How Did "Andromeda Strain" Get a "G" Rating? (1 Viewer)

I was watching the Andromeda Strain DVD and in the first 40 Minutes or so, there are several "Hell" and "Damn" Utterances, a reference to pot, dead bodies, a close up shot of someone cutting into a dead mans wrist and an approx 5 sec shot of a topless dead woman. Now, I know "Hell" and "Damn" aren't exactly one of the 7 dirty words and the topless woman was not sexual in context, but I noticed the film had a "G" rating and wondered how the got the "G" the stuff I mentioned I thought would get a movie at least a "PG" Any Thoughts?

Back when MPAA ratings were new, G-rated films were often rather liberal compared to nowadays (in fact, the original ANDROMEDA poster said, "Though rated G, may be too intense for younger viewers") Can't see that happening nowadays when even some G-rated films could probably get rerated PG-13, such as the original PLANET OF THE APES, which had alot of bare nekked butts. On the other hand, I think the G rating is woefully underappreciated nowadays, but that's another story.

They basically don't give Gs anymore. It used to be animated amterial got it, but hardly even that anymore. When the PG-13 was introduced, a lot of the R and PG got sucked into it and the PG rating absorbed most of the G spectrum to make up for it.

Good example, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The director's cut changes nothign substantial. It mostly just replaces effects with better looking effects. Yet it got a PG when the original was a G.

I think the ratings made more sense as they were originally. Now the PG rating is slapped on many kiddie films, though there is nothing in those films that would make a level-headed parent question their kids seeing the film. I think the only reason a lot of those movies get a PG rating is because of bathroom humor. Therefore, those films really should be rated G.

Nowadays, PG-13 is the rating in which parents begin to doubt whether young and/or sensitive kids should see the movie. Wasn't that the original meaning of PG: parental guidance suggested? The PG-13 rating was introduced as a "hard" PG because some parents were concerned with action violence in films like "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom."

But the introduction of PG-13 really had the effect of making all subsequent G-rated fare PG-rated, and all later PG-rated fare PG-13.

The MPAA's attempts to refine the rating system have largely failed. Before, there were three commercially viable ratings: G, PG, and R. Today, it's PG, PG-13, and R, meaning pretty much the same things as their predecessors. NC-17, conceived as a rating for non-pornographic films suitable for adults only, proved not to be commercially viable. Now any movies that get an NC-17 are either cut or released unrated, no change from the previous X rating days. (But the MPAA has trademarked the NC-17 rating symbol so porn studios can't self-rate their creations as they did with X.)

Currently the only significant G-rated films around are James Cameron's documentary, RETURN TO THE ABYSS and the upcoming Pixar production, FINDING NEMO. I agree that alot of innocuous PG-rated films should be a G but for some expendable bathroom humor.

And a lot of that bathroom humor is inserted expressly so that the film WON'T be given a G rating, which is seen as the kiss of death for a non-Disney picture, since it's seen by the all-important teen demographic as kiddie stuff.

In terms of movies receiving a less restrictive rating. I remember reading that the producers of "Chariots of Fire" were going to get a G rating, but for some reason thought of adding a curse word in preproduction to garner a PG rating, go figure. I guess sometimes a G-rating is a curse moreso than a blessing.

DRACULA HAS RISEN FROM THE GRAVE was given a G rating in 1968 (the first year of the system). Funny, since it would easily get a PG-13 (at least) today. The film has a gory scene of a staking, dead bodies hanging from church bells, bodies being burned in a stove, drunken characters, an impaling, etc.

Back then they thought all horror films were for kids, I guess!

BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES got a G in 1970, and it was full of bloody violence, a guy getting impaled on spikes, etc. At the time I wondered if the ratings board even bothered to screen the picture - they just looked at the title and figured it's kid stuff, give it a G. Same with THE ANDROMEDA STRAIN. After all, it was made by the director of THE SOUND OF MUSIC. The quick nudity and some other stuff that happens in the picture were always cut out of the TV prints, and even the first VHS release. Some G movie! I was glad to see everything put back in on the DVD version.

--Bill