# Post-1970 films or books banned in US/Europe **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 29, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248 "2014-04-29T03:14:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/1 "2014-04-29T03:14:06Z")
In the modern era (I picked 1970 and since) has there been any book or movie banned in the US or western Europe? I’m not meaning stuff that was widely protested or saw limited availability due to its content, but that is actually illegal to sell or own. The only thing I can think of is films that include sexual content involving minors or child pornography. Is there anything else? ---
**Author:** ![MrKnowItAll](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrknowitall/32/87_2.png) [@MrKnowItAll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrKnowItAll)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/2 "2014-04-29T03:45:34Z")
Yeah, I don’t think there’s anything that has been successfully and continuously banned in the US, except things that depict actual law breaking like the child pornography you mentioned. You can even depict a fictional case so long as it’s not actually occurring, say some waif-like porn star pretending to be a pre-teen engaging in sex who is actually 19 years old. Our first amendment is pretty far-reaching. Europe may be a different matter. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/3 "2014-04-29T03:51:06Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > In the modern era (I picked 1970 and since) has there been any book or movie banned in the US or western Europe? I’m not meaning stuff that was widely protested or saw limited availability due to its content, but that is actually illegal to sell or own. The only thing I can think of is films that include sexual content involving minors or child pornography. Is there anything else? Do you count copyrighted stuff? You have some movies (like _[Cocksucker Blues](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocksucker_Blues)_, _[Song of the South](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_South)_ or _[Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstar:_The_Karen_Carpenter_Story)_) that are not available legally and are circulated in bootleg form. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/4 "2014-04-29T04:30:25Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Do you count copyrighted stuff? You have some movies (like _[Cocksucker Blues](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocksucker_Blues)_, _[Song of the South](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_of_the_South)_ or _[Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superstar:_The_Karen_Carpenter_Story)_) that are not available legally and are circulated in bootleg form. Those aren’t really _banned_, though. The rights holder could choose to release them without breaking any laws, they just don’t want to for financial, personal, or PR reasons. I think the OP only means things that there’s a legal block against _anybody_ releasing, presumably for more than just contractual snafus. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/5 "2014-04-29T04:34:09Z")
There have been attempts to censor books on the grounds of national security. E.g., [Spycatcher](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spycatcher) was banned in the UK for several years, and [Operation Dark Heart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Dark_Heart) was published only in a redacted version in the US. There are books that were not published in certain countries because publishers feared being sued for libel. An example is Kitty Kelly’s _The Royals_ in the UK. [The Anarchist Cookbook](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anarchist_Cookbook#Legality) has been banned in several countries but not the US. [Mein Kampf](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mein_Kampf) and other hate literature is banned in several countries. ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 7:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/6 "2014-04-29T07:34:46Z")
The 1972 porno movie “Deep Throat” was taken to court and “banned in some locations”, according to [wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_Throat_(film)). ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 8:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/7 "2014-04-29T08:10:09Z")
There have been plenty of banned films. As usual, [Wikipedia has a list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_banned_films). Usually the banning means that the film board has refused permission for cinemas to show the film, and possibly also for local retailers to sell it. Remedies for noncompliance vary from case to case and jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and range from civil fines and penalties to criminal prosecution with prison sentences. One film banning I vividly recall from my childhood is the Dan Aykroyd comedy _Exit to Eden_, which was inexplicably kept out of theatres in my home town. This made international headlines and the Saskatchewan Film and Video Classification Board became a laughingstock. For some facts, figures, and notable criminal cases involving films and print publications banned in Britain, you could start at [Wikipedia’s article on the Obscene Publications Act 1959](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obscene_Publications_Act_1959), and follow the many links to related legislation. ---
**Author:** ![Batistuta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/58956e/32.png) [@Batistuta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Batistuta)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/8 "2014-04-29T10:33:47Z")
I’m not sure that anything that happened in Francoist Spain can be considered to have happened in the “modern era”. But films such as Paths of Glory were banned in the country until Franco’s death. Others were allowed but heavily censored, such as the ridiculous case of Mogambo. The original Mad Max film was apparently banned in Sweden and New Zealand for a while, and only allowed in the former as late as 2005. ---
**Author:** ![abel29a](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@abel29a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/abel29a)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/9 "2014-04-29T10:36:21Z")
[Monty Python’s Life of Brian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python's_Life_of_Brian) was banned in Norway for several years, for no reason I can fathom. (The filmmakes even used this on the posters - “This film is so funny it was banned in Norway” or somesuch.) ---
**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:** [April 29, 2014, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/10 "2014-04-29T13:20:20Z")
When a teen gang committed similar crimes & may have been found to have been inspired by the movie, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE was banned for a couple decades in England, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Norse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a9adbd/32.png) [@Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norse)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/11 "2014-04-29T15:02:24Z")
> [@abel29a](#): > > [Monty Python’s Life of Brian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python's_Life_of_Brian) was banned in Norway for several years, for no reason I can fathom. The reason was that our criminal code contains a sleeping paragraph on blasphemy, and someone in the Norwegian Media Authority decided to revive that paragraph (it hadn’t been used since 1933, but who’s counting?). The decision was reversed, by the way, and the movie was released for public viewing shortly after. However, some of the dialog wasn’t subtitled to protect the faint-hearted… ---
**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:** [April 29, 2014, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/12 "2014-04-29T16:13:08Z")
[Traci Lords](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traci_Lords#Notable_adult_videos) famously made several X-rated films before it was discovered she was underage. Many of her films were re-released with her sex scenes deleted. ---
**Author:** ![sidecar\_jon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@sidecar\_jon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sidecar_jon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2014, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-1970-films-or-books-banned-in-us-europe/687248/13 "2014-04-29T16:30:36Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > When a teen gang committed similar crimes & may have been found to have been inspired by the movie, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE was banned for a couple decades in England, I believe. not banned but withdrawn by Kubrick…so sort of banned by its self.