The evolution of the "PG" movie rating

[Archivist]

I can't remember what LOTR was rated, but here in Australia I saw quite a number of young children with their parents.  We're talking under ten years old.   After the very brutal and realistic battle scene at the end, I watched many shaken little boys and girls walking out of the cinema in a daze, probably to have nightmares for the rest of the month.  Man, *I* was shaken after that!  If little kids got in, it must have been PG of some nature.

And then there was the ten-or-so year old girl I saw with her Dad, watching Ong Bak in the cinema.  Man, she was covering her eyes half the time during the fight scenes!

~Archivist~

[Alan Smithee]

Is the word "f**k" forbidden from a PG movie?

Funnily, by today's standards Star Wars would probably be rated 'G'.

From what I hear the new Star Wars movie is rated 'PG-13' which Lucas almost seems proud about. Seems strange since the other SW movies weren't very violent or intense.

[Archivist]

I was kind of disappointed in the action quotient of Episode One.  After all, only one bad guy is visibly killed and the rest are all robots!  At least the original Star Wars had some dude in the cantina getting his arm chopped off and scary implications of Leia getting injected with 'something'.  The original SW movies were far more scary and atmospheric than these watered-down family-fests that Lucas has now served up.  Despite this, I did enjoy EpI and EpII, and I am still looking forward to EpIII.  Hope springs eternal.

~Archivist~

[Eirik]

"and I remember a big stir over SIXTEEN CANDLES"

I think the big stir over Sicteen Candles was over the hunk's line: "Why I could go violate her [his passed out girlfriend] ten different ways if I wanted to."

...to which Anthony Michael Hall's character replied: "What are you waiting for??"  And then proceeded to do exactly that later in the movie.

Um...  that's considered rape.

[Eirik]

"Funnily, by today's standards Star Wars would probably be rated 'G'."

Dismembered arm, the intense trash-monster scene, the scare when the Jawas jumped Artoo, the overall loudness, the bizarre needle wielding torture droid, the sandpeople jumping Luke, Greedo blasted at point blank (whether he shoots first or not, the charred remains of Luke's family...

Would you care to make a bet on that statement?

[Archivist]

Eirik, that's exactly my point, too.  There were a lot of intense scenes and moments in Star Wars that would never have allowed a G rating even today.  I saw it in the cinema when I was five and it was all I could talk about for weeks afterwards.  Had a nightmare or two, as well.

[Eirik]

Archivist: I recall being VERY upset by the dismembered arm (I was six) and when my folks took me the second time, my mom promised to warn me to close my eyes when that scene came up again.  Good old mom.

You know I caught the end of the movie on some cable channel last night and I STILL get chills when Han comes out of nowhere and blows up two tie fighters sending Vader into a tail spin.  One of the best movie endings ever.

[Zapranoth]

Rise... rise, Lord Vader!  Rise, old thread!

Beastmaster was released in '82, and yes, I think the PG rating from then would be different now (PG 13 d'you think?).    I mean, that movie had a crazed, razor-encrusted berserker (with a parasite in his brain, right?) trying to smash adorable little ferrets.  It had that gross scene with the baby being zapped out his mother's womb into the cow.

ST2, the Wrath of Khan, '82.  The Ceti leeches!  Nightmares for weeks!  Watched the rest of the movie with my hands on my ears!

Conan the Destroyer, '84.  No one has mentioned this -- don't remember if you saw her pubic hair, but you got Grace Jones mooning the camera while being helped onto the horse.  (One of the main reasons my friend and I liked that movie.)

But then there was 1986, and Aliens.  Yeahhh, that was the big R, and since we were 15, my friend and I had to scheme which theater to go to, and go to the late show and pretend to be with the couple in front of us in line.  That movie scared the bejeebers out of me, and I had nightmares for weeks... but what a show!

[Archivist]

Lord, Aliens scared me to all heck, too.  Had a nightmare about face-huggers that night.  And I, too, was freaked out by the Ceti Leeches in the Wrath of Khan.

Speaking of Lord Vader rising, EpIII is coming soooon.  Who wants to bet on the violence quotient?

~Archivist~

[Glenn]

I got a kick out of reading everyone's posts!  I'm 38, and topless women could appear in a 'PG' film (Kramer vs. Kramer, Airplane!), back in the '70s, early '80s.  Then, if "f" was used, it was an automatic 'R'.  No 2 ways about it!  I guess R. Reagan influenced all of this -- the conservative bent, I mean.  "Jaws," for instance, was/is a horror movie, and would probably get an "R" today (maybe).  "Walking Tall" (the '73 original) might get a "PG" as there's just violence.  There is one whipping that's quick, but nothing major.

How things change!

Glenn