MovieChat Forums > The Three Musketeers (1974) Discussion > Reasons for PG Rating?

Reasons for PG Rating?

posted 19 years ago by belacane
6 replies | jump to latest

Am on the hunt for a new Saturday Night movie to watch with our 5-year-old son. He loves movies with swordfighting, so this classic leapt to mind. Other than innuendo dialogue, what might be the reasons this was rated PG? I know there's a lot of fighting, but not a lot of gore; but it's probably been 10 years since I've seen it.

I also realize that the "rules" for a PG movie in the early '70s are probably different from the PG rules today. So it might not actually have been as bad as one of today's PG movies?

Any thoughts will help. I'm remembering the scene with D'Artagnan and Milady (when he has to escape dressed in a bathrobe and cloak, or whatever), but can't place the details.

Thanks.

[–] dougglenn1215 19 years ago

No gore that I can think of. The PG is surely to due violence (swordplay). The sex is suggested and nothing is overtly shown. The scene you refer to, "with D'Artagnan and Milady", seems to me is in the Four Musketeers, though I could be wrong in that. I always tend to watch them back to back so they tend to blend together for me.

If it helps, I would not have had a problem with watching this film with my son when he was 5. (He's nearly 20 now, has been fencing since he was 12, and performs stage combat in the local renaissance faire!)

I would have bigger issues with the Disney version since Chris O'Donnell's D'Artagnan is being chased through the film by some guy whose sister he had apparently had sex with.

[–] belacane 19 years ago

Well, we just watched it and had a very fun time with it. There were only 2 questionable things (VERY minor):

1. During the initial fight between the Cardinal's Guards and Athos & co., a sword is shown going into the belly of a Guard, with a pretty gory look to it (blood and goo comes out of the wound all over the front of his uniform).

2. When Bonacieux is taken to speak to the Cardinal there are cages with dirty, emaciated men hanging in them. It looked a bit creepy to me but my son just said, "Oh, those must be the prisoners!"

So, I would say if your kids watch any kind of cartoon violence, this is not, on the whole, that much different, except for those two parts.

Next week: the Four Musketeers!

[–] timothyhodge 19 years ago

The rating was probably also because of the occasional bawdiness of the film. When Raquel Welch is escaping the King's guards, she grabs onto a passing sedan box with a sleeping patron inside. When she does so, her clothed breasts neatly popthrough the little opening in the side which wakes the slepping gent inside. He is about to cop a feel when she releases her grip and runs away. If I remember correctly, Michael York and the camera give a lot of attention to Ms. Welch's bosom throughout the film.
Maybe these scenes get edited for TV release, but I remember them vividly from when I saw it in the theatre when I was in the 5th grade.

[–] Al_Truist80 18 years ago

>>When Raquel Welch is escaping the King's guards, she grabs onto a passing sedan box with a sleeping patron inside. When she does so, her clothed breasts neatly popthrough the little opening in the side which wakes the slepping gent inside. He is about to cop a feel when she releases her grip and runs away.

The film suggests he does more than that: notice the man licking his finger before the camera cuts back to Welsh stepping back from the carriage with a yelp! Quite risquè I thought!

[–] kotefare 14 years ago

The movie has a slight obsession with boobies. You might watch it with your 5 year old son, but don't watch it with your mother. ;)

[–] danhanegan 13 years ago

To be sure, part 2, The Four Musketeers, is noticeably darker. Though I suppose a 5 year old would probably miss some of the more disturbing implications.