G-Rated

There were a number of movies, even before movies had content ratings, where a male character was shown in the buff from the rear of course. "Planet of the Apes" (1968) comes to mind and "The Naked Pray" (1965?) comes to mind. Juliet was even shown naked from the rear in "Romeo and Juliet" (1968) and, from all accounts, no one was too upset. It was freaking Shakespeare for crying out loud and teachers were assigning it in English class. Some cautious teachers asked parental permission to play it safe. Hollywood played it safe by putting "Recommended for Mature Audiences", "M", on there edgy-er movies, but it didn't keep anyone out. To the contrary; many rebellious teenager, of the era, were doubtlessly attracted by it.

In 1971, as now, movie ratings were set by the supposedly representative board established by the Motion Picture Association of America. In the case of "Andromeda Strain" they didn't think a scientist, bare from the rear, was a major moral hazard. After "One Potato Two Potato" and "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" the sight of a red neck, putting the grab on a black nurse, in a very thick bio suite, wouldn't have caused that much concern. As for blood and guts the space bugs made blood turn into a solid so that wasn't an issue.

Of course the rating system has changed over the last four decades. As the Nixon and later Reagan administrations declared war on drugs depiction of drug use became an issue. "Wild in the Streets" (1968), with all of its pot and LSD use, went from suggested for mature audiences to "R" rated. Concern about the violence in "Gremlins" (1984) resulted in the PG-13 rating. Moral panic over sex and violence had an effect. "Rebel without a Cause"(1855) may have been more or less suitable for everyone, over a half century ago but the last time it was released in theater, during the nineties, it was rated PG-13.

When the rating system was set up the "G" rating was sort of the default rating for the public. Changes were made in the scripts in "The Planet of the Apes" series in order to keep it. Many other film were changed for general audiences. Somewhere along the way audiences began to feel "G" rated movies were the same as what the could watch on TV free of charge. Teenager began to associate it with Disney cartoons which made it uncool. Today, far from trying to get a "G" rating most studios sometimes include scenes and words to get a "PG" or, more often a "PG-13" rating.


TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.

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It's like they just figured these movies are tame by today's standards and slapped a General Audiences rating on the front arbitrarily.

Rather the reverse. It's not like they only gave it the G rating this decade. Among all the histrionics about censorship, several people in this thread pointed out that the ratings system did not mean then what it means today. While a modern G rating means "this is pabulum for ages 8 and under guaranteed not to contain anything that might make a moral guardian flinch", it originally meant "we see no reason to suggest a minimum maturity level on this film." There's no sexual content (the idea that nudity is always sexual didn't arise until at least 20 years later), no swearing most kids wouldn't hear regularly anyway, and only one really graphic image of gore.

Yes, it's not a movie for children, but that's not what G was supposed to mean.

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We have the Puritan influence to thank for that. They left Europe seeking freedom from official, mandated state religion and left a cultural imprint that in some ways is just as restricting.

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Planet of the Apes came out in the summer of 1968...a few months before the ratings system (including "G") came out in November.

Perhaps Planet of the Apes got a re-release with a "G."

The truth of the matter is that MOST movies of the 60's were INTENDED to be "G." Everybody was invited, all ages -- if a little nudity or a swear word snuck in, it was OK. 1960's Psycho was not age-restricted in America, all ages were admitted -- PARENTS had to do the forbidding. The phrase "Suggested for Mature Audiences" was sometimes used, but it was way too vague to work right.

Specific Hollywood sixties movies like "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" made before the G,M, R, X ratings DID get restrictive "No one under 17 admitted." This, too, required Hollywood to start allowing for more graphic content and the ratings code to cover it.

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