MovieChat Forums > Rebel Without a Cause (1955) Discussion > PG-13 rating

PG-13 rating

posted 8 years ago by daultimatefan
6 replies | jump to latest

Do you think Plato's death pushed it over the line?

Other than that, I can't find anything that is out of line with 1950s movies.

[–] leader-7 8 years ago

Why should a character's death impact a rating?

[–] daultimatefan 8 years ago

IDK. I just don't really find it any more violent than other 1950s movies.

There's very little blood, if any. It seems odd for the MPAA to give it a Parent's Strongly Cautioned. Maybe the use of switchblades was considered to be a bad influence on kids, who knows?

With PG-13 I expect moderate blood or highly intense bloodless violence.
This film doesn't seem to fit the bill.

[–] DracTarashV 8 years ago

Sure, RWC is no more violent or "obscene" than other PG movies from its era, but I take it the film's themes of family dysfunction and teenage alienation understandably has something to do with its rating. Morever, the knife fighting and gunplay, seeing teens inebriated and smoking, stolen cars used in a "chickie" race that ends fatally, breaking into a house, and Plato possibly being mentally ill could certainly be factors as well. And while these things might not make much of an impact to many viewers today (not just because the film is seen as outdated by some but also because none of this is really that graphic), my guess is within the context of the film the MPAA considered all this to be unsuitable for younger, impressionable viewers.

You want something corny? You got it!

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

Of course, the current MPAA ratings system did not exist at the time the movie was released.

"Rebel Without a Cause" received the PG-13 rating in 2005, half a century after the fact. So the question is, how does this compare with PG-13 movies of the 2000s?

[–] [deleted] 7 years ago

BTW, another movie of the 1950s that received a PG-13 rating decades later was "Touch of Evil."

[–] modica (4169) 5 years ago

Must be because of the lesbian played by Mercedes McCambridge(also did the devil voice in The Exorcist). The gang rape is pretty harsh stuff even though nothing is seen.