The evolution of the "PG" movie rating

[sideorderofninjas]

My personal favorite is "Twister" is PG-13 for violent depictions of the weather...Evan3 wrote:

[Neon Noodle]

When Temple of Doom came out, everyone caused a huge stir, saying that a voodoo priest ripping out a person's heart while he was still alive and watching it beat in his hand was way too violent for a PG rating, and of course, by making Indiana Jones a rated 'R' movie back in those days would have destroyed the box-office rake-ins for the younger movie watching crowd. Apparently the same thing was true with seeing a Gremlin blowing up in a mircowave or another one getting beheaded with a sword.

In the end, it's all about the money. How can we divide the pie to appeal to a wide enough audience without p**sing off the establishment? the eternal ratings question.

[systemcr4sh]

Actually I think that the ratings should just go out the window and (like most ratings today) just keep the little blurb underneith telling whats in the movie. It'd be much easier to just look at it and say "Well this one has 'language and violence', while this one has 'nudity and extreme violence'" etc etc. Like under the ratings now sometimes they show these.

[jmc]

The MPAA probably wouldn't go for that, since they have all the ratings copyrighted.

[Neon Noodle]

systemcr4sh wrote:

> Actually I think that the ratings should just go out the window
> and (like most ratings today) just keep the little blurb
> underneith telling whats in the movie. It'd be much easier to
> just look at it and say "Well this one has 'language and
> violence', while this one has 'nudity and extreme violence'"
> etc etc. Like under the ratings now sometimes they show these.
>
Yeah, but that's a pretty subjective term. What qualifies as "Brief Nudity" or "Mild Drug Use"? "Extreme Gore"?!? How is this different from just plain old fashioned "Gore"? Very misleading, methinks.

[systemcr4sh]

Yeah I wouldn't think that it would happen any time soon, but they should put the little blurb underneith every rating now because it still may be misleading but not as misleading as saying its rated R and nothing else, you have no idea what it contains that way.

[kriegerg69]

STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE was originally rated G, and once the Director's Edition came out a couple of years ago, the movie now carried a PG rating.

The late 70's movie SAME TIME NEXT YEAR with Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn was rated PG.....and yet the word f*ck was used once (innocently, btw) in that film.

Yeah....people have mentioned PLANET OF THE APES, with the bareassed skinnydipping scene with the three astronauts, and that film was rated G.

LOGAN'S RUN and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS were both PG films which not only had some innocent nudity, but also had bare breasts seen onscreen....as did KING KONG with Jessica Lange's breasts uncovered by Kong.

Most of the fun B horror movies of the period, especially the early-mid 70's were almost all rated PG, yet most contained some substantial intensity and/or violence and gore....stuff which would certainly be PG-13 by today's standards.

[The Burgomaster]

kriegerg69 wrote:


> The late 70's movie SAME TIME NEXT YEAR with Alan Alda and
> Ellen Burstyn was rated PG.....and yet the word f*ck was used
> once (innocently, btw) in that film.
 
> LOGAN'S RUN and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS were both PG
> films which not only had some innocent nudity, but also had
> bare breasts seen onscreen....as did KING KONG with Jessica
> Lange's breasts uncovered by Kong.

Very true. the word "F*CK" has actually been in several PG movies . . . I just can't think of other examp[les at the moment. I read somewhere that the WAY the word is used makes a difference. For instance, if it is used as an exclamation, like, "Oh, F*CK!" it might not result in an "R" rating. However, if it is used in reference to a sexual act, then it probably WILL result in an "R" rating.

As for nudity, MANY "PG" movies from the 1970s showed breasts and butts. Look at the original VANISHING POINT. There is a whole scene with a woman riding around naked on a motorcycle.

"PG" movies were fairly violent back then, too:

PAPILLON (which shows a guy being guillotined, plus stabbings, shootings, etc.)
THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (numerous murders)
DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (numerous murders)
MR. MAJESTYK (numerous shootings, plus a guy being smashed to death with a piece of wood)
THE GETAWAY (numerous slow-motion shootings)
THE KILLER ELITE (numerous slow-motion shootings and sword fights)
THE SEVEN UPS (general violent police action)
BREAKOUT (which has a shot of a guy being sliced up by airplane propeller)

[Evan3]

jmc wrote:

> The MPAA probably wouldn't go for that, since they have all the
> ratings copyrighted.


Do you mean I owe the MPAA for every letter "R" I use Just Grrrrrrrrrrreat

[jmc]

Hee hee.....I'm just saying that they have a lot of money invested in the system as it is and probably don't have any interest in changing it.

[The Burgomaster]

In the old days, they just had the rating and a general blurb like this:

"R" (no one under 17 admitted without parent or legal guardian)

At least nowadays, they are a bit more specific:

"R" (contains profanity and scenes of intense violence)

[Toomuch@%*#]

I was watching " Bend it like Beckham"
that movie was rated G, yes I said G
they were showing sex scenes, using words like  F****Head, Balls, Sh** for brains
I mean come on, you can have whatever you want on your movie just dont fool folks and rate it something else. I took that movie home to my kids and I was apalled.
The Burgomaster wrote:

> kriegerg69 wrote:
>
>
> > The late 70's movie SAME TIME NEXT YEAR with Alan Alda and
> > Ellen Burstyn was rated PG.....and yet the word f*ck was used
> > once (innocently, btw) in that film.
>  
> > LOGAN'S RUN and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS were both PG
> > films which not only had some innocent nudity, but also had
> > bare breasts seen onscreen....as did KING KONG with Jessica
> > Lange's breasts uncovered by Kong.
>
> Very true. the word "F*CK" has actually been in several PG
> movies . . . I just can't think of other examp[les at the
> moment. I read somewhere that the WAY the word is used makes a
> difference. For instance, if it is used as an exclamation,
> like, "Oh, F*CK!" it might not result in an "R" rating.
> However, if it is used in reference to a sexual act, then it
> probably WILL result in an "R" rating.
>
> As for nudity, MANY "PG" movies from the 1970s showed breasts
> and butts. Look at the original VANISHING POINT. There is a
> whole scene with a woman riding around naked on a motorcycle.
>
> "PG" movies were fairly violent back then, too:
>
> PAPILLON (which shows a guy being guillotined, plus stabbings,
> shootings, etc.)
> THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES (numerous murders)
> DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN (numerous murders)
> MR. MAJESTYK (numerous shootings, plus a guy being smashed to
> death with a piece of wood)
> THE GETAWAY (numerous slow-motion shootings)
> THE KILLER ELITE (numerous slow-motion shootings and sword
> fights)
> THE SEVEN UPS (general violent police action)
> BREAKOUT (which has a shot of a guy being sliced up by airplane
> propeller)
>

[eve666]

I agree with toomuch @%*#,
I saw that movie too and it sucked
you are rigth I took it home for our family nigth and my 6yr old saw  a car was rocking and there were two people huffing and puffing...........just gross. I was embarassed when my mom and dad started screaming at me......all I could say was......."that movie was rated G"

[Susan]

>>LOGAN'S RUN and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS were both PG
> > films which not only had some innocent nudity, but also had
> > bare breasts seen onscreen.<<

innocent nudity? I own logan's run, i'm seeming to remember an orgy scene...more than just one set of ta-ta's

[systemcr4sh]

The imdb says Bend It... was rated PG-13:

"MPAA: Rated PG-13 for language and sexual content"

Only thing I can think of is that if you're in Canada (like me) they have those Canadian Ratings that they put over the american ones. Those can be pretty misleading at times too.