Hideout in the Sun (1960)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
The psychotic Duke and his brother Martin rob a bank but their getaway car doesn't start so they must take Dorothy hostage. The brothers agree that it's best to hide out with the victim but what they don't realize is that she lives at a nudist colony. Once there, Martin and Dorothy begin to spend sometime together and soon they fall in love.
HIDEOUT IN THE SUN was lost for many decades until a print turned up. Today the film, co-directed by Larry Wolk, is best remembered for being the directorial debut of Doris Wishman. Of course, Wishman would go onto make many "nudist" movies but this here is certainly the best of the lot and I'd strongly argue that this here might be the best nudist movie I've seen. Obviously, it's still not a grade "A" thriller nor is it going to be mistaken for the work of Ingmar Bergman but those who enjoy these types of movies should get a kick out of it.
If you've seen any of the nudist movies of the 50s and 60s then you already know that they feature very thin plots that only give the viewer a reason to get into the colony where of course there's all sorts of nudity. The film manages to be quite entertaining not only because of the nudity but the story that is here is actually pretty good. I thought the opening heist sequence was fairly well-shot and there's no doubt that the two brothers are interesting to say the least. Heck, I thought the love story worked a lot better than you'd normally expect. With the story working good enough the nudity was just an added bonus.
When this movie was released it was obviously the nudity male viewers were coming for. These scenes, for the most part, are well done and at least most of the people taking their clothes off are attractive. HIDEOUT IN THE SUN isn't a masterpiece but it does manage to be one of the best nudist films out there.
