1973: The Harrad Experiment

In The Harrad Experiment, young men and women attend Harrad College for what is essentially a one-year "control group" trial in pre-marital sex, to be overseen by Prof. Philip Tenhausen and his wife, Margaret Although initially paired off for the first month, they will be free to change partners once a month if they so desire.

There's a great deal of tension as the partners consider whether they have been paired off appropriately, and the jealousy and discomfort they feel comes to the surface in an improvisational exercise overseen by Philip.

It was the late 90's before I had the Internet. Prior to the Net, my knowledge of movies, and male nudity in movies was extremely limited. Growing up in a relatively small city there was limited information and material to get my hands on. The Internet opened up an entire new world of information and research abilities. One of the first sites I came upon in my quest to learn more was the old Campfire Video site. Some of you I am sure remember the site, and it's rather messy history. At the time however, it was one of the only sources of information on Male nudity in cinema and the image above remains one of the best of Johnson from the movie.

After being reminded of the film earlier this year, I finally got a hold of a copy. The caps here are from that version. Problem is, I am not sure there is a true unedited copy of the film available. The Copy I bought does indeed have all the nudity, but the nude scenes were clearly re-edited back in as their quality is obviously not as clear as the other parts of the film.

Many of you may know that the 1973 flick also includes some brief frontal nudity from actors Bruno Kirby as well as a quick but rewarding frontal of actor Gregory Harrison who looks every inch a man of the 70's. I did not realize until getting my copy however the film, with Johnson in all his naked glory, also features his future mother in law as Tippi Hedren (mom to Melanie Griffith) plays Margaret Tenhausen in the film.

The film is most interesting to me as there is something about Johnson that has me 'on alert' in each and ever scene. Regardless of how little, or how much, he is wearing, Don's look triggers thoughts of my first pings of sexual attraction to older guys while I was growing up in the 80's. He simply exudes a sexuality that I think is felt by women and men, both gay and straight, it is absolute.