Back when I was just out of high school, I saw The Breakfast Club in the theater, and enjoyed it enough that I paid to see it a second time a week later. It was the first of the very few movies I’ve paid to see twice in the theater. So I was pleased a couple weeks ago when I spotted The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles (which I had not seen before) DVDs packaged together for $9.99, and I had to pick them up.
Now that I’ve watched both movies again, I have a couple questions.
I watched TBC with my 61-year-old roommate, and he believes that Claire and Bender had sex in the closet near the end of the movie. For some undefinable reason, I don’t think they did. Sure, I think they made out, but I don’t think they did the nasty. What’s the consensus?
One simple question about Sixteen Candles: How did a movie with a nude scene (almost full-frontal, even) get a PG rating in 1984? Was it just because it was a completely nonsexual situation? I can imagine parents back then taking their kids to a “safe” PG movie and being outraged when a naked chick pops up on the screen, yet I don’t recall any brouhaha at the time (though, granted, I wasn’t much of a movie-goer in high school, so didn’t pay much attention).
PG then, isn’t PG now. Remember there was no NC-17 or PG-13 back in those days and the rating categories were even more amorphous than they are now. I can recall several PG films that had brief nudity. I think Tanya Roberts in “Sheena” being among them.
I can’t answer why, but those were my first boobs, and I’m sure I’m not alone. I saw the movie with my older sister, who did throw a minor freak, and added “don’t tell mom and dad” on the way home.
God bless John Hughes and the 1984 MPAA ratings board. I do note that IMDB says the movie was originally R but was appealed down to PG, so I’m guessing that the nonsexual situation was critical.
Not even PG-13, just PG; that was before the PG-13 rating started. (And has been a bad idea, overall – but that could be, and probably has been a whole other thread.)
I missed those movies when they came out, but have seen some of them recently, and they’re actually pretty enjoyable. I even liked St. Elmo’s Fire.
Incidentally, what’s John Hughes been doing lately (besides counting his money from the Home Alone movies)? It seems to have been ages since he produced, directed, or written anything.
He wrote J. Lo’s Maid in Manhattan and the FIFTH (!) Beethoven movie (story and characters, not screenplay). He also has a new one “Drillbit Taylor” coming out in 2007 (story)
I thought I was going crazy for a second - I remember not being allowed go to see 16 Candles because I was too young and I was told it was “rated R”. At the time, I didn’t know anything about it (mostly I just wanted to go into town with my brother). I have seen it since then but never thought about the rating - now it makes sense to me.
Should we not then expect them to continue until they do all 10? (Though pretty soon they should be silent films.)
Beethoven’s 3rd through 5th were all direct-to-video films, showing Universal’s ability to cash in on a franchise by making DTV sequels (see also: The Land Before Time [especially], Bring it On, American Pie.) And didn’t his namesake only write nine symphonies?
On the other hand, you have movies like Midnight Cowboy which recd an X rating, which would probably be PG-13 at most if released today, but back then you also had a lot of crime and western films rated G that would be harsher now- 'tis confusing.
Remember that PG means Parent Guidance is suggested. That used to mean exactly what it says, but it somehow got morphed into “This movie is completely sanitary and suitable for a 4-year old.”
I think the proper interpretation of PG thses days is, “This film is a little too disturbing for most four-year-olds, but not yours.” Otherwise you wind up with a Disney G, which the studios don’t want.
I kind of had a feeling Claire and Judd Nelson had sex, just because of the running talk of her being a virgin. Plus, giving him an expensive diamond earring?
I happened to see that movie at the exact right time in high school when it all rang so True.
I can’t answer why, but those were my first boobs, and I’m sure I’m not alone. I saw the movie with my older sister, who did throw a minor freak, and added “don’t tell mom and dad” on the way home.