fundoshi in cinema

Hollywood has never really fully acknowledged the fundoshi, despite their historic love for loinclothed leads. Over time, costume designers have used the strong-yet-sensuous allure of fundoshi (or fundoshi-like garments) in many different styles of film, and wrapping the hips of quite a few household names.

Perhaps the first western occurrence of the fundoshi was seen in the film Tora Tora Tora!, worn by the kamikaze pilots. But could the most recent be the lampooning of the fundoshi in the Ben Stiller/Vince Vaughan comedy Dodgeball, where it is worn by the easily defeated Japanese dodgeball team?

After the jump are several photographs and film clips of well-known (and a few not-so-well-known) celebrities who wear their screen version of the fundoshi quite well:

Christopher Atkins reprised his fundoshi-like loincloth in the fairly silly parody/homage to Gilbert & Sullivan The Pirate Movie, updated for the 80s...





...that he originally wore to greater advantage in the much better known The Blue Lagoon:






Atkins even said "The loincloth became a status symbol, because The Blue Lagoon was such a huge hit." While modeled on the fundoshi, the ragged edges and fuller coverage of Atkins' buttocks that this snug-fitting costume afforded make it stand apart. Perhaps they were concessions to the ratings board, but it's fun to imagine the blue lagoon re-shot with Atkins wearing a crisp, white, well-twisted fundoshi.

Well-known Asian porn actor Van Darkholme isn't shy at all about his fundoshi.


But then, neither is Bruce Lee.


And in this somewhat inexplicable video clip, Jackie Chan yuks it up in red Etchū fundoshi:


David Bowie's cache-sexe is clearly fundoshi-inspired.



And who could possibly forget Sean Connery's red fundoshi and suspenders from Zardoz?


Probably less well-known, however, is Indian actor Naveen Korma's hand-to-hand combat scene, in which he wears a variant of the fundoshi from the Indian subcontinent.



The fundoshi makes most of its on-screen appearances in anime, on imaginary characters. When Hollywood utilizes it, it seems to be mostly as a point of reference. True fundoshis are rarely seen in western hemisphere productions.

That said, which actors/musicians/celebrities would YOU like to see stripped down to their fundoshi?