Best 1970s Sex Comedies. In previous articles we looked at a variety of 80s era films from The Best 1980s Sex Comedies to a list of obscure and forgotten Sex Comedies of the 1980s. These articles covered everything from classics of the decade including Porky’s (1981), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) and Risky Business (1983) to some of the lesser-known films involving teen sexcapades in Screwballs (1984) and Hardbodies (1984).
In this article, we’re going to go back a decade to the 1970s to review some earlier sex comedy efforts that had an outsized influence on the following decade’s embrace of the sexy (and quite raunchy) subgenre. From the family friendly Carry On series of films filled with tame sexual innuendo to the sexploitation films of director Russ Meyer to the drive-in debauchery from American International Pictures (AIP), we’ll give you an overview of this decade of decadence for nostalgic purposes or if you’re looking to watch these subgenre films of the 70s for the first time.
For our rankings we’re going to use some criteria to help define and refine our list. First, the film must first and foremost be a sex comedy. There are quite a few raunchy adult comedies that are classics of the era including Blazing Saddles (1974) and Slap Shot (1977). However, even those these films have some sexual situations, they’re focused within other subgenres. Blazing Saddles is a Western Comedy and Parody film while Slap Shot is primarily a raunchy Sports Comedy.
Second, we’re going to focus on R-rated Sex Comedies for this article. This means we won’t be ranking the Carry On or On the Buses series of films. These British films are mostly slapstick comedies and satires with some sexual innuendo but are, for the most part, very family friendly. However, we will supply a list below of the Carry On films from the 70s that fans of the subgenre should check out. This second criteria will also apply to a very popular film of the late 1970s, Meatballs (1979), which is a PG-rated Teen & Coming-of-Age Comedy so won’t be ranked here.
Third, there’s a fine line between sex comedies mixed with soft-core porn elements vs. hardcore porn films masquerading as comedies throughout the 70s. As a rule, we’re not going to list any of the hardcore pornographic films like Debbie Does Dallas (1978) or erotic musical comedies of the decade like Alice in Wonderland (1976) that were re-edited with additional explicit sexual content. However, there are some erotic musical comedies such as Cinderella (1977) and Fairy Tales (1978) that we will include on our list as they do focus on comedy and have some entertaining musical segments.
Fourth, we’re going to rank films by their comedic value vs. erotic value. Comedy is the main goal of this list and if you’re looking for the erotic value of these films, there’s other sites that provide details of the erotic and nude content of these subgenre films from the decade.
Fifth, we’re going to deprioritize ranking of ‘sexploitation’ films. Many of these aren’t comedies and the ones that are, have little to no comedic value.
Sixth, we will include some of the adult-themed skit comedies of the 70s including The Groove Tube (1974) and The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977). Though these aren’t entirely sex comedies, they do have some skits or short segments that have some very funny sexual situations that are worth checking out.
And seventh, we had to follow our rule for all of KBZ’s film listings where we only list films that have a 4.0/10 or higher rating and were released in the 1970s.
Our complete list of Raunchy Comedies & Sex Comedies features over 672+ films from 1959 – 2025. If you don’t see a favorite 70s sex comedy listed here, it likely didn’t meet our criteria for this list and can be found in our collections for Teen & Young Adult Dramas and Teen & College Comedies. Also, we’ll be releasing additional lists of sex comedies from other decades in the near future, so subscribe to our newsletter to get updated as we release each new article.
Best 1970s Sex Comedies
Films that didn’t make our list (and only for completists): Run, Virgin, Run (1970), Quiet Days in Clichy (1970), Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970), The Curious Female (1970), Bread (1971), The Young Seducers (1971), Secrets of Sweet Sixteen (1973), The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot (1973), Down and Dirty Duck (1974), Summer School Teachers (1974), Eskimo Nell (1974), Spanish Fly (1976), Hollywood High (1976), Pelvis (1976), Honky Tonk Nights (1978), Sweater Girls (1978), Adventures of a Plumber’s Mate (1978), Carry On Emmannuelle (1978), Let’s Get Laid (1978), Pink Tush Girl: Love Attack (1970) and King Frat (1979).
Recommended Carry On films (for subgenre fans): Carry On Up the Jungle (1970), Carry On Henry (1971), Carry On Matron (1972), Carry On Abroad (1972), Carry On Girls (1973), Carry On Dick (1974) and Carry On Behind (1975).
Honorable Mentions: Pussycat, Pussycat, I Love You (1970), The Man Who Had Power Over Women (1970), Hazardous Graduation (1970), Au Pair Girls (1972), The Love Ban (1973), The Sex Thief (1973), The Cheerleaders (1973), The Swinging Cheerleaders (1974), Female Trouble (1974), Alice Goodbody (1974), Confessions of a Pop Performer (1975), The Sensuous Nurse (1975), The Pom Pom Girls (1976), The Student Body (1976), Confessions of a Driving Instructor (1976), Up! (1976), Confessions from a Holiday Camp (1977), Summer Camp (1979), Beneath the Valley of the Ultra-Vixens (1979) and Gas Pump Girls (1979).
Rank 20-1
#20 Percy (1971) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#19 No Sex Please: We’re British (1973) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#18 Revenge of the Cheerleaders (1976) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#17 Fritz the Cat (1973) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#16 Dirty O’Neil (1974) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#15 The Groove Tube (1974) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#14 Teenage Hitchhikers (1974) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#13 H.O.T.S. (1979) Where to Stream / Buy: YouTube
#12 Fairy Tales (1978) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#11 The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
