Perennial bad boy Mickey Rourke stars as a Wall Street financier (John Grey) with an obsession for food and an extreme desire for blonde bombshell played by Kim Basinger (Elizabeth McGraw)… in the steamy drama 9 1/2 Weeks, released this week on February 21st, 1986.

Directed by Flashdash’s British director, Adrian Lyne and filmed in NYC, the movie recounts the short, highly charged relationship between the two main characters in graphic sexual details (at least for that time) …that left viewers’ mouths drooling and spurred on a host of ice cube jokes. It’s stereotypical plotline of a male’s emotional unavailability and a female’s need for something more was largely overlooked as the lush cinematography heightened the intense erotic psychodrama.

Though an un-credited body double was used in the more graphic scenes, the stylish movie helped Kim Basinger’s career as a major screen sexpot and Mickey Rourke’s as a leading male star.

This Week in Wall Street History

2/18/08