I rented the edited edition of this movie, and it doesn't seem like R rated material. How R rated is it? Why is it rated that?
sharethe swearing and sexual content is enough for 30yrs ago but I did hear it was the juggling kittens scene that made it R ;)
share[deleted]
[deleted]
Rated R for the following reasons:
1. Partial nudity (Catlin Adams as Patty, Steve Martin with his dog)
2. Vulgar references with Patty (e.g., "slippery when wet")
3. Sex scenes (intimated) with Patty
4. Use of the "N" word
5. Drinking, smoking, marijuana use
I was was watching it on cable a couple of days ago and I'm pretty sure they overdubbed M. Emmett Walsh's liberal use of the "N" word when he was aiming at Nathan and hitting the cans. I saw this when it first came out and I'm pretty sure he wasn't saying what he was now.
shareM Emmett Walsh never said the N-word in that scene. Only the Steve Martin pool scene had that word.
"I will not go down in history as the greatest mass-murderer since Adolf Hitler!" - Merkin Muffley
The N-word was not R material in 1979. Neither were drinking, smoking, off-screen suggested sex and the vulgar references in this film (which never exceeded the levels you could see on Saturday Night Live).
But there was one trigger for an automatic R in the 1970s, and that was any depiction of drug use. (The F-bomb - which does not make an appearance in "The Jerk" - was almost always an automatic R, but "All the President's Men" somehow slipped by with a PG in 1976.) The "joint" scene is brief, mild and strictly comic. It would barely trip the PG wire today. But in 1979, those few seconds alone would bring the R stamp thumping down.
While the brief glimpse of Steve Martin's bare behind may have contributed to the R, Caitlin Adams does not have any partial nude scenes.
Something to keep in mind is that even TV has changed. I remember the first TV show to say "dick" was NYPD Blue. And it showed Jimmy Smits' naked butt. They made such a huge deal about this.. and the show HAD to play at 10pm (all sexual products were sold past 10pm as well).
Now.. NYPD Blue is shown in the daytime. My how things have changed
Considering the sexual references with Patti and the unedited name of Navin's dog, I would give it a light R in 1979. However, as others have said, a PG-13 today, which was not available back then.
I think The Jerk was the first R-rated film I saw. I was 13 in 1979 and my parents thought the film was OK for me to see.
Joe
Not very R to be honest.
I am the son of a man named Tom.