Steam Up Your Screen With the 50 Sexiest Movie Scenes of All Time
From 'Out of Sight' to 'Out of Mind', 'Moonlight' to 'Moonstruck', our list includes all the classics plus some surprises.
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There are sex scenes, and then there are sexy scenes. We all know what we're gonna get in a sex scene, but what's great (honestly, even better) about a sexy movie scene is that it can be almost anything. You might witness a sultry song performed by a paragon of sexuality like Marilyn Monroe and David Bowie—or there may be no dialogue at all, like the wordless listening-booth scene in Before Sunrise. People disrobe (to a degree) in sexy scenes, sure, but amid the expected kisses and classic seductions (here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson!), they might also throw pottery, learn to whistle, play paintball or even do something as G-rated as take off a... glove.
A truly sexy movie moment transcends time, so for our selection of sexiest scenes ever, you'll find everything from a 1932 bubble bath to a 2019 pole dance. Whatever your genre or sexual preferences, if you’re looking for some Valentine’s Day viewing, there’s bound to be something here to get your heart racing.
(Note: We didn’t include foreign language films this time around, but that’s not an indictment of their sexiness. Quite the contrary: If we looped in the films of Sweden, France, and Hong Kong, not to mention India, South Korea, and Mexico, there is no way this list could be contained to a mere 50 films.)
Without further ado, here are our picks for the 50 sexiest movie scenes of all time.
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50 Sexy Scenes in Movies
Marlon Brando changes his shirt, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
As the raw, rugged Stanley Kowalski, Marlon Brando makes his entrance in a sweat-stained T-shirt—which he immediately changes in full view of his Southern-belle sister-in-law, Blanche Dubois (Vivian Leigh). It’s a jolt to Belle’s fragile sensibilities, and a different kind of jolt to an audience experiencing young Brando’s raw magnetism for the first time.
Tattoo reveal, Bound (1996)
Playing the sexiest handyman in film history, Gina Gershon (as ex-con Corky) is hired by bored housewife Violet (Jennifer Tilly) for a plumbing job that turns out to be a blatant seduction. Violet recognizes Corky’s lesbian-coded arm tattoo, and shows off her own ink—which requires pulling down her bra strap.
Hotel tryst, Out of Sight (1998)
The sexual chemistry between Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney is off the charts in this Steven Soderbergh thriller, in which the two A-listers respectively play a U.S. Marshal and a bank robber who becomes enthralled with one another when she tries to take down his operation. Before the big heist, they meet at a hotel bar and she proposes a “time out” from their roles. The heated conversation is intercut with a playful scene of the couple taking off their clothes for one another, then falling into bed.
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Elevator foreplay, Fifty Shades Darker (2017)
“Take off your panties,” mysterious billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan) tells publishing assistant Anastasia (Dakota Johnson) over dinner. Then, as they squeeze into a crowded elevator to get to his hotel room, he puts his hand up her skirt, bringing her perilously close to orgasm as the rest of the elevator’s occupants remain oblivious. It’s not the most explicit sex scene in the Fifty Shades trilogy, but it shows how Ana and Christian’s S&M dynamic can sizzle in any situation.
The listening booth, Before Sunrise (1995)
In what would become the first film of Richard Linklater’s decades-spanning trilogy, a directionless American (Ethan Hawke) and a French student (Julie Delpy) engage in a whirlwind romance over the course of a single night in Vienna. They spend most of that time in deep conversation, but are silent during the film’s most electric moment: crammed in a tiny listening booth at a record store, listening to a love song (“Come Here” by Kath Bloom), the strangers blush and avoid eye contact in the way that people only do when they’re secretly dying to kiss.
A last kiss in Paris, Casablanca (1942)
With the Germans invading outside the café window, lovers Rick (Humphrey Bogart) and Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) top off a whirlwind Paris romance with one last drink. Rick believes this is just the beginning; Ilsa knows it’s the end. “Kiss me,” she begs. “Kiss me as if it were the last time.”And he does.
“Draw me like one of your French girls,” Titanic (1997)
Titanic passenger Rose (Kate Winslet) raises the heat on her flirtation with lower-class artist Jack (LeonardoDiCaprio) asking him to sketch her, gazing directly into his eyes as she models her heart-shaped necklace (and nothing else).
Marilyn Monroe’s Semi-Topless Ballad, Some Like It Hot (1959)
It may not be as iconic as Monroe standing above a subway grate in The Seven Year Itch, but no moment captures the actress’s playful sex appeal better than her performance of “I Wanna Be Loved By You” in Billy Wilder’s gender-bending comedy. Monroe, playing unlucky-in-love chanteuse Sugar Kane, croons the song wearing a slinky gown with a sheer, strategically sequined bodice. The spotlight dancing over her famous bust creates a shocking nude illusion, while her winking performance makes it clear that she’s in on the fun.
“As you wish,” The Princess Bride (1987)
Before he becomes the Dread Pirate Roberts, fairytale dreamboat Wesley (Cary Elwes) is a simple farm boy—who answers every request by Buttercup (Robin Wright) with three simple words and a gaze that would make any maiden swoon.
Whistle lessons, To Have and Have Not (1944)
It takes first-time actress Lauren Bacall all of 90 seconds to melt the formidable Bogart into a puddle, in their most famous scene from Howard Hawks’ wartime drama. After surprising him with a kiss, she suggests that if he needs her again, he should whistle: “You know how to whistle, don’t you Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.” That chemistry led to real-life sparks; the couple married a year later, despite the 25-year age difference, and remained together until Bogart’s death.
The tango, Mr. and Mrs. Smith (2005)
We all know that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie fell in love making this sly spy comedy (while he was still married to Jennifer Aniston), and their taboo sexual tension is palpable. The best example is the tango scene, in which Pitt’s character knows that his wife (Jolie) is trying to kill him. The sexy secret agents grope and embrace on the dance floor, searching one another for weapons while breathlessly confessing long-held secrets.
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Sex on the L train, Risky Business (1983)
Anyone who’s lived in an American city can tell you that having sex on public transportation is a thoroughly unappealing prospect. However, it looks like the hottest thing ever when Tom Cruise and Rebecca De Mornay go at it on a late-night Chicago train ride in Cruise’s breakout blockbuster.
Mrs. Robinson’s leg, The Graduate (1967)
No one has ever been as flustered by a woman’s advances as Benjamin Braddock (Dustin Hoffman), who sputters, “Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce me!” when his father’s friend’s wife (Anne Bancroft) makes her move. But can you blame him? Bancroft is so cucumber-cool in this scene, playing her young suitor like a harmonica as she casually elevates her miniskirt-clad leg—leading to the famous shot of Hoffman framed by Bancroft’s bent knee.
Playing the jukebox, Moonlight (2016)
Years after a teenage sexual enounter that was secretly meaningful for them both, Miami diner waiter Kevin (André Holland) calls Atlanta drug dealer Chiron (Trevante Rhodes), asking if he’ll come visit him at work. At the diner, Kevin plays the song that made him think of Chiron: Barbara Lewis’ dreamy “Hello Stranger.” Though sensitive Chiron has spent his life building a tough fa?ade, the two men look into each other’s eyes, and everything between them crackles to the surface.
The bet, Cruel Intentions (1999)
There are plenty of delicious moments in this schlocky, Dangerous Liaisons-inspired teen romance, but none so enticing as when prep school nightmare Katherine (Sarah Michelle Gellar) dictates the terms of a fateful wager with her stepbrother (Ryan Phillippe). If he fails to seduce the headmaster’s virgin daughter, she gets his vintage car; if he succeeds, she’ll let him have the one thing in his life that’s off-limits: her.
Grace Kelly sleeps over, Rear Window (1954)
While sitting in the lap of wheelchair-bound photographer L.B. Jefferies (James Stewart), fashion magazine editor Lisa Fremont (Grace Kelly) casually announces that she’s staying the night—and reveals that her bag contains nothing but a filmy nightgown and slippers.
Brad Pitt’s stick-up demonstration, Thelma and Louise (1991)
On their road trip to escape the men who have abused and neglected them, Thelma (Geena Davis) and Louise (Susan Sarandon) encounter a charming hitchhiker (Pitt) who confesses to being a robber. After rocking Thelma’s world in a motel bed, he gives a little demonstration on respectful outlaw techniques, wearing only unbuttoned jeans and a cowboy hat. When he ends up taking the ladies' money, Thelma still considers it a good trade.
Double entendres, Double Indemnity (1944)
“There’s a speed limit in this state, Mr. Neff. Forty-five miles an hour.” “How fast was I going, officer?” So begins one of the steamiest bits of banter ever committed to film, between Barbara Stanwyck (as scheming housewife Phyllis Dietrichson) and Fred MacMurray (as smitten insurance agent Walter Neff) in this noir classic.
The spanking, Secretary (2002)
When Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) takes a job as a secretary for lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader), she is trying to escape her overbearing family and establish some independence after a stay in a mental hospital. Instead, she finds a thrilling BDSM romance. The scene in which Grey instructs her to bend over his desk, spanking her for every mistake in a letter she typed, would be a straightforward H.R. nightmare in real life. In Secretary, we watch Lee discover a deep desire to be dominated, and see two lonely people start to realize that they might be sexual soulmates.
Claudette Colbert takes a bath, The Sign of the Cross (1932)
Cecil B. DeMille’s melodrama about the fall of Rome scandalized Depression-era audiences with scenes of orgies, same-sex flirtations and Christians being mauled by lions and elephants. Most of this seems a little silly now, but Claudette Colbert still sizzles as Nero’s wicked wife Poppaea—particularly her opening scene, bathing topless in a marble bath full of milk with kittens lapping at the edges.
365 letters, The Notebook (2004)
Nick Cassavetes’ romantic drama follows the lifelong romance between Noah (Ryan Gosling) and Allie (Rachel McAdams), beginning in 1940. In the young lovers’ pivotal scene, Allie, who believes that Noah forgot her after their teenage fling, learns that he wrote to her every day for a year—even though she never got the letters. “It wasn’t over,” he tells her, in the pouring rain. “It still isn’t over.” Kissing her, Noah carries Allie into the house they dreamed of living in together when they were seven years old. Swoon.
Chess game, The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
Chess is the ultimate game of the mind—unless you’re Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, in which case it’s a full-body sport. In Norman Jewison’s neo-noir, Faye’s investigator challenges McQueen’s suave criminal to a match, during which she subtlety fondles herself and the chess pieces. It’s clear from the start that he hasn’t got a chance at winning—but in a bigger sense, they both win.
The beach make-out in From Here to Eternity (1953)
A drama about American soldiers and their wives stationed in Hawaii before the Pearl Harbor attack, Fred Zinnemann’s Best Picture winner feels surprisingly contemporary—and contains the enduringly hot scene in which Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr roll around in the Oahu surf, carrying out their illicit affair.
Dance lessons montage, Dirty Dancing (1987)
In this sixties-set romance, Catskills resort dancer Johnny (Patrick Swayze) has only a few days to teach uncoordinated guest Baby (Jennifer Grey) his sexy ballroom routine. He starts out by placing his hand on his heart to teach rhythm, and through a classic eighties montage set to “Hungry Eyes,” their awkward steps begin to sync, their clothes become skimpier in the summer heat, and the sexual tension crackles.
Investigating a break-in, Out of Time (2003)
Working late in the office, Florida Keys police chief Matt Lee Whitlock (Denzel Washington) receives a call from a woman, Ann (Sanaa Lathan), reporting a break-in. When he arrives, she describes the perp: “He kind of looked like you.” “So he was good-looking?” asks Whitlock. “No,” she replies, straight-faced. The scene gets uncomfortable as Ann describes the criminal assaulting her—until it becomes apparent that there was no break-in, these two already know each other, and the whole thing is a role-play leading to a very steamy hookup.
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“Wait a minute!,” Moonstruck (1987)
About to enter a marriage of convenience, Italian Brooklynite Lorraine (Cher) attempts to reconcile the relationship between her fiancé and his estranged brother Ronny (Nicolas Cage). Instead, they have a heated argument—which ends with Ronny knocking over the table and pulling Lorraine into a kiss. “Wait a minute, wait a minute!” the level-headed Lorraine cries, then leaps back into his arms, and into his bed.
Paul Newman propositions Joanne Woodward, The Long Hot Summer (1958)
Young Paul Newman is hotter than a burning barn in this Mississippi-set drama, playing a drifter who entangles himself in a small town’s affairs. When he makes his move on the local plantation owner’s daughter (Joanne Woodward, who he married the same year Long Hot Summer was released), murmuring, “I’ll show you how simple it is—you please me and I’ll please you,” it’s easy to see the chemistry that charged the actors’ lifelong romance.
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Pajama time in It Happened One Night (1934)
In this screwball comedy, uptight heiress Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) goes on an unlikely road trip with down-on-his-luck newspaper reporter Peter Warne (Clark Gable). The strangers end up crammed in a motel room, and when it’s time to undress for bed, Peter makes a show of it, teasingly removing one item at a time. Ellie, on the other hand, modestly hides behind the room’s improvised blanket divider, tossing her stockings over the top. Gable’s little striptease is sexy, but Colbert’s implied nudity somehow tops it.
The masquerade ball, Labyrinth (1986)
Bowie’s presence as the spandex-clad Goblin King dominates Jim Henson’s fantasy film, not to mention plenty of other fantasies. His most seductive moment occurs during the ballroom sequence, a fever dream created to trap heroine Sarah (Jennifer Connelly) in her own imagination. The beguiling villain spies her across the room and slowly lowers his mask, then holds eye contact as he muscles through the crowd and into her arms.
Elio’s first time, Call Me By Your Name (2017)
There’s a specific kind of energy around most early sexual experiences; they’re enthusiastic, shy, clumsy, overwhelming. The first hookup between teenager Elio (Timothee Chalamet) and grad student Oliver (Armie Hammer) captures it all. A nervous Elio throws himself at the older man, literally, trying to touch as much of him as possible. Then he gets embarrassed and they sit side-by-side, touching only their bare feet. Then things progress, and their post-coital conversation includes the role-playing dialogue that gives the film its title.
A kiss before carbon freezing, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Despite a clear attraction, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) spends the first two and a half Star Wars movies fending off the advances of “scoundrel “ Han Solo (Harrison Ford), not least of all because “nice guy” Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) seems like a safer option. (Look, she didn’t know he was her brother, okay? It was a different time!) But everything becomes clear when Han is forced to undergo the life-threatening procedure of carbonite freezing. As he walks to his potential death, they both go in for one last passionate kiss, and she finally admits she loves him. “I know,” he replies—and then goes under.
After the dance, Love & Basketball (2000)
The lifelong friendship between neighbors Monica (Lathan) and Quincy (Omar Epps) turns romantic their senior year of high school, when the two realize they’d rather be with each other than their spring dance dates. Consummating the relationship in Monica’s bedroom, they keep up the chemistry and communication they learned playing one-on-one basketball games. It’s a first-time scene as sweet as it is sensual.
Nastasha Lyonne and Clea Duvall get it on, But I'm a Cheerleader (1999)
In Jamie Babbit’s satirical teen comedy, popular cheerleader Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is blindsided when her parents, suspecting she’s gay, send her up for a conversion therapy camp. Once there, she finds herself bonding with a fellow camper, unapologetic lesbian Graham (Clea Duvall). When they finally hook up, it’s slow, tentative, tender, and entirely without shame.
Adult acting lessons, Boogie Nights (1997)
Anyone who thinks communication and consent aren’t sexy should be required to watch this steamy Boogie Nights scene, in which 1970s porn veteran Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) teaches anatomically gifted newbie Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) how to pleasure her for the cameras.
Throwing a pot, Ghost (1990)
Only Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore could make arts and crafts look this sexy. At the beginning of Ghost (before Swayze’s character meets his untimely supernatural fate), the couple spends an intimate night at the pottery wheel, entwining their fingers in the wet clay until their growing passion carries them into the bedroom, the half-finished pot abandoned.
Jack and Ennis’ reunion, Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Four years after conducting an affair while herding sheep on Brokeback Mountain, Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) comes around to visit Ennis (Heath Ledger). Both cowboys are now married with children, but that doesn’t stop Ennis from spontaneously pulling Jack into the shadows and kissing him hard—never realizing that his stunned wife (Michelle Williams) is watching from upstairs.
Kathleen Turner locks the door, Body Heat (1981)
Lawyer Ned Racine (William Hurt) knows he should stay away from married bombshell Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner) but he just can’t help himself. The night they meet, he follows Matty to her house. She locks him out—then stands behind the glass door, staring at him with lust. He grabs a table from the porch and smashes through the door, igniting an affair that will leave lives smoldering in its wake.
The pool scene, Laurel Canyon (2002)
In Lisa Cholodenko’s uninhibited family drama, Ph.D. candidate Alex (Kate Beckinsale) and her psychiatrist fiancé Sam (Christian Bale) move into the empty Los Angeles home of Sam’s record-producer mother Jane (Frances McDormand), only to find that Jane is still living there with her musician boyfriend (Alessandro Nivola). Alex is intrigued by Jane’s free-spirited lifestyle, to the point where she ends up making out with Jane and her boyfriend in a heated pool. It’s like that threesome scene in Wild Things, but for grown-ups.
“I want to know what you’d do to me,” Take This Waltz (2011)
In this underrated gem from writer-director Sarah Polley, dissatisfied writer Margot (Michelle Williams) is tempted to cheat on her kind husband Lou (Seth Rogen) when handsome Daniel artist (Luke Kirby) moves in across the street. In an attempt to have it both ways, Margot tells Daniel to describe what he’d do to her if they made love. At first he’s speechless. Then he launches into a jaw-dropping, fully-realized description of their hypothetical affair that gets hotter with each of its four minutes. Between shock and arousal, the only way Margot can react is to burst out laughing.
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Darcy’s confession, Pride & Prejudice (2005)
After a long and barbed flirtation, Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfadyen) confesses his love to Elizabeth Bennett (Keira Knightley) in the pouring rain, and they end up in a heated argument that nearly turns into a kiss. In the propriety- and status-obsessed world of Jane Austen, seeing these two wet, disheveled and hurling insults is akin to seeing them naked.
Pool with a view, How Stella Got Her Groove Back (1998)
There are few screen couples in history as hot as Stella (Angela Bassett) and Winston (Taye Diggs), the half-her-age hottie she meets on vacation in Jamaica. At first, she doubts his infatuation with her (because apparently she's never seen herself in a bikini?). Then, while they're swimming in the resort pool, she asks him point-blank, "What are you saying, that you would like to be intimate with me?" "Are you paying attention?" he replies. Intoxicated by Winston and her own nerve, Stella goes under the water and comes up shimmering, ready for what happens next.
Playing dress-up, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women (2017)
This lesser-known Wonder Woman movie tells the fascinating story of the comic character’s creator, a Harvard professor (Luke Evans) who invented the lie detector—and spent most of his life in a three-way marriage with two women (Rebecca Hall and Bella Heathcote) on whom he based the iconic D.C. heroine. In Angela Robinson’s film, the three make love together for the first time in the college’s theater, trying on costumes, taking them off, and thoroughly enjoying their mutual sexual awakening.
J-Lo’s pole dance, Hustlers (2019)
In Lorene Scafaria’s true-story tale of early-aughts strippers turned con artists, Ramona (Lopez) is introduced with an unforgettable dance to Fiona Apple’s Criminal. Twirling in impossible contortions on the pole and writhing on a stage full of money, a nearly-nude Lopez uses her perfect body and undeniable star power to mesmerize newbie Destiny (Constance Wu)—and everyone in the audience.
Ryan Gosling’s “Photoshopped” abs, Crazy; Stupid; Love (2011)
Rebounding from a break-up, level-headed lawyer Hannah (Emma Stone) spontaneously decides to go home with “the hot guy from the bar,” proud ladies’ man Jacob (Gosling). When they get there, she gets nervous and takes control, demanding that he take off his shirt (“Seriously? It’s like you’re Photoshopped!”) and reveal his “big move” upfront. That “move” turns out to be an irresistible Dirty Dancing reference, and the red-hot chemistry between Stone and Gosling would carry the pair through two more film romances to date (including the Oscar-winning La La Land).
Paintball, 10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
Heath Ledger could make anything sexy—even a paintball fight. Especially that. Attempting to win over the strong-willed, cynical Kat (Julia Stiles), local bad boy Patrick (Ledger) takes her on a date where she can take out all her aggression. Before long, the paint-splattered couple is making out on a pile of hay.
Daniel Day-Lewis unbuttons Michelle Pfeiffer’s glove, The Age of Innocence (1993)
Many a movie sex scene has failed to generate the tingles of Victorian Era lawyer Newland Archer (Daniel Day-Lewis) unbuttoning the glove of scandalized Countess Ellen Olenska (Michelle Pfeiffer), then kissing her wrist, while they share a clandestine carriage ride. Director Martin Scorsese lets Day-Lewis linger, his hands moving so slowly that viewers can feel every touch.
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Martini lunch, Carol (2015)
The forbidden romance between glamorous 1950s housewife Carol (Cate Blanchett) and young New York City photographer Therese (Rooney Mara) begins innocently enough, with cigarettes and dry martinis in a dimly-lit restaurant. Yet the tension is intoxicating, as the two women cautiously explain their romantic situations, trying to read between the lines of their desires. “What a strange girl you are—flung out of space,” Carol murmurs, blindsided by desire.
Lois Lane interviews Superman, Superman (1978)
To see the sexiest superhero moment ever, you’ll have to go back to one of the originals: Christopher Reeve as Superman. After saving the life of ace reporter Lois Lane (Margot Kidder), Metropolis’ new hero drops by her rooftop apartment for an interview. He’s already in love, having met her through his alter ego Clark Kent; she’s smitten, but doesn’t want her feelings to get in the way of a good story. To Superman’s amusement, Lois tries hard to walk the line between being professional and flirtatious; when she asks him to prove his X-ray vision by naming what color underwear she has on, it almost seems like a reasonable journalistic inquiry. Almost.
Fixing the squeak, Chocolat (2000)
In this charming fantasy-comedy, Juliette Binoche plays Vianne, an irreverent chocolatier who unleashes a small French town’s inhibitions with her sugary creations. She also sparks the interest of a guitar-playing drifter (Johnny Depp), who has noticed her shop’s flimsy glass door. “I’m come round sometime and get that squeak out your door,” he tells her, capping the offer with Depp's inimitable wicked smile.
The phone call, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
George Bailey (Jimmy Stewart) has realized he’s in love with Mary (Donna Reed) but he doesn’t want to settle down and get married. He’s violently opposed to staying in his hometown of Bedford Falls. And yet, when he and Mary find themselves on a long-distance phone call with her boyfriend, nestled together between the earpiece and the receiver, the chemistry is so palpable that George ends up throwing down the phone and taking her into his arms.
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