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OK--is there really a difference between the X and R versions?

posted 9 years ago by preppy-3
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According to IMDB the film was rerated to an R NOT edited to get an R. There are other films that originally got an X rating in the late 1960s but were lowered to an R with not cuts. "Midnight Cowboy" is the most obvious example of this. I think "Last Summer" might be another.

[–] astockton_uk 9 years ago

The porn film industry welcomed the X rating, figuring correctly that they could get viewers to equate X with porn. Many "adult" films were not even submitted to the MPAA for rating; their distributors simply advertised them as "Rated X" and eventually "Rated XXX."

In response, the MPAA began reclassifying X ratings to R and introduced the NC-17 rating.