Every so often a nude scene gets paired with a song that, for better or worse, ends up making it that much more memorable, and what better day to examine a critically-acclaimed film that takes place on the hottest day of the summer than a Tunes-day in July, just shy of its 36th anniversary. Turn up your boom box, it’s time to travel back to 1989 and take a long look at Rosie Perez’s iced up nips in Do the Right Thing!
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Rosie Perez Nude in Do the Right Thing
This seminal masterpiece from writer-director Spike Lee about racial tension in Brooklyn was Rosie’s feature film debut. The story is Lee saw her dancing at a club in Los Angeles before casting her as his on screen girlfriend Tina, which certainly makes sense when you see her skilled moves during the film’s opening sequence set to Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.”
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But it’s another song, Keith John’s “ Why Don’t We Try,” that serves as the background for Rosie’s rack-tacular nudecomer debut. It’s your typical 80s RB ballad, encapsulating a skintimate moment between lovers. In this case, it’s Lee rubbing down Rosie’s bare body parts with an ice cube on a particularly steamy summer night, paying close attention to her sexiest features, like her amazing breasts and sumptuous side booty (and is that a hint of bush we see underneath?) as he praises them with gratitude.
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Rosie does the right thing by going nude, though she has originally stated she was nervous and uncomfortable showing that much skin. She has since reconciled with the experience; which, as it takes place decades before the days when having intimacy coordinators started becoming the standard, maybe wasn’t handled in the best way. But it’s not overly graphic or gratuitous by any means, and the music further paints the scene as a tender, sensual encounter shared between the two characters.
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As temperatures rise to boiling levels outside, seeing Rosie’s rib cushions is a great way to get things hot and heavy inside. Because if you can’t beat the heat, at least you can beat your meat!
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