Jaws 30th Anniversary Edition in June (1 Viewer)

[Mark Bendiksen]

The MPAA has never been consistent when it comes to nudity. Plenty of PG-rated films in the 70s and early 80s had nudity (Airplane, anyone?). Granted, you would expect those movies to be slapped with a PG-13 today. However, that doesn't explain the "Director's Cut" of Amadeus. That film was originally rated PG, but the "Director's Cut" got branded with an R rating simply on the basis of Elizabeth Berridge's breasts being displayed in a newly-inserted scene. Makes no sense, if you ask me.

 

[Damin J Toell]

The MPAA doesn't choose what it rates, it only rates what gets submitted. Universal would have little incentive to spend the money to submit the film for a new rating.

DJ

 

[Nathan Phillips]

MGM does it quite often for some reason. My "Bananas" DVD has a PG-13 rating and it was originally PG. I have to wonder what the point is.

 

[Damin J Toell]

That's probably because Bananas actually originally received a GP rating (the precursor to PG). MGM probably submitted it for a re-rating to get an official new rating under the modern system.

DJ

 

[Nathan Phillips]

oh, gotcha. I forgot all about GP. And M.

 

[Jay Pennington]

Clash of the Titans had female and male full frontal, PG.

The female and male were mother and child, and thus with no sexual overtones, but nekkid they were.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Babies/very young kids don't count toward ratings problems - IIRC, we see little Kal-El's weiner in Superman.

I'm pretty sure there wasn't full frontal adult female in Clash. I remember the backside nudity at the end and have a vague recollection of some chest action earlier, but I'm fairly positive we don't see the whole enchilada at any point - unless it's hidden in the shadows ala Susan Backlinie in Jaws...

 

[Jefferson Morris]

I suspect that if Jaws were released today (if it was a new film, that is), it would be rated R - if not for the blood then simply for the fact that it's "scary." Being scary now is enough to bump up your rating in these coddled times we live in. Witness The Lord of the Rings films getting PG-13 ratings for "scary images."

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Lyle_JP]

Jefferson,

I disagree. In just the last few years we've had a number of horror films released with PG-13 ratings, such as The Others, Darkness Falls, Anacondas 2, Alien vs. Predator, The Grudge, Cursed, Boogeyman, What Lies Beneath, and of course, The Ring.

Given this, I would say that Jaws would net a PG-13 easy.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[Kevin M]

MGM.....isn't this why they pulled the first dvd version of Swamp Thing, they accidentally put out the european cut which featured quite a lengthy top nude scene of Adrienne Barbeau despite giving the DVD the 1982 US edited version's PG rating?

 

[Jay Pennington]

Regarding Clash of the Titans:

Well, we're going on memories 24-yrs old here, but I recall a scene of toddler Perseus and his mom walking butt naked on a beach during a montage about him growing up. As I was sitting next to my mom in the theater, and I was 14, it was awkward. Will have to take another look as the opportunity arises.

Oh, and to those sideliners who think this discussion is a perv fest...on the contrary. Purely academic. No smiley.

 

[Jefferson Morris]

You may be right, but I'd wager that none of the films you mentioned was as frightening, or gruesome, as Jaws. But I admit I've only seen The Others and What Lies Beneath.

I, for one, am looking forward to the end of Hollywood's fascination with PG-13 horror movies. Not that horror films must be graphic, but it feels like a lot of horror filmmakers are holding themselves back to get the more "commercial" rating.

--Jefferson Morris

 

[Lyle_JP]

See "The Ring". It may change your mind.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[TravisR]

Yeah but those movies deal with 'fantastic' elements (ghosts, aliens, etc.). Granted, killer sharks aren't exactly common but at least it could happen

 

[Kevin M]

If you are referring to your own comments, seemed pretty ratings old/modern differences to me, nothing prurient about it that I could see...aside from some of your wording perhaps, "nekkid"?

 

[Lyle_JP]

True, but at the same time Jaws has no "imitable behavior", which is what distresses the MPAA the most. There are no killing sprees, no evil or malice, no violence for violence's sake. In fact, it's a classic Man vs. Nature story, and does not strive to be exploitative (like Anacondas). That gives it a lot of wiggle room with the very subjective MPAA rating process.

I have no doubt that Jaws would not receive an "R" if rated today.

-Lyle J.P.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Key phrase being "butt" naked. I think the movie offered a rear shot of the mother and maybe even some breastage, but I can't imagine we saw the genital region. I just watched this movie again when the DVD came out three years ago and I DEFINITELY would have recalled full frontal...

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I tested my memory with the new DVD. Just for clarification, Robert, it's not that song during the moments where Brody's observing the swimmers. When the beach sequence begins and Alex is asking his mother if he may go back in the water, she asks to see his hands (at this precise moment, from the radio we hear Paul Anka's (YOU'RE) HAVING MY BABY come in where he sings, "Having my baby...what a lovely way of saying how much you love me..."

-- but the thing is, this song also trades off "Olivia-Newton-John-like" vocals with another woman, who sings more verses and sounds much like Olivia. Her name is Odia Coates, and she's also answering Paul Anka in song with her lines: "I'm a woman in love and I love
What it's doin' to me. Having my baby. I'm a woman in love and I love What's goin' through me..." -- you can hear these last words in the montage, where that funny old man is swimming under the fat woman and Brody gets nervous.

Eventually, Ellen Brody tells the Chief that he's uptight. And at that point we can hear Olivia Newton John singing part of her song, I HONESTLY LOVE YOU. Both the Anka/Coates duet and the Olivia song were big at that time, and I believe what happens is that some people think the first woman is Olivia Newton John all along because they recognize her voice later in the scene, but it isn't her all the way through the scene. If you know the song "(YOU'RE) HAVIMG MY BABY" well enough, it's unmistakable.

Between all this, there seems to be other songs playing from other radios, at least to me - but it's hard to decipher everything.

Not the biggest matter in the world, I realize, but since it was brought up earlier I thought I'd chime in.

 

[PeterTHX]

On the film ratings:

Apparently the MPAA did threaten "Jaws" with an R. Speiberg or someone sucessfully argued that it was "nature" violence, not man-made violence.

You can get a PG-13 with breast shots as long as it's not in a sexual context. "Titanic" is a perfect example. Rose bares all to be drawn, and shows nothing during the sex scene. Another is when Terry in "Just One of the Guys" (also PG-13) flashes her breasts to Rick to show she is female.

On "Clash of the Titans" there is no frontal. Danae breastfeeds young Perseus and walks nude down the beach with him (butts). Later Andromeda rises from the bath nude (again, butt only). Funny, on the LaserDisc this is the very first scene of side 3!

I was 13 when I saw this film theatrically and was VERY surprised.

 

[Carlos Garcia]

This is true. Apparently Great Whites seem to enjoy feeding off the New Jersey coast. In the film, Hooper mentions the 1916 attacks. Ironically, the same year the movie was released (1975) there was also an attack on the Jersey shore...the latest Jersey attack on record? Just a couple of weeks ago. I remember having read about it and wondering if the people at Universal aren't just throwing Bruce back in the water everytime they release the movie...When's the HD-DVD of the film coming out? Jersey Swimmers beware!

ADDED: Here's the link to this year's Jersey attack:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor.../ussharkattack