# (SPITTAKE) \*That\* was rated G???

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 2, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778 "2015-08-02T04:22:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/1 "2015-08-02T04:22:51Z")

</div>

Okay…I know Planet of the Apes was rated G. Star Trek the Motion Picture was. (The transporter accident is horrifying. Ilia getting disintegrated was bad) but…

I think I have a winner. “Jesus Christ Superstar was rated G???” (Spittake)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/2 "2015-08-02T04:39:35Z")

</div>

Come on,\*\* Dale\*\*, all the Disney cartoons were “G.” “Night on Bald Mountain”\* scared the crap outta me the first time I saw it. I was 24!

\*From “Fantasia,” of course.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/3 "2015-08-02T20:47:59Z")

</div>

How about a [G-rated film by David Lynch](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/?ref_=nv_sr_2)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/4 "2015-08-02T21:35:24Z")

</div>

The Andromeda Strain

Dracula Has Risen From The Grave

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/5 "2015-08-02T22:56:07Z")

</div>

> [@Dale\_Sams](#):
>
> Okay…I know Planet of the Apes was rated G. Star Trek the Motion Picture was. (The transporter accident is horrifying. Ilia getting disintegrated was bad) but…
> 
> I think I have a winner. “Jesus Christ Superstar was rated G???” (Spittake)

Is Spittake related to Bukkake? Cos if so, I can see why it ought to have been rated higher.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\
**Post date:** [August 2, 2015, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/6 "2015-08-02T23:10:51Z")

</div>

> [@Shoeless](#):
>
> How about a [G-rated film by David Lynch](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0166896/?ref_=nv_sr_2)?

Well, I’ll be damned. That was an excellent film, Lynch or no Lynch.

Oh, yeah, Andromeda Strain has a scene with a rat slowly dying. I read how they did that and it didn’t seem all that much better except The rat didn’t die.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/7 "2015-08-03T00:22:43Z")

</div>

[The Adventures of Captain Marvel](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033317/), 1941:

In one scene, Captain Marvel is fighting a group of gangsters, on the roof of a skyscraper. One of the goons lunges at him. He casually tosses the man over the edge of the roof.

In another scene, teenager Billy Batson mans a machine gun, and slaughters a horde of enemies. This being a 1940s action film, the deaths are bloodless, of course, but the bad guys do die in droves.

You could not do that in a kid’s movie today.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/8 "2015-08-03T02:39:53Z")

</div>

> [@Dale\_Sams](#):
>
> I think I have a winner. “Jesus Christ Superstar was rated G???” (Spittake)

But it’s based on the Bible! How could anyone find that objectionable?

Anyway, the early years of the MPAA rating system are filled with decisions that seem truly baffling today. For example, up until the 1980s, movies made before 1965 that were re-released to theaters were automatically rated “G” regardless of their content. Also, they used to be a lot more lenient regarding incidents of non-graphic violence.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/9 "2015-08-03T03:07:24Z")

</div>

> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#):
>
> Well, I’ll be damned. That was an excellent film, Lynch or no Lynch.
> 
> Oh, yeah, Andromeda Strain has a scene with a rat slowly dying. I read how they did that and it didn’t seem all that much better except The rat didn’t die.

The baby crying is unnerving (Parent here)…the bodies cut open and their blood being dust is also unnerving…the guy being groggy from being hit with a laser kind of freaked me out as a kid.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/10 "2015-08-03T04:32:08Z")

</div>

> [@Dale\_Sams](#):
>
> Okay…I know Planet of the Apes was rated G. Star Trek the Motion Picture was. (The transporter accident is horrifying. Ilia getting disintegrated was bad) but…
> 
> I think I have a winner. “Jesus Christ Superstar was rated G???” (Spittake)

I don’t remember, what is surprising about that?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/11 "2015-08-03T05:12:59Z")

</div>

Anyone seen the Monkees movie “Head”? Yep, rated G. Don’t remember all the details, because it’s been a while, but nowadays, it would probably be PG-13.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![obfusciatrist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4af34b/32.png) [@obfusciatrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/obfusciatrist)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/12 "2015-08-03T05:13:43Z")

</div>

Weren’t most pre-1968 movies (when the MPAA rating system was implemented) essentially just considered G rated since they’d passed muster under the Hays Code? Unless it was re-released theatrically did the MPAA ever even rate such movies?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/13 "2015-08-03T07:54:34Z")

</div>

> [@obfusciatrist](#):
>
> Weren’t most pre-1968 movies (when the MPAA rating system was implemented) essentially just considered G rated since they’d passed muster under the Hays Code? Unless it was re-released theatrically did the MPAA ever even rate such movies?

That’s what I said in my earlier post. That was the MPAA’s default rating for nearly all re-released films made before 1965. They changed this policy sometime during the 1980s and began giving pre-1968 movies the ratings they would’ve gotten had they been released after imposition of the ratings system. For example, **Casablanca** (1942) carries a PG rating and the original **Psycho** (1960) is now an R.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/14 "2015-08-03T13:06:10Z")

</div>

Didn’t _The Pink Panther_ have a brief instance of partial nudity, but it still got a G rating? I’d think that scene would get it at least a PG, perhaps a PG-13, today.

Speaking of the latter, PG-13 was famously created because of the controversy that erupted when _Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom_ was rated PG.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/15 "2015-08-03T14:36:31Z")

</div>

> [@Frylock](#):
>
> I don’t remember, what is surprising about that?

I have to ask the same… I haven’t seen it in years, but don’t remember anything bad in it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/16 "2015-08-03T15:46:14Z")

</div>

On the other end of the spectrum - Jackie Chan’s “[Battle Creek Brawl](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080436/)” in 1980 was rated R… one bra scene - a few implied deaths, no blood.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/17 "2015-08-03T16:07:49Z")

</div>

At the other end of the spectrum Midnight Cowboy was originally rated X. Now it carries an R rating, and if re-rated might be able to get away with PG-13, maybe with just some minor cuts.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [August 3, 2015, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/18 "2015-08-03T17:11:02Z")

</div>

_Planes, Trains & Automobiles_ received an R rating solely for that famous rental car scene where Steve Martin says the F-word 30 times in a row. Outside of that scene, the movie was a light PG, at worst.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/19 "2015-08-03T17:19:16Z")

</div>

> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> At the other end of the spectrum Midnight Cowboy was originally rated X. Now it carries an R rating, and if re-rated might be able to get away with PG-13, maybe with just some minor cuts.

Implied guys giving blowjobs. Used to be it’d get you everytime.

Honestly, as often as that’s beginning to crop up onscreen (Brown Bunny, In the Cut and so forth) I’d be interested in knowing if there’d be a ratings difference if a guy did the sucking instead of a woman.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [August 3, 2015, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778/20 "2015-08-03T17:23:40Z")

</div>

> [@Jonathan\_Chance](#):
>
> Honestly, as often as that’s beginning to crop up onscreen (Brown Bunny, In the Cut and so forth) I’d be interested in knowing if there’d be a ratings difference if a guy did the sucking instead of a woman.

Probably, depicted lesbian sex is practically a guarantied X nowadays.

[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spittake-that-was-rated-g/726778.md?page=2)
