# Your First Rated R Movie in the Theater **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 7, 2025, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576 "2025-07-07T01:00:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![TheTyrant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thetyrant/32/19111_2.png) [@TheTyrant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheTyrant)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/61 "2025-07-07T13:11:32Z")
Terminator 2. I was 18, had just finished high school the previous month and honestly very very rarely made it to the movie theater. I’d see maybe one or two movies in the theater in any given year and mostly just watched movies on cable. ---
**Author:** ![pseudograph](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pseudograph/32/19768_2.png) [@pseudograph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudograph)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/62 "2025-07-07T13:13:09Z")
Prince’s _Purple Rain_, '84. I was thirteen and my friend’s mom took us. I remember the ticket taker actually giving us a little grief, asking if she was our guardian, so she said she was my aunt. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/63 "2025-07-07T13:29:06Z")
My parents were either strong believers in the power of putting their hands in the way of boobs or just couldn’t be bothered to send the kids to a different movie than themselves but I’m pretty sure that I recall seeing Police Academy, Beverly Hills Cop, Amadeus, and The Terminator - which are all 1984 films and R-rated. I’m not seeing anything from 1983 so Police Academy looks like it’s probably the answer. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/64 "2025-07-07T13:32:00Z")
God help me, I think it was _Cinderella_. No, not that one. Or that one. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2025, 1:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/65 "2025-07-07T13:33:56Z")
This is an easy one for me. I saw _Animal House_ on my birthday. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/66 "2025-07-07T13:48:26Z")
> [@pseudograph](#): > > I remember the ticket taker actually giving us a little grief, asking if she was our guardian, so she said she was my aunt. I was going to R rated films without an adult by the time I was 14. Nobody gave me grief or asked for ID. Same with outside food. Or jumping from one screen to another. They didn’t pay the people who worked at cinemas enough to care about infractions like that. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/67 "2025-07-07T13:50:04Z")
1977 - Saturday Night Fever ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/68 "2025-07-07T13:52:10Z")
> [@solost](#): > > ‘The Warriors’ in 1979. I was 14 years old. Enjoyable first ‘R’ movie, but I remember being disappointed that there was no nudity. I thought at the time that all R-rated movies had nudity . When I was researching mid-80s releases to recall my first R, some of the movie ratings really surprised me. It wouldn’t have counted (?) since an adult took me, but I was going to answer that _Splash_ was my first R movie. I was surprised to see that it was only PG – I don’t recall any actual _full_ nudity, but loads of navy-blue language and sexual innuendo. Maybe six months later, I and one of my middle-school friends waltzed into _Beverly Hills Cop_ by ourselves. I don’t recall ever being carded – or even questioned – going into an R movie from 8th grade on. Just as an aside: I saw _Running Scared_ in the theater in the summer of 1986 … and was surprised to see that it was rated R. Had to have been for language (maybe an f-bomb?). Was the f-word alone enough to earn a film an R-rating back in the day? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/69 "2025-07-07T13:53:18Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > 1977 - Saturday Night Fever Another one I forgot was R rated. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/70 "2025-07-07T13:55:35Z")
In USAF basic training back in 1976, on a day pass to San Antonio. Went to a movie theatre to see “Jaws”…and didn’t realize it was the Spanish version. Enjoyed it immensely. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/71 "2025-07-07T13:59:34Z")
Jaws was PG. Was there something other than the language about the Spanish version that made it less appropriate for kids? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/72 "2025-07-07T14:03:23Z")
In that case, the next film I saw was on base, Sonny Chiba in “The Street Fighter” about a week later. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/73 "2025-07-07T14:10:57Z")
“Blue Thunder” in 1983, at the local drive-in when I was about 13 yo. For a couple years prior I’d seen R movies on cable/VHS, probably Blues Brothers was the earliest which would have been around '80/'81 when it came out on rental. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/74 "2025-07-07T14:16:15Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Was the f-word alone enough to earn a film an R-rating back in the day? In the 70s, yes. There were a few years in the 80s when a _non sexual_ “fuck” was allowable in a PG movie (e.g. “what a fucking mess”) but a _sexual_ “fuck” got you an R (e.g. “go fuck yourself”). This was controversial (see _Sixteen Candles,_ for example; or rather don’t, because it’s aged like room-temperature milk), and ultimately helped bring about the PG-13 rating. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/75 "2025-07-07T14:17:10Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Have to ask: did any of these experiences warp your minds, morals, or result in horrific nightmares for a month straight, or such? Certainly not. _The Big Red One_ was a pretty mild R. I’m guessing if it came out today it would be PG-13. > [@BlankSlate](#): > > God help me, I think it was _Cinderella_. No, not that one. Or that one. Oh _that_ one. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/76 "2025-07-07T14:19:59Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Just as an aside: I saw _Running Scared_ in the theater in the summer of 1986 … and was surprised to see that it was rated R. Had to have been for language (maybe an f-bomb?). Was the f-word alone enough to earn a film an R-rating back in the day? I was surprised to see that _Planes, Trains and Automobiles_ was rated R! I guess there’s that one scene where Steve Martin uses the F-word multiple times. ---
**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:** [July 7, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/77 "2025-07-07T14:24:40Z")
In **Manhattan** , Diane Keaton says “fuck” one time — _boom_, R-rating. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/78 "2025-07-07T14:29:14Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > God help me, I think it was _Cinderella_. No, not that one. Or that one. I knew exactly what you meant. Never saw it but the VHS cover is imprinted in my brain to this day via adolescent visits to the video rental store. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/79 "2025-07-07T14:31:35Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I was going to R rated films without an adult by the time I was 14. Nobody gave me grief or asked for ID. Same with outside food. Or jumping from one screen to another. They didn’t pay the people who worked at cinemas enough to care about infractions like that. Same experience growing up in suburban New Orleans. Getting in to an R movie in one’s early teen years was really not remarkarble. I understand from comparing notes with other people from other places that this was not universal. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/80 "2025-07-07T14:32:34Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > In the 70s, yes. There were a few years in the 80s when a _non sexual_ “fuck” was allowable in a PG movie Oddly, I remember the occasional non-sexual “fuck” was allowed on radio in the 70s and 80s (The Who’s “who the fuck are you?” lyrics being a prime example), but these days even that usage is blipped out on the radio. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576.md?page=5)