OK--this movie has been re rated two times. First it was R, then it was cut to get a GP (or PG), THEN I heard it was changed back to an R in 2003! I have the DVD and I'm curious--is it the uncut version? The only one I've seen looks like it has some sex scenes cut out--but that may be the way it was filmed.
shareYeah, the MPAA listing for it is kind of weird. The current rating is from 2003, and the reason is "Rated R for drug content." Down below, the note says "Re-rated, Previously rated (R) in (1968)."
On its face, this doesn't make a lot of sense, since you wouldn't re-rate a movie from R to R.
Usually, if there are multiple rated versions (i.e. if the movie is cut to get a new rating, rather than just re-rated in light of current standards), it appears as two separate entries on the MPAA database.
I suspect -- consistent with your understanding -- that it was rated R on release, for mature themes and sexuality; then it was re-rated to GP in the '70s as standards loosened (just as Midnight Cowboy was re-rated from X to R in 1971); then it was re-rated back up to R for completely different reasons (drugs have become a hot button since the '70s) in 2003.
There are, of course, often multiple versions of a movie, but the alternate versions aren't submitted for ratings. Most obviously, movies are cut and dubbed to "cleaner" versions for TV broadcast; more recently, some movies are "dirtieed" into unrated versions for DVD release.
Thanks for the info. Changing a movies rating from R to GP THEN back to R seems more than a little silly but then the MPAA never made a lot of sense.
share[deleted]
IMDB is often wrong on ratings, but (at least in my experience) the MPAA is not.
Here's the entry from the MPAA website:
Title: Wild In The Streets (2003)
Rating: R
Rating Reason: Rated R for drug content.
Distributor: MGM Home Entertainment Inc.
Other:
Re-Rating
Previously rated (R) in (1968).
It seems to say, fairly clearly, that it was rated R on release in 1968. On the other hand, there's some ambiguity right on the face of the entry ... how does a film get re-rated from R to R?
It must be:
(i) the MPAA site is wrong, and the movie was rated M on release, OR
(ii) the movie was rated R on release, later re-rated lower, then even later re-rated back to R, and the MPAA website omits mention of the first re-rating, OR
(iii) something else entirely.
The MPAA rating system didn't go into effect till 1969. During the late sixties almost anything stronger the a Disney movie ranging from then controversial films like "Bonnie and Clyde" and "The Graduate" to family movies like "Planet of the Apes" was rated "M": suggested for mature audiences. There was no ratings board or age restrictions on who could watch a movie. In 69' the "M" rating was replaced by the "G", "GP" (later "PG"), "R", and "X" ratings and a rating board was set up to rate films.
My guess is "Wild in the Streets" was released in 68' with a "M" rating. A year later when it was submitted to the rating board it got an "R" rating because of all the pot and LSD use in the movie; a hot issue during the Nixon administration.
TAG LINE: True genius is a beautiful thing, but ignorance is ugly to the bone.
[deleted]
Just for the record, no advertising paper (one sheets, half sheets, inserts, etc.) on Wild in the Streets carries an MPAA rating. Instead, there is the MPAA globe logo with the boxed advisory "Suggested for Mature Audiences" (adopted by the MPAA in 1966).
Since Wild in the Streets was released on May 19, 1968, and the MPAA ratings system took effect on November 1, 1968, it is almost certain that it was not rated when it was originally released to theaters.
Perhaps it was rated later by the MPAA, but their own records are the only indication of this. It would be interesting to dig up some contemporaneous newspaper advertisements and see if they indicate an MPAA rating (I did a brief Google search, but coudn't find any).
However it was rated, I (at age 16 in 1968) had no trouble seeing it in theatres.
Actually, they did me no favors letting me in to see it. I hated it.
Sam Tomaino
I'm not surprised u hated it. I liked it but--if I saw it as a teenager--I probably would have hated it too. It acts like it's for teenagers but then it gives us some of the most obnoxious characters ever.
share Wild in the Streets came out before the rating system was implemented. Therefore, IT ORIGINALLY HAD NO "RATING." I saw it in the theater at age 11, on the recommendation of my 17 year old female cousin, who had seen it multiple times and was often singing some of the songs like "Shape of Things to Come," "Listen to the Music" and "Fourteen or Fight." Anyway I'm sure it came with the 'suggested for mature audiences' warning but had no rating because that didn't happen until November '68.
Right, then, old chap. Large brandies all around, what?
[deleted]