Summer’s here and gone. The greatest thing about the hot weather is the beach, and the best thing about the beach is the bikinis. In salute of summer, and in mourning of the bikini season, we’ve assembled the most famous, influential, and hottest bikini GIFs in movie history. What better way to close out the summer then an appreciative nod to the bikini. Fare thee well, oh, barely there strings and triangles of fabric; you will be missed until next year.
You might be shocked to discover that the bikini is thousands of years old! Ancient Roman murals (the movies of yesteryear) depict women wearing a two-piece outfit that closely resembles our modern bikini. Though it was most probably worn by female athletes in sports competitions, not as swimwear.
The modern bikini made it’s debut in the late 1940s in France and set the world on fire. Just a few decades earlier women were expected to be dressed in head to toe bathing costumes when swimming in public. The sultry two-piece is like a bomb going off in the culture. In fact, it’s named for the Bikini Atoll Islands where the US tested atomic bombs.
The Girl in the Bikini
The bikini quickly caught on in America, and many “PG-13” girly mags featured the biggest stars of Hollywood modeling in the sexy garb. But it’s the French again who make the next advance in the rise of the bikini. A young Brigitte Bardot stars in 1952’s The Girl in the Bikini and truly brings the outfit to the movies. Merci, Brigitte! We owe you.
The Misfits
Marilyn Monroe is an icon still looked up to by women and lusted over by men. She posed in plenty of “cheesecake” photos wearing a bikini, but her best scene on the big screen where she rocks a two-piece is in The Misfits. Thrill to her emerging from the water showing off the body and the looks that have helped her legend stay alive forever.
Beach Party
A big teen obsession in the 1960s was beach culture and Hollywood cashed in with a series of light comedies about teenagers surfing, sunbathing, and dancing in the sand. Flicks like How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, Bikini Beach, and Beach Blanket Bingo offered wholesome hijinks with plenty of lovely eye candy. The fad kicked off with Annette Funicello’s Beach Party and with numerous scenes like this you can see why it was a craze.
Though they did max out the whole concept with dozens of movies to the point where you had drek like this. The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini. Yes, she is trying to seduce a statue.
James Bond: Dr No
We could include every James Bond film on this list but lets stay classic and start with the first one, Dr. No. The scene with Ursula Andress emerging from the water in that white bikini while Bond…uhh…spies on her from the bushes has lost none of its appeal over the last 40 years or so. We even have the best part of the whole clip where Anderson pulls her knife out when she spots James Bond perving on her.
One Million Years BC
We previously stated that the bikini is thousands of years old, but if the cave woman epic One Million Years BC is to be believed it’s much, much, older. Mega-babe Raquel Welch fights dinosaurs in a sexy fur two-piece inspiring men around the world to exclaim “Who cares if this is historically accurate, look at her, just look at her!”
Return of the Jedi
Somewhere before Fastimes at Ridgemont High was this little gem known as the bikini that ushered many a young man into puberty. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi – Princess Leia in her slave gear. Now a favorite cosplay outfit – this bikini has seen more basement action than may be responsible for the rise in Kleenex sales.
Fastimes at Ridgemont High
THAT SCENE from Fast Times at Ridgemont High fired up the imaginations of every young man who snuck into the R-rated movie or watched the VHS. Phoebe Cates’ career was launched thanks to this movie, and it’s obvious why. We can’t describe in words what her red bikini does to us, just experience it for yourself.
Wild Things
The only thing memorable about this movie was the sex scene in the pool with Neve Campbell and Denise Richards. And there was something about a champagne bottle that seems to ring a bell. We’re pretty sure that’s a bikini. Or half a bikini. It still counts.
Blue Crush
The surf epic Blue Crush was a surefire hit thanks to themes of female friendship, romantic drama, and women kicking ass on surfboards. All guys came to the theaters to see it too because it’s 104 minutes of Kate Bosworth, Michelle Rodriguez, and Sanoe Lake in revealing bikinis bobbing up and down on their boards.
Into the Blue
The plot of Jessica Alba’s action film Into the Blue involves a lost legendary pirate ship, drug smugglers, stolen cocaine, and a water park. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter at all. Watch it with the sound off and it’s just as good, if not better. Or better yet just stare at this GIF of Alba over and over again and you’ll see everything the movie has to offer.
Spring Breakers
The violent and hedonistic Spring Breakers was a media sensation even before it came out. And it’s all thanks to the casting of former Disney tween stars Vanessa Hudgens and Selena Gomez in risque roles. The film has the two former good girls, along with Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine, go on a spree of partying, drugs, and crime on a Florida spring break trip. The foursome spends the entire movie in revealing bikinis.
Kate Upton In the Best Non-Movie Ever
The final GIF comes not from a movie but from a brief Internet video of model Kate Upton demonstrating how to dance “the Dougie.” It gets on this list because it might be the most viewed 5 seconds of film ever recorded. We suspect it’s been studied, shared, watched, and rewatched not because people are interested in learning how to Dougie. Instead it might have something to due with Upton’s barely there string bikini.
Want more bikini GIFs? Here ya go.
