Video ETA has a cool piece about the history of the PG-13 rating. Seeing as how I'm 35, I remember life before the dreaded designation - the good 'ol days, when a happy, healthy little boy could go to the movies, buy a ticket all by his lonesome, and enjoy the wonders of a bare female ass, a set of boobies, and maybe even a flash of bush. Alas, in the summer of 1984, the world changed - and the opportunities for prepubescent boys to gawk at nekkid women in public became harder - and harder - to come by.
You learn something new every day. The PG-13 rating wasn't all about nudity; there were also the issues of harsh language and bloodletting that brought about the creation of the category. You see, I've always thought that the first movie to be saddled with the confusing classification was Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. Temple was released on May 23, 1984 - a little over a month before the new rating became official. When it was released, Temple carried the traditional PG rating.
But here's the thing: I know the theater I saw Temple in had it listed as PG-13. I was, at the time, going to a summer camp for smart kids. I was a bright kid, but my talents were more on the creative side of things; I was good at writing, drawing, history, music - the right brain stuff. This summer camp was for math and science dorks, and I sucked at both. But since I was in the gifted program at my elementary school, I got lumped in with the rest of the smart kids, and we went to this camp.
We went to class during the day, and at night, they'd have all kinds of different activities for us. One night, we got to go to the movies. It was a small, privately owned theater in a small, southern town. There were two movies playing that night in July. The first film was Rhinestone, a Sylvester Stallone / Dolly Parton trainwreck that I'm sure the Italian Stallion still regrets to this day. The second film was Temple of Doom.
We had a choice as to which movie we saw. Most of the boys chose Indy, and most of the girls chose Rhinestone. But here's the thing; I remember vividly all the boys making a big deal about Indy, because no one had ever heard of this PG-13 rating. At this theater, in the rural Piedmont of North Carolina, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was advertised with a rating of PG-13.
Back in those days, whatever was making money stayed in the theater, no matter what new flicks came out on Friday. Indy was bringing in a ton of loot, so it stayed there. Looking back, and now knowing the history of the rating, I'm guessing that the theater manager caught some flack for the violence and the tense imagery in the film and just made the call to re-rate the thing himself. That's gotta be the answer.
The article states that Red Dawn was actually the first film in wide release to carry the PG-13 rating, and I'm sure the article's accurate. But back in the summer of 1984, I sat outside the theater and stared at that awesome one-sheet for Temple of Doom. Indy stood there in that firey archway, a machete in one hand and his trusted bullwhip in the other. I didn't notice the tiny print in the bottom left-hand corner that displayed the PG logo. Above the poster were some tiny tracks with changeable letter copy, and along with the movie times, there was a rating: PG13.
Somebody pulled a fast one on me 25 years ago, but it doesn't really matter. In my mind, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom will always be my first PG-13 movie.
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