# Movies that could not be made in today's PC world. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 3, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073 "2011-02-03T22:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/21 "2011-02-04T02:53:50Z")
> [@toofs](#): > > [Fast Times at Ridgemont High](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fast_Times_at_Ridgemont_High) portrays plenty of teenage marijuana use, underage sex, and Phoebe Cates topless. Yeah, Phoebe Cates topless. Favorite quote, Jeff Spicoli to Mr. Hand: “You Dick!” Not to mention the part when the main female character gets an abortion. Writers today are too cowardly to do something like this nowadays. Now, whenever someone considers having an abortion, they invariably change their minds.:rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/22 "2011-02-04T02:54:06Z")
I’ve wondered if _The Miracle Worker_ could be made today due to the violence against a blind deaf-mute. True, in the 1880s Helen was lucky to get that kind of care and caring, but today Annie Sullivan’s trial for abusing her would be the lead on Nancy Grace for three weeks. > [@](#): > > Guest: It should be noted that her parents had spoiled her to the point where she had no incentive to learn, and it was Miss Sullivan’s methods that finally made her associate signs and language… > > Nancy: WELL IF YOU WANNA BEAT UP LITTLE POOR BLIND CHILDREN I SUGGEST YOU GO TO NAZI GERMANY!!! In a similar vein I watched a _Little Rascals_ short recently in which a couple of the boys were unable to sit down because their dads had worn their behinds out with razor straps or belts. The schoolmistress, Miss Crabtree, gives a kind of grin to this and even says something like “Again Chubby? What did you do this time?” Today of course she’d be calling social services and the cops (not without reason of course). Not a movie but a TV show: _The Honeymooners_ and _I Love Lucy_ both made jokes about wifebeating (not that I think Ralph, Ricky or Fred ever actually _beat_ their wives, but they liked to threaten it and joke about it) and of course all of them made their wives lick their toes and call them ‘My Lord and Master’ if they wanted a new pair of shoes. I have a suspicion that in some alternate universe where these shows became real all three women- Alice, Lucy, and Ethel- eventually made a _Strangers on a Train_ pact to stock up on insurance and kill their husbands long before anyone heard of Woodstock. I can think of a lot of movie scenes that couldn’t be made today. John Wayne spanking his wife, Maureen O’Hara, in _McLintock_ is on the list. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/23 "2011-02-04T02:59:46Z")
The Howard Keel musical _Seven Brides for Seven Brothers_. Even in the 1950s they could easily have filmed it as a horror movie: six backwoods brothers abduct six girls from the nearest town and keep them hostage in their home where the girls are kept from being raped only by the oldest brother’s much put upon pregnant wife. There’s even a song about the Rape of the Sabine Women (“those women were sobbin’ sobbin’ sobbin’ fit to be tied!”). By the time help arrives Stockholm Syndrome has set in and the girls remain thanks to parents who evidently have no idea how long human gestation takes. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/24 "2011-02-04T03:10:01Z")
One example of [early Shirley Temple](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OYiauWwtKQ) that might draw some raised eyebrows today. You can find others on youtube by searching for ‘Baby Burlesks.’ Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![McReady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@McReady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McReady)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/25 "2011-02-04T03:19:47Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > Not a movie but a TV show: _The Honeymooners_ and _I Love Lucy_ both made jokes about wifebeating (not that I think Ralph, Ricky or Fred ever actually _beat_ their wives, but they liked to threaten it and joke about it) and of course all of them made their wives lick their toes and call them ‘My Lord and Master’ if they wanted a new pair of shoes. Not in _The Honeymooners_, I don’t think. In the Cramden and Norton households, the wives never acted like less than equals (to my recollection). We don’t have a “PC world”. That term’s been tossed around until it’s meaningless. Sometimes I do think there’s less and less risk-taking drama available, but that may be just because I’m getting old and cranky. There’s always been a struggle between those who want to do something artistically honest that might upset people, and those who just want everything to be nice. Allegedly, _The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari_ was so disturbing in 1920 that the studio sent employees to personally appear after showings and assure audiences that: Dr. Caligari really was a benevolent psychiatrist; Francis really was unbalanced; but glory be, he’d been successfully treated and was now happily married with two healthy children. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/26 "2011-02-04T03:24:47Z")
A non-villain white guy saying “did you notice a sign out in front of my house that said ‘Dead Nigger Storage?’” would probably raise some eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/27 "2011-02-04T03:32:01Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I’ve wondered if _The Miracle Worker_ could be made today due to the violence against a blind deaf-mute. True, in the 1880s Helen was lucky to get that kind of care and caring, but today Annie Sullivan’s trial for abusing her would be the lead on Nancy Grace for three weeks. ?? What violence are you referring to? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/28 "2011-02-04T03:35:55Z")
[**Pretty Baby**](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078111/) would be considered child porn today. **[Max](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290210/)** was barely able to be made in 2002; I doubt they’d be able do it now. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/29 "2011-02-04T03:40:56Z")
**Treasure of the Sierra Madre** We don’t neeeed no steeenkin badges!! ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/30 "2011-02-04T03:48:53Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > ?? What violence are you referring to? This scene among others. Annie slaps and fights with and drags Helen throughout. (Note that I’m not condemning it- it’s one of my favorite movies.) > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > A non-villain white guy saying “did you notice a sign out in front of my house that said ‘Dead Nigger Storage?’” would probably raise some eyebrows. I think that’s why they dropped it from _The King’s Speech_. ---
**Author:** ![dzeiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/46a35a/32.png) [@dzeiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dzeiger)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/31 "2011-02-04T03:51:27Z")
I don’t know about “can’t” be made, but I suspect that a lot of rated-G movies would get at least a PG today, which means they probably wouldn’t be made. ---
**Author:** ![armedmonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@armedmonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/armedmonkey)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/32 "2011-02-04T03:53:09Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > Not to mention the part when the main female character gets an abortion. Writers today are too cowardly to do something like this nowadays. Now, whenever someone considers having an abortion, they invariably change their minds.:rolleyes: John Cusak’s girlfriend in _High Fidelity_ had an abortion. ---
**Author:** ![E.Thorp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@E.Thorp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E.Thorp)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/33 "2011-02-04T03:54:29Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > A non-villain white guy saying “did you notice a sign out in front of my house that said ‘Dead Nigger Storage?’” would probably raise some eyebrows. No more eyebrows than it raised in 1994, when “PC” was at the height of its mainstream popularity. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/34 "2011-02-04T05:04:36Z")
Brooke Shields childhood movie career would never happen today. She seemed to specialize in the sexy Lolita roles. Pretty Baby, Blue Lagoon, Endless Love, Sahara none of those could be made today without drastically cutting back on the implied “young girl” sexuality. I love Silver Streak with Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, and Jill Clayburgh. They’d have trouble today with the black face scene. A shame because it’s is hilarious. Richard Pryor’s reaction to Gene as a hip black dude has me ROFL every time. IMHO if Richard Pryor was cool with the scene, then it’s not racist. But, people today are much more “PC”. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/35 "2011-02-04T05:23:32Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I love Silver Streak with Gene Wilder, Richard Pryor, and Jill Clayburgh. They’d have trouble today with the black face scene. A shame because it’s is hilarious. Richard Pryor’s reaction to Gene as a hip black dude has me ROFL every time. IMHO if Richard Pryor was cool with the scene, then it’s not racist. But, people today are much more “PC”. Well, I don’t know about that; there’s Robert Downey’s recent turn in _Tropic Thunder_, although the dynamic is somewhat different. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/36 "2011-02-04T05:26:08Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > And also went out of their way to make sure the REAL villains behind the scenes were white westerners. Often, yes. It was cliche. That said, they certainly had villainous Muslims. > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > A non-villain white guy saying “did you notice a sign out in front of my house that said ‘Dead Nigger Storage?’” would probably raise some eyebrows. That was barely 10 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/37 "2011-02-04T05:44:15Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That was barely 10 years ago. _Pulp Fiction_ came out in 1994, although I agree in general that the context surrounding this word has not particularly changed. If they could have that scene sixteen years ago, they could have it today. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/38 "2011-02-04T06:59:32Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Brooke Shields childhood movie career would never happen today. She seemed to specialize in the sexy Lolita roles. Pretty Baby, Blue Lagoon, Endless Love, Sahara none of those could be made today without drastically cutting back on the implied “young girl” sexuality… Yeah, if **Blue Lagoon** were filmed today there’s no way in hell Emily would be played by an underage actress. Granted many of Shield’s scenes were done by body doubles, but she was still naked alot. Inlcuding during the sex scene with only a _piece of gauze_ seperating her genitals from Chris Atkin’s genitals. :eek: And don’t the frontal nude scenes with the younger versions of Richard & Emily, both of those actors were _preteens_; imagine an American film doing that today. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/39 "2011-02-04T07:31:33Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > John Cusak’s girlfriend in _High Fidelity_ had an abortion. Yes, but it’s still incredibly rare and IIRC, _High Fidelity_ was hardly a mainstream movie. Think about it like this. There are over a million abortions performed every year in the US and it’s the most second-most performed surgical procedure in America(after delivering a baby). That said, I would have a difficult time coming up with more than a handful of movies where characters got them. One movie if it was remade that would probably raise some eyebrows is _Dirty Dancing_. A sixteen-year-old girl who who sleeps with a guy in his mid-20s and her parents are cool with that rather than calling the cops. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/40 "2011-02-04T13:26:25Z")
You have the miniseries “The path to 9/11” which can’t get a DVD release becasue ABC feels it is important to lie about the Clinton legacy. Let’s see if anyone tries to remake “Submission” by Theo van Gogh which got him murdered by members of the Religion of Peace. Or the 1970s film “The Message” which caused a hostage situation by said religion members. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073.md?page=3)