Discuss The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane
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PG
posted by rudely_murraySTAFFMOD on October 15, 2019 at 7:28 AM
Watching this film today, it's hard to believe that it got away with a PG rating on its release. The child nudity (which would not be allowed today anyway), language, violence, themes of child abuse, underage sex and murder... released today this would be an easy R rating.
It's amazing what filmmakers could get away with back in the '70s. Compare films like Jaws and The Bad News Bears to similar titles released today - there is no way they would get away with the family friendly certification in today's world.
EDIT - I have just read elsewhere that the film's F-bomb and the nude shot of Jodie Foster's character (which was, in fact, her older sister acting as body double) were cut from the original US release, which does tone things down somewhat, and only reinstated when it was released on DVD years later. But everything else I said stands...
Reply by A-Dubya
on October 15, 2019 at 8:50 AM
Yeah, that's what I always say. The movies from back then were able to show so much or do more with a rating of PG. Parental guidance used to mean just that. Same with PG-13 films from the time, I'm pretty certain there was some racy stuff that could be showed which nowadays would get an R rating.
Reply by rudely_murray
on October 15, 2019 at 10:29 AM
PG-13 was introduced as a result of Gremlins/Temple of Doom, am I right? The early PG-13 movies pushed the envelope quite a bit too, I think.
Another one just occurred to me -- The Outlaw Josey Wales, which has an awful lot of brutal violence including a rape scene, was PG in the US. In the UK it was an 18 certificate - that's quite a discrepancy!
Reply by A-Dubya
on October 16, 2019 at 4:18 AM
Yeah definitely.