was pretty sure I had seen a version that does.

It certainly is not gratuitous. As several people have pointed out, it is entirely in keeping with her character. Melanie gives an outstanding performance, one of the best I have seen for someone her age, the other being Natalie Portman in "The Professional" with the incomparable Jean Reno.

BTW, if you haven't seen "The Professional" you should. There is a DVD out of the European version called "Leon: The Professional" which supposedly has some extra footage (24 mins). I may review it if I ever have time to view it (I'm getting ready for a months sojourn in Russia).

Interesting enough, Natalie's character, Mathilda, is also infatuated with the (much older) protagonist. One could argue that Delly's feelings are mostly sexual, and that she is a classic abused child, while Mathilda's are more romantic than sexual, though she makes it clear she wants him to be her 'first'. I think both are attracted to a man who offers some sense of protection and who will not exploit them. Delly just doesn't know how to interact with a man except through sex.

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[–] jondoe888 13 years ago

I think Melanie was 16 when those scenes were shot. Her BF, at 14, was 22yo Don Johnson. She was living with him when the film was made. This all adds another layer to the older men she attracted in the movie.

And hopefully, we've all known a teen who had little interest in clothing. The free spirits of the 70's. Bless them all. BUT - these spirits have nothing on kids today! When my sons were teens in the 90's, girls were always running around naked, and loved to be photographed (by their peers).

We think of the 70's as being so liberated, but for better or worse, they were wallflowers compared to today!

I loved Melanie's character in the movie. It probably wasn't much of a stretch to play. I also loved her role in Something Wild, especially in the wig!

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[–] moreymark 17 years ago

As someone who is one year younger than Melanie Griffith, I can state that things were very different in the liberal seventies compared to today. Melanie Griffith's nudity would not have caused a stir, even though she was 17 at the time the film was made. Other films of that decade include with child sex themes include Taxi Driver and Pretty Baby. But beyond films, much of life was different then.

These days, they would have to get a young-looking but older-than-eighteen actress for such scenes.

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[–] 17 years ago

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[–] thormn8 10 years ago

<b><i>Well, Hip-Hop-Hooray for your cheap climax!</b></i>

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[–] liscarkat (16483) 2 years ago

The nudity in this movie, including Griffith's, was no big deal in the context of the 1970s. Since then, U.S. society has become extremely uptight.

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