I was watching the original Planet of the Apes on video last night, and I noticed it was rated G.
Now, POTA was made in 1968. It had two instances of full dorsal nudity and used the word “damn” three or four times and “G**damn” once. It’s also pretty violent, although there’s not much blood.
So, I guess my question is would there be any way this movie would have a G rating if it was produced now? I don’t know when the MPAA started rating films–if it was after 1968, was the G rating chosen arbitrarily?
I’ll leave off the discussion of how much cooler this version is than the new one…
I remember when the original POTA was released and that some people complained about the content. I don’t know if it was rated G orginally or if they used some other designation… but at age 14 I was only allowed to see it with my parents because they weren’t sure how violent it was.
I find movie ratings to be fairly inconsistent even today with nudity, language and violence allowed in a G movie if it is relevent to the story and isn’t gratuitous… but that’s another thread.
Regarding its origin, see this article by Jack Valenti, the father of the rating system:
According to the Internet Movie Database, POTA was released in the USA on February 8, 1968. The MPAA rating system went into effect on November 1, 1988, so POTA wasn’t rated at the time of its release.
It looks like according to this page, POTA probably should have gotten a PG on video. Considering the stuff kids see these days, I don’t guess too many would be scarred for life by seeing the original POTA at any age, although I do have a friend who’s still creeped out by the apes, 20 or so years after seeing it as a kid. Same with the Wizard of Oz, I guess…
A film is rated by a group of people watching it and then picking a rating.
I remember PG films of my youth with topless women in them. (Praise Jesus) I distinctly watching Tommy when I was in 2nd grade. (or there about but my older brother really wanted to see it) That film with drug use, violence and some pretty sexy stuff was PG. But times and values change and people think kids shouldn’t see such stuff or at least their parents should be warned so things get a ‘higher’ or ‘stronger’ rating today then in the past. That IMO is one of the best things about the rating system. The fact that it does change with the times. Of course that is the only good thing about it.
