Pamela Anderson and Jane Fonda - Both Had Their Own Cults!

In 1968, I was sixteen and visiting the brand new neighborhood multiplex. This was no crumbling movie palace like I had grown up with as a cinema fan. The theater was crisp and fresh featuring a state of the art sound system. It was exciting just to hear the intermission music between showings.

At that tender age , I confess to having a slight crush on Jane Fonda. I had seen " Barefoot in the Park" and "Cat Ballou." Miss Fonda 's pouting lips were enough for my rating system to score two thumbs up and something in the middle! When the opening title sequence of "Barbarella" started to roll, I knew that I had wandered into a Shangri-la for teenage boys.

"Barbarella" was a critical and box office bust initially, but the word of mouth on the Jane Fonda weightless striptease as she slowly disrobes from her spacesuit became legend. Based on a french comic strip and featuring wild fetish costumes and comic sex innuendo, Barbarella was something I had never seen before.

Years later as I watched Pamela Anderson in the opening sequence of "Barb Wire," I got that feeling of deja vu all over again. She was swinging topless from a trapeze while being sprayed enthusiastically by a fire hose.

As the film progressed, it became clear that Pamela was being featured with a nod to the earlier "Barbarella" film.

Her leather bustier and fishnet stocking were not so different from Barbarella. The only thing missing was the tongue in cheek humor.

In Barbarella, Jane was supported by character actors like John Phillip Law, David Hemmings and Milo O'Shea, who had long careers in a variety of films. While the humor was over the top, the general mood of frothy fun kept the production in a zone of buoyancy. In "Barb Wire," Pam had Udo Keir from Warhol's factory, Temuera Morrison remembered as Jango Fett, and Charles Manson,uh, I mean Stephen Railsback.

There was no comedian in that bunch! The future in "Barb Wire" was grim and violent while the world of Barbarella was unrelentingly silly, but sexy.


Both films remain cult classics and the publicity photographs for Jane and Pam will live forever on the internet. Miss Fonda outgrew her sex kitten image and went on to other personas as Hanoi Jane and as a fitness guru. Here's a link to my previous article about Jane.

Miss Anderson had her image sandblasted by home made videos of her honeymoon and spousal abuse from a drumming madman with an elephant gun.

Not so long ago, Jane Fonda appeared on the Stephen Colbert Report and proceeded to sit on his lap and purr in his ear. Despite a writers strike, he managed to come up with this line.

"Listen lady, I've got rules and you are bending one of them rather badly!"