This Film Got A 'G' rating ???

In 1970 the ratings system was still in its infancy, only a few years old, and a 'G' rating was still highly coveted. In only a few short years later, the 'G' would become something to be shunned for most films, as the public associated it with strictly Disney or Disney-type material, and filmmakers and distributors actually preferred the 'GP' (later 'PG'). "Airport" almost certainly would have received a 'PG' (as "Airport '75" did) a few years later for its intensity, violence, and adult material. The same applies to other early 'G'-rated films, like "Oliver" and "Sweet Charity." These films landed on the 'G' side of the line, as opposed to the 'M' for "Mature Audiences," largely because 'G' meant bigger box-office for expensive studio films and CARA had different standards for its ratings in the late '60s.

Indeed. I was thinking about this recently myself. Also, the profanity in the film, the breaking up of Burt Lancaster's marriage to Dana Wynter and her revealing to him that she's been having an affair with another man, the fact that Dean Martin's character has both a wife and a pregnant mistress, plus the whole fact that someone smuggles a bomb onto a plane and sets it off killing himself and threatening the lives of others. Yep, it definitely should be a PG(or M) rated film.

Along these lines, the John Wayne Western "Big Jake" was released the next year and got a G rating despite the level of violence in it. It was later officially rerated to a PG-13 some 30-odd years after the fact.

Yeah i say that every time i watch it. It has alot of heavy issues in the movie; and yet the MPAA has yet to make the rating to PG... But if people arent complaining let it ride...

My baby sister cries (looks up with head tilted & high pitched voice) day & for something to eat...

You'd think all the adultery alone would have gotten it a PG rating.

Elvis's final movie "Change of Habit" got a G rating despite the fact that one of the nuns dresses up as a hooker, a child patient refers to some one as an S.O.B, and one guy attempts to rape Mary Tyler Moore's character.

At that time, I think G really did mean a film was intended for GENERAL Audiences, meaning a broad reach, not strictly for kids like it is usually perceived today.

I also think parents did a better job of parenting then and you couldn't just drop your kids off at the mall and let them go see whatever they wanted.

Also, this movie was a very popular novel so most parents knew what they were getting into when they took their kids.


To me this is still G rated and very mild by today's standards. There are worse things discussed on TV.

There was no PG rating then. Only G, M, and X. M was for mature.

The ratings were much less subjective then. Basically curse words and fully exposed female breasts got an M. Full frontal nudity and explicit depiction of sex acts, got a X. Everything else got a G. Subject matter of the film was rarely considered, because controversial subject matter had gone uncensored for decades under the old production code. The loosening of censorship in the 1960's mainly revolved around the permission to use profanity and show nudity. And the new rating system was developed accordingly.

Another example of an individual living in the "now", without a historical knowledge that what is "now" may not have always been. The biggest mistake people make on these forums is applying present day standards to older films.