MovieChat Forums > Lean on Me (1989) Discussion > How did this movie get a PG-13? lol

How did this movie get a PG-13? lol

posted 8 years ago by robert-macc
11 replies | jump to latest

For its time especially? 1989...
One use of the F-word
"Suck my [.....]" is used
Drugs are portrayed
Some of the fights are fairly graphic
And a rape
Again how is this a PG-13? lol
Should have been rated R.

[–] Purplecover101 8 years ago

Keep in mind this was made in 1989. Today it probably would be rated R

[–] robert-macc 8 years ago

Really I thought in 1989 this would been have an R.
There isn't violence that much in this movie. Maybe the violence would be R today

[–] GetWokeGoBroke (638) 2 years ago

Nah, even today it wouldn't be rated R.

[–] FridayOnElmStreet 8 years ago

PG-13 seems about right.

[–] robert-macc 8 years ago

One use of the F-word
a pretty good amount of bloodshed
a depiction of a rape?

I don't know how this got away with a PG-13. LOL

[–] GetWokeGoBroke (638) 2 years ago

What rape are you talking about? The girl getting stripped in the bathroom at the start was not rape, assault maybe but hardly a rape. What bloodshed? I didn't see anybody getting their heads chopped off, stabbed, or shot to death in graphic detail. You can use the word fuck in a PG-13 movie twice or three times at the most if it's said in a non-sexual context, look up the MPAA guidelines. The MPAA have very strange rules.

[–] Tabbycat (748) 4 months ago

Unless they’ve changed that recently, you’re only allowed one F bomb in a PG-13 unless appealed successfully to the full 21-member board (rare).

[–] Ceephax 8 years ago

That's bloody insane. No way should this have been PG13.

[–] GetWokeGoBroke (638) 2 years ago

It's most definitely a PG-13.

[–] MovieChatUser497 (18943) 10 months ago

It’s not an R, and what rape are you referring to?

If this were made before 1984 it should have been PG, by today’s standards it’s PG-13

[–] Tabbycat (748) 4 months ago

Nope.

Since 1984, PG-13 flicks are allowed one use of the more sexually explicit words in a no sexual context. You get one free f**k. Here it was Clark saying, “Don’t f—- around, boy — JUMP!” Previously, any use at all would bring an “R” unless successfully appealed formally (“The Front”, “All the President’s Men”). It was referred to as the “automatic language rule.”