The First Nudie Musical (1976)

Back in the days when movies could be fun with plenty of laughs and not a lot of unnecessary subtext, there was this sweet, silly and often outrageously funny musical comedy with deliciously low-down songs. After all, who cares what the plot is when you've got Dancing Dildos, a naked chorus line and doughnuts? Sure, there was no budget, but that actually seems to reflect the can-do spirit of the film. Cindy Williams gives a charming performance, as does writer/co-director/songwriter Bruce Kimmel, who takes cluelessness to a whole new level. Also, look for Ron Howard in an unbilled cameo. Don't expect the works of Eisenstadt and you'll have a great time.

An enthusiastic young and talented cast try to put on the first nudie musical with numbers such as "Dacing Dildoes" and a totally incompetent director.I caught this years ago on cable (early 80s). I remember when it came out in 1976 people were shocked that Cindy Williams (of TV's silly "Laverne & Shirley" sitcom) would star in an R rated movie. Just in case you're curious she remains fully clothed throughout the entire film. The entire cast is young, healthy, good-looking and out to please. There's plenty of female nudity (some full frontals) but, strangely, no male nudity (from the waist down at least). There's a constant air of amiability about the film and some of the jokes and songs are pretty good...but there are an equal number that are pretty bad. So it was kind of amusing but no blockbuster. The fact that I can still remember scenes and lines from it 20+ years later should tell you something. Good luck finding it--it seems to have disappeared.

This movie is important to me for a couple of reasons. One, it was the first movie I ever watched on cable TV. I was a freshman at Stephen F. Austin State University in the fall of 1980. Being out in the middle of nowhere, the area had cable TV, with (gasp!) one movie channel, Showtime. And it was "Free Preview Week" so it was not scrambled in our dorm. I had lived in Houston, which had a good number of broadcast TV stations, so my parents never invested in cable. I sat up for about three days straight, in my room watching all these movies, and shows. "The First Nudie Musical" was on about a million times during the time I was camped out taking in everything that 1980 cable TV had to offer. So here I am at a new place, college, watching a new medium to me, cable TV, and not worrying about parents walking in when there's ACTUAL NUDITY on the TV(!!!!).I thought the musical numbers were the best. I can still sing the lyrics to most of the songs, like "Lesbian Butch Dyke" and "Dancing Dildo's" to this day. So "TFNM" touched me in some perverse, warped way.It's been 23 years since I have seen it, and I guess I'll probably not make a huge effort to see it, again. Stuff like that is always sweeter in memory, and I bet I'll be pretty let down at the quality of the production, and all that other stuff that we never notice when we are young, but just go nuts when we see it, when older.But what the hell, sing with me now..."Orgasms a short spasm of love, sweeeeeeeeeeeet Looooove!!!!"

I first saw The First Nudie Musical when it first came out and thought it was very funny and extremely outragous. Now I have to say it still holds up. It's a wonderful little film. It's about a porn producer who in order to save his little studio decides to make the worlds first porno musical. The songs are outragous especially the one called "Dancing Dildos", which has to be seen to be believed. This was all the brainchild of one man, Bruce Kimmel, who now is a record producer. He's the one responsible to putting some of the best old albums on CD. For this film he got all his friends involved, including a cameo from one of his stars, Cindy Williams good friends. I won't spoil this cameo though it does come early in the film. Get the new DVD which I just watched. The print has never looked too good plus the DVD has two wonderful commentary tracks, a 54 minute documentary which is outragous in itself, and two deleted scenes. This film is a treat for not only those who love cult films, to the lovers of old time musicals, because this film really does send up the old Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland let's put on a show films. Do yourself a favor and add this to your DVD collection.