# Least logical rating/content warning **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214 "2014-07-28T06:19:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/1 "2014-07-28T06:19:01Z")
Recently I purchased a DVD copy of the 1981 spoof “Zorro the Gay Blade”. If you’ve never seen it, it has no nudity/sexual content and the strongest language is a couple of uses of “shit”. So imagine my surprise when I notice a big logo on the cover stating “M:Recommended for mature audiences”. What other movies/TV shows/albums have warnings or ratings that don’t match the actual contents at all? ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/2 "2014-07-28T06:37:31Z")
Despite being a hard PG/soft PG-13 in all other respects, _Planes Trains & Automobiles_ was rated R solely due to a single (hilarious) scene where [Steve Martin says the F-word 18 times in a row.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWRxPDhd3d0) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/3 "2014-07-28T07:09:59Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Recently I purchased a DVD copy of the 1981 spoof “Zorro the Gay Blade”. If you’ve never seen it, it has no nudity/sexual content and the strongest language is a couple of uses of “shit”. So imagine my surprise when I notice a big logo on the cover stating “M:Recommended for mature audiences”. What other movies/TV shows/albums have warnings or ratings that don’t match the actual contents at all? Well, it does have the word “gay” in the title. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/4 "2014-07-28T07:14:06Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Recently I purchased a DVD copy of the 1981 spoof “Zorro the Gay Blade”. . . So imagine my surprise when I notice a big logo on the cover stating “M:Recommended for mature audiences”. One thing that struck me as odd is that the MPAA hasn’t used the “M” rating since 1970. I looked up the movie on Amazon, and found copies with the “M” rating. They’re Australian. In the U.S. the movie was rated “PG.” The Australian rating system is described [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australian_Classification_Board). From your description of the movie, it sounds like “PG” would have been a better fit. Who knows, maybe the gay theme upset the censors. ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/5 "2014-07-28T11:50:17Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Despite being a hard PG/soft PG-13 in all other respects, _Planes Trains & Automobiles_ was rated R solely due to a single (hilarious) scene where [Steve Martin says the F-word 18 times in a row.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWRxPDhd3d0) And more recently was the controversy with the rating for _The King’s Speech_ thanks to a similar scene. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/6 "2014-07-28T11:53:51Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > Despite being a hard PG/soft PG-13 in all other respects, _Planes Trains & Automobiles_ was rated R solely due to a single (hilarious) scene where [Steve Martin says the F-word 18 times in a row.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWRxPDhd3d0) Sometimes movies will do something to UP their rating so that adults don’t think it’s a kids movie. Assuming, without that one scene it truly would have been a PG or PG-13 movie, they may have done that on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/7 "2014-07-28T18:21:27Z")
There’s a movie called **Whale Rider** that’s generally about as family-safe as you can get, yet has a PG-13 rating, due to one scene that features some of the adults smoking marijuana. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/8 "2014-07-28T23:57:41Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > There’s a movie called **Whale Rider** that’s generally about as family-safe as you can get, yet has a PG-13 rating, due to one scene that features some of the adults smoking marijuana. And if memory serves, there was a pretty clear “substance abuse is bad” vibe to it, too. ---
**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/9 "2014-07-29T00:08:49Z")
On the flip-side, _Poltergeist_ was somehow rated PG and not R. I have heard that backlash about the low rating motivated the creation of PG-13. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2014, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/least-logical-rating-content-warning/694214/10 "2014-07-29T00:19:58Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > Sometimes movies will do something to UP their rating so that adults don’t think it’s a kids movie. Assuming, without that one scene it truly would have been a PG or PG-13 movie, they may have done that on purpose. This is true, but it’s typically done to avoid a G-rating (I believe _Searching for Bobby Fischer_ deliberately inserted a few swear words to get rated PG.) Most movies will do their best to _avoid_ an R-rating, especially a family-friendly John Hughes film. Similarly, _Stand by Me_ was rated R solely for language. > [@JKilez](#): > > On the flip-side, _Poltergeist_ was somehow rated PG and not R. I have heard that backlash about the low rating motivated the creation of PG-13. That one, and _Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom_ (in which an Evil Thugee RIPS A MAN’S HEART FROM HIS CHEST AND SHOWS IT TO HIM BEFORE HE DIES) was the primary impetus behind establishing the PG-13 rating.