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What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

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What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Old 07-22-11, 11:42 AM
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What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

^^^^^^^^^^ see thread title.
Old 07-22-11, 11:47 AM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Minority Report (f-bombs, sex, chasing eyeballs down hallways)
The Dark Knight
The Prestige
Old 07-22-11, 11:48 AM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

(Thanks to the recent Sci-Fi challenge)
Supernova
Quite a lot of buns & boobs
Old 07-22-11, 11:49 AM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was pretty bloody for a PG-13 flick. You even saw a severed head or two (not counting the scene that was deleted). And it was a Disney flick to boot.
Old 07-22-11, 11:53 AM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

I don't think PG-13 has much in the way of boundaries these days when it comes to violence. Anything seems to get by as long as it's partially implied or fairly brief/fleeting. I was pretty surprised at what they got away with in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, True Grit, and even parts of Captain America. I remember when people getting shot had to be shot off-camera and it had to be bloodless, then it just had to be bloodless, and now it can be bloody and occur on-camera (i.e. you see the bullet hole appear) and it's still PG-13. I think someone even takes a headshot with a puff of blood in Captain America...

What bothers me is not the actual content getting by, which definitely doesn't quite feel like it warrants a big bold R-rating, but the fact that the ratings have no consistency. I always thought the MPAA was still a useful tool no matter how corrupt or biased it was because the corruption and biases were always the same, and you could pretty easily learn and base decisions around ratings based on what you knew they gave weight to. Now, I really feel like you can get away with anything violent you want to in a PG-13 as long as it's not drawn-out and specifically graphic.
Old 07-22-11, 11:53 AM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by Mondo Kane
(Thanks to the recent Sci-Fi challenge)
Supernova
Quite a lot of buns & boobs
Are you sure you didn't watch the DVD-exclusive R-rated version?
Old 07-22-11, 12:01 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by droidguy1119
Are you sure you didn't watch the DVD-exclusive R-rated version?
Unless Starz has been disguising the televised-showing as the PG-13 version.

But afterwards, I checked out IMDB's trivia/alternate versions of the movie. It sounded like the R-version just had more explicit violence (No mention of added sex/nudity)
Old 07-22-11, 12:05 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Probably The Dark Knight...not much in the way of language, but it's pretty dark and violent.
Old 07-22-11, 02:52 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Titanic --boobies

Everything else mentioned in this thread could be showed on TV aside from the f-bombs.
Old 07-22-11, 03:39 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

European Vacation had a ton of boobage for a PG-13 movie.
Old 07-22-11, 03:42 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

I want to second TRUE GRIT...I was floored to learn this was PG-13 after watching it. The cabin scene alone should have made it an R-rated film.
Old 07-22-11, 03:57 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Let's talk about the other direction too. The Queen pushed the boundary towards a PG so closely that a single F-word was apparently the only thing that got it a PG-13. I'm sure there are other examples of this.
Old 07-22-11, 04:21 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

I was surprised by how extreme the violence was at the CIA facility and in the submarine climax in X-Men: First Class for a PG-13 flick.
Old 07-22-11, 04:25 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

yeah...I remember seeing those guys hit the roof...I thought..."damn...sure as hell didn't expect that"

That and well...Magneto's action against Shaw. Talking about that scene. I really liked the Xavier/Shaw intercutiting.

Last edited by Solid Snake; 07-22-11 at 04:30 PM.
Old 07-22-11, 04:27 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by Drexl
Let's talk about the other direction too. The Queen pushed the boundary towards a PG so closely that a single F-word was apparently the only thing that got it a PG-13. I'm sure there are other examples of this.
They threw a few curse words into the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Movie to prevent it from getting a PG rating.
Old 07-22-11, 04:33 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by RichC2
Minority Report (f-bombs, sex, chasing eyeballs down hallways)
Spielberg can get away with anything.
If a lesser known director would have made Saving Private Ryan in would have been NC-17 due to the violence.
Old 07-22-11, 04:57 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

The Ring. Pretty intense for a PG-13 movie, without really even having that much violence.
Old 07-22-11, 05:48 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

I remember when movies that were rated "M" (the precursor of GP, which then got changed to PG) routinely had frontal nudity and blood spurts from gunshots. I remember working at a summer program in the Bronx and taking a group of kids to see Nicolas Roeg's WALKABOUT (1971) in a Manhattan theater. That was PG (or GP) and 18-year-old Jenny Agutter played an Australian high school girl who gets lost in the outback and is helped by a young Aboriginal man, who's about her age. In one scene the two go skinny dipping in a pond and we see full frontal nudity of a white teenage girl alongside an equally naked black man. You'd figure that racism alone on the part of the MPAA would have demanded an R rating. Now, the fact is it wasn't sexual, so maybe the MPAA was actually paying attention to the content. In any event, as you would imagine, the kids really dug it, but there were no more movie outings in Manhattan that summer.
Old 07-22-11, 06:03 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by inri222
Spielberg can get away with anything.
If a lesser known director would have made Saving Private Ryan in would have been NC-17 due to the violence.
I believe it actually was set at NC-17, and he just asked them to re-consider, due to the subject matter.
Old 07-22-11, 10:36 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

I have to say "The Woman in Red", hands down. If only because it's the first (and to the best of my knowledge) only PG-13 film to show full frontal female nudity. Kelly LeBrock getting out of bed in that one scene. Boobs and muffin.
Old 07-22-11, 10:42 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by bluetoast
I believe it actually was set at NC-17, and he just asked them to re-consider, due to the subject matter.

from what I remember some of the theaters chains were enforcing a NC-17 policy even though the film was rated R
Old 07-22-11, 11:15 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Just One of the Guys
Old 07-23-11, 12:22 AM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by bluetoast
I believe it actually was set at NC-17, and he just asked them to re-consider, due to the subject matter.
Like I said, Spielberg can get away with it.
Scindler's List & SPR were both broadcast uncensored on network television.

I remember the whole controversy over High Tension and the dreaded NC-17.
You can't tell me that SPR was less violent than High Tension.

And that whole "subject matter" loophole is another thing.
For instance, you can have a bunch of nudity and get away with it with a lesser rating as long as those who are naked are considered "uncivilized people". Or as Roger Ebert calls it "The National Geographic Loophole".
Old 07-23-11, 06:45 AM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by inri222
Like I said, Spielberg can get away with it.
Scindler's List & SPR were both broadcast uncensored on network television.
Not entirely uncensored. The "sexual" nudity in Schindler's List was censored. Bedroom scenes had naked female breasts darkened so it appeared they were in shadow and you couldn't see them.

The Deer Hunter was also broadcast unedited, although not by the networks. It was syndicated to local stations and aired uncut in primetime.
Old 07-23-11, 01:14 PM
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Re: What movie pushed the boundaries of PG-13 the most?

Originally Posted by bluetoast
I believe it actually was set at NC-17, and he just asked them to re-consider, due to the subject matter.
Other way around. Spielberg and Hanks were all for an NC-17 rating (they didn't want any kids seeing the movie) and encouraged people to think of it as an NC-17 movie when considering to take their kids to see it.

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