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Bud's eh....Naked? Who painted on those undies?

posted 19 years ago by pinkmoonrise
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So I ordered what has to be a copied DVD from someone on ebay, it plays great (once i hooked up a decent dvd player) but there's one thing that's a little funny. there's a scene in which hope is first bringing brewster his groceries and we see him doing lots of pullups strengthening his "wing " muscles on a in his apartment. It looks to me as though this was shot with bud cort being completely nude, completely exposing his manly bits and pieces. However, it looks like someone has very obviously painted on these little black briefs onto him in the film after it was shot. It looks like the same trick that they use on "Showgirls" when it's played on VH1. Now, I'm not saying i wouldn't have liked to see the *ahem* original, but it was so distracting to see these like, painted on unda-wears. What's the deal? Would it have given the thing an X-rating? Anyone know?

[–] tiwannae 19 years ago

I've got a VHS copy and I saw the film 4 times on a movie screen a couple of years ago. Bud is wearing tight black briefs, and they aren't painted on.

I did think it was kind of odd that Altman kept zooming in on Bud's crotch as he was doing those pull-ups. Maybe it was a way to show where Hope's mind was focused on and why she was so wound-up about seeing him practically naked, that she satisfied herself on his bed underneath his blanket. She was in love, if not lust, for Brewster, but he was oblivious to her feelings and how he was effecting her.

Now if you want to talk about nudity, the scene where Louise (Sally Kellerman) is giving Brewster a bath--THAT is where I do think he had to be nude. He clung to that knitted blanket draped across him, and the camera only showed his legs going into the make-shift bathtub as he discarded the blanket and of his sitting down in the water with Sally's nude body blocking the view of the rest of Bud Cort's torso. I kind of wonder why Louise had to be nude too in that scene.

I have 2 stills of Bud in the film, one fully-dressed as Brewster opens the door for Hope, and the other of him hanging from one of the water pipes in only the black briefs. The first might be a rehearsal shot, and the other looks like one taken before or after the scene was shot of him doing pull-ups.

[–] Indie_Mod 18 years ago

"I kind of wonder why Louise had to be nude too in that scene."

I just watched that scene a second time.
I think I know why she was nude.

She explained to Brewster that he shouldn't get involved with anyone sexually. The reason of that is because she said the closest thing to flying anyone will have is sex. People stop attempting to fly because they discover sex and become content with it.

He role was to keep Brewster motivated on flying. She was trying to protect him, and my guess is she needed to somehow allow him something without everything to keep him from having sex and have him motivated on flying.

That's how I read it.