Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

As far as I know, only one of the James Bond films has ever got a '15' from the BBFC so far, it was that one with Timothy Dalton in it (no relation, sorry) called 'Licence to Kill'. If it hadn't been trimmed down a bit it would've got an '18' certificate, which would indeed be a major no-no for 007.

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

The 12 rating was brought in to fill the gap between PG & 15, just like in the USA PG13 was introduced after some 1980s films pushed the PG rating to the limit.

The film that brought P.G.-13 into existence was 'Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom'. Steven Spielberg recommended that the MPAA introduced this rating in response to complaints about some of the more violent scenes in the film. It's interesting to note that, since there was no such thing as a '12' rating at the time of the film's release in Britain, it had to be cut in order to avoid a '15' certificate. However, now the uncut version of the film has been awarded a '12'.

The first film in the Indiana Jones series, 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', got released in the UK with an A certificate in 1981, but I have a sneaking fancy that at least one or two town councils may have rated it something higher than that due to a brief but disturbing scene of violence in it. In this scene, blood is shown being spattered all over an aeroplane, suggesting that a man has been hacked to death by its propellers.

[Richard1978]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

The 12 rating was brought in to fill the gap between PG & 15, just like in the USA PG13 was introduced after some 1980s films pushed the PG rating to the limit.

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I have always thought that U certificate films are generally limited to kids stuff and cartoons these days - even general family stuff seem to be a PG.

I'm amazed sometimes by how much swearing they can get away with in a P.G. film. Jaws 2, for instance, contains a constant stream of four-letter words. I suppose they can't rate it anything higher than P.G. as none of them are of a sexual nature. When I watched 'Platoon' I could hardly believe it was a '15' rather than an '18' because the language used in it was so strong.
Apparently some films do get rated '18' just for language, generally because they use the word 'c**t' multiple times and that's considered to be the most shocking word. A lot of stand-up comedy gets an '18' rating because of the bawdy humour, and also due to the fact that some of it features strippers.

[George 1978]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I have always thought that U certificate films are generally limited to kids stuff and cartoons these days - even general family stuff seem to be a PG.

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I've heard of the opposite happening in the USA, with some films being trimmed down to drop them down a rating. Some cinemas there won't show films with the highest rating.

The highest rating in America nowadays is NC-17 (No children 17 or under admitted).

The Americans borrowed the X rating from us Britons, although they never started awarding it to films until 1968, whereas we started awarding it in 1951.

Their X rating wasn't trademarked, so that anyone could award it to their own film without having it submitted to the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America).

In the film 'Taxi Driver' a man is shown entering a cinema showing XXX films. This was a rating that was awarded by pornographers to their own film. They could rate their own film X, XX or XXX depending on how dirty it was.

It was eventually decided to create a different version of the X rating that was trademarked so that only the MPAA could award it. This particular rating came to be known as NC-17. It is a higher rating than R (Restricted, meaning no-one under 17 can be accompanied without an adult).

[Richard1978]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I think because U films are such a rarity nowadays every so often they compromise over certain issues just so they can award the occasional U certificate to a film. Otherwise virtually no films would get this rating.

"Cats" is a U but it's just one of those rare gems that doesn't contain anything unsuitable for children (although a toddler might get scared by it because they may be unable to distinguish between real and fake cat people). I cracked this joke on Facebook about it saying that it's amazing what they can do with genetic engineering nowadays.

It's a known fact that some film-makers deliberately go out of their way to avoid a G rating in America (G means General, suitable for all) as G films are unpopular over there. They don't contain the ingredients that help to make a film a hit in the States. For instance, "Annie" was originally a G but someone involved with the making of it was concerned that a G rating would make it unpopular, so they inserted the word "Goddamn" into it, which took the rating up to a P.G.

I've heard of the opposite happening in the USA, with some films being trimmed down to drop them down a rating. Some cinemas there won't show films with the highest rating.

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I was surprised that Star Wars was given a U rating with a few gory deaths & burnt skeletons.

I think because U films are such a rarity nowadays every so often they compromise over certain issues just so they can award the occasional U certificate to a film. Otherwise virtually no films would get this rating.

"Cats" is a U but it's just one of those rare gems that doesn't contain anything unsuitable for children (although a toddler might get scared by it because they may be unable to distinguish between real and fake cat people). I cracked this joke on Facebook about it saying that it's amazing what they can do with genetic engineering nowadays.

It's a known fact that some film-makers deliberately go out of their way to avoid a G rating in America (G means General, suitable for all) as G films are unpopular over there. They don't contain the ingredients that help to make a film a hit in the States. For instance, "Annie" was originally a G but someone involved with the making of it was concerned that a G rating would make it unpopular, so they inserted the word "Goddamn" into it, which took the rating up to a P.G.

[Richard1978]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I was surprised that Star Wars was given a U rating with a few gory deaths & burnt skeletons.

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

When I was a child my parents took me to see 'Watership Down' when I was in junior school and I can't recall either of them raising any objections to it. But, the film is just a little bit gory in parts and the B.B.F.C. have always received a steady flow of complaints from parents who'd felt they'd been misled by its 'U' certificate. In America it was a P.G.

'Star Wars' was also U in Britain, P.G. in America.

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

My dad always said that when they showing "The Exorcist" in one cinema the film had to be stopped due to to strange occurences taking place. I don't know whether it's the plain truth. It was either the curtains swishing back and forth, fire extinguishers going off by themselves or both.

[George 1978]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I do sympathise as I am in similar circumstances - clips on YouTube don't exactly have BBFC-style ratings, although some of them do flag up adult content from time to time as I have noticed. Perhaps it would be a good idea if they did have such ratings?

[philipdalton]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

Curiosity often gets the better of us when we watch films.

For a long time I had a certain amount of curiosity about what 'The Exorcist' was like, and a few years back I did actually watch the whole film. As it was on TV it might have been edited, however, I'm not sure. It seems to me that there's a continual lowering of standards as all the films that were considered unsuitable for showing on TV at the time of their release are finally being shown eventually.

The film might not frighten you if you're an atheist or don't being in the existence of demons, etc. I, however, do happen to believe in all that sort of thing, so playing around with anything remotely demonic, e.g. Ouija boards, seances, etc. is dangerous in my opinion.

I'm too scared even to watch clips on YouTube of any of the films in the Exorcist or Omen franchises, or anything similar to them. I don't know if this is true or not, but someone told me on Facebook she knew people who had seen the original Exorcist film and things had happened to them. Exactly what things, she didn't specify. But, anyway, as a man with a form of autism life is difficult enough for me as it is living on my own in a flat.

[George 1978]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

Curiosity often gets the better of us when we watch films.

[Danniella]

Re: Films given a different rating by the local town council than by the BBFC

I remember when 'Scum' was shown on terrestrial TV for the first time, on Channel 4 to be precise. I didn't see it then, I'm glad I didn't as I was only in my early teens at the time. It was reported in the Daily Mail newspaper that Mary Whitehouse had been up in arms about it. I remember a group of boys at the school bus stop expressing their sheer amazement at seeing 'bumming' shown on the small screen (they were referring to the homosexual rape scene). No-one was accustomed to seeing such things shown on TV in the early 80's.

I remember watching some of Scum but i turned it off, not my kind of film, i was mainly curious.