Vol. 7   By Graham Ward  The male body has been a cinematic
fetish for many years. This is not to deny that women have
featured as erotic objects throughout cinematic history. It is
simply to observe that from the late fifties there has been an
awareness of the female gaze such that the physiques (or at
least naked torsos) of Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Charlton
Heston and (since 1964 and A Fistful of Dollars) Clint Eastwood
have constructed what one film studies scholar has termed
"masculinity as a spectacle." (1)  In the early 70s Burt
Reynolds was the first of many male film stars to pose nude for
the centerfold of a women's magazine (Cosmopolitan) and with the
appearance of Gibson, Ford, Stallone and Schwarzenegger we have
moved into another generation of male icon. The presentation of
this female gaze can present problems in the form of erotic sub-
currents. For quite frequently the kind of action films in which
these iconized bodies feature are orientated towards a male
audience; the Mad Max, Rambo, Di