MovieChat Forums > The Impossible Years (1968) Discussion > A little history about the 'G' rating fo...

A little history about the 'G' rating for this movie.

posted 20 years ago by sredds
18 replies | jump to latest

This film was in a group of 18 films that were the first to receive a rating from the MPAA in 1968. The original ratings were G, M. R and X. The films are listed below. I looked thought the user comments for each film to see if anyone mentioned the rating.
the 7 "G" rated films:
"Angel in My Pocket" - comedy
"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" - musical comedy
"Dracula Has Risen from the Grave" - romance/horror
"Great Catherine" - British comedy
"Head" - musical comedy starring the Monkees, comment about the rating, should have been rated M
"The Impossible Years" - comedy, comments about rating, should have been rated M
"The Shoes of the Fisherman" - drama

the 6 "M" rated films;
"The Brotherhood" - crime drama, re-rated to PG-13 in 2001
"Diamonds for Breakfast" - comedy
"The Fixer" - drama
"Hellfighters" - action
"Killers Three" - crime drama
"The Night They Raided Minsky's" - comedy

the 3 "R" films:
"Joanna" - musical
"Lady in Cement" - crime drama, re-rated to PG in 1972
"The Touchables" - drama

the 2 "X" rated films:
"The Killing of Sister George" - black comedy, re-rated to R in 1972
"The Miracle of Love" - German documentary

The MPAA came up with the ratings because of the concern over increasing amounts of bad language, violence and sex in movies and Hollywood did not want government regulation. The M rating was changed to GP and then to PG. The PG-13 rating came about in 1984 and the NC-17 in 1990. The MPAA copyrighted the ratings except for the X. So you can see that rating of films has had its problems from the start and it seems the rating system will always be a source of controversy.

[–] 20 years ago

[deleted]

[–] 4friedchickensandacoke 19 years ago

I found it also interesting that for a 1968 movie film it never used the words.." virgin, virginity, sex, pregnant , and what was that word on the other side of the poster ?????

[–] jpoling-1 18 years ago

The "G" rating for this movie was controversial, and according to contemporaneous articles, it created a lot on anger among parents who took their kids to see it at Radio City Music Hall. Don't know if you'll able to open this but it's the poster, and while rated G it's slapped with a banner that says "adult enterainment."

http://www.moviegoods.com/movie_product.asp?sku=107920&master%5Fmovie%5Fid=2994

[–] punstress 16 years ago

That's funny, because my grandmother took me to see it as none other than Radio City Music Hall when I was 7. I remember almost none of it, except one part where, as I sketchily recall, a little sister was talking about her big sister as being more popular with the guy who came to see her because "now she's got teacups." My sister and I kept pestering my grandmother for what that meant, and I still wonder if I remember that line correctly because who ever heard of breasts being called teacups?!

[–] DualQuadDave 16 years ago

What she ACTUALLY said, concerning her older sister was, "She's a C-cup now."

I'm a rollin' daddy with a mean machine,
It's got a V-8 motor and it shore is keen...

[–] michaelgrefe-1 16 years ago

I remember going to the movies by myself and watching it and I was only 11 at the time. I howled and laughed myself silly!!! It was the funniest and most entertaining film I had ever seen. I could relate to the bookish Darleen Carr character and I could see my sister in the Christine Ferarre role. I was always surprised that she did not have a larger career since she was much more talented than stars today like Jennifer Anniston. Looking back, the movie seemed more typical of the times and as a 51 year old man today our society is not as liberal or as tolerant as we used to be.

[–] SeemsSensible 15 years ago

"Looking back, the movie seemed more typical of the times and as a 51-year-old man today our society is not as liberal or as tolerant as we used to be."

Agreed. I was just trying to remember, but think I was 11, too, when I saw it, and I am about your age. I saw it in a tiny town with one movie theater, which, as I recall, never showed first-run movies. I think it was probably 3 years old or so when I saw it, maybe in 1971, 72.

But a girl whom I desperately wanted to be my girlfriend, my sister and I all went to see it (my mom took us); we were supposed to call when it was over, but we liked it so much (and going to a movie was such a rarity) that we decided to stay and watch it again. To her eternal credit, when we left after the second viewing, my mom was waiting outside in the car, having waited the whole two hours that we sat through it the second time. A year or so later I remember it being on TV. But we thought at the time that it was the coolest thing—groovy, I guess. Other than a comment here mentioning Fanny Hill, which I now remember (and recall wanting to read!) and at the end when the second daughter was starting to go wild like the older sister, I have no recollection, at all, of it.

You look at movies in the 70s and there just is no comparison to today. Actresses like Marsha Mason, Ellen Burstyn, Jill Clayburgh, the A-list actresses of the time, routinely did topless scenes, and I don't recall a big deal being made of it. I watched an episode of Maude recently, the one where she thinks she's pregnant, and there is candid talk about her having an abortion. That wouldn't even be in a PG movie today, let alone a TV sitcom!

I can't quite figure it out, this cultural backwardness, I suppose it's a combination of things best left unsaid here. But, again, you are very right in your assessment.

[–] kolnoaMograbi 10 years ago

Yes! The younger sister reading Fanny Hill while chewing bubble gum, and her eyes going wide as her bubble got bigger and bigger! I finally read Fanny Hill, having been introduced to it in this film. SO erotic! Recommended!

"When you think of garbage, think of Akeem!"

[–] punstress 10 years ago

Ha ha, of course! That makes sense. Teacups, lol.

[–] hockeyhrs 9 years ago

I sometimes call them Cupcakes.

[–] BobLib 14 years ago

I remember when I saw it, as a boy of about 10, at part of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show that year. Usually, during those years, the Christmas Show film was scrupulously limited to family fare, usually a Disney. '68 was the only exception that I remember, and my dad was fit to be tied. I remember little else about that day, but I do remember that. "My God, where in all hell do they get off rating that thing G?!," he thundered. "Should've been rated X!"

When I think back on it now, it's not much more than a footnote. The only other time I saw it was on a late-night TV showing, about 25 years ago, and not thinking too much about it, one way or the other.

[–] jones7418 14 years ago

It was pretty risque for back then. Today it would get a PG-13 rating.

[–] cliffcarson-1 16 years ago

Don't forget the BEST PICTURE winner of 1968, OLIVER! which was rated G. Today it would probably get a PC rating for the violence and domestic abuse angle.

[–] noizyme 15 years ago

I wonder what reviewers must think if they screened "Irreversible" or "Salo." Blood must gush from their eyes.

[–] dini0519 14 years ago

I remember going to a birthday party for a friend that was turning 11. Her mom dropped us off at the show, and she wasn't too happy when she picked us up later and we talked about all the sexuality-pretty mild to most adults, I realize-but for ten and eleven year olds-it was no Disney movie!

Dini

[–] gia_smith 10 years ago

This was also a fav of mine as a child. I was kind of surprised it was a "G" back then. (I never told my parents about the movie, though, because I wanted to watch it again the following week!)

I'm trying to remember one of my favorite lines - it was an argument between the two sisters and I think the younger one bragged about wearing a bra (at last, lol) when the older daughter says something about how her sis needed only a couple of band-aids instead.

[–] monsieurzy 10 years ago

Amazing that Head got by with a 'G' rating, especially with the replaying of the Vietnamese execution footage (or did they figure "hell, the kids already saw this guy get his brains blown out on the news, so what's the harm?")

[–] FascistAnarchist999 9 years ago

Yep, I remember that G movies got away with violence back in the day. Two movies that were rated G and violent were Dracula Has Risen From The Grave and True Grit.