Where is the evidence for a London release in 1974? It appears the British censors didn't see the film until December 1975 and gave it an 'X' rating after cuts: http://tinyurl.com/3pwbhh
This also contradicts the 'Alternate Versions' note which claims the original UK theatrical release was uncut.
I find this odd too, cause up until I found this site, it was always said to be released in 1975. Maybe it was shelved for a year, because of its censorship at the time.
shareAs far as I am aware Hoskins was still on British TV doing Moving On in 75 , so I can't see he went to the States and then came back, not to do 10 minute episodes of that ... there is something strange about the dates .. my DVD of this says 75 on the packaging ...
The Video Runtime ( which differs from film of course ) is 1 hour 55 which probably means mine is an uncut version MGM home entertainment ...
regards
Fitvideo
Theres something not right, cause I've read Dreyfuss just finished filiming "Inserts", before "Jaws". So It came after "Duddy...".
share"Fitvideo: As far as I am aware Hoskins was still on British TV doing Moving On in 75 , so I can't see he went to the States and then came back..."
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Inserts was shot in the UK at Shepperton.
Interesting thanks for that, it explains a lot ...
cheers
Fitvideo
I remember seeing this movie in 1976, when it was just released. Dreyfus had become big because of "Jaws," so everyone was hyped to enjoy "Inserts" when it came out in late spring of '76. Dreyfus also promoted "Inserts" on a few talk shows that spring, before the release. Apparently "Inserts" was shelved for a year or more before release, probably due to the subject matter.
shareThe movie was, in fact, held back for a bit. Part of this was a two-fold matter -- first, the movie wasn't exactly a wide-appeal movie, so selling it to audiences would be tricky. However, once Dreyfuss was a bigger star, that gave it its own obvious promo:
There was a notable "gasp!!" value due to a fairly major star being in a "gasp!" 'X' rated movie. Offhand, (excluding Midnight Cowboy, which is really PG-13 these days), only Marlon Brando's "Last Tango In Paris" was the only big-star 'X' movie.
The 'X' rating at that point wasn't completely associated with porn-only by then, but was well on its way -- that only took a few more years. One reason why they invented the "NC17" was to get past the stigma of an 'X' movie, which many theater chains would not carry at all, no matter the provenance.
NC17 got a little use for a while, but theaters were still dodgy about carrying them, so after a couple were released ("Henry and June", and "The Cook, The Thief...") they mostly became something to be avoided assiduously.
The 'solution' that has arisen is an R-rated cut for theatrical release and then an "unrated" version for video releases.
That's not to suggest nothing gets an NC-17, but it's usually smaller art-house films that settle for them, not major pictures playing to thousands of screens.