# 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:** 5
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/81 "2025-07-07T14:33:09Z")
This has been really hard for me to recall! Any R movies I saw as a teen were on cable at a friend’s house, as the Lord intended. ---
**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, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/82 "2025-07-07T14:34:08Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > I never saw _Angel,_ but it’s one of those movies I remember seeing at the video rental store for years just sitting on the shelf. Not Blockbuster Video, but those old school family owned video rental stores. Our old-school family-owned rental store not only carried _Angel_ and its sequels, they kind of promoted the movie. Life-size cardboard cutout display of Angel plus a few posters scattered around the store. Perhaps the proprietor was a big fan? ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/83 "2025-07-07T14:51:46Z")
It was in 1978, and it was one of these three: **Saturday Night Fever, Rocky Horror Picture Show,** or **Kentucky Fried Movie**. I forget which order I saw them in and only Saturday Night Fever was in its first run. I could have sworn that **Bobby Deerfield** and **Wizards** were both R at the time, but Google tells me otherwise. A lot of movies have dropped down a rating since their original release. If I recall correctly, 1979 was the first year that the R rating was sought out by filmmakers because it was actually more lucrative. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/84 "2025-07-07T14:52:25Z")
Probably _Revenge of the Nerds_. My friend and I, both about 12-13, rode our bikes from our homes in Rochester (suburb of Springfield to the southeast) to the movie theater on the southeast end of Springfield, about 6.8 miles away per Google Maps. We bought tickets to _Ghostbusters_ and instead went into the room where _Revenge of the Nerds_ was showing. We thought we were being so slick, but undoubtedly the teenager working the ticket counter knew exactly what we were doing and didn’t give a shit. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/85 "2025-07-07T15:01:52Z")
Stripes ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/86 "2025-07-07T15:05:26Z")
That I can reliably identify in my memory as to what and when, _Dog Day Afternoon_. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/87 "2025-07-07T15:08:44Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > My sister and cousin took me to see a double-feature of _The Blues Brothers_ and _Caddyshack_ when I was 13. Mom & Dad took me to _The Blues Brothers_ on the advice of my brother, the Army vet. > [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > Today those would probably both be PG-13 but back then that did not exist so both were rated “R” I think. I agree, at least regarding _The Blues Brothers_; the home video version was re-rated as PG-13. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/88 "2025-07-07T15:09:35Z")
Probably **Rocky Horror Picture Show** at a midnight showing. I’m going to take a wild stab and guess that I was about 15 or 16 and went with my older sister. The usual raucous crowd participation ensued (although not to an extreme level). It was fun but not remotely scandalous. It does amuse me that RHPS now streams on Disney. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/89 "2025-07-07T15:37:50Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > I was actually going to answer with _Airplane!_ (1980), but despite the language, large amount of sexual innuendo, drug use (Lloyd Bridges using amphetamines and sniffing glue), and a brief shot of a pair of naked female breasts bouncing directly in front of the camera, it _somehow_ was only rated PG. Cocaine and atmospheric lead poisoning explains so many questions regarding the early eighties. My father took me to see _Monty Python’s Meaning of ~~Liff~~ LIfe_ and _Excalibur_ in the Theater. I’d already been sneaking rated R movies on HBO for a while at that point. ---
**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, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/90 "2025-07-07T15:51:28Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > > [@TRC4941](#): > > > > 1977 - Saturday Night Fever > > Another one I forgot was R rated. Wasn’t it later recut and released as a PG version? ---
**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, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/91 "2025-07-07T15:54:57Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Wasn’t it later recut and released as a PG version? **[Yes, it was](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Fever#Theatrical)**. Two years later. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/92 "2025-07-07T15:55:21Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Wasn’t it later recut and released as a PG version? Looks like it, and the edited version apparently came out soon after the original. As per [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Fever#Release): > [@](#): > > The R-rated version released in 1977 represented the movie’s [first run](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_run_(filmmaking)), and totaled 119 minutes.[[26]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Fever#cite_note-DCversion-26) After the success of the first run, the film’s content was re-edited into a 112-minute, toned down, PG-rated version, not only to attract a wider audience, but also to capitalize on attracting the target audience of the teenagers who were not old enough to see the film by themselves, but who made the film’s soundtrack album a monster hit.[[27]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Fever#cite_note-Harmetz79-27) The R-rated version’s profanity, nudity, fight sequence, and a [gang rape](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gang_rape) scene in a car, were all de-emphasized or removed from the PG version.[[27]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturday_Night_Fever#cite_note-Harmetz79-27) Numerous profanity-filled scenes were replaced with alternate [takes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take#Film) of the same scenes, substituting milder language initially intended for the network television cut. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/93 "2025-07-07T16:20:30Z")
> [@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. That varied by theater. I distinctly remember taking a 16-year old girl to an R-rated movie at a neighborhood theater. The cashier ID’d us, and refused to sell her a ticket. He didn’t consider 17-year old me to be a “guardian.” ---
**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, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/94 "2025-07-07T16:20:44Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > In **Manhattan** In 1979 ---
**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, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/95 "2025-07-07T16:20:56Z")
The PG version of _Saturday Night Fever_ was the only one I knew for decades until I happened upon the original cut a few years ago. An entirely different (and ugly) motion picture. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/96 "2025-07-07T16:44:15Z")
My mom didn’t think it was a kid’s movie, she thought I was mature enough for a grownup movie. I remember taking it as a compliment. ---
**Author:** ![MacDoc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macdoc/32/18696_2.png) [@MacDoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDoc)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/97 "2025-07-07T16:44:49Z")
Maybe **The Exorcist** where a lot of people walked out. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/98 "2025-07-07T16:59:24Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > My mom didn’t think it was a kid’s movie, she thought I was mature enough for a grownup movie. I remember taking it as a compliment. I gathered that from the context, but used it to make a more general observation. Certainly a title like that is going to make most anyone not in the know think it is G-level kid fare (and I certainly did having only a vague recall of said flick’s title until you clued me that it apparently is not). ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/99 "2025-07-07T17:04:26Z")
_Fist of Fury_, although back then, it was released in the U.S. under the title _The Chinese Connection_. I was 5 years old when it was released in 1972. My family saw it at a drive-in, not a regular theater, so I might have been 6 or 7. My brother, a dozen years older than me, was a big martial arts fan. He probably persuaded my parents to take us. Until I saw it on TV recently, the only thing i remembered from the film was the exotic dancer. When her scene started, suddenly my mother insisted that we all make a trip to the snack bar. Alas, her attempt at distraction failed. 😁 ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2025, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576/100 "2025-07-07T18:25:32Z")
Ten is not a scary movie. But it is a sexy movie, and while i might have been okay seeing it with just my parents, going with my little sister and my great aunt was deeply uncomfortable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-first-rated-r-movie-in-the-theater/1020576.md?page=6)