# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/41 "2011-02-04T14:08:46Z")
[Big Trouble](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Trouble_%28film%29#Controversy) is actually quite a fun little movie that was made to virtually disappear after 9/11. The movie features armed criminals getting through airport security with a nuclear bomb, and taking it on a flight. The movie was set to be released on 9/21/01. Because of the tragedy, they pushed it to April 2002, and refrained from promoting it much. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/42 "2011-02-04T14:26:28Z")
I’ve gone back and watched a number of movie musicals from the 30’s and 40’s and it’s interesting/disturbing how many of them have blackface numbers. Obviously those would never happen today (for good reason) and they are usually edited out when the movies are broadcast. ---
**Author:** ![Manwich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e480ec/32.png) [@Manwich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manwich)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/43 "2011-02-04T15:02:12Z")
_Triumph of the Will_. Germany has changed, man. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/44 "2011-02-04T15:26:20Z")
> [@El\_Kabong](#): > > Well, I don’t know about that; there’s Robert Downey’s recent turn in _Tropic Thunder_, although the dynamic is somewhat different. Well put. In ten years, there will be posts about how _Tropic Thunder_ could never be made today. I think we’re giving the public short shrift. > [@Sampiro](#): > > 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. I’ve posted messages like this several time, and every time I’ve been shouted down. Seems that fans of SBfSB think of it as a very empowering film…about abductees falling in love with and marrying their captors. Sorry, but this is one of the creepiest movies I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![StusBlues](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dc4da7/32.png) [@StusBlues](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StusBlues)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/45 "2011-02-04T15:38:49Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 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. I’m thirty seconds into this one and my jaw is on the floor :eek: I’ve seen others like this, but holy crow! ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/46 "2011-02-04T15:42:03Z")
> [@Max\_Torque](#): > > We did a thread like this not long ago. I suggested **Soul Man**. The plot involves a rich white kid whose parents won’t pay for his Harvard education, so he starts looking for scholarships. He finds one, but it’s only for black applicants, so he ODs on tanning pills and afrocizes his hair to swipe it. Lots of “what’s happenin’, brotha!” moments ensue. To be fair, even when it was released, it faced a huge amount of public protest and barely lasted a week at the box office. It’s not like people were blase about the topic even when the movie came out. In fact, the film is pretty much only remembered for being a racially insensitive, very un-PC film, and nothing else. How about **Taxi Driver**? Aside from the fact that the “hero” of the story is an out & out racist, who takes his date to a porn movie, stalks a presidential candidate with the intent to kill him, and then is hailed as a hero for violently killing a pimp, but the movie also takes place in an grim & gritty era of NYC that pretty much doesn’t exist anymore. The squalid, lurid Times Square he drove around is now a squeaky-clean, tourist friendly Disneyland. In fact, in this day & age, Travis Bickle wouldn’t be plotting to murder any politicians, he’d just be another tea-bagger posting posting flaming rants online. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/47 "2011-02-04T15:49:10Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I’m thirty seconds into this one and my jaw is on the floor :eek: > > I’ve seen others like this, but holy crow! Is Shirley’s character named ‘Morelegs Sweetrick’? I can’t believe ANY era of history found that OK! To the OP- “Gone With the Wind”. I win. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/48 "2011-02-04T15:58:06Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > I’m thirty seconds into this one and my jaw is on the floor :eek: > > I’ve seen others like this, but holy crow! OK, I saw this one. It’s great to bring this out for people to watch & see them gape in horror! Better than ‘Eraserhead’! ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/49 "2011-02-04T16:02:04Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > John Cusak’s girlfriend in _High Fidelity_ had an abortion. But that was way back in ought-ought. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/50 "2011-02-04T16:07:34Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Is Shirley’s character named ‘Morelegs Sweetrick’? I can’t believe ANY era of history found that OK. Here it is! “Kid In Hollywood”- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=\_V5GR7l4FH4](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_V5GR7l4FH4) ---
**Author:** ![Vita\_Beata](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@Vita\_Beata](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vita_Beata)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/51 "2011-02-04T16:10:57Z")
Reaching way back to 1967: Valley of the Dolls. Today there’d be interventions and rehabs. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/52 "2011-02-04T16:18:03Z")
> [@A Monkey With a Gun](#): > > John Cusak’s girlfriend in _High Fidelity_ had an abortion. > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > Yes, but it’s still incredibly rare and IIRC, _High Fidelity_ was hardly a mainstream movie. It also was backstory. It didn’t happen on-screen. > [@](#): > > 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. Now, it has been a long time since I saw that movie, but I seem to recall that a major plot point was that Baby’s parents weren’t cool with _anything_ that she was doing. > [@Don\_Draper](#): > > To be fair, even when it was released, it faced a huge amount of public protest and barely lasted a week at the box office. It’s not like people were blase about the topic even when the movie came out. In fact, the film is pretty much only remembered for being a racially insensitive, very un-PC film, and nothing else. There was a time when it was on Comedy Central’s regular rotation. I think it has long since been replaced by the Van Wilder movies. > [@](#): > > How about **Taxi Driver**? … and then is hailed as a hero for violently killing a pimp To be fair, I think that last part was the character’s fantasy. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/53 "2011-02-04T16:21:17Z")
> [@dzeiger](#): > > 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. Why not? There are plenty of PG movies made today, and even Disney’s animated features are often PG – including _Tangled_, still in theaters. As far as I can tell this isn’t considered worth even a raised eyebrow. On the other hand, it’s my understanding that one of the reasons Disney’s 1985 _The Black Cauldron_ flopped was that it was rated PG and was considered way too dark and violent for children. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/54 "2011-02-04T16:29:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **[Max](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290210/)** was barely able to be made in 2002; I doubt they’d be able do it now. I totally forgot about that movie. Noah Taylor was brilliant in that. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/55 "2011-02-04T16:31:10Z")
_Revenge of the Nerds_ was released in 1984, and sometimes I wonder how the rape scene made it through even back then. > [@Ibn\_Warraq](#): > > 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. Sixteen? I could swear that it’s set in the summer before she starts college (I remember a line like, “Baby starts Mount Holyoke in the fall”), which means that she’s most likely eighteen. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/56 "2011-02-04T16:39:56Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > 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. No kidding. Shirley is such a bitch in that one. Especially to Tarzan at the end. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/57 "2011-02-04T16:40:49Z")
Shortly after 9/11 I watched (the syfy version of) Dune. A bunch of oppressed desert dwellers get back at the powers that be by committing acts of terrorism and starting a holy jihad. MAYBE it could be made today, but certainly not back then. ---
**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, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/58 "2011-02-04T16:40:53Z")
> [@Don\_Draper](#): > > To be fair, even when it was released, it faced a huge amount of public protest and barely lasted a week at the box office. It’s not like people were blase about the topic even when the movie came out. In fact, the film is pretty much only remembered for being a racially insensitive, very un-PC film, and nothing else. > [@acsenray](#): > > There was a time when it was on Comedy Central’s regular rotation. I think it has long since been replaced by the Van Wilder movies. Comedy Central used to show Soul Man pretty often, probably because it was cheap. It’s terrible and while it would probably not be made today, it’s surprising it was made in 1986. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/59 "2011-02-04T16:47:23Z")
To me, the more unlikely aspect of _Soul Man_ is the casting of C. Thomas Howell as a leading man. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073/60 "2011-02-04T17:00:16Z")
When did this modern PC world begin? I’m getting on in years and still think of **Heathers** and **Pulp Fiction** as “recent.” I don’t remember the first **Bad News Bears** all that well, but the remake had Billy Bob Thornton driving drunk, which may actually have been a tougher sell back in '75. Seriously, where does the timeline for the modern sensibility start? Columbine? 9/11? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movies-that-could-not-be-made-in-todays-pc-world/570073.md?page=4)