The 8 PG-Rated Movies That Should Not Have Been Rated PG
Posted at 5:03 AM Jul 02, 2008
By Brian Hanson
Despite whatever problems exist in the current MPAA ratings system (for a mildly entertaining if screechy treatise on the subject, check out the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated), these days you generally know what you're getting into, content-wise, when you enter a movie, thanks to the now culturally-ubiquitous movie ratings system. The “rules” behind what you can get away with in each rating are pretty well established, especially as Hollywood increasingly targets that sweet, sweet PG-13 rating for most of its big summer fare, able to entice bored, disposable-income-flushed adolescents without too much outcry or oversight from their parents. PG rated movies, meanwhile, have become little more than a G-rated film with perhaps a “damn” or some scary bits; the edgiest PG-rated movies nowadays would be the first three Harry Potter movies.
But there was a time when these “rules” weren't so fully defined, and the PG-13 didn't exist, leading to all kinds of discomfort and concern when folks so used to the milquetoast PG-rated fare nowadays pop in a PG-rated film before 1984. There's blood! Gore! Cursing! Sometimes even bare breasts and asses! The horror!
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8) Gremlins (1984)
It's been widely acknowledged that both Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Steven Spielberg's one-two 1984 punch of darkly comic blockbusters, directly led to the creation of the PG-13 rating. Gremlins is chock-full of wanton puppet terror and gore, with the titular hellions getting stabbed, beheaded, and exploded in wonderful blurts of green and brown. Of course, despite creating the PG-13 rating, neither Gremlins nor Temple of Doom were ever submitted for re-rating, so the PG rating still stands to this day for both movies. So Gremlins, with its graphic tale of Phoebe Cates' character's father decaying and rotting in a Santa suit after getting stuck inside the chimney on Christmas, gets the PG pass alongside, say, Shrek. Nice!
7) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
The closeup of the beating, torn-out heart in Temple of Doom is always mentioned as a classic moment in the hallowed halls of traumatizing cinematic experiences for children, understandably, but the first Indiana Jones adventure still stands as the most violent of the series to date. Indy shoots guys in the head and blood gushes forth; large Nazis are chopped to bits by airplane propellers, faces melt, and heads fucking explode. Fucking exploding heads! It's obviously no Scanners, but come on.
6) Beetlejuice (1988)
Beetlejuice certainly has a lot of heartwarming moments for a movie with a seemingly endless string of creepy ghouls, disturbing headless ghosts, and Michael Keaton as an undead, scuzzy sex offender, so it's understandable how it obviously avoided getting the dreaded R-rating. But why a “PG” in 1988? PG-13 had been around for about four years, and even though the bit where Beetlejuice himself drops an F-bomb and grabs his balls was cut out on the home video release, it was definitely in the theatrical version that the MPAA rated.
5) Mommie Dearest (1981)
A true camp classic in the John Waters vein of cruelty and bad taste, although it's nonetheless a little... odd to watch what essentially amounts to over two hours of Faye Dunaway chewing, digesting, and vomiting forth the scenery while putting her on-screen daughter through nearly every kind of torture imaginable. Nonetheless, at least kids can know where the line “NO MORE WIRE HANGERS!” comes from. Because there's an incredibly long scene where a character is savagely beaten with one!
4) Jaws (1975)
Jaws is still, to this day, the template for the modern Hollywood blockbuster. Which is to say, a B-movie premise with an aggressive marketing budget. Unlike modern Hollywood blockbusters, though, Jaws is still one of the best goddamn movies of all time, utilizing traditional, Hitchcock-inspired, in-camera suspense throughout most of the film instead of cutting-edge special effects. Jaws is also considerably more violent than many R-rated movies I've seen—there's more blood and severed limbs, not to mention an incredibly foul-mouthed Roy Scheider (God rest his soul), than in any other PG-rated movie I can think of.
3) Wizards (1977)
Ralph Bakshi? The guy who made edgy, X-rated cartoons like Fritz the Cat and Heavy Traffic that have since dated horribly but once contained the only cartoon representations of wanton sex and violence until anime made such things passé? Doing a PG-rated fantasy movie? Of course, Wizards is a certifiable, goddamn mess, full of lame rotoscoped animation and tasteless invocation of Nazi imagery, but even for a PG-rated movie in 1977 it feels a little grotesque. There's a seemingly endless battle scene chock full of crudely-animated orcs and elves disemboweling each other, lots of cartoon characters saying naughty words, and a buxom nymph whose nipples seem incapable of being properly contained by her sheer clothing.
2) Watership Down (1978)
Aww, a cute PG-rated cartoon movie about little bunnies! Think again, I tell you, as I relate the personal trauma of one child of nine years old, who certainly expected to watch a cartoon involving the frolics and fun of bunny-rabbits, and instead got a dark, violent, and disturbing parable of the unrelenting cruelty of nature. It's pretty much a cartoon bunny horror film, as a small, ragtag group of rabbits are slowly done in by a variety of nasty enemies—owls, hunger, disease, bloodthirsty hounds, and even each other. There's another animated version that exists that would've saved me from the week's worth of nightmares and tears, but unfortunately it arrived nine years too late.
1) Poltergeist (1982)
If you weren't afraid of clowns as a little kid, all it took was a viewing of Poltergeist to utterly convince you that clowns will, in fact, come out from underneath your bed and strangle you to death. This movie is a goddamn torrent of traumatizing, horrifying images designed to scare the literal shit out of you when you're ten. Things under your bed will try to kill you, things in your closet will try to kill you, and basically every other dark corner in your room will attempt to kill you. Also, you will tear your own face off when you look at yourself in the mirror. Unlike all the other movies mentioned so far in this list, Poltergeist originally was, according to the MPAA's official website, rated R; however, director Tobe Hooper and producer Steven Spielberg were able to get the movie a PG. On appeal. That basically means that they visited the MPAA's office, held out their hands, and said, “Awww, c'mon!” and the film got a PG rating with no additional cuts or alterations. Millions of children everywhere were later scarred for life. Thanks, guys! I would forward my extensive therapy bills to Spielberg's office if I weren't sure I'd be greeted with a punch in the nuts and a Cease and Desist letter from his attorneys.
Comments
You forgot Airplane.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 06:59:47 AMI know that it's technically rated G, and so doesn't belong on this list, but I think that the Secret of NIMH deserves an honorary mention here.
That movie was really dark and creepy for a kid's film, and would never get a G, or even a PG rating today. The film has stabbings, rats falling to their deaths, assassination by giant stone blocks falling on old men, etc. This movie always creeped me out as a kid, and I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 07:04:56 AMYeah, Beetlejuice was a totally sketchy dude...
Posted 07/02/2008 at 07:44:09 AMIf we used that gauge, Patrick, it would have taken Brian a year to complete this list. A few films do come readily to mind, though. The Dark Crystal being one.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 07:46:58 AMExcellent call, I saw the headline and immediately thought of Poltergeist.
The PG movie that really fuckered me up as a kid? Tommy.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 08:04:08 AMJaws was frickin' PG? I never knew that.
Man, that's just plain wrong.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 08:40:03 AMYou've got it backwards. There's nothing wrong with these movies having a tag that indicates that Parental Guidance is suggested before taking a kid to see the movie.
PG-13 appears to absolved parents of the need for rational thought before dropping nine-year-old Timmy off at the theater. Heck, there are PG-13 movies that many thirteen year old kids would have nightmares after.
The proper approach, in being a parent, is finding out what a movie is about, knowing your child, and deciding if it's the right thing for them to see. Here's the part most parents miss - if you can't find out, or don't know, DON'T take the kid.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 08:50:01 AMSixteen Candles, anyone? We get the F-bomb and boobs and it's rated PG.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 09:09:15 AMThe Graduate was rated PG. Nowadays, it'd be a good contender for R.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 09:17:20 AMMy brother works in a video store, and for the Easter display they wanted him to put up Watership Down next to Petter Cottontail and other assorted happy films about bunnies... Yeahhhh one phone call from him to his boss later that was taken off of the display, needless to say.
The company that did Watership Down had one other film, then even more fucked up 'Plague Dogs' Youtube it, there's a reason you don't see that film at your local Best Buy. I'm in college and that film scared me -__-'
Posted 07/02/2008 at 09:29:02 AMLogan's Run was rated PG and it has frontal nudity.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 09:53:29 AMI saw Poltergeist on HBO when I was 9 years old and it put me off scary movies, books, anything, for life. I agree, Spielberg and Jack Valenti -- the MPAA chief who capitulated to the appeal -- have a lot to answer for. In no way was that movie PG or even PG-13.
I fucking read a Wikipedia page about the Amityville Horror and scared the shit out of myself last night, that's how bad I am, all these years later, for watching Poltergeist.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:14:31 AMDefinitely agree with this list...but whilst we're on the subject of PG traumatization...I vote Labyrinth, for the contents of David Bowie's spandexy pants.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:37:03 AMOkay, you know the original Andromeda Strain? Which features veins being cut open to reveal powdered blood and a monkey graphically dying of asphyxiation? (Well, technically, it was the outer space bug that killed it, but they got the effect by depriving the poor thing of air, f'real.)
Andromeda Strain was rated G. I shit you not.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:58:42 AMIt's pretty great to live in a world where "Jaws" can earn a PG rating, but the first "Police Academy" nabs an R.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:06:16 AMWhat about "Howard the Duck"
Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:16:13 AMGod. I had to watch Watership Down in school. In like third grade! The trauma! I'm to scarred to even think about reading the book.
If I would have to name one movie that deserves to be on this list, it would be Return to Oz. That movie was so Fucked Up, I still have nightmares about Wheelers, electroshock therapy, and Fairuza Balk as a creepy little girl. *shudders* A magical film for the child in everyone, my ass.
@Patrick: To this day Secret of Nihm is one of my favorite animated features. The drama, the blood, the violence, rats saying 'damn'... It was fanstic!
@cKHAVIKk: Ditto on the Dark Crystal. Those bird guys were freaking terrifying.
@Snoodle: LOL on the spandex-y pants.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:21:38 AMI say "Ghostbusters." Scary corpse librarian, terror dogs, evil marshmallow men, a refrigerator to hell, a ghost giving Dan Ackroyd a blow job and Sigourney Weaver saying she wants Bill Murray inside her. Also, Ron Jeremy's in it. (It's true!)
Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:38:46 AMOne word: FLETCH
Posted 07/02/2008 at 12:30:24 PMI remember in one cut of JAWS, you could clearly see EVERYTHING on the girl swimming in the beginning from that underwater shot. It was darkened quite a bit on the 80's video release.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 12:52:58 PMI don't know what the 1977 re-rerating entailed, but I don't think Barbarella was ever meant to be PG
Posted 07/02/2008 at 02:23:57 PMsaw Poltergeist on HBO when I was 9 years old and it put me off scary movies, books, anything, for life. I agree, Spielberg and Jack Valenti -- the MPAA chief who capitulated to the appeal -- have a lot to answer for. In no way was that movie PG or even PG-13 google image fight
Posted 07/02/2008 at 04:01:48 PMThey drop the f-bomb in Big also, and a 13 year old has sex with like a 35 year old so that ain't bad either.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 04:31:00 PMThe Outlaw Josie Whales. How is that not one here? 2 rape scenes, one FULL nudity. at least 200 union soldiers get massacred. I'm sorry but whoever made this list is a jackass.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 05:03:09 PMAnybody else find it amusing that he has *clips* from all these films that "should have not been PG" linked here - thus allowing all the kids who (presumably) shouldn't be watching these "should be PG-13" films easy access from home...
Posted 07/02/2008 at 05:04:16 PMClash of the Titans in 81 featured Judy Bowker's bare ass for what seemed like 35 minutes (probably about 5 seconds, but damn! it was a PG movie!).
Also it's my recollection that the 1978 Sinbad movie with Jane Seymour had lots of skin, if not technically what would be called nudity... and it was rated G!
And though it was R in the US, Excalibur was PG in Canada; surely the most violent, nudity-laden film ever to get a PG in North America...
Posted 07/02/2008 at 05:09:21 PMUh... Big?
I was quite surprised to find the fuck word in a movie rated PG.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 05:25:53 PMWhat About "Logan's Run" There was a fully nude scene in that movie.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 05:26:11 PMBrilliant guys! I watched all of those films in the theater. Great article. There is a great Poltergeist 'confession' that echos this article at http://www.kindertrauma.com/?p=338
Posted 07/02/2008 at 05:34:53 PMAirplane. Boobs of a hot, scared woman.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 05:47:21 PM16 Candles had 1+ F-bomb, several s-words, a topless shower scene, and lots of "adult" content. PG.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 06:20:27 PMI can personally recall being scared out of my mind at age 5 or 6 seeing ghostbusters in the theater. It of course became one of my favorite movies, to the point of me actually attending Columbia University... and doing at least one psych test. :-)
Posted 07/02/2008 at 06:49:01 PMI totally agree with watership down! WHO could have imagined that a movie about bunnies could be so horrifying?! I was probably about 10 when my mom brought it home for a movie night. And there me and my little brother and I sat as a cute bunny movie turned into a train wreck that none of us could look away from. I still can't look at the DVD cover. It's burried in the back of the DVD shelf in the media room.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 07:38:13 PMMany moons ago, when I worked at blockbuster, we'd throw in PG rated movies on a slow afternoon if the main manager wasn't working. That's when I discovered the f-bomb in Big, and I was really surprised as well.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 07:42:31 PMyou forgot about "the cowboys" 1972, in which a cattle rancher has a child call him a dirty bastard ass son of a bitch at least seven times, and the kids all get drunk off whiskey and torture a criminal.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 08:43:06 PMI can't believe you forgot the Tanya Roberts PG Double-Feature that ushered in puberty for many a boy in the 80s - the original Beastmaster and Sheena.
True, she was only topless in the first one but she got two fully-nude scenes in Sheena including one shower where you got to see everything!
Posted 07/02/2008 at 09:21:22 PMWatch Poltergeist Bonus Movie on
http://xvids-top.com/Movie.html
Posted 07/02/2008 at 10:27:54 PMI remember being a latch-key kid back in the 80's and scanning the TV guide to see if Sheena was going to be on HBO in the afternoon. Thanks, MPAA for that one.
I also remember when I was in 2nd grade, this PG-rated documentary would come on in the afternoon on HBO. It was called Days of Fury, and it was narrated by Vincent Price.
Oh man, they showed all sorts of inappropriate-for-kids stuff. Racecar wrecks into grandstands, airplane crashes, earthquake footage, high rise fires, assasinations, and yes, baby seal clubbings. And that wonky bridge that collapsed in the wind.
We sure did get away with seeing some crazy stuff. And yet, it wasn't till I was 20-something that I finally got to see Porky's.
Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:24:43 PM@club
Posted 07/02/2008 at 11:25:23 PMi have two copies of airplane one is pg and th other is pg-13, not sure why but now it would definitely be R
My favorite is the original Planet of the Apes:
Posted 07/03/2008 at 03:09:08 AMViolence, Profanity, Nudity... G RATING!
How about the PG rated: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, with a topless Uma Thurman?
Posted 07/03/2008 at 06:56:08 AMMy brother will be 50yo this year and he still has nightmares about the flying monkeys in The Wizard of Oz. I had a problem with the witch.
Posted 07/03/2008 at 07:59:06 AMHow about Logan's Run? That had titty! That was PG.
Posted 07/03/2008 at 09:24:52 AMYeah, Airplane is PG, and it has a topless girl, drugs out the snatch, a little girl saying she likes here coffee balck her men, a stewartist giving head to a blow up doll, and so many other things, crazy it got a PG.
Posted 07/03/2008 at 03:18:55 PMPG-13 wasn't used until 1984. Explains a lot of this.
Posted 07/03/2008 at 04:38:41 PMPoltergeist was rated PG?
I remember seeing that movie on TV when I was a lot younger and I couldn't sleep or be alone for 2 weeks, then I had constant nightmares every night for about 4 months, and I can't remember much about the rest but I'm still scarred by that movie.
It took the banging on your window from "Oh, it's just a tree" to "OH CRAP ITS A TREE!"
Posted 07/05/2008 at 08:59:49 PMNotice how these movies are from the 70's and 80's? The reason they got such lax ratings is because back in that day parents would actually watch movies with their kids and talk to them about being a real person, how movies are different, the facts of life, dirty words, etc. Ratings didn't matter back then, because parents would actually consider what they are about to have their children watch. These days it seems parents just get whatever they see first, sit their kids down in front of it, and start suing when their kids do stupid things because they failed to actually communicate with their children. I remember seeing a sign posted at the local movie rental store in phoenix, stating that "Pan's Labyrinth is rated R and is not suitable for children." Makes me wonder how many parents rented the movie, sat their kids down in front of it, walked by the TV again 30 min later and saw something they disliked and ran back to the video store to complain about it.
Posted 07/13/2008 at 03:04:51 PMThe Green Berets a war film directed and starring John Wayne has impalings and stabbings in it. G-Rated
Posted 07/15/2008 at 12:22:29 AMTeh Andromeda Strain has male and female nudity, scenes of dead bodies. G-Rated
My God! Have you people never read a book? You do know that "Watership Down" was a book before a movie, right? Many have commented on how the movie was a horrifying experience. If you had read the book or at least your parents had read it, you all would have known that it was NOT in fact a happy, happy, feel-good story about rabbits. It it a story about survival, plain and simple. And don't give me that "I was too young or I was a child" crap, I was nine when I read the book and saw the movie that same year. If you want fluffy or cute bunnies, go and watch Bambi or Bugs Bunny. Or should those get a PG or PG13 rating because Bambi's mother is so horrifically slaughtered and Bugs Bunny cartoons are so violent?
Posted 07/15/2008 at 04:23:40 AMOk, the G (or was it PG?) one that scared the crap outta me? Damn that Spielberg: ET!
Seriously, the government trying to kill the alien, glowing fingers and hearts, that creepy voice that was *supposedly* Debra Winger (I don't buy it). Granted, I was only 4 when the film came out, but I was traumatized for YEARS afterwards!!
Not to mention, my mom loved Neil Diamond, so I couldn't change the radio station when that horrid "Heartlight" song came on.... **shuddering**
Although, I gotta say, Poltergiest had me terrified for a long time too!
By the way, I knew I was a straight girl the day I saw Labyrinth and David Bowie's package!!! ;-)
Posted 07/15/2008 at 04:39:50 AMHere's one that is rated 'G' that should be 'PG-13'instead. Disney's 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' has some of the most suggestive sexual material ever between Esmerelda and Frollo, the Archdeacon of all people. It's very violent and dark and it even has a song called 'Hellfire' where Frollo basically says Esmerelda will have sex with him or he will kill her. Underated movie, I think it's one of Disney's finest.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 05:01:22 AMI have to disagree with adding watership down to this list. Despite containing many graphic scenes, the film prepares kids for the fact that bad things happen, people get hurt, and people die.
I know that this film was one of the few things that I saw as a child that actually depicted death, and not the death of a evil witch/wizard/demon, it was the death of characters that didn't actually deserve it, that had done little to merit their horrendous fate.
It saves parents a lot of time explaining to their kids why Grandpa isn't going to be visiting this Christmas, or any other Christmas, and prepares children for the "s**t happens" mentality that we all have to adopt at some point when bad things are happening to good people.
I'd admit that parents that want to shield their progeny from this material should be allowed to... but that's why they are given the "Parental Guidance" rating, the clue is in the wording
Posted 07/15/2008 at 06:08:04 AMOh I have a bunch for you here:
Dragonslayer - 1981, rated PG and has nudity and a scene of baby dragons eating the princess. Disney made this movie too I believe
Spaceballs - 1987, rated PG and has the F bomb and a reference to giving "great helmet".
European Vacation - 1985, PG-13 but has the F bomb, tons of tits and plenty of crude jokes.
The Getaway - 1972, rated PG but has some bloody squibs, a man getting shot point blank in the balls and McQueen slapping the hell out of McGraw
I was going to mehtion, Beatsmaster, Outlaw Josey Whales and Sixteen candles but some of you already did. Clash of the Titans is a tough call, it was violent and showed an ass but I don't think it shopuld have been rated R.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 06:31:59 AMNo one has mentioned All the President's Men, which had about 8-10 F-bombs, not just 1.
Also, I think Kramer vs. Kramer had a topless sex scene in it.
Both movies were a 1970s PG.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 08:14:32 AMHad to laugh at Kris' comment that back in "the day" (70's/80's) it was better because parents actually sat down to watch movies with their kids then discuss reality vs. movies. Generalizing that all (or even most) parents did that with their kids is ridiculous - many moms were going back to work in the 70's, leaving many of us kids with more time on our own.
My mom took me to see Jaws at the drive-in when I was 8, then promptly fell asleep...when it was over she woke up and asked me how I liked the movie. Of course I was too paralyized by fear to reply. Wouldn't swim for years, even in a pool! LOL Today it's one of my favoite movies, though.
As a parent of 3 boys (13, 12, 8; I'm not a newbie)- I'd say that the opposite is true - more parents are paying much more attention to ratings and being involved in what their kids do & watch. Just my 2 cents!
Posted 07/15/2008 at 08:22:00 AMNo one has mentioned All the President's Men yet, with a whopping 8-10 F-bombs.
Also, I think Kramer vs. Kramer had a topless sex scene.
Both were a 1970s PG.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 08:46:44 AMyou are so right on about watership down. i saw it when i was 5 or 6. dogs eating bunnies is not something a child should see. i'm thrilled you included it on this list!
Posted 07/15/2008 at 08:56:00 AMGood call on Poltergeist. When my nephew was about 10, he saw it in my DVD collection and asked me to put it on for him. I told him it was scary, but he said he could handle it- this was a kid whose parents had raised him on R-rated movies almost from birth.
He only made it about 30 minutes in before he asked me to turn it off. That's right, a kid whose parents showed him freaking Starship Troopers when he was 5, couldn't finish Poltergeist. PG my ass!
Posted 07/15/2008 at 09:18:21 AMhow 'bout "The Witches"
that movie scared the bejesus out of me when i was a kid. rated PG and came out in 1990.
i had nightmares for a week of every lady i knew taking off their face to reveal a grotesque witch face. plus i thought id be turned into a mouse and eaten...
Posted 07/15/2008 at 09:33:30 AMWhat I find deeply more disturbing that any scene in the films mentioned above is the author's comments that Gremlins, Watership Down, and Poltergeist are capable of "scarring children for life." I saw all of those movies as a child and I turned out a-okay. My guess is the author is just a big old pussy.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 09:52:48 AMOn a different note, "Grease" is very racy and inappropriate for youngsters. I showed it to my students a few months ago without having viewed it in years prior.
And wow, the questions that arose from that...
Posted 07/15/2008 at 10:00:08 AMLone Wolf McQuade with Chuck Norris. I remember my father taking me to see that - I even remember quoting lines to my friend. It was on cable a few months ago, and my jaw was on the floor as I watched it as it was supposed to be rated PG.
Multiple f-bombs, very violent, and racy scenes ... and it somehow got a PG.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 10:11:55 AM"The Legend of Hell House" would qualify.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 10:13:42 AMI seem to remember seeing Poltergeist in the theatres when I was 13 and being a little surprised that it didn't get an "R" rating even at that time when I thought the corpses in the pool and the midget lady were equally terrifying.
I always assumed that it didn't get an "R" because no one actually DIES in the film (unlike some of the actual cast members in real life).
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:07:06 AMOne thing to keep in mind with some of these older questionable PG movies, is what context either nudity, language or violence was represented. Was it gratuitous or did it server the story or plot of the movie? i think in many cases certain movies received a PG rating due to the nature of the movie and how these "devices" were portrayed/utilized in the film.
"Dragonslayer" is a good example. It's a stark fantasy about an apprentice wizard who fights dragons and saves the princess. The one nude scene is - well, I guess this is a spoiler - so let's just say it deals with identity and serves the story. It's not gratuitous. The baby dragons' dining on the princess is a bit graphic, but I've seen much worse in PG movie. Yeah, today Dragonslayer would most likely get a "PG-13", but back then I think it warranted a PG rating
Also, you often find that in the past movies get away with more in terms of language, violence and nudity if the overall subject matter is of literary or historical significance.
I actually saw "Watership Down" in the theatre during its original release. My parents took me to everything back then. It's vague now since I was so young, but I do recall being scared. I also recall enjoying it too. "Poltergeist" scared the bejeesus out of me and I still have to close my eyes during the frakkin clown scene.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:17:37 AMFour words: MARCH OF THE PENGUINGS! There were very young children in the audience that had no business seeing penguin sex, penguins being eating and penguin babies being stolen by predatory birds.
Some of the earlier James Bond films should have been rated PG-13. Besides the sexual content, many of the opening titles featured naked women (A View to a Kill was the greatest offender).
It's amazing how a lot of mainstream films get away with some things, and independent films get slammed. There should be another list, PG-13s that should be rated something else and R rated films that should have been NC-17 and vice versa.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:45:17 AMFor instance, 8 Women/8 Femmes was rated R for a clothed lesbian kiss between two leads. There were PG-13 films showing more than that.
As others have mentioned, I was definitely expecting to see "Beastmaster" on this list. It has nudity, human child sacrifice, and pet ferret death.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:46:50 AMDon't forget the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. I'm amazed that that's still a PG movie.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:47:32 AMI used to work at a Hollywood video, and our copy of Poltergeist said it was rated 'PG' on the cover (actual) movie box, but on the rental case it said it was rated 'R' and it rang up that way. Also, The Goonies has quite a bit of swearing in it that you don't realize...
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:56:05 AMWhat about Space Balls? That PG rating got it shown on my 8th grade field trip to DC
Posted 07/15/2008 at 12:07:40 PMI'm with Homer Simpson that "The human wang is a natural thing," but what of the protracted scene of full frontal male nudity in A Room With a View? A mere Parental Guidance suggested.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 12:11:03 PMRelatively recently, I could not believe that they gave 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban' a PG rating instead of the PG-13 that it deserved. Those dementors didn't belong in a PG film.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 12:12:08 PMThis isn't rating related, but i used to go round my grandparents house every saturday to watch a movie and have lunch, and my granddad, well,.. he didnt hold back on such easily dismisable things as the movie's adult content. we're talkin Predator, Sphere (Anyone seen that? thats is hell scary!) but the worst one, Starship Troopers. i was 6.
still cant watch it. anyone else have similar horrific movie encounters?
Posted 07/15/2008 at 12:36:18 PMSince I live in Northern Maine I can watch Canadian tv and see movies with a 13+ rating, and I get profanity, sexual content, and nudity. Yet a show like 24 gets a TV 14 rating in Canada for violence. While the ratings system in America has come a long way since the 70's and 80's, our system still has some flaws. Either way, it seems to me that despite those flaws, it still beats the system in Canada out of the water.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 12:48:18 PMI don't know the source of this site, but I feel I have taken a ride in the "way-back" machine. All of the movies mentioned are maybe a little rough for little Jane and Johnny, but no movie mentioned helped create any psychopaths. The ratings system is a sham. How about an article about how many R movies should have been PG13? There would probably be just as many, but this is obviously a site dedicated to the Sunday school set. Watership Down is a great movie dealing with real things, and with the right parental guidance, a very educational and uplifting movie. Gee, most people raised on a farm or near nature would take that movie in stride. Gremlins? Yeah, it's scary in places, but any intelligent, well rounded kid from
Posted 07/15/2008 at 01:21:20 PM9-13 shouldn't be that bothered...it has a great sense of fmischief. And if he is, so what? Let something scare the little tyke, it won't kill him. Like I said, this is a very different set of opinions that I am used to seeing on movie forums....
Something that's often forgotten is that the warning line for the PG rating used to say (in the 1970s) that "some material may be unsuitable for children under 13" - essentially making it, at the time, identical to what the PG-13 rating is now. (The PG warning line now states that "some material may not be suitable for children", begging the question of how exactly it differs from the PG-13; isn't everyone under 13 a child? I suppose that in practice it's really more of a PG-9 rating.) But over the years, the PG rating got watered down because filmmakers and studios would include something relatively innocuous simply in order to avoid the dreaded G rating (which many moviegoers interpreted as meaning a film was aimed solely at children). So the PG rating became too broad, including every film that featured anything inappropriate for a G (brief profanity) but nothing harsh enough for an R (graphic sex scenes, extensive gory violence); sometimes they included depictions of drug use. A lot (perhaps even most) of the PG films from the late '70s and early '80s are really what would today be PG-13.
The problem, essentially, is that filmmakers and distributors have little concern over what separates a PG from a PG-13 (or even what separates a G from a PG); their sole concern is the line between PG-13 and R, just as it was once the line between PG and R, as they're only worried about whether 15- and 16-year-olds can get into the movie on their own. (I'll concede that distributors also worry about the line between R and NC-17, much as they used to worry about the line between R and X, as most theaters won't book films with the most restrictive rating.)
The MPAA has always tried to establish a true 4-rating system, whether it's been G/PG/R/X or PG/PG-13/R/NC-17, but the marketplace has never shown much interest in anything but the two in the middle.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 01:27:28 PMWhen I first saw this article the movie that popped immediately into my mind was Gremlins. OMG I saw that when it first came out and I had nightmares for months. It wasn't until about 8 years ago that I learned Gremlins wasn't an rated R horror film. I was in a video rental place and I happened to be perusing the childrens' section and I saw Gremlins there. I was like "WTF? Why is this movie not in the Horror section?" Then my jaw hit the floor when I saw it wasn't in fact rated R like I had thought my whole life up until that point. Gotta agree completly with poster on this list. Well done.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 02:07:12 PMBarbarella???
Posted 07/15/2008 at 02:32:08 PMI remember "Vanishing Point" received a PG rating. It had swearing, drug use, a rape scene and a chick casually riding her motorcycle around completely naked for about five minutes of screen time!
Bo Derek's Tarzan the Ape Man was rated "Mature" which in British Columbia, Canada was the equivilant to PG.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 02:43:40 PMGotta agree with JAMIE.... Droagonslayer scared the absolute crap out of me as a kid!!!! And yes, Disney did make it.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 03:27:33 PMLay off Wizards, it's a great film that is not as violent as you are leading readers to believe. Yeah there's some violent depictions in the war, but that's real. You shouldn't have to lie and leave blood and gore out of a war scene just to make it appeal to children. That's selling out, and plain stupid.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 03:43:28 PMA couple that come to mind:
Bakshi's "Lord of the Rings." Easily one of the most graphically violent, bloody films I've ever seen--probably more violent than The Godfather films or most of Martin Scorsese's early work. Craziness.
"Benny and Joon" is another PG-rated flick with the F-word--and it came about several years after PG-13 was in effect. Equally strange, however, is how the film earns an R-rating in Canada. It seems no one got it right with this one.
"Watership Down," "Secret of NIMH," and "Return to Oz" are among the scariest movies I've seen. I love them all.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 04:10:57 PM"Clash of the Titans" (as metioned before) also had a topless scene at the very beginning. The woman was breast feeding so I'm not sure if that'd kick it up to a PG-13 nowadays. (one would hope not but we all know better.)
There was a version of "Romeo and Juliet" from the 60s that has a brief topless shot (and unfortunate hairy ass shot) that made my 8th grade class erupt into a hoot and holler fest.
"Ragtime" (1981) was a great dramatic movie that was PG and had an EXTENDED fully frontal nude scene in. (eh, I guess she was wearing boots.)
"Sixteen Candles" was also mentioned before, but the amazing thing about that being PG is that the nudity was undoubtedly sexual. If the nudity is done in a humorous way I can see why they got away with it but a smokin' hot teen in a shower???
Posted 07/15/2008 at 05:12:31 PM-J
I have to mention a movie I saw as a kid around 1980. It was called Prophecy, and it was about a mutated, pissed-off, mama bear raging through the woods of Maine I believe. When I say pissed-off, I mean pissed off. Me, and my parents thought that because of the PG rating it would cool to watch as far as the violence thing, but 'um , No. That bear was tearing folks a new one, and violently! I still cannot believe that movie got a PG rating.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 05:45:52 PMHow about Spaceballs? Not only was the entire movie a pun on male anatomy, but there is an incredibly amount of profanity - including the f-word. "Out of order?! Fuck!"
Posted 07/15/2008 at 05:48:21 PMIn 1975, when I was nine years old, my parents took me to see Ken Russell's film version of The Who's "Tommy." This remains one of the most harrowing/nightmarish movies I've ever seen (Acid Queen, Cousin Kevin, Uncle Ernie, Tommy's parents getting bloodily brained by broken bottles), and just thinking about it gave me nightmares all the way through high school! Plus, Ann-Margret rides a hot dog-shaped pillow to oblivion -- and, inexplicably, this was rated PG (although I remember that the theater marquee bore the admonishment, "Not for the squeamish").
Relatedly, Brian De Palma's "Phantom of the Paradise," cut from the same rock opera cloth as "Tommy," was released the same year, showed a guy getting his head crushed in a record press, and also received a PG.
(On a wholly unrelated note: There's a PG rated "family" western called "Jory," where Robby Benson pukes all over himself! I guess PG stands for "Puke Gross!"
Posted 07/15/2008 at 06:50:08 PMGet real!! I was brought up as a child in the 50's in the worst home situation you could imagine. Get your priorities straight. We are only concerned about ratings because we are too lazy too explain to our children that this is real and this is make believe. Lazy ass socialists!!!
Posted 07/15/2008 at 07:16:10 PMno wonder the world's full of wusses
Posted 07/15/2008 at 07:28:44 PMHow about The Bounty released in 1984. It's rated PG and has the a ton of nudity.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 07:37:09 PMWhat about a movie called "Lucky Lady?" It was originally rated PG, then it was edited down to a G. It had one of the main characters dying.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 07:47:15 PMI was surprised to find out that the PG rated Can't Stop The Music contained full frontal male nudity and topless women.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 08:06:14 PMScrew Dragonslayer - what about Pinocchio? Or Snow White, or Bambi for that matter?
For the happiest place on earth they produce some stuff that is downright disturbing, even all these years on.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 10:53:54 PMKind of amusing to read here what freaks people out most about 'inappropriate for PG'. Why are people so bothered about fleeting sights of nudity? How is it 'bad' for youngsters to be exposed to the natural human body, as opposed to watching some special effect involving death or mutilation? Oh, and 'the f word' - please!! Does any kid not hear this in their daily life, quite harmlessly all the time?
Agree with the poster who observed that parents were probably more knowledgeable and caring about what their kids saw and explained things better
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:17:49 PMI would add pretty much every Chuck Norris movie from 1970-1990.
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:21:42 PMGreat list, fun discussion... but because I'm a stickler for accuracy, I'm 100% sure Raiders of the Lost Ark was rated R in it's U.S. theatrical run...
Posted 07/15/2008 at 11:41:49 PMOK, going trhough the comments I'm seeing a theme here and people need to realise something about how a movie is rated.
Nudity, sexual situations, drugs, frightening images and violence do not automactially make a movie PG or PG-13.
There are several factors that must be taken into effect.
Nudity: Did you really see it? or was it just your Perverted mind? Psycho (1960) had one of the best examples of a PG movie with [i]implied[/i] nudity. Not once in the horrifying shower sequence that shows any more skin than someone in a Bikini. (Yes I know it was rerated R but it should have stayed PG)
Just because you see the tops or most of a woman's breasts doesn't mean it's PG-13 or R material. (See Star Trek: any series)If you can't see her nipples it cannnot be considered actual nudity. obscured, covered or otherwise hidden can garner a lower rating. Anyone remember Splash? The same with the lower backside if you can't see anything naughty it isn't enough for R or PG-13. This also goes with films that include natives from foriegn contries where topless is a common form of dress. Jewel of the Nile is a classic case of PG film that demonstrates this. Heck, there is even a scene with Michael and Kathleen naked, obviously between moments of lust, but he is laying on top of her so you don't see anything. Cartoons get away with more because it's a cartoon and likely inaccurate or comically done. or there isn't anything to be seen. (Boobs on statues and artwork do not count towards a rating the Venus Demilo has appeared on even on Childrens television over the years as well as other famous nude artworks)
This also goes for the dirty thought inducing James Bond Intros. You can't see anything except for what your mind sees.
Sexual situations: Read Innuendo. There are so many PG and G rated films packed with Innuendos I could spend all day writting them down. As long as it's not actually stated they are talking about sex, it's clean enough for lower ratings. Someone referenced Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame up in the comments somewhere. It was implied that he (Frollo) was talking about wanting to have sex with Esmerelda but he didn't say it outright. Double Entrendes can also stay on a lower rating but usually they are a bit more innocence destroying than implied phrasing.
Real sexual situations can also find their way into PG because it's done off screen, or through shadows and sillioetes, or rather obscure sequences that you get the idea but nothing of the actual act. (See Naked Gun: any of the series though they reated the first one to PG-13 recently) It goes almost hand in hand with the nudity rating, if you can't see anything obviously naughty you can get away with a lot of it. (See Young Frankenstien or any of the PG rated Mel Blanc films.)
Drugs do not garner a PG-13 rating unless the hero is seen actively using them of his own free will. This doesn't include smoking though. Drugs have entered several PG and G rated fims for years even alcohal. Dumbo, Aristocats, and Sleeping Beauty are very prime example of drunkeness in films. I won't get to much into this because most of the drug use in PG film's are usually against the heroic caharacters will, comedic, used for character lessons, or deep plotline enhancement.
Violence is an amazing thing. There is a lot of violence in PG and G movies, NIHM, heh. Falling and getting squashed by a rock isn't bad compared to G rated Sleeping Beauty where you see the sword plunge into the Dragon, blood and all or Little Mermaid where Ursula gets impaled with a freakin' ship mast. Even more recently is Spiderwick with creatures getting mutalated left and right. Star Wars has arms gettting chopped off, even an onscreen decapitation in episode 2. Granted some things should have had a highe rating for violence. But as is with Nudity and Sex, if you imply more than you show you could get away (in theory) with filming a Texas Chainsaw Massacre (or generic slasher film) with a PG rating. You can show stabbing and blood flying, or dripping from the wound but not at the same time. At least in todays PG film standards. Indianna Jons was PG because it wasn't as violent as most of the R rated blood fests opening in that timeframe.
Language. OMG you said WTF! H4x0r! The F-bomb is generally an instant PG-13 rating on just about anything that has the phrase used. But there ar times when it slips past, or it isn't what the guy actually said. I've been caught offguard on a lot of films but usually it wasn't what it really was. If it's very well pronouced there is very little chance the movie will find a PG rating.
The F word may be common on the street, but it's still harmful. There is no plesantness to the word it is as harsh as it sounds, It's meaning is crude, and your grandmother should slap you for saying it aloud. It is a word that has no other purpose than to be harsh and unpleasent on the ears of those around you. in fact I've been studing that people who curse with the F word are more likely to be more prone to violent behavior than someone who uses Dmn it or sht.
Scary Images: Guys.... guys.. guys... There is a line between scary shit and R rated scary shit. The difference usually makes the PG rating that much scarier overall. Because it's all in your head. Hitchcock was a genius because he knew how to terrify people wihtout going beyond his audience into graphic violence or nudity. No matter what you say the original Psycho was the scariest film of the Psycho movies and remakes. It wasn't what was actually shown that scared the hell out of you, itwas what you imagined. That's why Stephen King rules the scary department. Monsters and other creatures can find their way into PG films because they follow the rules of not showing anything actually graphicaly disgusting or violent or shocking. That's the difference between a dark room with blood splatters and scratch marks, and disembioded heads and guts strewn about said room.
Thats' the differnce betwen Poltergiest and Amityville or Exorcist. You didn't see anything R-rated scary, and that's why the Clowns haunt you forever.
That's my two cents.
Posted 07/18/2008 at 05:53:55 PMAnother comedy would be Top Secret. The jail scene when Val Kilmers manager complains that he cant bring his wife to orgasm and Val gives him the Anal Intruder whic among other attachments had a fist on the end of a jackhammer. I think thats a bit past PG personally
Posted 07/21/2008 at 11:33:40 PMFunny story, most of these movies are before they actually came up with the pg-13 rating. I agree with all that's been said, and I'm sure some film fanatic knows better than I, but I believe Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was the first movie to push the PG curtain so far that they had to create a PG-13 rating, before that it was PG, or it was R. I'd fact check this too...
Posted 07/23/2008 at 07:06:31 PMAfter reading all these posts it's clear that no ratings system is perfect and people will always disagree about what children should be exposed to. Parents just need to read the back of the movies and see how the movie got that rating. If the movie is R for Nudity and Language it will have alot of nudity and language to make up the R rating. If you don't want your child to see violence don't rent an R rated movie for violence. Personally, violent movies are my favoites. I was scared of clowns my entire childhood and watching that clown in Poltergeist scarred me for life. In my opinion be responsible and know what is in movies before your children watch them. But, it is important to know the differences between movies and the real world. There Will Be Blood with Daniel Day Lewis was rated R for violence and language. It was long but interesting. It didn't deserve an R a drill bit falls on one guy and he hits a dude in the head with a bowling pin. Oh, I forgot how much I hated David Bowie till I read this article. :-)
Posted 07/23/2008 at 11:39:18 PMAs to the bloggers comment about the rating appeal; there is an explanation of it in the documentary This Film Is Not Yet Rated. The appeals process is intentionally murky; apparently representatives from the clergy and the national theater chains are present in a Supreme Court kind of setup. No records of any kind are made of the appeal meeting.
Posted 07/26/2008 at 11:47:46 AMThe theory is that major studio films get more consideration on these appeals than do minor, independent films. And why are the clergy and theater owners involved at all?
White Water Summer, with Kevin Bacon and Sean Astin.
Kids, its OK to scream the F-word at your wilderness guide, then beat the crap out of them and chuck them off a cliff! And when somebody dies, just keep going deeper!
Posted 08/04/2008 at 07:13:25 PMI'm not sure if anyone mentioned this one, but what about "Race with the Devil"(1975)? It had a child sacrifice that took place during a satanic ritual. There were going to burn a young girl in an open fire. I've seen some R-rated thrillers that aren't even as intense as this. "Race with the Devil" was in fact PG. I was overwhelmed myself by these images, and I WAS 15 when I first saw this movie. Plus, satanic human sacrifices don't even belong in a PG movie for one thing.
Posted 08/16/2008 at 02:59:47 PMI'm not sure if anyone mentioned this one, but what about "Race with the Devil"(1975)? It had a child sacrifice that took place during a satanic ritual. There were going to burn a young girl in an open fire. I've seen some R-rated thrillers that aren't even as intense as this. "Race with the Devil" was in fact PG. I was overwhelmed myself by these images, and I WAS 15 when I first saw this movie. Plus, satanic human sacrifices don't even belong in a PG movie for one thing.
Posted 08/16/2008 at 03:00:00 PMI'm not sure if anyone mentioned this one, but what about "Race with the Devil"(1975)? It had a child sacrifice that took place during a satanic ritual. There were going to burn a young girl in an open fire. I've seen some R-rated thrillers that aren't even as intense as this. "Race with the Devil" was in fact PG. I was overwhelmed myself by these images, and I WAS 15 when I first saw this movie. Plus, satanic human sacrifices don't even belong in a PG movie for one thing.
Posted 08/16/2008 at 03:00:00 PMUmm What about the original "The Fly" I could not go into our kitchen at night.. I had to sneak my hand to the light switch and wait outside until the light came on..
Posted 08/22/2008 at 01:14:03 PMHelp me... Help me..... SCARY for a child!!!
The Goonies (1985). Took my kids to see it at an outdoor amphitheatre in a campground last night (they had accidentally listed it as G rated)...we had to leave after the umpteenth S**T, F**K and countless sexual references. PG? Really?! I remember loving the movie when I was in high school, but as a parent 20 years later, couldn't believe the amount of profanity. Parents...a fun trip down memory lane (Sean Austin is awesome!)...but beware little ears.
Posted 08/24/2008 at 01:15:52 AMIf you can't be bothered to educate yourself about a movie beforehand, then you shouldn't complain about content afterward. If you're a child, it's your parent's responsibility, not the MPAA's or the filmmakers, to make sure you don't see things that will upset you to the point of lifelong trauma. Now of course, many parents do not in fact take the time to educate themselves about the movies that their children are going to see. My parents learned the hard way, they took me to see the Japanese war movie Tora, Tora, Tora, when I was 7. I screamed and cried in the middle of it all, and they had to take me home.
Basically, what I'm trying to say is that the rating system is useless at best, and actually harmful to the art of filmmaking at its worst. Many amazing and wonderful films have been unnecessarily shunned because of being given a worse rating than they deserved.
Also, yes, shield your children from violence, and even excessive (note the word "excessive"!) swearing, but nudity and consensual sex? Come on guys, it's the 21st century for goodness' sake! Can we please get past that now? And how much longer are we going to "warn" viewers of TV and movies that the "following program contains subject matter of a mature nature" when the subject matter is merely that there is a gay relationship happening? Without any sex being showed even? This country needs to grow up and stop being so damn embarrassed about things that make us happy and fulfilled. Sex, happy relationships, and the naked human body are good things, not bad ones.
Posted 08/25/2008 at 12:22:07 PMKris said:
Ratings didn't matter back then, because parents would actually consider what they are about to have their children watch.
That is hilarious, as we were all children back then and our parents (the ones who were "considering what we watched") were the ones renting freakin' Poltergiest for us.
(BTW, I prewatch everything my kid watches - he doesn't watch tv at all at the moment being six years old, I pre-read every book I read him. Parents a generation ago are no better than parents today, it all depends on the individuals, you douche.)
Posted 08/30/2008 at 07:15:17 AMGreat list. I would also add the Transformers Animated movie because of multiple deaths (though robot deaths) and the use of the words "damn" and "shit". But I guess because it is a cartoon it gets a lower rating much like Beowulf got a PG-13 rating which if filmed with actors would have gotten an R-rating.
WarGames another fun teen movie from the 80s has enough profanity in it that it could be considered PG-13 by today's standards.
Posted 09/02/2008 at 12:19:36 PMTo all the people who say what's the big deal about Watership Down, could you please post your street addresses so I can come over and kick you until you die. I had to see that movie when I was 5 years old IN THE THEATER and it was the worst of any of those films up there. The cool beating heart in Temple of Doom or some swearing wasn't that bad, but Watership Down is BRUTAL and my folks brought me BECAUSE they already knew it was based on some classic novel. I would let a kid watch Beverly Hills Cop before Watership Down any day. What a crock! I'm sure many a serial killer was created in 1978.. Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda, my parents brought me to see that nightmare inducing shock fest and I, although I function in society, I remember how much it bothered me at the time, and I would rather not have seen it. Thank-You.
Posted 09/21/2008 at 12:41:05 AMBack in 1959 (yeah - I'm old) there WAS no ratings system, and films were simply slanted toward various audiences. One film I saw that year (it was not even first-run - released in 1958), that was considered generally appropriate for kids to watch, was "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad," but it virtually scared the crap out of me!
There were stop-motion animated monsters - huge dragons, walking skeletons, etc. - that I knew were faked, and I knew how it was done, but in context they looked real enough to my unsophisticated eyes to raise a lot of anxiety. Still, the scene that filled me with horror was the "Lady-and-the-Snake" sequence wherein a Wizard puts a cobra into a huge basket, into which a woman has just climbed, and he magically blends the two into a hideous gorgonesque creature. She emerges from the basket, smiles coquettishly (repulsive though she has become), and does a bizarre "snake-dance" balanced on the purple tail into which her legs have become fused. She seems to think she is a big hit with the audience until her tail, which has been thrashing around apparently under a will of its own, wraps itself around her throat and begins to strangle her!
The wizard, suddenly aware that his illusion, or whatever it is, has gotten out of control, quickly ends the episode, and the woman emerges from the cloud of smoke unharmed - but with a sore throat.
It gave me nightmares, and an intense mistrust of film directors and/or marketers! Some kids handled that film just fine, but as an admittedly immature ten-year-old, I was traumatized. That sort of thing is why the ratings were established in the first place.
Posted 09/27/2008 at 02:42:10 PMI've hated clowns ever since seeing Poltergeist in theaters. I still can't believe my mother took me to that movie.
Posted 10/10/2008 at 12:36:56 PMI've hated clowns ever since seeing Poltergeist in theaters. I still can't believe my mother took me to that movie.
Posted 10/10/2008 at 12:44:32 PMTwo cents put forward a good argument and I agree that Psycho is definitely the scariest movie of all time.
I am 15 and have been able to watch 16 rated movies since the ratings people said I should be watching pg13's as long as they were classed as cultural movie education! Movies such as The Shawshank Redemption, The Godfather, The Usual Suspects and One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest all contained R rated content and deserved it. I always felt I could handle it and had a choice. However, I saw the entire Band of Brothers series when I was 12/13 and that is a very gory, violent TV series and after watching that I have felt very jaded about violence in movies. Regarding PG Movies I would only say that quite recently I saw a PG rated movie that had very adult themes and contained some close-up shots of a womans lower private parts (not sex, just for effect. However, It didn't have much violence or bad language and I think that this is what enabled it to still be a PG.
Sweet Az
Posted 10/14/2008 at 02:12:59 AMNever saw GREMLINS but i can remember GRIMLINS II A NEW BATCH especialy when GIZMO pull off that RAMBO rutine using sharpened pincils as arrows
Posted 10/19/2008 at 11:49:40 AMBILLY JACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted 10/23/2008 at 08:27:16 PMIn Poltergeist The creature guarding the room that was made of bones freaked me out more than any thing else from Aliens (which I know was R rated) until I saw that Watership Down clip.
Holy Crap and my wife as a kid used to breed bunnies, hers was the Stud!!(if you know any think about that it puts a whole new spin the little baseball bats from the ball parks in the 70's & 80's) but the others were sold live and for Rabbit Stew.
Posted 11/02/2008 at 09:57:16 AMwww.filthyrichmond.com
Posted 11/08/2008 at 05:58:30 AMWATERSHIP DOWN... that one completly scared and scarred me when I was a little kid. I was expecting a cute-bunny movie also... dang. Awesome List.
Posted 11/08/2008 at 08:16:58 PMThis list is so hopelessly mainstream. The correct answer is "Blood and Lace", the sleaziest, most disgusting and horrible movie to EVER be rated PG. And it has Gloria Grahame, Melody Patterson, AND Vic Tayback...and yet, it is more perverse than any R-rated grunge i ever saw.
Posted 11/09/2008 at 02:54:22 AMThis list is so hopelessly mainstream. The correct answer is "Blood and Lace", the sleaziest, most disgusting and horrible movie to EVER be rated PG. And it has Gloria Grahame, Melody Patterson, AND Vic Tayback...and yet, it is more perverse than any R-rated grunge i ever saw.
Posted 11/09/2008 at 02:54:30 AMSomebody mentioned "Vanshing Point" a while ago... the DVD copy I have of that says it's rated R. No idea if it was originally rated PG in the 70's and then submitted for re-rating later (entirely possible), but it's current rating, at least according to this nice plastic case courtsey of Your Friends at 20th Century Fox, says it's an R.
Posted 11/09/2008 at 08:28:54 AMSilent Running in the early 70's was G rated and had Bruce Dern murdering someone with a shovel and burying him. Plus a nice gory scene of a leg wound being sewn up by a robot.
Posted 11/10/2008 at 11:45:11 AMStar Wars series gets a special mention.
I watched some of the movies outside of the US, where there is no rating system. I took my five year old son to see the last movie.
HEY, IT'S STAR WARS! Take the Kids!! Jarjar Binks, Ewoks, etc.
Oh man. What a mistake. Darth Vader immolation. Electro death. Dismemberment. Oh man.
I give this special mention because I was thinking that all of the films might have been pretty weak PG, and then this thing comes along and pushes the needle deep into R territory... it was really unexpected.
Absent a ratings system, we would have to trust filmmakers to stay true to the reputation of their work, and we cannot always count on that.
Posted 11/10/2008 at 03:08:33 PMThis is a useful clarification. It might prevent misunderstanding.
of the US, where there is no rating system.
Posted 11/10/2008 at 03:21:21 PMSHOULD BE
of the US, in a country with no rating system.
are you guys really this anal? i mean geez, sorry to be rude, but alot of you sound like freaking old farts from the 1960's or something, times change, and so do views, just look at schools, things change there, in the 60's girls could not wear skirts above the knee, now look now a days, even the school uniforms have the skirts above the knee. seriously get over it. you will probably think of me as an evily morbid person, but i have let my daughter 5years old at the time watch some of the scary movies like resident evil, you know what she actually liked the dogs in the movie, and laughed at them. she seems to have handled them well. but the list of movies that fool puts up is a joke. by reading all that he has to say, it just sounds like he was a kid who was to scared to handle things, and now he wants to force his ways on the rest of us. well i am done here.
Posted 11/19/2008 at 03:03:22 AMOh my god! I remember being terrified of the ending of 'Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark' (I still am). I wasn't born when the film was out but I saw it on a recorded tape. I was a little uncomftable with the death of the monkey but the ending said it all for me. I was scared shitless after that. I wrote all other the top of the video sticker 18,18,18 like a derranged child, I couldn't sleep, I cried, I had to sleep with my parents!
Posted 11/22/2008 at 06:56:13 AMPG for Poltergeist is ridiculous. There was a scene when the one dude goes in the kitchen and starts dreaming and in the dream he pulls his effin FACE OFF...
Posted 11/26/2008 at 05:18:33 AMI know I am uberly late, but a couple films strike me as misrated. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is one of them. I remember sitting in the theater and like, watching the snow beast get his arm sliced off and flowing blood. Then A buch of guys die in space fights and Luke gets his hand sliced off!
Secondly, Transformers the Movie. We got to watch it in class becuse of its rating. Wanton destruction, robots that die in human ways. Swearing, murder. Optimus Prime died for this? mind blowing stuff.
Finally, we have Lion King. Death, deception, murder. I mean, Mufasa was tossed of a cliff. I actually thought that was pretty cool as a child. Even Scar was mauled by the Hyenas at the end. There was even the scene where Scar backhanded Sarabi. In wrapped in a G-rated box.
Posted 12/10/2008 at 10:19:29 AMI remember seeing Poltergeist at a friend's birthday party when I was around 10. It has taken me years to get over it, and I am sometimes still freaked out by a clown doll I have. I'm 35 now...thanks, Poltergeist.
Posted 12/12/2008 at 07:48:44 AMI remember going to see "Looker" when it came out
Posted 12/17/2008 at 01:40:34 PMI was around 13 or so, it was rated PG and had
full frontal nudity near the end when they scanned
her into the computer. It also had 1 or 2 more
shots that included nudity.
Swamp Thing. Nudity and violence
Posted 01/06/2009 at 11:46:42 AMThis list is pretty worthless. All of the movies except for one came out before 1984. 1984 is the year that the PG-13 rating was created. Before that, it was PG or R. There was no middle ground.
So, yes, most of these would be at least PG-13 nowadays. But would they have been R?
Posted 01/10/2009 at 04:00:26 PMSweet whispering Jesus, you people are FRAGILE! How do you function in a world that should CLEARLY be rated stronger than PG?
Posted 01/18/2009 at 11:30:06 PMTo the guy who wants to kick people to death for being able to watch and understand Watership Down, an acknowledged classic... you do realize that PG stands for parental guidance right? If the film you were "dragged to" as a child upset you that badly and no one was there to calm, teach and comfort you... it is the failure of your parents, not the film.
Maybe you should kick them to death.
You guys and your kids sure are a bunch of delicate little flowers aren't you? Foul language is everywhere, violence is everywhere and (my goodness) drugs are everywhere. You can try to keep them from "bad" influences all you like but they'll run into when they're out of your presence. Only difference is...you won't be there to offer an explanation or guidance. I think sometimes people are less worried about their children's exposure to certain things and more worried about having to explain and talk things out with their child. Don't worry. If you don't explain it to your kids...my kid will at school.
Posted 01/19/2009 at 09:04:08 AMHow about Goonies? I remember seeing it many times in the theatre the summer it came out. Ahhhh, the memories -- pirates and bad guys, gadgets and gizmoes, young love and the Truffle Shuffle. I now teach grade 9 geography, so, as a treat to my students during a mapping unit(Hey, it's a pirate movie that features a map), I plugged it in, turned down the lights and sat down to catch up on some marking as the opening credits rolled.
So the fond memories of my youth failed to recall that the first 20 minutes or so is filled with foul language, broken penises, shit and piss jokes . . . I was shocked! And it was PG in 1985!! Needless to say, we skipped Goonies that day.
Posted 02/06/2009 at 01:42:41 AMThanks!!! cool...
Posted 02/06/2009 at 02:33:13 PMI really think that such arangements
Posted 02/07/2009 at 08:53:23 AMGood days , I wish.
Remember, Grimm's fairy Tales were for children, too...complete with evil stepmothers who get to dance to death in iron shoes, wolves that eat your grandmother, and parents who abandon you into the woods and leave you to be eaten by a witch.
Posted 02/12/2009 at 10:03:59 AMRatings depend entirely on the parent and the children. I certainly don't think I am scarred for life for seeing the PG movies of the 70's and 80's when I was a kid, in fact they are still some of my favorites.
I had the same experience with Watership Down as a kid. I was five rather than nine, though, and the baby sitter had turned it on and left me alone with it. From then until I was around ten I was afraid of rabbits, and I still have the occasional nightmare about evil bunnies with blood and gore dripping from their fangs killing my family. It's a great book, though.
Posted 02/22/2009 at 11:07:17 PMOMG this is crazy. I can't believe Jaws wasn't rated R...that gave everyone nightmares and still makes people afraid to get in the water. And, Poltergeist! I still get nervous every time I see static on the television.
Posted 03/09/2009 at 06:45:57 PM' PG Rated Movies ..... '
Maybe that's why you're such a fucking pussy.
Posted 03/16/2009 at 07:36:14 AMBuncha losers.
Posted 03/16/2009 at 07:39:16 AMBuncha pussies.
Posted 03/16/2009 at 07:53:21 AMI don't see why those movies shouldn't be seen by a general audience.If you watch a light-horror movie (like Gremlins or poltergeist, even jaws) when you're already to old to be scared, I think you missed the point and missed the joy to see a scary movie that actually scares you. Watching or reading something you're not suppose to, makes you grow by confronting yourself to new ideas without risking anything. If not, you end up being afraid of Jaws and even if it's a great movie it's not really scary. it's intense, yes, but there is nothing graphic in it. A good family movie like the goonies. If you're really concerned of the children I had to say that dora, hannah montanna and all these disney crap are much more dangerous than any Beetljuice.
Posted 03/16/2009 at 07:38:18 PMAriplane! Boobs and much, much more!
Posted 03/18/2009 at 07:53:41 AMOne confusing thing about ratings in general for the United States rating system is kung-fu violence. Kung Fu Hustle may be a good example here. It is true that they say the F word in subtitles no more than three times, but the only other reason for an R rating is the kung-fu. There's no stripping people, bloody faces or gory moments, just people punching, kicking and wielding unusual weapons to fight each other. Had they not said the F word (again, spoken in a language other than English and subtitled), would it still have gotten an R? Possibly, given how other kung-fu movies get rated. That kind of violence is really that bad?
Posted 03/18/2009 at 12:40:39 PMSomehow, god knows, I wasn't scared by Watership Down.
Posted 03/21/2009 at 04:16:00 PMIn fact, I rented it twice.
Return to OZ, on the other hand.... No clue what it was rated, but the scenes in the asylum scare the heck out of me at any age.
I'm surprised you didn't add the new Speed Racer movie to that list. At one point the little brother does flip someone off.
Posted 04/15/2009 at 05:39:41 PMdamn, i saw mutiny on the bounty, with anthony hopkins and mel gibson, rated pg, and featuring the most topless women simultaneaously on screen at a time that i have ever seen in any movie, any rating, ever. probably around 200 or something. welcome to tahiti, where apparently, everyone is HOT and TOPLESS.
Posted 05/10/2009 at 09:40:12 PMkinda embarrassing to watch with your parents
I wasn't born when the film was out but I saw it on a recorded tape. I was a little uncomftable with the death of the monkey but the ending said it all for me. I was scared shitless after that.
Posted 05/11/2009 at 01:17:41 PMThe Neverending Story. Death, destruction, the scary wolf thingy. The Nothing, the horse dying in the Swamp of Sadness. That was PG. I love that movie to this day, but the scene with the wolf in the cave still gives me the heebees and all of Atreyu's friends getting sucked into the Nothing still makes me cry.
Posted 05/16/2009 at 10:19:16 PMGallipolli. Swearing aside, there is first a guy looking at black-and-white pictures of nude women. Then there is a topless girl.
Posted 05/16/2009 at 10:26:57 PMLater, some men go swimming in their birthday suits. (Penises clearly visible.) The scene ends with one guy bleeding from a cannonball shot, bringing up the topic of all the blood and violence...HOW ON EARTH it has PG is beyond me.
I find this hilarious because all, and I mean ALL of these movies I watched around the ages of four and six and absolutely loved them. Even Watership Down. I blame Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom.
Posted 05/22/2009 at 09:40:50 PMMy daughter is 5, she watches all the same 8o's "classics" that I grew up on...I don't look at ratings too often as long as there are no sex scenes or of the "horror genre I'm ok w/it...older movies may be a little scary but they're fun!! Her favorites are Ghostbusters, Gremlins, and all of the Indian Jones movies..I think parents now are too "over protective" or something...my daughter has watched these movies since she started watching t.v. she's not scared of much...on the other hand I have a neice (she's 3) whose mother only allows G rated movies she has nightmares about Lady and the Tramp!!!! I think it depends on the child and what they're taught!!!
Posted 05/25/2009 at 10:51:52 AMOkay, in the 70's my parents dropped me, my 10 yo and 9 yo brothers off at the theater and had us call them when whatever movie we could get into by ticket taker inattention or sneaking was over. So did all the other parents. Kids weren't as over protected, but they also weren't as legitimately protected. Movies be damned, child protection services were so racist that Black and Native Americans kids were taken from their parents for no reason and white kids were kept with abusive parents.
I grew up in the country (in the 70's), and Watership Down didn't bother me in the least, because you see that stuff every day. Dogs eating baby bunnies, horses and cows fucking, foals and calves nursing, deer mutilated by trucks... I remember in junior high the lunchroom had a 10 yard window looking out on a cow pasture, and a few times a year all the boys would flock to it holding their folders in front to conceal their hard-ons while the cows and bulls went at it. Ah, good times, good times.
I was at least 13 when I saw Poltergeist and it is one of the most terrifying movies I've ever seen, because Spielberg is a master director (less so now I think than in his early films). He created the thriller/fear aspects psychologically. Look at the clown scene(watch it above):
Mom leaves you on your own to go to bed> You're all alone in the dark (and most adults remain afraid of the dark, probably a survival trait). Scares kids directly and adults indirectly.
Note how well the actor shows his fear of the dark on those zoom in face shots and his restless attempts to settle down, repeatedly sitting up to look around and trying to feel under the bed. (Watching terrified expressions evokes a fear response in healthy people)
Then we have the Psycho-reference undressing/shower scene, ensuring for viewer Mom won't hear kid's struggle if (WHEN) anything happens. (Scares parents indirectly, arouses men which elicits the adrenalin prepping them for fear, scares kids - see unprotected above.)
CLOWN ATTACK! By the creepy clown 70-90% of 70's children were given by clueless adults who didn't notice how horrifying that clown face was in the dark. I personally would throw my blanket over that clown to hide its face because I was scared shitless to actually get close to it or touch it.
Carol Ann watches helplessly as her big brother is dragged under the bed struggling. His cries are muffled and there's no way mom hears them over the bathroom fan. (Scares parents and kids)
Mom is blow drying her hair, oblivious to child's danger and muffled cries. Her nightshirt matches her son's evoking it. (parents, kids, former kids)
It's all implication, no gore, nothing remotely realistic - just a psychological thriller set up that evokes many people's deepest fears, plays on reflexive facial expression mirroring that evokes emotion neurologically, and builds up adrenalin. The tree scene does this too, plays on fears a lot of people already have experienced.
Posted 06/03/2009 at 02:23:34 PMI am an middle school english teacher. Last month, I was teaching Greek mythology and thought that "Clash of The Titans" would be a great way to bring the myths to life. The movie is PG and it came out in 1981. Ten minutes into the movie, we see frontal female nudity! Later in the movie, we see Andromeda's tush and side boob. PG was different in 1981.
Posted 06/14/2009 at 05:48:14 AMPoltergeist is absolutely terrifying (and definitely deserved an R), but not because Steven Spielberg directed it. Tobe Hooper directed it. He also directed a film called The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
Posted 06/14/2009 at 04:03:50 PMI'll never forget my little brother throwing up on me at the movie theater during Jaws. It was too gruesome for him -had to leave.
Posted 06/18/2009 at 06:27:02 PMI remember all that . So that is why I'm twisted
Posted 06/18/2009 at 10:03:02 PMSomeone clearly forgot about Baby: Secret of the Lost, wherein female nudity is pushed well beyond anything found in the 80's B-horror movies (that used tit shots as their main selling point). So many boobies...
Plus, dinosaurs always raise the subject of extinction which always leads to questions of our own existences, life, and deaths... Yeah, dinosaurs aren't exactly a bright sunny learning subject for children. It's the real life lesson that "the good guys doesn't win" or "bad ending". Come to think about it, what did Land Before Time get rated?
I grew up with Don Bleuth and early "great" (rather than evil) Disney. They saw to it that I'd be emotionally crippled for life. So many beloved character deaths...
Posted 06/20/2009 at 10:43:03 AMHAIR
Most people have not seen it so I can see where you would not put it up.
It has boobies, butts, drugs, sexual dialogue and a song of every black racism of the 60's.
Posted 06/23/2009 at 03:53:46 PMI might want to add Canadian Bacon. Every other word's a swear word, and there's stuff in there I don't care to recite.
Posted 06/23/2009 at 11:19:51 PMWhen I was 7 and my older brother was 8 my folks dropped us off at the theater to see "Wait Until Dark" with it's "approved for all audiences" rating. It should have been ammended to "approved for everyone except for children who will be scarred for life". Even IMDb advises that "The ending of the movie is considered one of the most frightening and intense scenes in film history".
Posted 07/01/2009 at 04:48:17 AMOf course, you never know what is going to harm the sensibilities of a child or the exact age when they are mature enough to handle the violence of a particular film.
But scaring children isn't limited to violence. When I was 8 my mother took me to see the G-rated "2001: A Space Odyssey". Bad move... for weeks the folks had me crawling into their bed at night after having yet another nightmare about the monolith or Star Child appearing in my bedroom.
As for nudity... I had no problem taking my son to see movies with exposed breasts. What is it about female nipples, anyway? They look the same as men's, but for some reason when they're exposed it generates lust in men and R-ratings in movies. Sometimes, anyway. I don't know how many minutes a female's nipples have to be exposed in a film to earn it an "R" rating. In 1977 I saw a PG rated film called "Teenage Graffiti" (obviously trying to get bucks by pretending to be related to 1973's "American Graffiti") that had topless girls throughout the movie. Where do they draw the line?
I know you are talking about old school movies but the recent movie I saw that needed to be PG-13 was Speed Racer. The upper thigh shots of Trixie in the helicopter might be enough but the air was sucked out of a theater full of parents with their children the moment the Speed's little brother flipped the bird.
Posted 07/02/2009 at 12:16:48 PMOmygosh... Watership Down. I saw that when I was around the same age - maybe a year or two older. What a nightmare. Even thinking about it now, I get queasy and can feel the same horror I did as a child. The only other movie that affected me the same way was The Secret of Nymh - specifically the part where the mud is oozing through the roof and ... I can't go on. The visions in my head are too horrible. Thank you for making me relive all those memories... :O
Posted 07/02/2009 at 06:51:36 PMSeriously, Watership Down is well deserving of the spot you gave it. I can not understand how they still have that thing for sale ...
Whoops, sorry - that should be Secret of Nimh. Durn memory. And someone above mentioned Return to Oz. Um, yeah. I saw that when I was seven, and I swear for weeks afterwards I stayed awake at night staring at my trash can... just to be sure it wasn't getting bigger.
I don't remember the details of the movie accurately, but I remember being horrified and completely freaked out for a long time afterwards.
Posted 07/02/2009 at 07:09:43 PMWhen Jaws came out, I asked my Dad to take me, and he said , "No way", so I told him it was rated PG. He told me that PG stood for "Pants and Gonch" because it would scare the pants and Gonch off me. He was right.
Posted 07/04/2009 at 02:09:57 AM