18/X/R/NC-17 movies that could quite easily be rated G/PG/PG-13/12/A

[Noodle Lizard]

Actually, if we're talking about Coen Bros films, 'The Big Lebowski' really shouldn't be an 18, should it?

[Wet Blanket]

That's gotta be the drugs or the nudity. I wouldn't be surprised if that got downgraded, like Miller's Crossing before it - I always suspected that was rated 18 because at the time it was just expected that gangster films were deserving of that certificate.

[El Unicornio, mang]

It still is as of 2005, though.  Again, a few aggressive "cunts" will still get you an 18 (and there's a bit where he's shouting "YOUR MOTHER'S CUNT!!!" for a little while).  It's also pretty violent, I suppose (man on woman violence in particular is in the guidelines).

A lot of films just retain their old ratings though. Stuff like The Godfather, Eraserhead and The Good The Bad and the Ugly are still 18s, Gremlins is still a 15, etc. I mean, if a film with the same content as that was released today, I don't think it would be given that rating.

[Noodle Lizard]

A lot of films just retain their old ratings though. Stuff like The Godfather, Eraserhead and The Good The Bad and the Ugly are still 18s, Gremlins is still a 15, etc. I mean, if a film with the same content as that was released today, I don't think it would be given that rating.

They keep their ratings until they're resubmitted, in which case the rating may change.  Besides, not one of the films you mentioned have the same ratings anymore - the first three are all 15s now (someone mentioned 'Eraserhead' on this page) and 'Gremlins' is a 12A (I mentioned it not long ago). 

The Godfather:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/godfather-1972
Eraserhead:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/eraserhead-1979
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/good-bad-and-ugly-1966
Gremlins:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/gremlins-1984

(I admit I'm sniggering a bit; out of all the films you could have mentioned whose ratings have stayed the same, that was really just awfully bad luck.  The BBFC website is useful.)

[Noodle Lizard]

That's gotta be the drugs or the nudity. I wouldn't be surprised if that got downgraded, like Miller's Crossing before it - I always suspected that was rated 18 because at the time it was just expected that gangster films were deserving of that certificate.

The BBFC website is a bit ambiguous about it, but it does seem that the film itself is still an 18.  It seems weird that drugs or nudity would be the reason since pretty much every 15-rated stoner movie has far more of each.  Maybe they (accurately) thought young people would try and emulate 'The Dude' - if anything, it's credit to a great character if that's the case.

[El Unicornio, mang]

They keep their ratings until they're resubmitted, in which case the rating may change.  Besides, not one of the films you mentioned have the same ratings anymore - the first three are all 15s now (someone mentioned 'Eraserhead' on this page) and 'Gremlins' is a 12A (I mentioned it not long ago). 

The Godfather:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/godfather-1972
Eraserhead:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/eraserhead-1979
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/good-bad-and-ugly-1966
Gremlins:  http://bbfc.co.uk/releases/gremlins-1984

(I admit I'm sniggering a bit; out of all the films you could have mentioned whose ratings have stayed the same, that was really just awfully bad luck.  The BBFC website is useful.)

The BBFC site seems to be conflicting with my searches on amazon uk for the dvd/blu-rays of those films. I also own three of them on DVD and they're all rated 18.

[Noodle Lizard]

The BBFC site seems to be conflicting with my searches on amazon uk for the dvd/blu-rays of those films. I also own three of them on DVD and they're all rated 18.

Fucksake.  Yes, you own old DVDs.  Most of the re-ratings occurred in the past couple of years as they've got special Blu-Rays on the horizon (with TGTBATE, it'll be the extended version, which is the resubmitted version that evidently got given a 15 rating).

'The Godfather' trilogy, however, has been a 15 for a while:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Godfather-Coppola-Restoration-DVD/dp/B0014E917Y/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1369080825&sr=8-2&keywords=the+godfather

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Godfather-Blu-ray-Marlon-Brando/dp/B004R0TV4K/ref=sr_1_5?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1369081381&sr=1-5&keywords=the+godfather

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Godfather-Part-II-Blu-ray/dp/B004R0TV40/ref=sr_1_10?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1369081381&sr=1-10&keywords=the+godfather

What a waste of time.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Didn't know they had changed them but it took 30-40 years to change the ratings. The previous releases retained the ratings. Not sure why the BBFC would be less strict now than 5 years ago. The Good the Bad and Eraserhead blu-rays are 18, as far as I can see.

[Noodle Lizard]

Didn't know they had changed them but it took 30-40 years to change the ratings. The previous releases retained the ratings. Not sure why the BBFC would be less strict now than 5 years ago. The Good the Bad and Eraserhead blu-rays are 18, as far as I can see.

FFS

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Good-Bad-Ugly-Blu-ray/dp/B003BEDT5K/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1369084524&sr=8-5&keywords=the+good+the+bad+and+the+ugly - hasn't been released yet, rating TBA (used temporary cover art as is customary).  BBFC shows that this version of the film (longer than the theatrical cut) was given a 15.

The version of 'Eraserhead' which got given the 15 in 2008 was submitted by Scanbox Entertainment, although they don't appear to have released it on DVD/Blu-Ray.  But the film was given a 15 rating when last submitted, that's the point, and that's the BBFC's official rating for the film as it stands.  The Blu-Ray released by Universal evidently didn't get re-rated and kept the rating it got when submitted in 1993.  I don't know.  All we know is that, at some point in 2008, the BBFC sat and watched it and gave it a 15.

Now that's enough.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I'm not disagreeing with you, just saying that it's odd that DVDs/blu-rays sometimes still get released with the old ratings even though the BBFC have changed the ratings, and that the BBFC didn't change the ratings until about five years ago anyway. I remember thinking The Godfather really should have been brought down to a 15 when I bought the video release they did back in 1997.

[Noodle Lizard]

I'm not disagreeing with you, just saying that it's odd that DVDs/blu-rays sometimes still get released with the old ratings even though the BBFC have changed the ratings, and that the BBFC didn't change the ratings until about five years ago anyway. I remember thinking The Godfather really should have been brought down to a 15 when I bought the video release they did back in 1997.

'Eraserhead' is the only one that fits that description, and it's not a particularly complicated explanation.

As for your second question, there wasn't much need to resubmit a film until the advent of Blu-Ray (and before that, DVD, to a lesser extent).  The BBFC don't sit around thinking about what films to downgrade, but if an old film gets submitted to them now they may well give it a lower rating than it previously held.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Not sure why they're changing ratings just for Blu-ray though, that's weird. Films are resubmitted for BBFC rating every time they're re-released (as the link you provided earlier shows). The Godfather was submitted 3 times on video, 3 times on dvd and twice on film since 1987, but wasn't changed to a 15 until the 2008 release.

[Noodle Lizard]

Not sure why they're changing ratings just for Blu-ray though, that's weird. Films are resubmitted for BBFC rating every time they're re-released (as the link you provided earlier shows). The Godfather was submitted 3 times on video, 3 times on dvd and twice on film since 1987, but wasn't changed to a 15 until the 2008 release.

Yup, some time between 2001 and 2008 they decided it didn't warrant an 18 anymore.  Maybe in comparison to some of the films that managed to get 15s in that time?  The BBFC really relaxed in the 2000s compared to the 90s, even.

[mcbpete]

Certainly the change in the heads of BBFC has had an effect on the relaxation of film classification over the years. The Ferman years from '75 up till about 2000 are very different to the Cooke era that we're in nowadays for example

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Regarding the difference in ratings between Ireland and England, isn't it usually that swearing isn't as much of an issue for the Irish, but anything vaguely sexual is.

I've got a couple of PG rated DVDs where someone says Fuck, which usually results in a bump up to a 12 certificate. John Cleese says 'Fuck' on the original Time Bandits commentary - which has since been edited out of later editions - and The Return of Spinal Tap contains the - somewhat muffled, which may be how it slipped through - line "Fuck the doves."

Commentary-wise, Season 7 of South Park originally had an 18 certificate due to Trey+Matt's repeated use of the word Cunt during the episode 'Raisins', in reference to the "You're a continuing source of inspiration" gag. I believe the commentary was cut or censored in subsequent 15 certificate releases.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

The 3rd season South Park episode, World Wide Recorder Concert, aka The Brown Noise, was originally given an 18 certificate due to the Mr. Garrison incest storyline, although it's since been reduced to the typical 15 certificate because the original decision was fucking stupid.

[lazarou]

The strangest Irish censorship issue I encountered was going to the local video shop to rent From Dusk Til Dawn only to find out it hadn't been cut or restricted, but banned entirely. It was only enforced for a few years, but still an odd one.

[Harry Badger]

The second film version of the Sweeney was given an 'AA' (14 and over) certificate in 1978, but has been given 18 on video ever since and as recently as 2007.

I once watched in on ITV4 in mid afternoon and the ending (which must have been an inspiration for Viz's Big Vern) was cut to the point where it was genuinely incomprehensible.