When did the ratings change

[2GOLD 0]

TCM is showing Clash of the Titans tonight, a movie in 1981 that received a PG ratings. However, early in the movie you get a topless shot and then an ass shot in back to back scenes. Obviously, if this happened in a movie today the film would immediately get slapped with an R rating.

 

So when did the applied rating change? Does anyone know for sure?

How did it go from nudity not being a big deal to it being an automatic R rating?

[CBright7831 0]

Red Dawn, Indiana Jones And The Temple of Doom, and Gremlins were the first three movies to recieve a PG-13 rating.

 

Although generally credited (along with Gremlins (1984)) with the introduction of the PG-13 rating, as many felt the scenes of violence in both movies were too much for a PG rating, but not enough for an R rating, Red Dawn (1984) was the first motion picture released with the PG-13 rating. It is also widely believed that had Steven Spielberg's name not been on both movies, they may have received an R rating. (The Flamingo Kid (1984) was the first film to be *given* a PG-13 rating, but sat on the shelves for five months before being released.)

 

http://imdb.com/title/tt0087469/trivia

[2GOLD 0]

Yeah, I remember the PG-13 thing. It's just hard to believe that nowadays, nudity and a curse word is automatic R whereas before Red Dawn it didn't warrant such a rating.

 

I've seen about 6 movies on TCM with PG ratings with nudity. Hard to believe that we have actually become more uptight since 1980.

[CBright7831 0]

I remember thinking JAWS was rated R when I was a kid, then I looked the box for it and saw PG. I was in shock.

[2GOLD 0]

I remember thinking JAWS was rated R when I was a kid, then I looked the box for it and saw PG. I was in shock.

 

I know, it makes you wonder what the hell you HAD to do to get an R. I mean, Evil Dead had to get an NR because it was headed for an X rating. Evil Dead isn't anywhere NEAR the violence level of Jaws and Jaws was more realistic.

 

When I saw the breast shots (more than one now...some nice ones on these women too) in Clash, I checked my program guide thinking something higher than PG because I forgot about RED DAWN.

 

It's sad, in the 80's children could apparently handle seeing breasts. In the 90's, according to parents they can't handle it so it must be R.

[razazteca 0]

Is Al Gore's wife and the 500 Club to blame for this?

[The Czech Republic 0]

PG-13 is the most ridiculous rating. However, PG-13 was a rather ridiculous tag team in 1996-97 WWF, but certainly not the worst.

[Guest Salacious Crumb]

Indian Jones was one of the main movies to bring about the whole PG-13 rating.

 

Another interesting note. MASH the movie almost got an X rating slapped on it for using the word fuck once.

[DMann2003 0]

Another interesting note. MASH the movie almost got an X rating slapped on it for using the word fuck once.

It was the first film to use the f-word too.

 

What's funny is watching "All the President's Men", that film has about a dozen utterances of fuck in it, rated PG in 76.

 

If these films were resubmitted to the ratings board they'd be re-rated

[CBright7831 0]

I guess to get an R rating back in the 70's, you had to have a montage of multiple people getting shot in different manners or show a fourteen year old girl masturbating with a crucifix to get an R rating.

[spman 0]

Yeah, the ratings on older movies are all over the place. You have some movies that are PG-13 and R only for minor violence and profanity, while some movies like The Bad News Bears and Spaceballs have numerous instances of profanity and sexual innuendo, but both are PG.

[Secret Agent 0]

In Walking Tall the Rock says "Fuck" and it's only PG-13.

[Epic Reine 0]

I don't think you can say the word 'fuck" more than twice in a PG-13 movie. Seriously.

[bob_barron 0]

You can't say fuck more then once. I think maybe it got upped to thrice now.

 

You can't say fuck in a sexual way. My Best Friend's Wedding had to appeal to get a PG-13.

 

Motherfucker is automatic R. See Everyone Says I Love You.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Some hippie group wants any movie showing smoking to be rated R. That's all I got...

[SuperJerk 0]

One of the unintended side effects of the rating system is that the G and (in recent years) PG ratings have been associated with childrens' films and are widely considered to be commercially bad for films targeted at teenagers and adults. For example, the 2004 action/adventure film Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow received a PG rating, even though it was not targeted at children. The movie flopped hard. In a number of cases, such as the movie Sneakers or Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie, directors have intentionally added profanity in order to avoid the G rating.

 

credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PG-13

[cabbageboy 0]

I always found that use of motherfucker in Everyone Says I Love You completely idiotic. The rest of the movie had little to no cussing in it, yet this one off the cuff "motherfucker" during a rap concert got the film an R rating. Why Woody didn't just edit that 1 second out and get a PG or PG-13 I have no idea.

 

The most shocking example of PG-13 I can think of was The Bride. After Jennifer Beals is created she is totally nude and you see it all, full frontal. In a PG-13 movie! I guess it wasn't R because the movie had no real cursing and not a good deal of violence either, just her naked.

[CBright7831 0]

I guess some cases of nudity are acceptable.

 

In Superman you see a kid who shows full frontal nudity.

[Youth N Asia 0]

The Bad News Bears is rated PG. Today that would be PG13 for sure, and some would probably even stretch an R

[DrVenkman PhD 0]

Tanner Boyle: All we got on this team are a buncha Jews, spics, niggers, pansies, and a booger-eatin' moron!

 

1976's PG rated and kid friendly film "The Bad News Bears" (mentioned above by spman)

 

Whatever happened to that remake idea?

[Matt Young 0]

I don't think you can say the word 'fuck" more than twice in a PG-13 movie. Seriously.

At the beginning of Be Cool, Travolta apparently comments on that. I haven't seen the movie, so I'm just butchering a quote my friend recited to me:

 

Travolta: "Did you know they'll only let you say the "f" word once in a movie and still give you a PG-13 rating? FUCK THAT!"

 

Then the word "fuck" is never uttered again.

[2GOLD 0]

Tanner Boyle: All we got on this team are a buncha Jews, spics, niggers, pansies, and a booger-eatin' moron!

 

1976's PG rated and kid friendly film "The Bad News Bears" (mentioned above by spman)

 

Whatever happened to that remake idea?

 

The movie is done and the trailer is up.

[Epic Reine 0]

You can't say fuck more then once. I think maybe it got upped to thrice now.

In "The Deep End Of The Ocean", Michelle Pfiefer says "fuck" at least twice I'm pretty sure.

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

And TV ratings(in the US at least) get even weirder. I remember someone taped Princess Mononoke for me off Starz back when I didn't have a DVD player and the tape was rental only, and they taped over long so the tape also had the first half hour or so of Ghost in the Shell. They said 14 and up and the movie opens with a naked woman(okay she has some sort of invisible armor on but the point is you can see everything Japanese law allows you to see) jumping off a building and popping a dude's head like it's a ripe melon with a pistol. And that's just the first 3 minutes or something. I also recall getting nervous one year when the Thanksgiving Smackdown got an MA rating or something for the catfight in the gravy(think it was 99 or 2000) because I had no idea what could make wrestling(a perpetual TV 14 item) get the MA on broadcast TV. Turned out to be nothing, really. By the way, Ghost In the Shell got an R from the MPAA. For more of their sillyness, see articles on the View Askew movies, or the extras on the Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back DVD.